20 weeks and It's a....

No actual Christmas pics this year since I spent this Christmas in the hospital, but we did snap one in front of my parent's tree last night (our tree, sadly, was long dead when we got home from the hospital). My 20 week baby bump is starting to round out nicely (Stephen: "no offense, but your belly's getting way bigger"). And what I wore Sunday (linking up with Fine Linen and Purple): this sweater (don't judge me that it's from Vicky's) and some black leggings, my 5 month preggo uniform.

We did a little gender reveal with my family after my ultrasound and my sister Ingrid made this lovely cake...

It's a BOY!!! So in the very beginning, I was convinced the baby was a girl (Gianna Marie, to be exact). But as the pregnancy progressed, Stephen was more than convinced it was a boy...he even started referring to the baby as his son. He had a dream a few days before our ultrasound that he was rocking our baby boy to sleep...and after all of that, I was pretty much convinced too that it was a boy. Funny thing was that the ultrasound tech initially told us that it was a girl and neither one of us believed him...a few seconds later he informed us it was definitely a boy (we have the picture to prove it).

I just love his profile. I have to be honest that pregnancy has induced a new level of anxiety in me that I didn't know was possible. And getting sick enough to land myself in the hospital hasn't helped. But he was wiggling around on the ultrasound, and his heartbeat has been strong, and I'm pretty sure that I'm feeling little movements now...

My entire family was together this Christmas for the first time since Stephen and I got married: all 8 kids, one sister-in-law, one almost-sister-in-law, one brother-in-law, and one nephew.

Happy Monday!

Playing catch up...and happy Christmas.

I can't believe that I almost went the entire month of December without posting. I actually didn't even realize it until my sister said "I keep checking your blog and you haven't posted one time this month!!" It's kind of hard to summarize an entire month into one post but here are some of the reasons to explain my lack of posting..

1. Interview season continued...I got to visit Hopkins, which was every bit as amazing as I imagined it, and managed to squeeze in a day to explore Baltimore with one of my best friends.

Hopkins

"Christus Consulator" in the dome at Hopkins

Baltimore

2. I got stuck in the East Coast blizzard on the way back from my interviews which meant postponing my Step 2 boards to mid-December (I was so sick of studying by the end). I finally got them over with, and let's just say that a 9 hour computer exam and an almost-5-months-pregnant bladder are not very compatible. But yay it's over!

3. My belly finally started to grow. It's still not that big (my little sister keeps saying "ok I can finally see it but when's it really going to explode?") but Stephen and I can definitely tell a difference. And thank God it's finally rounder-enough to look a little less like I've been eating too many carbs. I've been wearing leggings every day since I'm not quite big enough for maternity pants but my old pants definitely don't fit, and this sweater has been my savior.

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

4. Christmas snuck up on me faster than any year before. Stephen was working...and I ended up in the hospital. It started with a little cold, and then progressed to a bad asthma flare, and then ended in an ER visit Christmas day after hours of struggling to breathe. After IVs and monitors and respiratory meds, a swab revealed influenza A. Influenza A is not kind to pregnant women or asthmatics, so with both against me I earned a hospital stay. I'm home now, and we've been staying with my parents a few days while I recover. Today was my first attempt to venture out of the house. I'm still feeling pretty bad if I'm honest...it's hard to walk up the stairs, and I have to sleep sitting up so I can breathe. But I'm happy that I'm home and that the baby seems to be holding up ok (which has been my greatest fear through all of this).

We did get our first real Christmas tree this year despite all the craziness

5. So we exchanged gifts on Christmas night in the hospital (Stephen stayed overnight with me...hospital policy normally wouldn't have let him, but it was Christmas...). I didn't ask for anything this year, and Stephen completely blew me away with an amazing black leather Coach bag. I was shocked when I opened it; it's the sort of thing that I would never buy myself (or ask for) and he came up with it all on his own (partly inspired by his observation of the $30 pleather bag I've been bringing to my residency interviews). He is just the most thoughtful, sweet husband.

6. And for our best Christmas present by far: the one bright thing that ensued from my hospital stay is that our ultrasound got moved up and we got to see the beautiful babe again...kicking and somersaulting and looking just fine despite it's sick momma and the myriad of medications making their way through my body for my unhappy lungs.

7. So we now know what we're having! And am I terrible to leave you with this? More details to come...

Lovely gender reveal cake courtesy of my sister

Linking up with Jen and hoping that everyone had a beautiful and blessed Christmas (and maybe less eventful than ours).