Week 20: Feeling Life

Two remarkable milestones this week: 1. I’m halfway through my pregnancy and 2. I’ve felt life for the first time!! I’ve had inklings of little flutters in my belly since about week 18 but last night Carlysle and I were laying in bed talking and all of a sudden – two little taps that I knew FOR SURE were the baby. It was the coolest most indescribable feeling; I was just elated to finally feel my little bug moving inside of me. I am however not having as much fun adjusting to sleeping on my side. I have been a tummy sleeper my entire life and now that is just impossible. Not only is it obviously not good for the baby, it feels like I’m laying on a watermelon! My doctor and everything I read say the best position for pregnancy sleep is on your side and let me tell you, that is my LEAST favorite. In non-medical terms, there is a major vein and artery that run vertically through your body and if one lies on their back, the weight of the baby, uterus, placenta, etc. compresses this vein and reduces optimal circulation; hence the side sleeping recommendation. Yuck. After a while, my hip falls asleep and the ear that I’m laying on starts hurting so I’ve decided to order the Snoogle Sleeping Pillow… probably a pregnant Mom gimmick, but I’m willing to try anything. Here’s a picture of it:



I realize how ridiculous it looks but I’m really excited about it! Another really exciting thing happened this weekend: I found the coolest handmade changing table EVER!! The picture is kind of fuzzy because I took it with my phone but it’s made with old tin roof tiles and cedar wood. It’s painted a really, really dark brown/black so I might repaint it to match the crib or just try and find a black chest of drawers to match the changing table and have the crib as the focal point. Here’s a pic:



I also got to see my friend/pledge sister Carly who is due to have her baby boy, Max on July 21st! She lives in Chicago but was visiting family on her Spring Break. I was able to attend one of her baby showers and see her precious little baby bump : ) It is so fun to be pregnant at the same time as so many friends!

AND ... I'm finally starting to get a REAL baby bump!!! It's about time! It literally seemed to just appear one morning. I will post a pic of that soon too.

Oh, also several people pointed out to me that I forgot last week’s Weekly Womb Workings and I apologize for that. I haven’t forgotten and I will keep posting them but I was running out the door as I was trying to post and that section was sacrificed due to my obsession with punctuality. I’ve heard that will change after I have kids but I doubt it, we’ll see!!

Weekly Womb Workings:

Rob has established sleep patterns akin to a newborn now (I can tell you from the movement I feel he probably wont’ be sleeping through the night). From this point forward, he will put most of his energy into gaining weight right now he weighs approximately 10½ ounces and is about 6½ inches long, about the size of a can of Red Bull (which has way too much caffeine for a pregnant woman to be drinking). He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and we’ll see it in his first soiled diaper … YAY I can’t wait to see that : )