Sept28

September 28, 2001

Week 19

I just can't believe that tomorrow starts week 20 already. Half-way there. Half-baked. In some ways, most ways, it has gone extremely fast so far, but in other ways I can tell that soon I'm going to be counting down the days even more than I am currently. (Just as an aside, today is Day 133. The exact midpoint, at least according to my BabyZone daily calendar and assuming a delivery happens right on schedule February 23 - haha - is this coming Friday, October 5. That will be Day 140 with 140 days left to go.) When I think about the fact that we just entered our third season since this pregnancy started, it seems like it's already been a really long time. Then I think about the fact that after Fall, I'll only have one more season change to see, and it seems to be zooming by. Especially since it's Christmas that is coming up soon, and that always seems to come fast by this time every year then after Christmas, February is just around the corner! I'm incredibly excited about everything that's going on, but at the same time, some of the little things have begun to get even more hard to deal with. Even so, the things that are hard to deal with are good things in their own way too, because I know it's just an indication that the baby is growing, and that makes me happy.

Any and all zips or buttons on my pants are out of the question now, and even one of my favorite pairs of maternity pants are about to be put aside because it's getting a little too tight around the tummy. This morning I had to ask Phil to put on my socks and shoes. I just couldn't reach down to do it. I don't think I'm going to be wearing shoes that I have to tie for very much longer either. My tennis shoes, I don't think I've tied the laces for a long time, I just slip my feet into them. Bad for the shoes, I know, but at this point I don't have much choice! Yesterday in the shower I began shaving my legs, and this is becoming difficult, as it's increasingly a game of "wielding a sharp object against my flesh with no way to really see what I'm doing". Fun! I got out of the shower only to discover that I had nicked myself quite badly in a place on my shin that I don't think I had ever cut myself since first learning the fine art of leg-shaving in middle school. It's just getting harder to lean over. Soon I think I'm either going to have to get a stool to sit on in the shower, or use Phil's old electric razor, or just be glad that winter is coming so that I don't really have to worry about it at all...nope, that won't work, I still get up and sing most Sunday mornings for church, so I'll probably be wearing skirts a few more times at least. :-) Another thing that is getting harder is just getting out of bed. I'm glad Phil is used to being the one to get up and hit the Snooze button, because I just can't jump out of bed that fast. For one thing, I'm all tucked in with my overabundance of pillows, but even when I get my pillows thrown aside, it's not so easy anymore just to sit up, or even roll over and get my legs to the ground. Sometimes I've even had Phil push up on my back to give me a little more momentum. And I'm not even that big yet! I just can't imagine how it's going to be in about two months!!!

Let's see...what other changes have popped up this past couple weeks? So much seems to happen, often overnight, that unfortunately it's sometimes hard to keep track of everything when I sit down to write. With horror I've noticed myself getting a lot hairier in strange places like all over my tummy. I haven't sprouted like an ape or anything, but all the hair that has always been there just suddenly got darker and thicker. Yuck. Not a pleasant picture, I know, but one of the reasons I'm writing this is so that I can remember all these little details of this time!! :-) Meanwhile, the hair on my head hasn't really gotten any thicker, like I have been hoping, but it sure isn't falling out nearly as much as it used to so it at least LOOKS like it's a little thicker. And it is definitely curling up! My straight, straight, poker-straight hair has started to get a little bit of curl to it. I haven't gotten my hair cut for way too long, so I've been noticing that it is curling up on the longer ends. Along my neck it even goes into curly-cues if I haven't brushed it out too much. It's definitely strange to see non-straight hair on my head! Oh, and I've always been a really deep "innie" but that's no longer the case anymore. It's pretty much flat, with a little bit of a dimple right in the middle. Last week Phil and I went to a place called Mongolian BBQ for dinner, where you basically pick out your own "fixings" for a bowl of Chinese food and they grill it up for you. I love it because I can get a whole bowl full of all the veggies and meat that I like, and not a bit of peas or chicken to worry about. :-) Anyway, after consuming three huge, overflowing bowls, we waddled out of there and went home. When I was getting ready for bed I noticed that my belly button had popped outward for the first time. Fortunately it went back to being flat the next morning. I'm not ready for my "done" button to pop out yet!

