Midway points and an exciting finish!

23 WEEKS!

I’m over half way through this nine month process of growing another human. I can’t believe it. Of course, the first 4-6 weeks you pretty much don’t even know your pregnant, so when you find out, you’re already a good way into it. I have a feeling the latter half is going to go by much more steadily. After all, the days won’t be a blur of naps, sickness, fatigue, and food aversions. When you’re actually living in the moment, it’s amazing how different your days feel.

I feel like the past two weeks or so I’ve really “grown”. Things aren’t fitting like they used to, including my maternity pants and some unmentionables :>). I’ve now taken two pairs of Dave’s pj pants to sleep in and raided his tshirt drawer for relaxing clothes. Even my sweat pants with elastic waist bands feel snug by the end of the day. I’ve also noticed that I get full from a meal so fast. I’m going to have to learn how to manage this. When I sit down to a meal and begin to eat, I’ll get about a third of the way through, sometimes half, before I start to feel full. I then think to myself “but I haven’t eaten very much….I’ve got to eat a little more for the baby”. So I’ll take a few more bites, and then it hits and I’m so full and uncomfortable that I’m miserable. I think it’s time to officially make the adjustment to multiple little meals rather than three bigger meals per day. I also notice that my morning hunger pangs seem to wake me up before my alarm! Mornings I’m the hungriest. In fact, at work this week I was running late and only had time for a banana in the morning. By the time lunch break rolled around, I was shaky and weak. I almost didn’t make it into the store to buy lunch from the parking lot. A bit scary, but I learned my lesson to not skip out on having a normal amount of food at breakfast.

I’ve taken to tracking my weight on my scale at home rather than trusting the doctors office. This past week, when we had our apt, she weighed me so fast and her scale said I had gained 12 pounds in the last 5 weeks!! According to my scale, I had only gained about 7-8, so that didn’t seem right at all. Total, I’ve gained somewhere between 18 and 19 pounds. Feels like a lot, considering I have lots of friends who only gained 20-22 through their entire pregnancy. But, then again, they aren’t 5’7”, 150 pound women like me when they aren’t pregnant (speaking of which, I’ve noticed that most of my friends are petite little things….how did that happen!). If I really think about it, then I can let these numbers really bother me and get me upset. But, then I remind myself that this is ME, not anyone else, and what applied to me health and weight wise 23 weeks ago does not apply now. As long as I’m eating a good blend of fruits, veggies (which have FINALLY started to taste good to me again) grains and low fat protein, then I’m just not going to worry about it. I do feel like I need I need to increase my exercise a bit. I’ve been very sporadic with jazzercise, and with all of the crazy weather, I’ve probably only been 5 or 6 times in the past two months. As much as I love Jazzercise, I don’t think it is the right exercise for me while I’m pregnant. Many of the moves are uncomfortable and involve a lot of jumping. Dave made a good suggestion today….he suggested that I jazzercise one night per week, and then start going with him to the actual fitness center and walking on the treadmill two other nights per week. I think this is a really good idea and will be beneficial to me in many ways.

I want to close this blog post by talking about all of the fantastic things that I have to look forward to in the next few months, particularly March. The first weekend in March, my bestie, Brooke, and I are taking a weekend trip down to Houston to visit our other bestie, Lauren. Lauren is about 17 weeks pregnant (and by the way, she already knows it’s a boy!) and so it’s been fun to have her to share this experience with. March 8 is my next doc appt, which includes another sonogram. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for a cooperative baby so that we can find out if it’s pink or blue! The following week is the last week before spring break and that includes our 5 year anniversary on March 11. Wow…5 years….I feel old! To celebrate ,on March 13th, Dave and I are taking a trip to San Francisco! We are so excited!! We have never taken a vacation just he and I. We’ve always gone to visit family, and while that’s fun, cause our family does live in some fun places, it’s high time we had an adventure of our own. We get back the following Friday, and on the 21st, Dad Norvell will be in town for a quick trip. He’s coming to shop at one of the great stores the metroplex has to offer, IKEA. Even though it will be fast, I’m looking forward to seeing him. The 23rd, Dad Vendsel arrives in town for a long weekend of nursery decorating! I’m so so so excited about this! It will be so fun to have dad here for a few days and for him to have such a fun part in this experience. He leaves on the 28th, and then the following weekend, the first weekend in April, we’re hoping to schedule a maternity photo session. After that I have a feeling all of the baby shower’s will begin, and of course there is Easter. June 12 is going to be here before we know it!