23 weeks of belly love

 

 

Please accept this blurry picture from our baby-moon in Vegas as our 23 week picture…

 

I must say, I am truly starting to feel pregnant.

It only took almost 6 months to get to that point – go figure!

 

Up until now, I’ve had only 4 strangers actually acknowledge my pregnancy. It may seem weird to you that I would care to keep track of that, but it’s my only real measuring stick to know if I’m “showing” or just ambiguously fat looking ;)

 

I will never forget the very first stranger to ever ask if I was pregnant. Over a month ago, I was at work typing a patient’s information into the computer as she was telling it to me. I wasn’t very big yet and even if I were, the shirt I was wearing that day had a ton of ruffles and disguised any belly extremely well. Add my white lab coat on top of that and there was NO WAY you would ever imagine I was pregnant without knowing.

But just when I thought I was incognito, she asked… and I was stunned! I think she could tell I was surprised even though I confirmed that I indeed was ‘with child’. She said she thought I might be because – get this – I scratched my stomach?!

HOLY COW!!! She should be a DETECTIVE!!!

She said she had 4 kids and with each of them her belly was always itchy from the stretching. So not only did she sniff out I was preggers, she answered my unspoken question – was everyone else’s belly as itchy as mine was?

She went on to say she didn’t think I would be offended if it turned out I wasn’t pregnant since she said I was “thin”. {WRONG assumption, detective!} I told her she was one brave woman and we had a good laugh as she went on to recommend some products that helped her itchiness. I was stunned and amused by her detective work the rest of the day!

 

SIDE NOTE: This was actually a Muslim woman I was talking to who was in a full burqa. I have always thought this way of dressing was oppressive {still do…}, but that day it struck me that it may give this woman the courage to ask what no one else would who’s face you may later identify. She was extremely talkative and a real hoot, I must say =) Rock on, burqa momma!

 

At 23 weeks, I’m still feeling pretty darn good. I’m not so huge that my belly is in the way though a few things are changing because of the loss of use of my abdominals. I find just a tiny bit more difficulty in doing the following – though they aren’t even close to being out of the question yet:

• Putting on my shoes and socks – getting dressed in general isn’t such a cake walk anymore
• Bending all the way to the ground or squatting down
• Sitting up from a lying position
• Turning over – but only on the couch. I think it gives me more trouble than the bed seeing that it’s cushier and gives me less support

 

The few food cravings I had have subsided, though I still go through gallons of milk like a beast! No food aversions either leaving the food front feeling rather normal to when I was a non-preggo. I do eat more often and never hold back from eating whatever I want {not so great with the junk food!} but it seems my weight gain is right on target.

I just looked up how much you should gain by 23 weeks and the answer was approximately 15 pounds. A+ student here! Though I have to admit it’s difficult sometimes to see a number on the scale I’ve never laid eyes on and wonder if I’ll ever get back to the lighter me one day. Oh well – C’est la vie!

 

Houston’s movement lately has been nothing short of AMAZING. Within just a couple of weeks, he’s gone from a kick here and there to periods of time where he does nothing but non-stop gymnastics in there. Just last night, after an hour of being a busy little bee, I started wondering if he would ever calm down for the night. Nick has felt him move plenty since my mom felt a kick on Easter Sunday and last night, he even got to SEE him move. It is so much fun to share these things I’ve been feeling with him!

His movements have yet to cause me any pain what-so-ever, just pure fun. They aren’t keeping me up at night or waking me up yet, which I am thankful for! {Getting up to pee several times in the middle of the night does enough damage to my REM cycle, thank you very much.}

 

It’s still hard for me to imagine there’s an actual human baby in there instead of just a little wiggle worm I love dearly who will someday be our sweet baby – so I Googled to help the image in my head, and this is what I found:

 

This is Amillia, the world’s youngest surviving baby, born at 22 weeks 6 days! This picture really put our baby into perspective for me. This is an extremely short article written about her birth, but profound. I recommend it!

 

If you haven’t yet entered our $50 VISA gift card giveaway which helps to raise money for the March of Dimes, there’s still time. The giveaway ends this Saturday evening. Thanks to everyone who has already joined in and helped the cause!