Gender Reveal: It’s a …. ? – My 18 Week Update

Hey everyone! Finally, the blog post you’ve all been waiting for… the gender reveal! For those of you who follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you may have already heard what the gender of the baby is – I was so excited, I just couldn’t wait to post it! For those of you who haven’t already heard, I’m excited to break the news to you in this post of my 18 week update. So without further ado…

It’s a BOY!

Hence the name change of my site (which you may have noticed). I felt it was more appropriate at this point to have the site be named “Bow Ties and Bottles” rather than “Bows and Bottles”, which is obviously more geared towards a girl. Anyway, words cannot describe how excited I am to have a little boy! Growing up with a little brother, I always knew I wanted a son of my own eventually. They are such a joy – and I can’t believe I will have one of my own in just four short months! I am truly blessed. You may be wondering how I found out the gender so early, since my last blog post said my gender scan wouldn’t be until Week 20… My mom and I researched private ultrasound clinics in the Sonoma County area, and found a 3D/4D Ultrasound Clinic in Napa that offers a fairly inexpensive gender determination package. We both agreed that we were just too excited to wait another three weeks to find out, so we booked the appointment that moment for the following day! At 8:30 AM the following morning, I was sitting on a comfy spa lounge in a cute little private room, holding my mom and sister’s hands and awaiting the final verdict. The ultrasound technician and owner of the practice, Whitney, was extremely friendly and made my experience worth every penny. It took her a few minutes to find the right angle since the baby was positioned oddly, but she was finally able to get a good look in between those little legs – and sure enough, he was a boy! After her initial conclusion, she continued to look for a few more minutes to make sure it wasn’t the umbilical cord between the baby’s legs that she was seeing. She was 99% certain that the baby is a boy, and that was good enough for me. As soon as Whitney said “boy”, my sister blurted out “I knew it!” and was jumping for joy. She is extremely excited to have a nephew. And although my mom was absolutely certain the baby was a girl up until this appointment, she was overjoyed at the news that she will be having a grandson nonetheless. Overall, it was a day I will most certainly never forget. Now that you know baby’s gender, here is what we’ve been up to this week!

Week 18

Baby’s Statistics

Head to rump, baby boy is about 5 1/2 to 6 inches long and weighs almost 7 ounces (about the size of a bell pepper). His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they’re still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he’s born. He has now begun to hiccup, yawn, suck his thumb, kick, and roll!

Mama’s Statistics

Weight Gain

I’m still struggling to put on weight at this point in my pregnancy. However, most of my mommy friends have assured me that this is normal, and that they didn’t begin to gain weight until almost the end of their second trimester. I’m eating 4-5 small meals per day and snacking in-between. I haven’t stepped on the scale in a while because I don’t want to be one of those people who are overly obsessed with their weight gain progress and become stressed out. I have enough on my plate (literally) to be overly-worried about how much weight I am gaining. As long as I am eating nutritious meals and taking my vitamins, I am confident that my baby is getting what he needs.

Morning Sickness

My morning sickness is still lingering, but has gotten significantly better. It now only affects me about 2-3 days per week, rather than every single day. I do try to make sure that I have something in my stomach at all times because I’ve noticed that when I’m hungry or running on an empty stomach, my nausea starts to kick in.

Maternity Clothes?

I probably should start wearing them at this point. I attempted to wear one of my favorite pairs of shorts the other day and it was an ultimate fail – the button was about 3 inches too far away from the loophole. Needless to say, I won’t be wearing those any time soon. Most of my outfits currently involve leggings, sweatpants, or breezy sundresses because they are most comfortable and the easiest to wear. I think when I receive my next paycheck, I’ll plan a maternity clothing shopping spree.

Sleep

I’ve still been sleeping fairly well. The only complaint I have is that I’ve been waking up most mornings with extremely stiff and painful legs. As soon as I get out of bed and start walking around though, the pain subsides. I’m not sure what causes that but according to Google, it’s a fairly common complaint in pregnancy, especially as you get further along.

Movement

Finally, some movement! Yes, I can now say, with 100% confidence, that I have felt my baby boy move. It is very hard to feel when I am standing up or walking around, but as soon as I lie down on my back or sit down in a recliner, I feel him doing acrobatics in my stomach. Some nights I find it hard to sleep because it can be distracting – especially because he obviously can’t tell time and isn’t aware that at 1 AM, it is well past his mama’s bedtime. But I still love him, regardless 🙂

Cravings

My cravings are still pretty random and sporadic. During my weekend in Tahoe this past weekend, we visited the Northstar Village. We were walking around the ice skating rink when I noticed a new candy store that wasn’t there the last time I visited. I tried to walk by without giving into the urge to buy candy, but then I saw that they have over 50 flavors of jelly beans! I just couldn’t resist. I spent more than I am willing to admit on a bag of assorted jelly beans that night – and yes, I ate them all. Not the healthiest choice, I know, but what is a mom-to-be to do?

Food Aversions

Hm, none that I can think of at the moment. Still not fond of chicken, but at this point I don’t know if I ever will be again.

Mood

I’m doing much better this week compared to last week. As I get closer and closer to my due date, I am more excited, and therefore happier. That’s not to say that I still don’t have a bad day occasionally, because I do. I have the hormones to thank for that. But now that I know the baby’s gender, I feel a much stronger connection to him. Finding out that he is a boy has made the experience so much more real to me because he now has an identity. Now instead of doing things, like taking my prenatal vitamins for example, for “that baby inside of my stomach”, I am doing them for my son. I have been in a great mood these past few days because I am so overjoyed at the realization that I will soon have a little man to hold in my arms. I can’t wait to meet him!

I hope you enjoyed my 18 week update. If you’d like to stay tuned with what I’m doing on a daily basis, please feel free to follow me on Instagram @ h_ghiringhelli. Thanks for reading and have a great week!