We're (more than) halfway there!!! Woot!!!

So, ladies and gentlemen, we are 21 weeks today!  We had our big anatomy ultrasound on Wednesday, and as we were told at an impromptu 16 week ultrasound, Baby Swann is definitely a boy!!! They said everything looks great, and we saw all 10 fingers and 10 toes as well as his little heart just pumping away. He is definitely  already a little stinker though, and would not allow them to get any good profile shots of him. (She tried though. I'm surprised I don't have the bruises on my side to prove it!)  He is also super active (as I can feel), and she had to chase him around with the ultrasound wand to get the measurements she needed. I really wish she could have gotten some better face pics, but I think we are still planning on doing a 3D ultrasound in a few weeks, so we should get to see him really well then (hopefully)!

I know I've been really bad about updating my blog, so I'll go ahead and fill you guys in on the pregnancy happenings.  This first thing that I will say is that the second trimester is WAY WAY better than the first. Apparently  the pregnancy gods decided to take, "I will never complain about my symptoms.  I will be so happy to get any and every symptom and will be grateful when I'm throwing up." at face value and threw all the first trimester horribleness they could at me. To say that I was a huge ball of useless, pregnant misery is probably an understatement.  But I survived, and the symptoms (as totally not fun as they were) helped to keep me sane from appointment to appointment. As in, "I still feel like death? Great!!! That means my little jumping bean is still fighting the good fight!" And as far as the second tri goes, for the most part, the nausea has dissipated. I had several days and a good week that the nausea and motion sickness came back with a vengeance, and made me wonder if it would ever really stop before the baby came. There are still certain triggers (that my dear sweet husband loves exploiting) that will make me gag or throw up in my mouth a little. And if I let the heartburn get out of control, well that causes some voming too.  My hips and lower back ache pretty much constantly, and I'm kind of terrified at how much they are going to hurt during the third tri.

But pregnancy has been pretty amazing too.  Hearing the heartbeat for the first time?  It was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life.  Its hard to explain exactly how it felt to hear that sound. There was so much relief, and hope, and reassurance and love that overwhelmed me. It was amazing the first time I realized I could feel him moving.  To know that the little life inside of me is still going strong. To feel more and more movement and to feel those movements getting stronger and stronger. And then getting to see him on the ultrasound. Getting to watch him swim around.  Seeing his little heart beating. Counting all of his little fingers and toes. Witnessing how active he is and what a little stinker he can already be. Knowing that in about 4 months I will get to meet this amazing little person who I love so much already. None of the bad matters. It is all worth it. All the pain and heartbreak and longing of the last 3 years. All the physical unpleasantness of the first trimester. The inevitable unpleasantness of the third trimester and childbirth that is to come. None of it compares to the beauty of who I am going to give birth to and parent. He is worth all of it and so much more.

And now that I've made myself cry, here are some belly pics for those of you on Facebook and IRL that have been requesting them:

Here I am at 14 weeks:

And at almost 17 weeks:

And at 21 weeks:

As soon as we get some good ultrasound pics of him, I'll share those too!