One thing that has really been nice this past week is that I joined a water aerobics class. I've gone to it a few times now and I'm starting to feel a lot better, getting more energy and just all around not feeling so much like a lump. I was tired of feeling like I didn't even having enough energy to climb up stairs. It's been really fun so far, it doesn't even feel like you are working out because you are in the water so you don't sweat all over and there's no jumping and things that are hard on your body. Afterwards I can really tell that I've been moving around though, and for the first time in a LONG time I actually feel like I'm getting some good sleep! I think the best part about doing water aerobics is that no matter how clumsy I get, I can't tip over and fall in the water. :-)

The other sort of big thing that has happened recently, just this past week in the middle of the night, is that I'm fairly certain that I've now experienced my first Braxton-Hicks contraction. I thought it would be too early, but I described what it felt like to a message board that I write on every so often, and all the women who are second or more-time moms all told me that what I described was exactly what that was! I remember waking up and thinking while it was going on, "I wonder if this is one of those early contractions" and then just that quick it ended, and I fell right back asleep. So the next day I started doing some research into them, and the description of what they were like was exactly like what I had felt. It said that they often started around 19 or 20 weeks. For some reason I just wasn't at all expecting to start feeling those for a long time, so I hadn't done any research into it yet.

Lately I've found I'm doing less and less research into the different aspects of pregnancy, and I've started moving into reading everything I get my hands on about labor, delivery, breastfeeding, and the early weeks and months with a newborn. I've decided I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing...though I do still have about 140 days to figure it out...at least, that is, the part about labor and delivery...okay, at least about WHERE to do the labor and delivery! We're visiting our second hospital tomorrow, so maybe we're at least making a little headway in that area. And then next Monday, October 8th will hopefully be our next ultrasound! Is my gut feeling going to be right or not? Or is Baby Gerth going to be shy and not let us know?



