18 and 19 Weeks

I've been kind of busy latley, so the last two weeks on the blog have been neglected. The baby is really moving now. I feel real kicks and roll overs several times a day, and I love it! It's very reassuring to feel your baby wiggle and jiggle inside of you. I feel like I'm already waddling and it's a little difficult to get up if I've been on the floor. I bought some maternity pants and they are wonderful! They didn't have very cute and comfortable ones when I was pregnant with Xander. Whoever invented low-rider maternity pants should be severely punished. Those things are so uncomfortable and they always fall down.
I've been trying really hard to go with the flow with this move and all. I know that I don't want to get shingles again, ouch!! Brandon has had to do a lot of the work, and all of the heavy lifting. He's been really great about it though.
I finally found some stuff to help with my constant skin pealing. I found a whole box of baby lotion stuff in Xander's room the other day. There was a tiny bottle of lotion that is mostly baby oil. It helps so much and my whole body is no longer cracking and burning.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to find out what we're having. Normally it would be next week, but because of the move, I have no idea when my next appointment will be.

We’ve stayed away from food references the past two weeks, but here it is: your bantam edition is the size of a large avocado this week. (Disclaimer: If you are suddenly craving guacamole, we hereby absolve ourselves of any responsibility.) The retinas on his eyes have formed, which means that if you were to shine a bright light at him, he would move to shield his eyes.

And, starting now, he’s probably having his first experience with hiccups. He may get them 2-3 times a day, and it will be a strange sensation -- like a spasming in your belly -- but you can rest easy knowing he isn’t in any discomfort. If you are having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are in place right now, and if a boy, his prostate has formed. Myelin is starting to form around the nerves, like a sort of insulation, and will continue to do so until about 2 years of age. Your baby has become quite the talent in these past few weeks: he's now yawning, swallowing, kicking and making faces on a regular basis.

Your baby is about 6" long from the crown of her head to the bottom of her rump-- about the size of a large baked potato. If you were to measure head to toe, she'd actually be about 10"! She's busily practicing sucking and swallowing, as she drinks in tiny sips of amniotic fluid. Her hair is just starting to sprout, and she currently has a record-setting 6 million eggs in her ovaries! By the time she's born, that number will have dwindled to a mere 2 million. Her oil glands are busy producing the waxy substance, vernix caseosa, that will coat her all the way up until birth.