Birthday

Yesterday was my 28th birthday, and on the way to dinner, I turned to Jeremy and said, "This is my last birthday without a child."  It was definitely a moment.  We both took a little time to consider that for the rest of my birthdays, there will be a person (or people) with us.  


YES, we already knew this.  We are not idiots.  We know we will have a little person soon and she will be a part of us forever, but thinking about all of those little individual things -- like a last birthday alone -- is really something.


Anyway, once we got home from the restaurant, I realized that this REALLY wasn't my last birthday before becoming a mom.  This hit me when I finally slipped off the shoes I had been wearing all day and saw Flinstone feet and cankles.  I FLIPPED OUT.  I have had a little swelling on my long days at work, but yesterday actually scared me.  I started panicking and crying.  I propped my feet up on three pillows on Jeremy's lap and he rubbed them for an hour.  Then I went to bed early, crying about how bad my lower back and hips hurt.


Yep, I guess last year was my last birthday before being a mom! :)

21 Weeks

Today is 21 weeks!  

The baby is probably about three-quarters of a pound and 10 1/2 inches long.  She is all done getting her proportions figured out, and she looks like a miniature newborn.  She even has her eyebrows now!! 

I am past the halfway point and moving right along.  Of course, we just had the ultrasound and discovered we are having a BABY GIRL (!!!), and I was sure they would either say I was so dang big because I had two babies in there or because I was off on my due date and the baby was weeks ahead of schedule.  Sadly, neither was true.  The baby is EXACTLY on for 21 weeks, there is only one, and I am just bigger than most women because ... well, because.  


I still have not gained much at all, and I am excited about that since I was already on the "dark side" of the scale and was sure I would gain like 50 pounds in the first few months.  However, I sure feel like I have gained weight!  The baby is so high that she is already pressing on my diaphram, and just walking across campus can be a feat!  I bet I look pretty classy huffing and puffing my way to teach every morning! 


Overall, I still feel great.  My big problem with sleeping now is that since I have gotten big enough, my doctor and I had the talk about how I go to sleep on my left side (like I was instructed!) but wake up flat on my back.  I just feel much more comfortable on my back, so apparently I move to that position to get restful sleep, but the weight of the baby now puts too much pressure on my inferior vena cava if I lay flat on my back, which can cut off blood flow (and then oxygen) to the baby.  He said to barricade my back with pillows so I can't roll over, but he didn't realize he was dealing with the girl who would take her retainer out in her sleep and then sleepwalk around the room and hide it.  So, I barricade myself, and then wake up on my back anyway.  Sigh.  


I was hoping it wasn't THAT big of a deal to sleep on my back (even though everything I read said the opposite), but the doctor said I should at least TRY not to cut off blood flow to my baby.  So I am working on it.  Last night I only woke up on my back once, so I guess that is an improvement.


Anyway, we get more excited by the day!  Can't wait to meet her!