Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Welcome, Week 18!

Today, Junior (I've dropped the "Blue" in "Blue, Jr." But don't be mistaken, we don't know the baby's gender yet) has reached the ripe old age of 18 weeks. Pregnancy is going by so quickly, but I'm happy to report that I've been feeling great! In fact, I've been feeling so good that I often feel like my pre-pregnant self, except now it's a little harder to put my socks on. Here is this week's tummy tidbit, thanks to BabyCenter.com:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead.

Here's what's showing under my shirt:


I thought I felt the baby kick for the first time in week 15, but I'm anxiously awaiting more and more consistent sets of kicks, be them high, low, roundhouse, or whatever the baby feels is appropriate. I've read that anywhere between 16-22 weeks is when movement can start to be felt. Bring on the quickening!

Every day I look in the mirror and wonder, Have I gotten bigger since yesterday? Can you tell that I'm pregnant? How is the baby doing in there? It's especially disconcerting when wondering how much of the bump is baby and how much of it is that cheeseburger that I had for lunch plus the cookie I had for a snack in addition to the half of a Qdoba bean burrito I had as "workout fuel" on the way home. I know the high level of what's going on inside my belly, but it's such a huge deal for that to start showing to other people. I'm so excited to reach that point! I think it's what most women who are pregnant for the first time anticipate the most during pregnancy. If you've ever been pregnant, when did you start showing?

1 comment:

Kristin G said...

Ha! According to my family they could tell immediately and I was only 7 or 8 weeks or so at the time. I managed to hide it at work until I was 4 months, but pretty much everyone had guessed by then and was too polite to say it. They weren't 100% sure if I was preggo or just getting fat lol My 'normal' jeans and such were uncomfortable pretty much immediately and I upgraded to one size larger or all elastic waistbands pretty early on.