Week 24

Conversation last night as Morgan sat with his hand against my belly:

me: Did you feel that?
Morgan: No.
me: Did you feel that?
Morgan: No.
(imagine five minutes of this)
me: Did you feel that?
Morgan: That was him?

So last night Morgan finally got to feel our little bug kick. Pretty cool.

This week, the bug has continued to grow (approximately 4 ounces in the last week). His lungs are also growing, and from about now, he will be considered viable if for any reason he were to arrive early. Oh, and my uterus is about the size of a volleyball. Whee.

The highlight of my week? I was praised for my lack of waddling. It takes some effort, let me tell you.

Another Fortune

This one is Morgan's:

A loved one is of utmost importance at this time.

Week 23

We're still in the growing phase of pregnancy; there's not much more going on right now. Well,the pancreas is functional this week; that's important. I'm also feel movements more consistently now, so the bug is definitely active. Symptoms for me? My hands are consistently going numb when I sleep now. This is annoying and makes hitting snooze on my alarm clock very difficult. I've also had leg cramps almost every night this week - and I've been eating my bananas! Sigh. Guess I should look at upping my magnesium supplements.

Apparently, the froglet can hear most of what's going on around him now. This will mean that come his birth day, my voice and Morgan's voice will be the most familiar things to him. (Presumably the clattering of laptop keys will also be pretty normal, too.) One of the things we've been worried about is whether we should try and untrain Pace from barking when people open the front gate or knock on the front door, because we want baby to be able to sleep uninterrupted. But it occurred to me recently that he will be pretty used to the sound of Pace barking already. Which is good because "protecting" us seems to bring Pace some measure of pleasure, and I don't mind people knowing we have a BIG dog. Now we just need to figure out how to get Pace used to the sounds of a baby.

Yesterday, I got my first belly pat. It was from someone I know, so it wasn't completely shocking, but it was startling. Guess I'm on display now. I also got my first "cute belly" comment. Funny.

That horrible thing grownups do to children that everyone thinks is really funny but actually causes the kid to go into uncontrollable spasms.*

Have I explained the tickle hormone here yet? Morgan decided early on in the pregnancy the way to ensure a happy baby was to unleash happy hormones. In me. Via tickling. At the rate we're going, we're going to have a very happy baby.

* Jill's hint during a game of Taboo. I immediately started bouncing up and down while yelling "tickle!" Thus alarming everyone else playing the game.

Turtle Turtle

This beautiful quilt came our way yesterday. Mardie bought it for the Junebug at the Honolulu Marathon Expo back in December, and its wonderful for a variety reasons. First off, its adorable. Secondly, Morgan and I have always been big fans of Hawaiian quilts, and while this isn't a traditional one, its still a Hawaiian quilt. Its also from Mardie, who is one of our favorite people. And finally, how perfect is it that the kid is getting presents from running expos before he's even born? Honolulu was my first (and fourth) marathon and will always hold a special place in my heart. Maybe I'll have a new running partner in a few years.

Its big enough to use as a blanket on the floor for playtime, but it also has loops on the back so we can hang in the nursery if we want to. Thank you, Mardie!

22 Weeks.

At 22 weeks, the average baby is about 11 inches - just one inch less than that ruler up there. Since I expect our child to be above average in all ways, I'm just going with the ruler as a demonstration of how long the bean is this week. Yikes.

By now, our boy's lips, eyelids, eyebrows, and tooth buds under his gums have all formed. His eyes have formed as well, but the irises still lack pigment. Brown like dad or blue like mom? Or, possibly green, if he takes after his aunt and great uncle? Its kind of cool to think about. Allegedly, he has hair growing on his head too. It will be interesting to see which parent he takes after, since I think Morgan was born with a full head of hair, and I was bald for the first year of my life. According to old wives' tales (and a South American study of some variety), there is a link between how much heartburn mom has during pregnancy and the amount of hair the baby is born with. Since I've had minimal heartburn, does that mean the froglet is bald? Wonder if my mom had heartburn?

All my books tell me I'm in the happy, easy part of pregnancy, and I can't disagree. I'm not too tired, still moving around without too much trouble. I'm watching the scar from where I used to have a navel ring start to stretch out - oops. I'm disappointed that the super strong fingernails I had in the first trimester have vanished - now they're back to breaking and peeling. Oh well. I don't seem to have the thicker, faster growing hair that people talk about either - though it might be falling out slightly less than usual. My hairdresser assures me that this is temporary and after the baby is born, I'll lose all the extra hair. Great. I guess that's when I sign up for the mommy haircut? No, not really.

Partner

Last night was partner night at my prenatal yoga class. The instructor invited participants to bring their partner, spouse, whathaveyou. Morgan was a very good sport about twisting himself into ridiculous positions and sitting crosslegged for too long whilst chanting, despite his poor spasming back. He also tolerated the little lecture on how important it is to support me; maybe some other partners, spouses, whathaveyous need to be lectured by a complete stranger on these things (as might be deduced by the fact that out of ten people in my class, only five partners showed up), but Morgan doesn't. He's been amazing these last five months. Even if he does laugh at me when I make goofy noises getting in and out of the car. Even I have to admit its funny.

We also got to sit through a video of several water births; I kind of knew about this part, but didn't share with Morgan. That might have been a little mean. It was pretty amazing, and confirmed my thought that I want to aim for a natural birth. Maybe not in a tub though, given my feelings about bathtubs... But the coolest part? Morgan leaned over mid-video and whispered, "I'm beginning to think marathon training is the best thing you ever could have done to prepare for this."