Pregnancy Update - 23 weeks

Prompted recently by a sister who shall remain nameless, I have been, ahem, "instructed" to take a belly picture and tell about what's going on with baby #2.  She's right.  It's time for a little update.  It's not that I'm not excited, but this pregnancy has been so smooth it's flying by.  Plus, anyone who has another kid knows your time is already consumed.  Nonetheless, I will not neglect blogging for my second kid.  

I'm surprised how close I got the new picture to look like the one from my first pregnancy.  Picture #2 confirms what I thought:  I am definitely showing more this go around.  My belly button has already popped a little too.  My dark line (linea negra) down the center of my stomach did not go away after Lailey was born and was still visible when I got pregnant again.  However, it is now ironically fading as my belly stretches out.  I find that interesting.

Again, prompted by the nameless sister (That's starting to sound hilarious to me.  Okay, maybe I'm just tired.) I am supposed to answer the following questions...

What you are craving?  Lately, jalepenos, spicy stuff, salsa and chips, cottage cheese, sliced strawberries and bananas together, hard-boiled eggs, sushi, chocolate chip cookies from Chick-fil-a.  I'm pretty much just hungry all.the.time.  It's crazy.  I love food.  Healthy or non-healthy, bring it on.  You'd think I'd be gaining a ton of weight but so far it's been nice and steady.  I will admit that gaining weight during pregnancy always makes me a little anxious just because it's a lot more weight than I'm used to.  But obviously I'm not worried enough to stop eating.  Unless I start gaining a ton, I feel like it's my body's way of telling me I need to consume extra calories.  A couple of months ago I had it BAD for Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits and sweet tea.  Like, more than a few times a week bad.  But oh, it was heaven.  I'd almost have a worship service eating it!  After confessing this to my midwife to see what she thought about how bad this was, she suggested I add a protein shake to my breakfast since the protein in the chicken biscuit was helping give me such a good jumpstart at the beginning of the day when nothing else seemed to fill me up (also contributing to the craving).  So now my morning routine is a wheat english muffin with crunchy natural peanut butter and a tiny drizzle of honey along with a protein shake.  (Of course, that's just FIRST breakfast.  Second breakfast could be any number of things.)  Super delicious, lots of protein, and so far it's done the trick!  I've only had CFA twice, I think, and it's been a few weeks.  Neither time was a "have to have it" moment. More like "it's Saturday morning and I've done well all week, how 'bout Chick-fil-a, honey?" [re-reading this paragraph suddenly made me quite hungry]



How far along are you? 23 weeks, or a little over 5 months

Has Davey slipped up and told you yet?  I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post or not.  But Davey really really wanted to find out the gender of this baby.  Having loved the surprise with Lailey, I really really did not.  So, on the drive to the ultrasound, we compromised: he'd look and I wouldn't.  He has not slipped up yet to me, and as far as I know, has not told anyone else.  And nobody is allowed to bug him about it, you hear?  

How is Lailey reacting to your belly getting bigger?  Lailey frequently mentions that "Mommy have baby."  She is starting to notice my stomach more with clothes on and will point and say "baby."  The other day she "tickled" the baby and then spontaneously kissed my belly.  So cute!  She also calls her crib "baby's bed" now and seems to understand that it's no longer hers.


Any other normal preggo information people would want to know:  I have been more tired lately, but I'm taking liquid iron since I'm a bit anemic.  This happened with Lailey too so it must be something that happens to me when I'm pregnant.  Mostly I feel pretty good.  No major aches and pains.  I can still see and reach my toes.  I am having more moments when I "feel" pregnant, but it's not bad.  I can still sleep through the night without having to get up to pee.  I make up for it during the day however.  The baby is starting to move a lot more and I'm feeling movement in larger areas.  I have also seen my belly move now.  Davey has felt it several times.  My next MW appointment is in a week, and I have to do the gestational diabetes test.  Not the funnest thing in the world.  For those that don't know this is the "fast for an hour, drink the really super sweet glucose juice, get blood drawn" test.  At least it's only an hour that I can't eat.  I seem to remember with pregnancy #1 having to not eat all morning or something.  I would not survive.  (see above paragraph on FOOD.)


That's all I can think of for now.