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Week 23 Milestones: Baby is about a pound now, and is 20cm CRL but still has room to move around. Fingernails are completely developped. The baby's body is becoming better proportioned and if he were to be born now, he would have a small chance of survival! My Journal: This baby boy has been busy lately and so have his parents! We set up the playpen and moved our furniture around to make room for it and the whole set-up looks amazing. The playpen has a bassinet, which is positioned right next to my side of the bed. We probably won't keep it up for the next few months (it does block my path to the door and therefore to the bathroom which I will need more and more when baby becomes even heavier and more skilled at kicking me right in the bladder!), but maybe we will. I love sitting and staring at it and thinking about what Avery will look like all tucked safely inside at night. I've also been folding and sorting baby clothes and can't get over how small those little outfits are! I'd forgotten how tiny those little newborns are! Paul and I were price comparing diapers at the store recently too and I was telling him how we should only buy one pack of newborn size diapers because babies often grow out of that size after just one pack! Just thinking about how small our little baby will be but how fast he will grow after that is just such an emotional thing to think about - right now we're eagerly awaiting his arrival and then we'll be dragging our heels not wanting our baby to grow up so fast! Even Paul was saying he can't get over how big Avery is right now - a pound seems pretty huge. And whenever I feel those big kicks, I'm reminded of how big and strong my little one is getting! I guess we are at a strange in-between point right now - Avery's birth is close enough that I've been starting to feel anxious about getting everything ready on time, but far enough away that we are eager and can't wait to get a little closer! Hopefully we can just enjoy the months of pregnancy that are left and enjoy the time we have to keep preparing everything for the baby! Test Results/Ultrasounds/Appointments: Next regular appt. is next week. Physical: Well, I've had a few more round ligament pains lately, and some have been pretty painful. There's one chair in particular that I notice that everytime I sit there for a while, I have pains afterwards (so I think I will find another chair to sit in when I'm in that room!). I've also started getting what I think are Braxton-Hicks contractions. I had a few one evening during my week of camping, and have had another couple sets since. They are sometimes painful though, which I've heard B-H contractions aren't supposed to be, so who knows? It does feel like just a tightening of my uterus muscles though, so I don't know what else it could be other than B-H contractions. One time I had a few and they really got Avery kicking! I guess space is getting really cramped in there (little does he know it will get more squished before he gets more room!). I've been getting more stretch marks too - the count of new ones is up to 6 and they are all at the top of my belly above my belly button (and above all the other stretch marks I have from my pregnancy with Harmony!). I am still doing my cocoa butter stick or cream once or twice a day though, so I'm hoping I won't get too many more stretch marks. The one thing that is really frustrating with my belly is that it still curves inward slightly at what used to be my "waist". I love that I'm "showing" (for the most part), but would rather have a nice round belly! I guess it just doesn't make sense to me how the skin can be so firm above my belly button (and how my belly button can be such an outtie!) while still having some semblance of a "waist" in the middle. Even fretting over this issue hasn't taken away the wonder and amazement I feel every time I look in the mirror though - I love this little belly of mine and love watching Avery's little jumps when they are big enough to be seen! Weight Gain/Food: Well, that week of weighing in at 10-12lbs was not just a fluke - I really have gained that extra weight. But maybe I'll be lucky and it will level off again! I find my food tolerance lately has actually been okay - I've been happily eating most of the regular foods I like. Even cooking food hasn't bothered me too much, including raw meat (which at earlier stages of the pregnancy just made me gag). I've still been really thirsty though, and we've gone through a whole 4L bag of milk since our Saturday morning grocery shop! I will have to stop by the store tomorrow to pick up a second bag for me for the rest of the week! Emotional: Well today was a very emotional day to begin with! and I think I can only blame part of it on being pregnant. My little girl got on the bus to grade one today, and she just looked so mature and so confident, I was just in absolute tears once the bus was out of sight. I think if Paul hadn't been there (or other parents), I could've just bawled for hours over my baby growing up so fast! I was also a little emotional about Paul going away on a business trip - it'll be the longest we've been away from each other in... I don't know how long! Possibly in the 2+ years he's been living here with us. And I'm a little worried about sleeping at night without him - I find I don't go to sleep very well even if he's late coming to bed, etc. (Meanwhile I used to sleep by myself for years, go figure!). I also find lately I've been irritated by little things, like all the typical 5-year-old noises Harmony makes that I can usually tune out really well, or Paul's not-so-fun habits. I've been a little touchy lately, but not too awful I hope! I guess the combination of spending a week with non-stop family time (in very close quarters) and all the changes happening now has got me a little flustered. There's a lot going on so it's a little overwhelming sometimes!
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