Things are Looking Up...

This week marked my 14-week stamp of pregnancy. 14 WEEKS! That's over 1/3 of the way through.

I'm now in my second trimester, and let me just say it is fan-freaking-tastic compared to the first. While I'm not too far into it yet, I'd imagine this is probably where most women get the whole "I love being pregnant - if I could be pregnant forever, I would!" crazy mentality. Yes, at this stage, I'm loving being pregnant. I love knowing that there is a baby - MY baby - growing in my belly. I love knowing that soon I'll start feeling it move around, if I haven't already felt it (I've had a few instances the last few days where I'd swear I have). I love that my belly is starting to pop out, even if right now it still looks like I've eaten a few too many pints of Ben and Jerry's. I honestly feel like I have been a happier and less-stressed human being since I've been pregnant (clarification: happier and less-stressed ASIDE from my insanely rampant hormone swings). HOWEVER - do I love it all so much that I would go so far to say that I'd be pregnant forever if I could? That's a big n-to-the-o. I think pregnant girls are so cute, and whenver I see one I want to run up to her and be like "I'm pregnant too! Want to be friends??" But with the cuteness, there is also a dark side. A few "for instance"s: my face seems to be going through a second round of puberty. Growing up, I've been lucky to have fairly good skin. I'd just break out here and there right before Aunt Flo came to visit every month. Now, my face is in a constant state of break-out (although actually getting better in the last couple of weeks). I've also begun feeling the aches and pains. God bless Kevin who doesn't mind giving me frequent neck, shoulder, and back rubs for temporary relief (I haven't quite talked him into the foot rubs... yet). Unfortunately the pains are constant and nagging pains that no massage or dose of Tylenol can unwind. My newest pain is one that has set up camp in about a 6 inch span across my lower back. Fantastic. Sleeping is also something that has continued to suffer. My growing belly is keeping me from sleeping face down, and I'm getting in to the danger zone of back-sleep risks (once the baby and uterus grow to a certain point, sleeping on your back can cut off circulation to baby and my lower half). So I try to stay on my sides all night, which has typically been my position of choice even pre-preggo. Because my body's posture is all out of whack due to my belly, I've started sleeping with a pillow between my legs to try to straigten me out again. It helps, but I fear that gone are the days of careless sleep. The plus is that I'm no longer waking up every 2 hours for a potty break. Most nights I'm able to make it all the way through the night without going! As the Pull-Ups commercial would sing - "I'm a big girl now!". And my main reason for not proclaiming my desire for eternal pregnancy... I miss my wine!! I miss my morning coffee!! Some people say that coffee is fine, as long as it's in very limited quantities. And once you're out of your first trimester, a glass of wine on occasion is okay. But I refuse to drink either. I am absolutely committed to doing all that I can to harbor a safe and healthy body for my baby, and if anything were to go wrong I want to know that I did everything I possibly could to prevent it. So 9-10 months without my morning coffee or wine nights with the girls is completely fine with me. Forever, though? Pshhh. No way!

As for Bun, he or she is supposed to be about the size of a closed fist now. Everything is in place, and from now on it will just be growth and development occuring. Something new this week is hair - eyebrows, eyelashes, and "baby fuzz". I've rented a baby Doppler machine for a month so that we can listen to the heartbeat as often as we'd like. I figured now would be a good time since the heartbeat is so strong and detectable, and because it was such a long stretch before my next ultrasound. We've used it a couple of times, and found the heartbeat within a minute or so each time. It's absolutely astonishing - I could lay and listen to it all day. I wish I could figure out a way to record it and upload, although I have a feeling you wouldn't be as enamored as I am with the sound ;)

**Complete sidenote - TWO DAYS until Twilight movie! Cheryl and I are so there opening night!