Pregnancy is ...

... opening a package of maternity underpants and thinking, "Woa! Those are huge! It'll probably be a month or two if I fit into these, if ever!" . . . then trying them on and realizing they fit perfectly.

That was my fun pregnancy experience of the day. I'd be feeling a little depressed about it right now if I wasn't so darn comfortable in these new undies. Yay for maternity clothes!

Plus, I love having a big belly. I like walking around with it. I told Jim I wish he could take a turn with it once in a while, just because it's fun and it's not fair that he misses out.

Sleep has gotten a little more difficult lately, but it's not my belly making me uncomfortable. It's this rule that you're not supposed to lie flat on your back after a certain point in pregnancy because the uterus rests on a major vein and cuts off blood flow to you and the baby. I keep waking up on my back and quickly rolling over to make sure we can both still breath. I've been bringing all sorts of pillows into the bed more often lately to try to get comfortable. The body pillow is nice, but it hogs the covers.

I guess I'll just add it to the list of things I'm going to do after the baby's born: eat a turkey sub, paint the walls and lie on my back to sleep.

Wiggly baby

We had a brief and uneventful midwife appointment Thursday. Baby's still healthy and exactly the size she's supposed to be.

Here's how I passed the time this week waiting for baby's arrival:

This is the first true quilt I've ever made. I've done pieced blankets before, but this actually has cotton batting and the quilt stitching on top. I made up the design myself.

I've been staring at it a lot since I finished.

Here's another view, on top of the crib dust ruffle I finished a couple weeks ago.


Now we just need to find the perfect crib to decorate with this stuff.

Baby kicks

Wow, that floating baby picture is kind of freaking me out. Is that really what she supposedly looks like in there?

If so, I think the baby in the graphic should be doing more karate. Tinkerbell is a kicker. Now that I know what it feels like, I feel her move all the time. She's awake and kicking every night as soon as I lie down in bed. She also tends to kick in the morning when I'm driving to work and in the afternoon after lunch. It's so bizarre to be sitting in my office having a normal office conversation and to feel little kicks inside my body that nobody else is aware of.

That's exactly what it feels like, too -- kicking. It's a thump, like being kicked from the inside. Sometimes it's also a weird feeling like dropping down a hill on a rollercoaster, which I imagine is Tinkerbell swimming around or rolling over. I never felt any of the little butterfly wings or bubbles that everybody describes. She went straight to karate.

Correction

It may appear to some that we've gone back in time. It looks like I mucked up the baby ticker dates when I first set it up. The upside is that I got a wild new ticker that will hopefully work for everyone. Thanks for the link Tessa.

Kicking Ass and Assigning Names

Just before bed on Saturday night, I got to feel two kicks from Tinkerbell (Oh, and I guess we're going with Tinkerbell for the fetal name, congratulations on your winning selection Mom!)! It was truly bizarre. At first they didn't register as they felt almost like Julie's heartbeat, which you sort of ignore most of the time. Then it sunk in that it was coming from her belly, and of course Julie was feeling it as well. I'm glad to see Tinkerbell is taking advantage of this down time to work on her shomen geri (front kick).

Birth center tour

We went on a group tour last night of the birth center at our hospital. It looked pretty nice. I especially liked the labor and delivery rooms. They're big and have adjustable soft lighting and giant beds that convert into all different positions. They have a jacuzzi tub, too, although the nurse said it's not used very often. One of the husbands on the tour said that was a shame and asked if dads could use it. The nurse said, probably not.

Meanwhile, here's what I've been up to: Nesting! I'm making bedding for the crib in peachy colors.

Also, we've been pet sitting a dog for one of my co-workers and this weird little creature has been waking me up early in the morning. Yesterday he got me up at 4:30 a.m. and he just wanted to be held. It's a frightening vision of the future.

As long as our baby doesn't look like this, I think we'll be OK.

Belly Shot - 20 weeks

Here is the first belly shot. We'll try to keep them coming on a regular basis. Julie says this picture doesn't do justice to the size of the belly. It has just gotten to the point where it peeks out between her shorts and t-shirts.

We've gotten some good suggestions for fetal names so far. Keep 'em coming.