25/27 weeks - My due date has officially been moved!

I had my second ultrasound last week because at my first ultrasound, the technician suggested that I might actually be two weeks further along than we had originally thought. (Either that, or the baby was just big...).

This ultrasound was definitely not as overwhelming and exciting as the first, but it was great to see the little guy again. He looked a lot bigger this time, and it was hard to fit his whole body into the screen. It was also more difficult to get a clear shot of his little face, but from what we could see, he still looked pretty adorable. The main difference was that this time my mom brought her camera, so we were able to capture the moment! The first time I think that it would have been too distracting, and we were too emotional to care about taking pictures. This worked out perfectly, because now I have these images to remember the experience.

At my appointment with my nurse practitioner yesterday, she confirmed that we would be changing my due date to May 14th. The second technician and the radiologist both agreed that my due date should be moved up by two weeks. Although this hurt my ego a little bit for some reason, (could I have been wrong about my last period?), I actually like the idea of being able to magically skip ahead two weeks. I also like the fact that now it makes more sense why my belly seems so big, and why I have gained so much weight already (22 pounds - can you believe it?). This appointment was also a nice relief because my nurse midwife was not at all concerned about how much weight I have gained, and said that I am right on track.

Those extra two weeks actually put me right at the beginning of my third trimester. Maybe it is all in my head, but I definitely felt much more tired and sluggish today than I have felt for a while. Sometimes my belly feels like it is weighing me down. Even so, I am still enjoying being pregnant. It is amazing to feel the baby moving inside of me, and now I can actually see my belly move from the outside! It looks a bit like a science fiction movie (but of course much more beautiful...). I hope that the tiredness is temporary. I have a lot to do before the baby comes!

23 weeks - My belly just keeps a-growin'!

Things are definitely starting for feel very real for me (and Adrian) lately, and that is both exciting and scary.

My belly seems to have grown exponentially - now even strangers are noticing that I am pregnant and asking when I am due. I still maintain that I would not ask someone about their belly even if they were obviously pregnant because you just never know, but at the same time I am relieved to know that people can tell that I am pregnant. This growth in my belly is causing some wardrobe problems for me because I keep feeling like I need to buy new clothes to accommodate my changing shape, but at some point I am just going to have to make do with what I have. I do not yet think that I have reached that point.

Along with the changing belly comes the fact that the baby is bigger now, and I can feel him moving quite frequently. It is hard to describe the sensation, because it feels natural and normal, and not foreign and scary; but at the same time I can tell that what I am feeling is not coming from me. I always imagined that it would feel like an alien in my belly (much like that horrifying scene in the the first Alien movie), but it is actually a much more pleasant and natural feeling. The best part about this new movement is that people can actually feel it from the outside now! Adrian was the first to feel the baby move about two weeks ago, and I have since had other family members and friends touch my belly in order to feel the little guy wiggle around in there. It is really quite amazing.

This leads to the scary part. Lately the realization that I will soon have an actual baby has been beginning to dawn on me. I have started receiving some baby items from people (a stroller, and some toys and clothes), and I have been thinking about the fact that there will be a baby using those items soon. Of course, that was the goal of this whole adventure in the first place, but the unknown possibilities of having an actual child are both scary and exciting. I suppose that you can never really be ready. Don't get me wrong, we are both very excited, but I also think that it is natural to wonder: "what kind of parent will I be?". I am curious to find out!