How far along? 17w, 2d

Total weight gain: Yes.

How big is baby? An onion!  I'll have Jare do a belly pic for me tomorrow.  I've really gotten much bigger over the past few days.

Maternity clothes: Oh, yes. I've been in pjs a lot of days because I've been in pain and therefore haven't gone anywhere.

Stretch marks: None yet!

Sleep: I've been going to bed really late--and regretting it. Judah has been sleeping in though. He won't nap during the day though, so that's really killing me.

Anyway, I've been stopping drinking a bit before bed so I've only been waking up like once a night. BUT, when I initially get into bed, I have to go at least 3 times before I can fall asleep.

Movement: Lots!!! Hooray! Whenever I lay down, I can feel her. Jared got a very distinct thump last night...prior to that, he might of felt one but we both weren't really sure. She was kicking Judah in the back tonight, too, while e was lounging on me :)

Food cravings: Oh my goodness!!! French fries dipped in pickle juice. Pleeeeease!!!!!

Food aversions: No, thank goodness. I've really been blessed this time around.

Belly button: Jared told me yesterday that I'm officially an outtie. It still goes in a little at the bottom though, so I don't think it's 100% official :)

Symptoms: Really tired, partly due to contractions.

The contractions are starting to wear me out--they're bothering my back, too...Not in like an "I need to get adjusted" type way, but a dull pain that feels like it shoots out my back.  Not fun.

Sheela wanted to check my urine for GBS and it came back crazy like it was when I was pregnant with Judah.  That was depressing, but I kind of expected it.  It just makes me nervous to know that that's a possibility of what could be aggrevating my uterus and causing all the contractions.  In a case like mine, they normal route of treatment would to be put on antibiotics right away.  I don't want to do that because I was on antibiotics so many times with Judah, the strep never went away, and then I had to worry about the issues of being on too many antibiotics.  No thanks.  I will, however, receive them, through IV, when I'm in labor.

Sheela wants me to wear a support belt to help support my uterus and reduce downward pressure (which I got yesterday and wore today).  It seemed to help with the pressure (I only noticed the difference when I took it off), but I still had contractions while wearing it.

I also decided I'm going to start pounding probiotics.  And I mean POUNDING them.

And reducing my activity, listening to my body very closely, and accepting help when it's offered (which is really, really hard for me and causes an extreme amount of anxiety).

What I'm looking forward to:  Having a healthy, full term baby.  Not feeling tired.  My next ultrasound & Sheela appointment.  I always get nervous as the appointment gets closer, thinking that it's been too long in between them and that something might happen.  So far, I've gotten good cervical lengths every time, so the contractions haven't really changed anything yet...and that makes me feel good about everything for about a week or so.  Then I start to worry again.  This last appointment I maintained length, which is great, but at 20 weeks with Judah, I measured a 4 something.  This past appointment, I was 15 weeks and at a 3.5.

Not baby related: Judah's birthday.  Mike and Kim's wedding.    Going to visit Ali and her new baby.  Eating pickles and fries tomorrow!  Jared's interview on Thursday (huge prayer request for this one, if anyone is reading this!! :)

Weekly joy:  Being able to witness part of Ali's labor and to see my first nephew and hold him for a long time when he was less than 24 hours old.  Life is so precious.

Side note:  We found out we're having a baby girl.  Aylah Elizabeth :)  I'll post the ultrasound video at some point and update about the pretty clothes I scored for her.

Until then, here's my first present I bought for her...It's an organic dolly.

I'm getting more and more excited about the opportunity to have a little girl and do all those special mother-daughter things together.

See you along the journey--