19 weeks in austin

yesterday marked 19 weeks. jimmy and i are in austin working for a few days and definitely enjoying the nicer weather.

i still can't believe that i'm actually pregnant. and more so that i'm almost half way there. i continue to feel really good. i am starting to get some pains in my lower stomach and things i've read just say that it's things stretching and/or baby girl kicking. the headaches have subsided and i haven't experienced anything like those at thanksgiving - thank goodness!

i cannot even begin to explain in words what our ultrasound was like last week. it was so amazing to see our baby girl inside of me. i couldn't believe how much she had grown since week 6 when we saw her last and the most amazing thing to me was that everything is developed already. we could so clearly see the 4 chambers of her heart, her kidneys, bladder, arms, legs, fingers, toes, face, belly, and of course the parts that make her a girl!:) funny story - when our ultrasound first popped up baby girl was sideways and her little hand was down by her "parts" so i thought i saw a weiner. of course i didn't say anything because i knew our tech would get there but i for sure thought it was a boy. well, turns out she moved her little hand and as our tech got between her legs she said she was definitely a girl! as soon as she told us she was a girl my eyes teared up. not just because she's a girl but because we know knew the gender of our child. something about that made me feel more connected to this child inside of me. my mind wanders endlessly of all the things our baby girl will be - the personality she will have, how she will treat people, what her interest and strengths will be, what she will look like, who she will marry, where she will go to college, etc etc.

anyways - on to our mango.

Baby's now the size of a mango!
Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil, and dead skin cells (yum) now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. (Picture yourself after a nine-month bath, and the need for protection makes sense.) You might get to see the vernix at birth, especially if baby is premature.