23 weeks 3 days

23 weeks: She is the size of an ear of corn and weighs about 1.5 pounds. Her hair is growing darker and her fingernails are almost fully formed. Her lungs should be almost fully formed but not yet ready to function. By week 24, though, she will be considered a viable baby! Still, we hope she stays in an "bakes" for many more weeks to come!

Cravings/Aversions: Still crab Rangoon; specifically wanting cold ones at breakfast time. Also had a big craving for sweet and sour chicken last week so Carl took me out and I got a huge portion that lasted 2 meals! As my trip to St Louis approaches, I am craving things that I know I can get there: Lion's Choice roast beef sandwiches, Imos pizza and toasted ravioli, arrancini from Bommarito's, and Krispy Kreme donuts. I think I'm going to eat my way through the city. No real aversions right now.

Symptoms: My pelvis is starting to hurt. I don't know if it's loosening up or just experiencing pressure from the little one but it hurts and sometimes I waddle. I also think I have carpal tunnel! Who knew? Apparently it can happen during pregnancy due to some swelling and is more common at night when your feet are up and swelling can move out of your lower extremities. For quite some time now my hands have been falling asleep and causing pain at night time. Only recently did I read about the cause. Otherwise I still get tired or nauseous sometimes but otherwise I'm ok. My blood pressure is still good. In a little over 2 weeks I will have my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes so cross your fingers I don't have that!

News this week: Carl felt her kick!! She was particularly active and he rested his hand on my tummy and could feel her move and then he felt two big kicks! I was so happy I cried! It just made me very emotional to see him feel her. It makes it seem more real. I feel her pretty much every day now. I love it. It is so funny when she gives me a hard kick and surprises me and I literally jump. I love everything this baby does.
Carl and I went to a cloth diaper class last weekend and we are pretty excited about the concept of cloth. It just seems like a better all-around option. We ordered a couple of diapers and a wet bag (to put the dirty diapers in) as samples so we could get a better idea of what we liked and I'm going to try to attach pictures.

Diapers and wet bag:

 

Bump Updates:

 

 

 

22 weeks 1 day

22 weeks: Wow! It's been a long time since I updated. Baby girl is the size of a papaya. In the next four weeks, she should double her weight! She is getting so big. If w could see her now, she would be wrinkled because her skin grows faster than the fat underneath accumulates. But she will be plump and soft by the time she is full term. Her tooth buds are forming as are her taste buds.

Cravings/Aversions: I want some crab rangoon! The craving started the other morning and hasn't gone away. I don't actually want Chinese food, just the crab rangoon. I have been eating more cheese sandwiches like I did in the first months. I like American cheese on white bread with a little mayo. For some reason they hit the spot and they are good for when Carl's not home and I'm too lazy to make real food. Iced tea tastes weird to me again so I'm drinking lots of flavored water and juice. I love anything tart and lemon. I love lemon-ices and fresh lemonade. I picked out two varieties of cranberry juice for this week so maybe I'm just drawn to anything tart.

Symptoms: Nothing too new this week. I have my second cold of this pregnancy and have a cold sore again. I never had them before and I told Carl if I ever get another cold sore I'm going to immediately think I'm pregnant! When they say your immune system is diminished when you're pregnant, they mean it! I feel terrible and there is next to nothing I can take. On a positive note, baby girl is kicking. It is not consistent, some days I feel it and some I don't. I can feel her kicks getting stronger and I felt one from the outside today. I can't wait for Carl to feel! Otherwise, space is growing tighter. I get winded easily and  this cold isn't helping. Climbing the stairs makes me winded right now.

News this week: We got our crib not too long ago. We have been waiting and waiting for it to be back in stock and once it was, we raced to get it. So now her room has a glider, a dresser, and a crib. Those are really the only major furniture pieces we plan on getting for her room. Next I think we plan on choosing some decorations to create a "theme" for the room. This baby girl is so lucky to have a daddy who is so involved. I am so glad that Carl is with me through every step of this. He really takes an active role in each decision we make and he wants to do the best for his little girl. It is really so sweet. In other news, we are looking at daycares and it looks like cloth diapers are back in the picture. Several daycares say they have never used cloth but are willing to give it a try. Carl and I have ordered some samples to look at and hopefully also take to whichever daycare we choose to give them an idea of what we are talking about. Most seem to think we are doing the old-fashioned prefold diapers with the safety pins and diaper covers. We want them to see what our diapers would really be like. I am excited to further explore the cloth option and can't wait for our samples to arrive.