Baby size: 6.5 inches head to rump (10 inches head to heel), the size of a banana
Bump size: 35.8 inches
Weight: +12 pounds
Cravings: Anything sweet
Half way there! It's very hard to believe. And a lot has happened this week.
The baby's movements have gotten much stronger this week. Although I've been feeling things on and off since 15 weeks, it wasn't until the last few weeks that the movements have become more frequent. The movements before felt like soft little pokes or flicks. It wasn't until this week that they actually started to feel like strong kicks.
They have gotten so strong, in fact, that Pat got to feel his first kick on Friday! It was so exciting and fun for both of us. He has been able to feel it a few times since then, too. Baby is most active after 10 p.m. at night (a habit we hope to break as soon as it's born!). Pat describes the movements to feel like muscle spasms. He's not far off. That's kind of what it feels like from the inside, too.
A few weeks ago, Pat asked me "when are you going to start 'nesting'?" which was his not-so-discreet attempt to find out when I would get the desire to start cleaning and organizing our house. I didn't think nesting was something that really happened. Especially not to people like me who could find any excuse in the world not to clean (if you want me to clean my house - call me and tell me you're coming over or ask me to throw a party).
But here I am, halfway through the pregnancy and the nesting kicked in. I worked my butt off (unfortunately not literally) over the long holiday weekend to start getting organized for this baby. It was nice to finally acknowledge that we do have a baby coming and we have a lot of work to do to get our house ready. Pat was soon begging for mercy and wishing the nesting would have never kicked in because a lot of my organizing and cleaning involved him. :) Ask and you shall receive, dear husband of mine.
But something even more unusual for me than a desire to clean and organize, is a desire to throw things away. I'm a pack rat. It's in my genes. But this weekend, all I wanted to do was throw things away. And Pat couldn't have been happier about that! In fact, instead of cleaning my messy scrapbooking room to make space for our office furniture, I was quite tempted to just throw it all away. I didn't of course, but I considered it.
So not only did we get our house on the path to being clean and organized, I also started buying things for the nursery. I bought the dresser (a craig's list find that we plan to sand and paint), the crib and crib mattress. It feels so good to have all of these big things done.
And since life is full of compromise, I didn't splurge on the crib and dresser like I wanted to (Pat wanted to spend the least amount of money possible). So I found the used dresser and got the cheapest consumer rated crib on the list instead. In the end, I think Pat is right about this one and in the long run, I will be glad we didn't spend a ton of extra money on this stuff. There, I said it Pat; you were right (for now.. until the crib falls apart...). But really, even when you go the cheap route, just preparing for a baby is EXPENSIVE !Can't image how much it costs once they get here!
I had my monthly doctor's appointment this week and Pat and I both couldn't help but notice how the tone of these appointments is starting to change. At first it was all fun and games and lots of laughter during the appointments. Although there was still laughter this time, too, it was more of an awkward obligatory laughter on my part when he started throwing terms around like "your baby is measuring big" and "you might have a big baby on your hands."
My all-time favorite quote from the appointment was when he said, "Sleep now. After the baby comes you'll be asking yourself 'what the heck was I thinking?'" As Pat put it, it seems like our doctor went from answering our questions to now, bracing us for impact. I was also informed that I've gained too much weight and that if I want to be able to push this baby out (which I do) I must stay away from the sweets.
Normally this would not be a problem for me. Give me the chips and dip and we'll call it even. But ever sine I've been growing this life inside of me, I can't pass up any dessert you put in front of me. I don't think it's fair that this is only affecting me - you already took away my drinking privileges, now sweets too? If that's the case, Pat is going down with me. So we made a pact. Neither of us will eat sweets - except on Sunday - for the remainder of the pregnancy. We will see how that goes...
Pat and I also celebrated our three year wedding anniversary this week. It's hard to believe we've been married three years and together for six and a half. I can honestly say it gets better every day - except when he's telling me to stop eating sweets. But really, I feel so lucky to have him and I'm so thankful that with all of the uncertainty that lies ahead for us when it comes to parenting, I can be sure of one thing; our child is going to grow up in a home with parents who love each other.
Oh yeah. I'm also emotional and sappy.
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