Thursday, April 26, 2012

22 weeks.


22 weeks. IT IS GOING TOO FAST. That is all. I need more time to mentally prepare. I guess that's what the next 18 weeks are for.



22 weeks shot angle 1.


22 weeks shot angle 2.


And 21 weeks for comparison.

How I'm feeling?
Huge. And getting bigger. Seems to be the status quo these days. My hips are still moving around and hurting a bit but I've come to accept that is just normal. Justin and I played tennis this week and it was actually a lot of fun. I was curious to know how it would be to run around out there with a little (lot) of extra weight and a tummy... it was sort of weird. I'd run after a ball but would keep going because I'm still not totally used to the whole balance thing or the fact that I do indeed have a lot more weight leading the way. Justin said I looked funny running around but, hey, at almost six months pregnant and I'm still smashing a tennis ball around, I'll take it. Workouts were kind of more lax this week. I was busier at work so I only lifted once and I really didn't run at all. I walked a lot...and played tennis. I figure that is better than nothing.

I am also in need of new clothes again. All of my shirts are starting to look like crop tops. So I go home from work, put on a shirt that used to fit that is now a crop top, soon to be a tube top, sweatpants that are slightly too tight and socks that may or may not match. I'm looking a little WT when at home these days (call before you come over... or just come over and laugh, whatever, I'm past the point of caring). One of the days this week was particularly rough trying to get ready for work so instead I ended up ordering shoes online. Um... like 5 pairs..and heels. I figure shoes will always fit, right? It helped at the moment.

Later in the week, I conceded and I did go shopping to buy some actual clothes (no shoes) that fit better since I am now apparently in a new stage of growth. I ended up getting quite a few things at target, surprisingly. But hey, it's cheap, and I know in another month, I'll be back to needing new stuff again so I can justify the short life with the cheapness factor. I bought a few maternity things but most are so ugly that I ended up just buying bigger sizes of "real people" clothes that are actually cute. A lot of the stuff I bought was for Hawaii next week.

Backne has turned into shoulder-ne. GO THE HELL AWAY!! (I'm told this is due to the testosterone due to the baby boy). Who knows, but it sucks.

I'm also back to severe pregnancy brain. I can't remember what I was saying two seconds after I started saying it, I forget people's names, I talk and sound like I have some sort of disorder because my words are all jumbled. It's the weirdest thing.

How I'm changing?
Can we talk about boobs again? Do we talk about them too much? Let me just say: I had to buy a new bra this week. As in a NEED. The old ones no longer fit. Or, well, it was pretty much like wearing pasties. So I go in to victoria's secret. They measure me. TWO FULL cup sizes bigger. And still growing. Are you kidding me?

Oh, and maybe another slightly off color topic- my bladder continues to shrink. And shrink. It's really common for women to piss themselves when they are pregnant, sometimes without knowing it... whether it's due to pressure on the bladder from the baby or just the way the bladder is positioned. Some women have pretty severe incontinence during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester. Lovely, right? Well, I thought I was one of the lucky ones and I wasn't going to have this issue. Ha. Ha. Haha. I sneezed this week and experienced my first little leak. UNCOOL pregnancy gods, UNCOOL.
 
What I'm eating?
Pretty much I'm back to eating what I normally used to eat. It is SO nice. I eat oatmeal with walnuts and flax for breakfast, something lighter for lunch (salads are totally acceptable to my stomach still, thank god!) and then whatever for dinner. We have been doing a lot of rice and lean meats with salads or vegetables. I also don't hate peanut butter anymore like I did in the first trimester so I've been snacking on that some too. Some people say you shouldn't eat peanut butter during pregnancy (or anything else for that matter) but to these people, I think they would be better served to lock themselves up in a padded room for 9 months because they are so paranoid. On the flip side, I've read that if you DON'T expose the baby to potential allergens (nuts, gluten, dairy), then the baby is much more susceptible to developing allergies once born. I just go with what sounds good to me and know that my body will tell me if something is not ok.

Weight I'm gaining? 
I have no idea actually. Since I didn't really lift weights this week, I didn't weigh myself. I would guess I'm 135? Up a pound from last week? We did see a energy/chakra/healer person recommended by our naturopath for Justin this week (another post entirely) who told me not to gain more than 30 pounds based on how my pelvis is (more than 30 pounds will = a big baby). I'm thinking that a 30 pound gain would put me at 150-155 pounds at birth since my "normal" weight should have been 120-125 but I was about 8-10 pounds underweight when I got pregnant. We'll see what happens. I'm eating well, working out and no longer eat like crap since I am well out of the first trimester "eat whatever you can to survive" period.


How I'm sleeping? 
Not too shabby. One night last week as we were falling asleep, the baby was doing serious gymnastics. I put my stomach against Justin and he could feel everything, too. He was like WHOA, that's got to be so weird. Yeah. It is. 

What's the baby doing?
-The baby is about 11 inches long (almost the size of a ruler- WHOA) or the size of a spaghetti squash. The baby is about 1 pound.
-The baby is continuing to develop its senses, including it's taste buds and touch
-The baby looks like a miniature newborn (no longer like an alien!) His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are more distinct and tiny tooth buds are developing. The eyes have formed but the irises still lack pigment.
-Mostly the baby continues to grow and grow and is moving all about, especially since there is still alot of room for him in the womb (NO KIDDING)...

What we are doing to prepare for the baby?
-We didn't really do that much this week. The only thing I can really think of is that I had an insane pregnancy moment when Justin left the house for a few hours last weekend... I think my "nesting" kicked in. I thought it would be a good idea to start moving out the office furniture out of the office (IE: baby's room). This involves a rather heavy desk but I didn't think it would be an issue getting it down the stairs. Um, it sort of was. Justin came back to a pretty torn apart house a couple hours later and was all "WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU INSANE? YOU KNOW YOU ARE PREGNANT, RIGHT?" Uh....yeah...

Random thoughts on pregnancy (pregnancy brain?)
Emotions are weird (theme of this whole thing). The craziest thing lately has been the fluctuations between, ok this is pretty cool (IE: feeling the baby move) to total anxiety about actually having a baby. And not so much the actual birth but the raising of a PERSON. I know a lot of it is hormones but man.... it would be nice to have a few days that aren't like the craziest hormonal roller coaster ever. Although I will say, I will take these ups and downs versus the bawling fests of the first trimester any day.