The 5th Month

I've already fallen short of my intention to post an update every week. To be honest, I think that may get a little boring. But my reason for not posting has been mostly that it has been a busy couple of weeks.

I am 20 weeks (5 months) pregnant now. And just as soon as the 20 week mark was hit I started to have a new batch of symptoms (not sure that is the right word, but I can't think of a better way to describe it). I have been ravenously hungry. This is a change from feeling hungry frequently but filling up quickly. It seems the most noticeable in the mornings right now--I guess from going without a calorie infusion for about 8-10 hours. But I have been needing to eat 3 breakfasts in the morning- it has been slowing me down getting out the door in the morning because I have to keep eating. Another new experience is indigestion. I've always had very little experience with these kind of issues and it keeps catching me off guard.

The baby's movements are getting more noticeable now. I don't have to be laying completely still to feel them. I notice them on and off throughout the day. And my belly has finally emerged. I am getting an idea of how I'm going to carry. Not so much the very cute pregnant belly that looks like a beach ball under one's shirt. More of the swollen belly + swollen almost everything else. I have a short torso and I am carrying all around it, including my back--weird.

We had an amazing shower in Milwaukee last weekend. I will post some pictures from that soon and go into more detail about that with that post.

Back By Popular Demand

About a year ago Murph and I entered the world of blogging to chronical our experiences training for the NYC Triathalon in July of 2006 and fundraising for the Leukemia & and Lymphoma Society. Something that I would likely be doing again this year as my personal connection to this cause just gets stronger every year, Murph and my cousin are Lymphoma survivors--hooray!--and my cousin's son is currently battling Leukemia--what is going on in the world?!?, but I am currently engaged in training for an endurance event of a different sort as I am pregnant.

Murph and I are expecting our first child in July of 2007! July 17, 2007 to be exact, if due dates with first children can be exact. And as we are experiencing this transformation in our lives and our family far away from many of our friends and family the blog is a good way to share a lot of what is going on. In fact, my mom (perhaps the biggest technophobe that I know) has requested it...I'll try to make it interesting.

After a gruling month of morning sickness in December, I am now 17 and a half weeks and feeling good. The changes are subtle and all of it is weird to me. Every few days I can feel the streching and shifting going on in my body and my clothes are not fitting me anymore. So this feels pretty pregnant to me but to most people I do not look pregnant yet--maybe a thicker version of myself but not pregnant. I'm sure that in the not too distant future I'll be wishing for this time when I can still move around freely but I am finding it frustrating not to have a round and obvious belly yet. People say it takes more time with a first so I'm trying to be patient.

I believe that I felt the baby move for the first time this week. I had just laid down in bed for the night and I felt a stirring in my lower abdomen. If I had to guess what the baby was doing to cause it I would say somersaults or log rolls. Which would not surprise me given the other times that we've been able to check on the little Foley-Murphy.

At our 12 week sonogram the technician was having to chase the baby around with the wand because it was moving so much. Same with each time we've been hunting to hear the heart beat, it seems to be an active child that knows how to move around. Could be interesting (painful, uncomfortable, hilarious?) for me as they get bigger and their movements are more obvious to me.

The big question is boy or girl. We are planning to find out and that should happen in the next few weeks. Everyone has their predictions and we have our guess but time and another sonogram will tell us if we're right.