Cat's Out of the Bag...Officially!

Alright, alright, I've finally done the belly shot I've felt necessary for my official coming-out post! Yes, I'm baking a bun and it's already 18 weeks done! The belly shot is actually a 17 weeks shot and I'd say in the course of the past week I've definitely begun to pop out a little more noticeably, which is fun:) I finally told my immediate teaching team last week and all were surprised, which means that my creative hiding-the-gut skills had been working. Now I can relax more and start just "letting it all hang out" which is what I do on weekends and when I'm home...much easier! I feel great now, though I went through a rough nauseous/exhausted spell in February...sooooo tired, and fairly constant, low-grade nausea, hungry but not hungry, but needing to eat to ease the nausea...luckily that passed. I'm now eating what I please, although I fill up rather quickly and then feel uncomfortably bloated....hey, if that's the worst of it for now, so be it. Perhaps I should even just listen to my body and not eat so much...Over the past 2 weeks, I think I doubled my total pregnancy pounds already...uh-oh, but I'm still on track as far as I know...I just want to make sure to exercise as much as I can because I know soon enough I'll be feeling up to doing none at all...but for good cause, of course!

Our 20 week ultrasound is next Monday, so fingers crossed that all measures as it should. I have a Doppler/handheld ultrasound thingy that my friend Vanessa lent me so about once a week I give a listen to the little peanut's heart...makes me smile to imagine all that's going on in there! And what peace of mind hearing that steady fast beating of a new life (about 5 and a half inches long at the moment...) Simply amazing!

As of now, we don't know the sex and I'm not planning on finding out...although Travis seems curious. I really thought I would be the "need to know" kind of person, but I'm liking the idea of a big surprise and a healthy one at that (and preferably not THAT big)! I'm actually a little sad that everyone at school knows because it's been such a fun secret to be keeping from everyone. Now the big secret will be boy or girl.

So the estimated date of arrival is October 11. I've got 7 busy weeks left of this school year, 6 weeks of summer vacation and prepping the house for the little one and then just under 2 months of school to go back to next year before life as we know it changes forever! Yikes! I can't wait!