24 Weeks

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted a bump-date on the little alien I’m carting around with me and I figured 24 weeks is a nice number so now is the time.

It’s not the first time I’ve said it, and probably not the last, but hoky sheesh, is this pregnancy flying by for the rest of you or just for me? Just for me? Okay. Well. How is it even possible that we’ll be welcoming our second little in just over three months? How?

Things are progressing just wonderfully. I’m starting to feel quite a bit better. Knock on wood. I fully weaned off Diclectin just after 21 weeks (because I ran out and am too cheap to buy more) and it’s been okay. When I was on it, I was waking up nauseous,throwing up and then feeling fine within 30 minutes to an hour of being awake. Now that I’m not on it, I wake up nauseous, throw up and then feel fine within 30 minutes to an hour. So, yeah, not much of a difference.

My body aches are probably the worst part of this stage of the pregnancy. The back pain sometimes makes me scour through my paper work to find my birth certificate to confirm that I was born in 1986 and not 1906. Honestly, I’m a Grandma!

The past week has been especially bad as I came down with some nasty cold/flu virus late last week. Thursday and Friday nearly had me crippled on the floor as I battled body aches, fevers, chills, sinus junk and a terrible headache. Thankfully, the worst of it passed quickly and now I just have a stuffy nose and cough. That I can deal with. The worst thing about being sick when pregnant is knowing that anything that will make you feel better is not allowed. I’ve been dousing myself in grapefruits, oranges and hot water with honey and lemon and hoping to kick it quickly.

But, alas, back to the pregnancy. I have no idea how much weight I’ve gained because I haven’t had a midwife appointment recently, but I’m hoping I’m staying on track. I’m still wearing my wedding rings, so I will go ahead and take that as a good sign.

Sleep is okay. I haven’t been sleeping great since being sick and I often wake up a few times through the night to pee, but overall, it’s okay. I don’t have much trouble finding a comfy position to sleep in so I can’t complain.

My craving for citrus is back. I’ve been gobbling up grapefruits, oranges and grapefruit juice – which is what I survived on for the first 12 weeks. No major aversions, although I still am not pumped about cooked broccoli. Other than that, there are a few cravings here and there, but as my hubby would say, I’m always obsessed with food. Pregnancy has nothing to do with the how often (and how strongly) I crave certain foods.

The baby is moving like mad. I can see the belly jumping all the time and feel movement fairly consistently throughout the day. The fun begins now – as I’ve reached the point where the baby will play with me! I poke him/her and s/he pokes back. I love feeling the movements because with a busy toddler it’s sometimes hard to feel a sense of connection with this unborn child when my energy is so focused on surviving each day without ripping all my hair out, and so the still quiet moments of the night and early morning when I’m laying down and feeling those kicks and squirms and prods? That’s when I get to think about, pray for, and talk to my new baby. That’s when I get to start developing a bond with him/her.

Speaking of him or her? Her. Agree?

The big sister loves to talk about the baby and hug the baby but obviously, has no clue what’s coming to her. She noticed C nursing William last week and has since been asking me for milk again. So, I let her try. She didn’t know what to do. But for the next few days after that, she constantly lifted my shirt, said “Baby. Milk”, sucked on my belly button (which is now residing in a different region than the rest of my body), said “Nummy!” and laughed. What a weirdo.

We’ve got a name picked out for the baby and I’ve been practicing both of them with Evalyn so that I know she’ll be able to say the little one’s name right from the get go. One of them she says really well, the other one sounds funny, but hey, we’ve got some time to sort that out.

Now that we’re rounding the bend and coming closer and closer to the end, it’s time to start thinking and preparing for the logistics of having two kids. We’re starting to implement some changes in the apartment (because, let’s face it, we still haven’t found a house and so I am fairly certain we’ll still be here for a while once s/he is born) and think about things we may need to get before s/he arrives.

As you can see, the bump is steadily growing and growing and I’ve officially lost sight of my feet.