18 weeks!

I can't believe I'm almost halfway there. It's been a busy few weeks. Galen and I moved in to our new two bedroom two bath apartment. And I mean new! It was just remodeled before we moved in which is great, but my asthma has been bothering me. Apparently new carpet can do that to you. I'm using my inhaler almost every day, but the doctor assures me that this is absolutely safe for the baby.
According to the emails I receive, at 18 weeks the baby is the size of a bell pepper and about 7.5 ounces. She's growing so much!
The doctor today asked me if I've felt our little bundle of joy kick yet, but I'm not sure. I've read that it will feel like butterfly wings or popcorn popping. A few nights ago I was laying on the couch and I thought I felt a little flutter, but I could be mistaken, it may have been gas. Some times I find myself giving my belly a gentle poke to see if I can get the baby to poke back. No luck yet...I think.
The doctor also said that my sequential screening test came back with great numbers. The sequential screening combines two blood tests and an ultrasound to give you the probability of your baby being born with certain health issues. Dr. Elledge said all my numbers were excellent, that the probability for one issue was 1 in 10,000 for example.
I did have a little scare, however. Dr. Elledge had me lay down to check the baby's heartbeat. It took her a good 30 seconds to find it. I'm freaking out a bit because last time she found it immediately. Once she did get a reading, she said the heartbeat was 150 which is great. I felt like crying when I finally heard it (there's a little microphone that amplifies the sound). When I asked her why it took so long, she told me that she couldn't catch him. "Didn't you hear all those swooshing sounds?" she asked. "That's the baby doing flips in there." Apparently, we have quite the little acrobat. I guess there's still quite a bit of room in my uterus, so she was swimming some laps. When she's finally born, I'm going to put Galen in charge of keeping the baby constantly occupied. They can tire each other out!
September 17th is our next ultrasound. That'll be just over 19 weeks. We should be able to find out if it's a boy or a girl! Start placing your bets. I promise pictures from this ultrasound.