19 weeks.

I'm a little bit behind this week... work is pretty busy right now (ok, that comment deserves a slap in the face since now my "busy" was "moderately slow" at my old firm. Busy now has a whole new meaning. Who knew you could be busy at work and still have a life? Another post entirely on the night and day aspects of my new firm versus my old firm and the HUGE question of  "why didn't I leave YEARS ago?" but we'll leave that for a rainy day... or come have a glass of wine with me and I'll tell you all about it. Well, after August anyway). Moving on to the weekly update on the turtle in my tummy:

19 weeks (plus Justin's arm in the background. Silly husband... I WISH my arms had that definition...)

19 weeks, angle two.

And 18 weeks for comparison. I seriously feel like I keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger but the pictures don't quite show what is in my head. I just feel like I keep popping and popping though I know I am still considered "small" for almost being 5 months along. STILL. My belly button is pretty much at the edge of my skin ready to go. Boo hoo.

How I'm feeling?

Still feeling pretty amazing... in fact, much more like my old self than I have in oh, five months. My "normal" eating habits are returning, no hormonal meltdowns, feel great working out, have energy, etc. I finally get why they call the 2nd trimester the "honeymoon" trimester. YOU ACTUALLY FEEL NORMAL. Who knew that was considered a honeymoon? But I guess to put it in perspective when you've felt like shit for so long, feeling normal is pretty much euphoric.

My body, however, is still revolting the whole "normal" idea and reminding me that I am indeed 5 months pregnant. I continued my workout regimen this week (lifting, running, yoga). My brain tells me to run and walk and workout and it's AWESOME. Incredible even. And then 5 seconds after I stop, I'm walking around like I am 80 years old and need a cane, as well as some assistance to get off the couch, please.

How I'm changing?

See hip pains, above. Hasn't stopped. Belly hasn't stopped growing either. Neither have my boobs (INCREDIBLE by the way... I am still totally intrigued by this since I have always been a small chested girl. I actually don't LIKE big boobs, I've decided. They get in the way and it's not as comfortable to run with big jugs all over the place. Guess I know now. I swear, they are about triple in size). We saw the midwife this week and she showed me how to feel where my uterus is. Right now it's continuing to rise up and is about even with my belly button (which is also why I'm about to have an outtie). It's crazy to feel where the "hardness" is and to know where the uterus is and she also taught me to feel where the baby is (although I'm starting to feel kicks which I have determined are indeed not gas and can tell mostly where he/she is from that now anyway). The baby is currently sitting more on my right side. Not a square and centered kid, apparently. It's our kid.

What I'm eating?

I'm over the pita and hummus thing. Go figure. This week my normal eating habits returned! HOORAY (and also, weird). I actually ate SALADS three days in a row. I kid you not, I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten a salad in, you guessed it, 5 months. We also made tacos one night and I wanted them spicy! Before pregnancy I was the queen of spicy foods but as soon as pregnancy hit? REVOLTING. Made me sick. I wanted everything bland. Bread and butter bland. See my first salad in months below (and with a hardboiled EGG. Progress!):

Weight I'm gaining? 

I actually didn't gain much weight this week... consistent with last week, I've halted the two pound gains. I was 130.4 last week and 131 this week. My body has apparently decided that it has enough fat on it to be healthy enough to support a baby. From here on out, all weight gain (I'm assuming) is baby growth related.

How I'm sleeping? 

Really no complaints here this week although the DREAMS. HOLY crap, the dreams are out of control. It's like I dream all night and they are so vivid and so bizarre... and like I am dreaming in real time and not, if that makes sense. It's like my dreams are centered around current events that are actually happening but then there's something crazy thrown in. IE: I had a big meeting last week (for real) and I had to be there. In my dream, I went in to labor... with TWIN GIRLS...the night before. So I pushed those babies out (and seriously? Babies?! Please tell me there's only one in there!!) and Justin and I spent the night tag teaming. I'd feed one, he'd change her as I'd feed the other and back and forth. All of a sudden I freaked out because I had to be at my meeting the next morning so I ran to it and my boss was all "What the hell are you doing? Didn't you just give birth to twins?" It was so bizarre and felt so real. Even weirder?? I kid you not at work the next morning, an email came through from one of the partners about how a former co-worker (someone I don't even know) had given birth to twin girls. Um.... what? Am I psychic in my dreams in some weird twisted way?

What's the baby doing?

-The baby is 6.0 inches or the size of a heirloom tomato (I've seen some of these and I'm hoping it's not of the "giant" heirloom tomato sizes...)

-The baby's senses are developing and specialized areas in the brain are being designated for smell, taste, hearing, vision and touch (it continues to hear outside noises as if underwater).

-More controlled/conscious movements are occurring as neurons in the brain continue to develop (IE: kicks. FEELING THAT. It's so weird. Sometimes it feels like gas, sometimes it tickles, sometimes it feels like I'm being poked. One time- funnily enough- I was in my big meeting with my new client (the one I dreamt about) and I got a HUGE kick. Big enough for me to be startled and pause and say "excuse me" because it caught me so off guard).

-The baby's kidneys continue to make urine (which by the way, goes into the amniotic fluid). I started calling it our baby that floats in its own pee. Justin tells me its sterile but this was a very odd realization for me. Guess all of us survived!

-Baby is basically pretty much a baby, just needs to grow and grow and grow...

What we are doing to prepare for the baby?

-We went to hypnobirthing again this week which was, again, awesome. Justin had some bad side effects from the medication they put him on for his atrial fibrillation a few weeks ago (as in dizzy to the point of throwing up and the worst headache he's ever had). Needless to say, I had some doubts we'd be able to make it to hynobirthing but we saw another (way more awesome) cardiologist who promptly cut Justin's medication, Justin felt 1000% better, and we made it to hypnobirthing. I swear, I walk out of there feeling so relaxed it's almost the equivalent of smoking pot. It's just incredible. If this is teaching me how to relax during labor and I'm able to achieve this state, I am ALL FOR IT.

- We also saw the midwife as I mentioned. All looks good, heartbeat is at 150 beats per minute and we are just trucking along.

- We got our crib and Sam the giant moose for the beginnings of the nursery.

Random thoughts on pregnancy (pregnancy brain?)

I still have pregnancy brain. That is all. It is the weirdest thing to totally forget what you are saying midsentence. Multiple times. In ten minutes.

And also: the movement is really cool. It makes the whole thing seem more real and it was my big "WOAH, there actually is something in there" moment this week as feeling the movement got much more consistent.