24 weeks

Today marks 24 weeks, which is also the typical threshold for "viability" -- meaning that if you were born now, there's a chance you could survive, and the hospital staff would likely do whatever they could to assist in that. As the next few weeks continue, the survivability odds will continue to increase pretty dramatically, from what I understand. It's a comforting (if not morbid) thought, and makes me really think about how close we are to meeting you. Your due date is only 16 weeks away!

My belly has definitely gotten bigger in the last five weeks, since my last picture. Fortunately, I think I'm doing pretty well with the weight gain, and have only put on about 17 pounds at this point. Still not a fun number to think about, especially since I have never weighed as much as I do now, but I feel healthy and good and like most of the weight has been on my belly.

I was pretty worried that I'd pork up something fierce after getting pregnant. Looking back at the pictures I've been doing every five weeks, I don't notice any appreciable difference in my face, or arms, or legs, or hips or anything, which is certainly not what I expected (I guess I expected I'd put on a lot of weight because I've always struggled a bit with my weight, and I just assumed pregnancy would be rough)! But while I'm certainly no mini-mom-to-be, I'm feeling really good about how my body looks. I love the roundness of my belly, and feel beautiful as a pregnant woman. In some ways, I actually feel a lot more confident about my body now than I did before I got pregnant. Perhaps the running I did before I became pregnant with you has been helping with this (both the body confidence and the fact that I haven't completely fallen apart) -- I just wish it was something I had had the energy to keep up with in the first trimester (and beyond).

I've also been, surprisingly to me, a lot better about food than I anticipated. I used to worry and wonder a bit about what kinds of pregnancy cravings I'd have (and whether I'd end up craving something I hate, like McDonald's), and that a voracious appetite for bad foods would be my downfall. But, again, I've been surprised that cravings have been minimal (and mostly for fruits!), and that I've mostly gravitated towards more nutritious foods (with the occasional Taco Bell bean burrito and nachos thrown in like once a month or so -- something I don't otherwise consume). I'm sure that all plays into the respectable weight gain and the fact that I've been feeling pretty good (both physiologically and emotionally).

Earlier this week marked another first, besides Daddy seeing/feeling you kick. You actually woke me up by kicking me the other night! I was dreaming that Daddy was poking me in the stomach, and I cried out "stop!"... but I think I may have actually said "stop!" for real, and it woke me up, which made me realize you were kicking me right then in the same spot I had dreamed that Daddy was poking me. I know you've definitely been active at night, because I've woken up other times (not from you kicking, but more because my bladder is screaming to be emptied), and noticed you moving around in there.