Baking a Baby - 24 Weeks

 It's been 6 weeks since my last pregnancy update, it felt like it was time to do another one. This pregnancy, as challenging as it is, still feels like it is flying by, so fast.

So, off we go!

Size of Baby: As of our last growth check ultrasound and echo-cardiogram, she was small, but within size for her age--the 20th percentile. We will take it!! Her heart looks healthy (Praise the Lord!) and she is wiggly and squirmy, and on track. Yay!

Total Weight Gain: Well... um... 15 pounds. I think that's right on schedule for 24 weeks. I'm definitely feeling more hungry all the time. I haven't changed how I'm eating too much yet, mostly managing to control that.

Maternity Clothes: Wearing them!! Have to now--we have that unattractive belly-hanging-out-of-shirt issue now when I'm NOT wearing maternity shirts, haha! I can still fit in my leggings, and I've been trying to stretch my wardrobe out with long tunic/maternity shirts, and leggings. Normally this is NOT something I would waltz around in, but they're all long cover-the-booty completely shirts, so I'm making an exception. My mom got me an additional pair of jeans and two new shirts, so those have definitely come in handy. And, I designed and made one skirt to stretch out my Sunday wardrobe a bit, which I've ended up LOVING, and I should be able to wear it after the pregnancy too, at my natural waist. Side note: You might think that an old, stretched out, no longer elastic-y pair of yoga pants would be the perfect thing for a pregnant lady to wear to the gym. You'd be wrong.

Movement: YES! Constantly. I love it. She's been mostly a wiggler and a squirmer so far, which I am very thankful for. Because her actual kicks and punches pack a wallop, and they hurt. My front ribs are just now starting to get a bit of a beating. These are good things though, and I do my best to not complain about them. Wiggling babies are healthy babies.

Sleep: I'm doing pretty well there. I think I might have just a few weeks of that left though--we are on the edge of uncomfortable land. I've noticed that I'm waking up a lot easier in the night to noises and things that I normally wouldn't wake up to.

What I miss: Being able to touch the floor as needed. I swear it's getting farther and farther away. I don't know who keeps moving the darn thing lower.  And, I don't know if this makes any sense, but oddly enough, the other thing I miss is a sense of our plans... we had the usual list of "in the next 6 months to a year let's..." that I think everyone has--ours included things like going to the Moab Desert in the fall, Garrett and me delving into backpacking and mountaineering, and climbing a few mountains that will get us ready for the big ones on our bucket lists, our usual camping trips, things like that. And, while some of these things aren't going away--the dates for them have definitely gotten pushed out a bit, and that's a little hard for me. I'm looking forward to meeting this person and figuring out how she fits in our family so we can figure out what "business as usual" looks like now.

Cravings:  I wouldn't say cravings are anything unusual for me, pregnant or not. The one weird thing is that I am drinking A LOT more milk than I usually do. Like, milk almost always at any given time sounds good. That's not normal for me, unless I'm eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I have made chocolate chip cookie dough at 10 PM twice in the past few weeks. I would say I'm usually susceptible to Pinnings--meaning one of my friends pins something on Pinterest that looks delicious, I'm going to have no peace of mind until I just make it.  Hence the Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies at 10 PM last night. They were majorly yum.

Symptoms: We have reached the Catapult-Self-Out-Of-Bed-From-Dead-Sleep-In-Leg-Cramp-Agony portion of this entertaining thing known of as pregnancy. We have also reached the Must-Cross-Legs-Tightly-Before-Sneezing portion as well. Haha! I think that about covers it. They're so worth it though.

What I am looking forward to: Settling on a name for her!! We FINALLY have narrowed it down to two, I think. It's been really REALLY challenging this time around. We are at the point where we are going to have to do a Diamond Rio,  "I start walking your way, you start walking mine, we meet in the middle 'neath that old Georgia Pine..." thing. Except here we'd be meeting under a Douglas Fir, and that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. :-)

I am also really looking forward to getting the girls room all ready to go. I sat down and made lists of what I'd like to get done before she joins us, and I'm finally figuring out how to live in this house, and what life looks like here in this home, so I'm excited about their room, and hopeful that I can accomplish what's needed there before she joins us.

Milestones: Every week is a milestone. She's over a pound now. Praying the Lord helps us to make it past 35 weeks, and has her come naturally before they schedule a c-section at 38 weeks. They won't induce me since I've had a c-section, and they won't let me go past 38 weeks since I'm diabetic. Rock and Hard Place. This means I'm praying very specifically for dates, because I DO NOT WANT another c-section. And I'm terrified of another preemie. So, we pray and trust. Also, I made an Amazon baby registry. That was fun. And, I made a list of what I want to get done before she comes. Lists make me happy, so that was fun. It feels like we've got another kid on the way! Yay! :-)

Best Moment this week: This has been going on for about three weeks now, but she'll be pretty still, and then the girls will come into the room talking and being loud, and she'll start kicking when she hears them. And, if they push against my stomach she'll kick back. I just love that part.

Photo courtesy of Brianna. :-)