Presents

I am falling a little behind in presents, here.


Way back on my birthday, my wonderful mother-in-law gave me this sweet statue:

A few days after that, a co-worker of mine made me this little baby cap for a birthday gift:

She said I could switch the ribbon out every day with a different color to match the baby's outfits!

Then, when I saw my sister Tracy last weekend, she gave me this sweet little outfit:

I also registered for baby stuff the other night at Target and Babies R Us.  It was exhausting and a little scary.  I was very concerned about picking the right things.  Oh well, I know one way or another we will have everything we need by the time she arrives (or shortly thereafter!).

It still seems so far away ... August 28th ... it might as well be a year from now!  Jeremy, on the other hand, just told me at dinner that it seems really immediate to him, like he thought when I got pregnant that we had all the time in the world and now she will be coming very soon.  I wish she were coming soon!  The anticipation is killing me!

23 weeks

Today is 23 weeks, and that means that the baby is embarking on a weight-gain extravaganza over the next four weeks.  Today she is probably a little over 11 inches in length and a little over a pound, but in the next four weeks she will more than double in weight!  YAY, but ... she already seems to be taking up a lot of room, so ... we'll see.

Her hearing is also getting better and better every day, to prepare for all of the sounds she will hear when she arrives.  She is also supposedly able to feel me moving around now because her sense of feeling is so well developed.  It only seems fair, since I can DEFINITELY feel her moving around in there!  She continues to be a big mover.  I have to constantly remind myself that she is only a pound -- it is hard to believe she is so little but can make her presence known with as much force as a bowling ball! 

Her skin is also reddish in color right now because of the rapidly developing blood vessels and the fact that her skin is so thin.  The blood vessels in her lungs are also developing to prepare for breathing.

I continue to get bigger and bigger -- big surprise -- and have been getting some fun comments lately.  

Strangers will say, "OH MY, you are ready to POP!  When are you due?" and of course, I tell them "In four months" and they look horrified.  This past week, FOUR different people at work asked me, "Are you SUPPOSED to be this big?!?!"  I REALLY wanted to say, "I don't know.  Are YOU?" but I just smiled and said something vague and walked away.  

Other than unwelcome comments, I am feeling the stretch in my muscles all up and down my torso and am getting some unwanted pressure on my diaphram, making it difficult to talk a lot when I am teaching (which, if you know me, is a CRYING shame, since it is what I do best!), but things are pretty good overall.  Still some feet and ankle swelling, aches and pains, and trouble sleeping, but nothing unusual, and nothing that I don't already know is going to get worse as time goes by! :)

In just a few weeks I will be in the third trimester, and I can't wait!