The 22 Week Adventure

So far, the 22nd week has been quite a roller coaster ride!!! A lot of fetal movement and baby hiccups and Braxton Hicks contractions (the uterus hardens for a few seconds then retracts to normal as a "practice" movement for future labor; so far, these contractions have not been painful for me, just weird). The baby hiccups have only happened once that I know of and the Braxton Hicks happen about twice a day. My weight gain has stayed steady at 11 lbs and 4 ounces. My sleep patterns have been very erratic (sometimes I can sleep all through the night, sometimes I only get a few hours sleep and wake up wide awake to baby movement in my tummy or to painful indigestion and nausea (which is a belly movement I can live without, let me tell you). People also keep asking me if my belly button has popped out yet and the answer is nope; it has definitely become a shallower "inny" at this point, but no "outy" to report yet. And so far, no stretch marks anywhere. I am hoping it stays that way for the next 4 months. Oh yeah! And even though I haven't hiccuped in months (my diaphragm is totally squished by my uterus right now), I can still sneeze like a pro- and sneezing hurts like the dickens!!

On a scary front, I haven't been feeling "quite right" since last weekend, so I have been in contact with my doctor's office quite a bit. On Saturday night, at Michael's urging, I spoke with one of the doctors who is taking over while my OBGYN is on maternity leave and she doesn't feel anything is out of the ordinary aside from unexplainable "normal" pregnancy issues, but she told me if I keep feeling odd/nervous about certain symptoms then to call and get an appointment some time this week. On Monday, I called and was able to get an appointment to see a doctor on Friday (they are very busy right now delivering babies and taking over shifts for my doctor, and that was the earliest appointment they had available). Of course, I could always go to the Emergency Room and get checked out if I get really nervous, but the fact that I have been feeling so much fetal movement lately has prompted me to feel optimistic. Michael says the fetal movement is our little Tiger (let's call him "Tigger" for now since we have a Tigger/Pooh themed nursery and we have no name picked out for him yet) letting us know he is okay and that Mommy is just experiencing yet another weird pregnancy symptom that no one can explain- in fact, I still get quizzical looks when I tell people and doctors that I have continued to get "morning sickness," even though I am almost 6 months pregnant. (Side note: our friend Elaine nicknamed him our little Tiger, as stated in an earlier blog from June).

On a nice front, Mom spent this past weekend with us and helped out around the house. She put up the nursery window treatments that Dad gave us a gift card toward and helped put on the nursery bedding that Aunt Marty gave us a gift card toward. The nursery is slowly-but-surely becoming a full-fledged nursery and we love to look at it every day! It is so exciting!! Mom had to sleep on the couch for the 2 days she was here and she probably has a crick in her neck the size of Texas, but she didn't complain. On Sunday, we all went down to Dad's BBQ lunch. He made homemade ribs and brisket and baked beans and deviled eggs and had veggies to snack on. Yum! He also surprised us with a gift card to Babies R US and money toward nursery items for the baby! Yay! There is still so much to get for our little Tigger- babies need so much stuff and we don't even have half of it yet! And the time is starting to pass quickly for us now as we head into the 6th month of pregnancy (did you know that a healthy first, full-term pregnancy can actually last almost 10 months, not 9? Provided all is well, of course. Craziness.). We continue to pray that all will be well and our little man will come into the world happy and healthy and kicking and screaming!