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!