With this baby, I was so focused on surviving the first trimester and moving on from that miserable part, that this halfway point has really snuck up on me. Halfway!
- How far along? 20 weeks
- Total weight gain: I’m actually not going to play this game anymore. I’ll weigh myself the day I go to the hospital to deliver to see what my total weight gain for the whole pregnancy is, but I don’t think I’ll hop on the scale anymore between now and then. Just like with my first 2 pregnancies, I gained a whole boatload of weight in the first trimester, more than what I’d say is considered “normal,” and now that my nausea and extreme need for food is over it’s all leveled off. Plus I’ve gotten back into exercising and am trying to get my pregnancy workout DVD in 2-3 times per week, so that definitely helps. I feel good, and I just want to try to stay healthy and in good shape for when the time comes for 1 more delivery. Because no matter how short it may last (hopefully!!), that shit is full-body intense!
- Maternity clothes? Not quite yet. All of my regular jeans and non-stretchy pants are officially done, but both pairs of maternity jeans are still too big. So yoga pants it is for a while. And no maternity tops. One good thing about being pregnant in winter is since it’s cold, I can cover up in all my big sweatshirts and sweaters and not worry about finding shirts to fit.
- Stretch marks? Nope, not yet. And the third time around better not be when those suckers rear their ugly heads, either.
- Sleep: So far pretty good.
- Best moment this week: Hearing from the perinatologist that he can say with 99.9% certainty that the baby is completely healthy – no chromosomal abnormalities, no red flags found in his ultrasound, everything looked perfect in there. He said the baby looks tall. Duh.
- Miss anything? Besides having a pair of jeans that fits, regular or maternity, nothing right now really.
- Movement: Yes, since 1 day before week 15. That’s the earliest of all 3 – D was 20 weeks and L was around 16 weeks.
- Cravings: Not really, but I have eaten a lot of pickles during this pregnancy. That’s not super odd, though, since I’ve always liked pickles.
- Aversions: Now that the first trimester is over, again, not really anything. Those first couple weeks, though, wow – life in general was an aversion of mine. Scents are still stronger than normal, but nothing like when I was pregnant with D and my entire sense of smell got turned upside down.
- Gender: Did not find out.
- Labor signs: Zero.
- Symptoms: A little heartburn here and there, outward abdominal pressure (confirmed normal with the doc since everything is trying to bust out through my abs), my hair is definitely shedding less and less when I brush it, and now an ache and pain on the outside of my left hip (again, just a normal expansion from pregnancy). Oh, and I’m gaining a child’s worth of weight.
- Belly button in or out? Still in, thankfully. I’ve noticed the very beginning of it going out, though, so I’m sure it will go the full monty again since it did with Lana.
- Wedding rings on or off? On.
- Looking forward to: Learning if this is actually a boy or girl. I know we have quite a ways to go before that happens, but now that the ultrasound is over and we did not find out, I’m even more curious. I swear I saw boy parts, but I could be totally making that up since the doctor never really even looked in that area. I told him we didn’t want to know so to tell me when to look away, and he never did. It appeared that he was just avoiding that whole region in general. I saw him measuring internal organs, head, brain, face, heart, arms, legs, feet, and hands, but he never really even peeked in the between the legs or butt area. I meant to ask him if he saw what it was since I didn’t ask him to, but I forgot. So the secret is apparently safe. But, just like with the other 2, I’ll mentally prepare myself for a little boy yet again.
Now it’s picture time! I don’t have a 20 week picture from Della, so again this is Lana at 20 weeks on the left and #3 on the right. Sorry, still haven’t cleaned up that front bench yet.
And for a bonus this week since I haven’t had a tri-comparison for a couple weeks now, here’s a comparison of me from the day I found out I was pregnant with this one until now. Wow! Quite a bit has changed in 20 weeks, I’d say.