	September 28, 2001 Week 19 I just can't believe that tomorrow starts week 20 already. Half-way there. Half-baked. In some ways, most ways, it has gone extremely fast so far, but in other ways I can tell that soon I'm going to be counting down the days even more than I am currently. (Just as an aside, today is Day 133. The exact midpoint, at least according to my BabyZone daily calendar and assuming a delivery happens right on schedule February 23 - haha - is this coming Friday, October 5. That will be Day 140 with 140 days left to go.) When I think about the fact that we just entered our third season since this pregnancy started, it seems like it's already been a really long time. Then I think about the fact that after Fall, I'll only have one more season change to see, and it seems to be zooming by. Especially since it's Christmas that is coming up soon, and that always seems to come fast by this time every year then after Christmas, February is just around the corner! I'm incredibly excited about everything that's going on, but at the same time, some of the little things have begun to get even more hard to deal with. Even so, the things that are hard to deal with are good things in their own way too, because I know it's just an indication that the baby is growing, and that makes me happy. Any and all zips or buttons on my pants are out of the question now, and even one of my favorite pairs of maternity pants are about to be put aside because it's getting a little too tight around the tummy. This morning I had to ask Phil to put on my socks and shoes. I just couldn't reach down to do it. I don't think I'm going to be wearing shoes that I have to tie for very much longer either. My tennis shoes, I don't think I've tied the laces for a long time, I just slip my feet into them. Bad for the shoes, I know, but at this point I don't have much choice! Yesterday in the shower I began shaving my legs, and this is becoming difficult, as it's increasingly a game of "wielding a sharp object against my flesh with no way to really see what I'm doing". Fun! I got out of the shower only to discover that I had nicked myself quite badly in a place on my shin that I don't think I had ever cut myself since first learning the fine art of leg-shaving in middle school. It's just getting harder to lean over. Soon I think I'm either going to have to get a stool to sit on in the shower, or use Phil's old electric razor, or just be glad that winter is coming so that I don't really have to worry about it at all...nope, that won't work, I still get up and sing most Sunday mornings for church, so I'll probably be wearing skirts a few more times at least. :-) Another thing that is getting harder is just getting out of bed. I'm glad Phil is used to being the one to get up and hit the Snooze button, because I just can't jump out of bed that fast. For one thing, I'm all tucked in with my overabundance of pillows, but even when I get my pillows thrown aside, it's not so easy anymore just to sit up, or even roll over and get my legs to the ground. Sometimes I've even had Phil push up on my back to give me a little more momentum. And I'm not even that big yet! I just can't imagine how it's going to be in about two months!!! Let's see...what other changes have popped up this past couple weeks? So much seems to happen, often overnight, that unfortunately it's sometimes hard to keep track of everything when I sit down to write. With horror I've noticed myself getting a lot hairier in strange places like all over my tummy. I haven't sprouted like an ape or anything, but all the hair that has always been there just suddenly got darker and thicker. Yuck. Not a pleasant picture, I know, but one of the reasons I'm writing this is so that I can remember all these little details of this time!! :-) Meanwhile, the hair on my head hasn't really gotten any thicker, like I have been hoping, but it sure isn't falling out nearly as much as it used to so it at least LOOKS like it's a little thicker. And it is definitely curling up! My straight, straight, poker-straight hair has started to get a little bit of curl to it. I haven't gotten my hair cut for way too long, so I've been noticing that it is curling up on the longer ends. Along my neck it even goes into curly-cues if I haven't brushed it out too much. It's definitely strange to see non-straight hair on my head! Oh, and I've always been a really deep "innie" but that's no longer the case anymore. It's pretty much flat, with a little bit of a dimple right in the middle. Last week Phil and I went to a place called Mongolian BBQ for dinner, where you basically pick out your own "fixings" for a bowl of Chinese food and they grill it up for you. I love it because I can get a whole bowl full of all the veggies and meat that I like, and not a bit of peas or chicken to worry about. :-) Anyway, after consuming three huge, overflowing bowls, we waddled out of there and went home. When I was getting ready for bed I noticed that my belly button had popped outward for the first time. Fortunately it went back to being flat the next morning. I'm not ready for my "done" button to pop out yet! One thing that has really been nice this past week is that I joined a water aerobics class. I've gone to it a few times now and I'm starting to feel a lot better, getting more energy and just all around not feeling so much like a lump. I was tired of feeling like I didn't even having enough energy to climb up stairs. It's been really fun so far, it doesn't even feel like you are working out because you are in the water so you don't sweat all over and there's no jumping and things that are hard on your body. Afterwards I can really tell that I've been moving around though, and for the first time in a LONG time I actually feel like I'm getting some good sleep! I think the best part about doing water aerobics is that no matter how clumsy I get, I can't tip over and fall in the water. :-) The other sort of big thing that has happened recently, just this past week in the middle of the night, is that I'm fairly certain that I've now experienced my first Braxton-Hicks contraction. I thought it would be too early, but I described what it felt like to a message board that I write on every so often, and all the women who are second or more-time moms all told me that what I described was exactly what that was! I remember waking up and thinking while it was going on, "I wonder if this is one of those early contractions" and then just that quick it ended, and I fell right back asleep. So the next day I started doing some research into them, and the description of what they were like was exactly like what I had felt. It said that they often started around 19 or 20 weeks. For some reason I just wasn't at all expecting to start feeling those for a long time, so I hadn't done any research into it yet. Lately I've found I'm doing less and less research into the different aspects of pregnancy, and I've started moving into reading everything I get my hands on about labor, delivery, breastfeeding, and the early weeks and months with a newborn. I've decided I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing...though I do still have about 140 days to figure it out...at least, that is, the part about labor and delivery...okay, at least about WHERE to do the labor and delivery! We're visiting our second hospital tomorrow, so maybe we're at least making a little headway in that area. And then next Monday, October 8th will hopefully be our next ultrasound! Is my gut feeling going to be right or not? Or is Baby Gerth going to be shy and not let us know?