I'm 24 weeks today and finally, finally got my ultrasound. I've been dying for it. And guess what?

This is my son!

Okay, everything feels a little crazy now. I can't believe I get to say son. My son. I'm suddenly really aware of my heartbeat. :)

It's a boy, it's a boy, it's a boy-boy-boy!

I mean, Daniel and I were already pretty sure (it just felt like it). We've been joking that we know, but we need the doctor to know that we know. And now we know! And we were right!

I'm obviously really happy. I don't really know what else to say. I know there were things that I originally wanted to talk about, but I can't seem to remember them through the excitement.

Ahhh, finally! It's a boy!

It's 23 weeks today. That makes 23 weeks that a human being has been growing inside of me. 23 weeks that things have been stretching and shifting and cramping and paining. 23 weeks of realizing how completely unprepared I am, yet being so impatient to know the sex and what this little person looks like and whether it's going to be healthy, of being so ready to cuddle and love and care. 23 weeks of the most bittersweet, terrifying, wonderful feelings I've ever known.

Also, what? It makes about 17 weeks more to go with the same (and even more) to come.

And it makes one week until I receive my second ultrasound, the first one the parents are going to get to come to, the one where we (hopefully) find out whether the baby is a girl or a boy. The Big One. This means a lot to me, and I'm so impatient.

Ican'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twait! Dramatic inhale. Ican'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twait.

...

I hope it all goes right. I hope that I don't have a stubborn baby, but I wouldn't actually be shocked if I did. I'm the mother after all, and Daniel being the father? Magnified by 547. I swear.

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via Taylor on Pinterest

I'm just so bad at surprises! There are times I can't even wait until I've finished a book to find out the ending or a specific part of whatever. Usually because I've made a prediction and I want to know if I'm right and Google is right there, taunting me all like, "I know it and you don't!"

Damn it, Google, I can't stand not knowing!

Unfortunately, I can't Google my baby's gender. Or maybe I can, but I don't think it would actually help me much. So for now I'm just going to go completely and absolutely crazy with anticipation, and if I make it through, I'll make sure to update everyone else.

The ultrasound is next Thursday, so I'll be due for my 24 week post the same day. I'll probably just wait until the afternoon to write it so that I have something to say because I'm going to be bursting with the need to tell everyone who will listen because it hurts to keep excitement inside. You know what I'm saying. And also because this is going to be one of the best parts of the pregnancy, so it might as well be part of the pregnancy post.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! I'm just going to go sit over here and quietly agonize over how slowly it's passing.

I just called my dad at work and told him to ask for the 30th off so that he can go to the ultrasound with us, and he immediately said he could get that day off and sounded like the happiest person in the world. It made me feel all kinds of awesome.

Mine rocks!
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via Ashley on Pinterest

And now I've just texted my mom and asked her if she was going, and she said, "Yes yes yes." So I'm pretty sure they're excited, but I could be wrong.

"I'll be there with my happy pants on," says mom.

My mom's coming down in the beginning of next week and staying until the weekend. Then she's going to pick up Boyfriend, my sister and me and we're planning to go and see my Nana in Riverside. Her memory and speech are apparently really getting bad and they say she's suffering from something like mini-strokes inside her brain. The weekend is going to be pretty emotional, I'm sure. I'm already emotional at the drop of a pin, so fuck.

I think I'm going to stay at the apartment tonight, but I can't really be sure. I was supposed to stay there last night as well, so we'll see how everything goes. As it is, I have a ton of errands to run, and I don't even know why I'm still sitting around here. I need to start sleeping at night so that I don't waste my days.

I'm sorry this post sounds so choppy. I'm sort of in a hurry, but I wanted to post this because they're all things that are on my mind. I might come back and edit it later, but I can't promise anything.

While I'm gone, head over to my blog roll tab and make sure to link yourselves. Enjoy the rest of your Friday!

Okay, so from the first time I felt this baby kick (from the outside at least - I was never really sure if that was what I was feeling inside and therefore didn't get too excited about it), I've been madly in love with my baby. Before that experience, I sort of only mentioned the pregnancy in passing. I honestly think I was afraid of bad omens, and of making a big deal out of something uncertain. I mean, all I knew was that I was puking my guts out. I didn't feel like there was a tiny person inside of me.

But now I know for a fact that there is, and holy wow is it starting to feel strange. I feel like there's a fish in my stomach. Or popcorn popping or something. I feel like an aquarium or a microwave and nobody's warnings could have prepared me for this.

Thirteen weeks

I know that it's just going to keep getting stronger, and I'm honestly so happy that I was able to feel this baby as early as I did. Everyone warned me that, being my first pregnancy, it wouldn't happen until much later, but I know I finally accepted what those flutters really were at about 17 weeks, and I know that just a week or two later I felt my baby kick my hand. And then it was real.

Let me just say that there are a lot of girls around my age whose babies are due in October and November of this year, and that Daniel and I have kind of been watching from the sidelines as they all grow and experience and enjoy. Like I said, I've felt the baby. I've seen the baby via ultrasound once, a day before thirteen weeks. But even those whose due dates are behind mine have already learned the sexes of their children. Their stomachs have already begun to show hints of what it's up to. I feel like I've been lagging behind.

It's weird, isn't it? That this is pretty much the one time in a woman's life that she could possibly be disappointed by the fact that her stomach wasn't any larger when she woke up today?

Anyway, I was woken up early this morning with a desperate need to use the restroom (because my bladder is obviously shrinking) and...seriously. It's not a huge difference, but it's finally starting to show. I'm not to that cute stage yet that I can't wait to get to so I just kind of feel like I ate too much. But hey, I have something to at least start getting excited about.