Pregnancy Update

I'm just three weeks or so from the THIRD TRIMESTER!!! 24 and a half weeks. Crazy.

I'm not really ready for my second trimester to be over. It's been wonderful. No nausea. No backache. I get to eat a ton and can actually handle eating healthy food. My belly is noticed by everyone but not so big that it causes me discomfort. I've heard the second trimester is the "glorious trimester" and for me, it's been nothing but.

I've gained 20 pounds! That's an average of a pound a week every week since we found out we were pregnant! I just read a few nights ago that I should expect to start gaining a pound a week from here out out. Check! I've done that one already! I'm such an over-achiever.

The baby is still kicking like crazy. Sometimes the kicks are up near my belly button but most of the time they're REALLY low. Really, really low. I'm thankful that, for now, my lungs have been left in peace.

Yesterday was the first time that I got kicked so hard it hurt. I've had some uncomfortable kicks-but this one was actually painful. It actually felt bruised for hours after the kick. Ted was touching my belly when it happened so he can attest to its forcefulness. No more of that please, sweet baby. We don't particularly like soccer.

I bought some maternity tank tops and a new bra! I waited waaaaay too long. Why in the world did I not think that wearing a bra that fits was important enough to spend a whole ten dollars on a new one??

I passed my glucose test! And welcomed the opportunity to drink an entire bottle of Sprite guilt free!

My doctor is wonderful. I really, really like him. He always talks with Ted about fishing for the first few minutes of our appointments (I think Ted is probably one of the only guys he sees all day!). He told us he caught some one pound bass out of his ponds last week. A few minutes later he told me the baby should weight about a pound right now. "Just like your bass!" I said. He thought that was pretty funny.  I'm trying to get him to like us so much that he willingly volunteers to come in and deliver our baby even if he's not the doctor on call. No luck so far.....

We only have one Bradley class left! I'm still reading a TON of books and doing my own research online. I'm starting to feel more prepared, but know we have a long way to go.

The current books on the coffee table include:
The Baby Book, Dr. Sears

The Birth Book, Dr. Sears

Nighttime Parenting, Dr. Sears
The Breastfeeding Book. Dr. Sears (can you tell I like Dr. Sears?)

The Birth Partner, Penny Simpkins (awesome, awesome book!)

Natural Childbirth-The Bradley Way, Susan McCutcheon

The Bradley Student Workbook

The Bradley Assistant Coaches Manuel

Books on my Amazon list (that won't stay there for long):

Birthing From Within, Pam England

The Vaccine Book, Dr. Sears

Exercise and relaxation practice is going great. Ted is a fantastic coach. Just amazing. I'm so blessed.

I want to start doing some prenatal yoga. Anyone have any good suggestions? Preferably something without all the weird stuff. Just the exercises.

I'm starting to get really worried about premature delivery. I had what seemed like hours of nightmares last night about about our baby girl being born at 16 weeks, getting put back inside my womb, then coming out again at 26 weeks and having all sorts of problems. (Alisha-she looked just like Charlotte. So pretty!) I'm actually worrying more now that the baby is nearing the point of viability that I was when the baby had no chance outside my womb. One of the kids I work with was born at 25 weeks. That's our baby in only 4 days. I know there is nothing I can do to keep this from happening (besides eating right and staying in shape-which I'm doing) so I'm trying to offer up my fears and let it go. It's not easy. Please stay put little baby.

I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions! I've actually been having them for weeks and had no idea. For weeks now, I've noticed that my stomach (I guess my uterus really) will suddenly get really hard and make me feel like I have to pee. Sometimes it goes away before I even make it to the bathroom. It happens 5-10 times a day. I thought it was the baby "rolling down onto my bladder" and had no idea it was a contraction. A girl in our Bradley class was asking the instructor about pre-labor contractions. She was trying to figure out if she was having them or not. I pridefully thought to myself, "I don't know how you could miss them-I know I'll be able to tell when I start having them." (yes-I'm a judgemental jerk.) But as soon as she started describing what she felt I said, "Wait-I've been feeling that too!" Our instructor said they were definitely contractions. I felt like such an idiot. And a jerk.

My belly button hasn't started to pop out yet. Ted and I are actually skeptical that it ever will. It kind of looks like it's tacked down from the past surgeries. Wouldn't that be awesome?? A very strange and unexpected perk of requiring two laparoscopies before conceiving!

And now for a bump picture. What you can't see under the shirt is that I don't have any stretchmarks (yet.....) but I'm starting to get that weird line down the center of my belly. And even though it hasn't popped yet, the line has proven once and for all that my belly button is completely off center.