My appointment yesterday went really well. It was fun seeing the baby again. S/he's grown a lot since my last ultrasound. I thought the baby was about the size of an avocado, but it turns out s/he's closer to the size of a 20 oz water bottle (19 cm = 7.5 inches).S/he's floating around and fairly active, moving from one side to the next and flipping from front to back. It's so amazing seeing all of the bones of the hands and spinal column, ribs, etc. It's such a miracle that it's all going on inside of me and I can't feel a thing yet!
I'm looking forward to feeling him/her kick, but I think it'll take another week or two. I'm around week 17-18; some of the measurements were putting the baby at 18 weeks and the doc bumped my due date up three days to August 10.
I'm showing more and more each week, but I still can't believe that a water bottle could be curled up inside of my stomach. I'm almost halfway done and have plenty of time to pop, so I'm not too eager for my belly to really shoot out - it'll happen soon enough! Dr. Bonatti said because this is my first, the stomach muscles are strong and holding the bump firmly, but the bigger I grow, the more the belly will begin to fall.
When I visualize traveling around the world with my child, I tend to picture myself with a girl. I'm not sure why - it could be that I identify with my niece and the closest I have to a child. Madison is such a blast and so fun to hang out with that I can totally see having a daughter. The good news is I'll be more than thrilled with a boy or a girl - I'm just so curious to find out, but it'll have to wait for my April 18 appointment!