Little Acrobat

It's official. We are giving birth to an acrobat. I don't think I can put into words how much, hard and often our baby moves, kicks and flips. There are probably 4 hours in the day when it sleeps. Every other waking moment it is performing for a circus in my belly. The other morning I was in a nice slumber enjoying my last few months of sleep, when out of the blue at 4:45AM, our little one decided it was time to practice kicking and flipping again. This proceeded to go on for another 2 hours until my alarm went off at 6:45. Needless to say I had been awake for the entire time. There is just zero way I can sleep when something is punching and kicking so forcefully in my stomach.

That same morning, we got up and headed to the Dr's for our 24 week check up and gestational diabetes screening. As the midwife went to look for the heartbeat, our little one literally jumped to other side of my stomach. Our midwife said "my, I was going to ask if you had felt it kick yet, but I just got my answer. This little one is ACTIVE!" Seeing as I haven't been able to sit still very well my whole life, I guess I'm the one to blame. Looks like he is taking after mom in that way and we are going to have our hands full!

Given how active our babe is, both my grandma and our midwife think it must be a boy. For some reason they both believe that babies who are active MUST be boys. After all, little girls are sweet and calm right? I'm not so sure I'm buying it, but hey, we'll see soon enough. In the meantime I'm going to try and relax, play soothing music, take baths, anything I can do to calm down Mr or Miss Acrobat.

Turkey's Done!

So its official.....my belly button has popped. I should have known it was coming...I had some strange pain behind my belly button last week (so much so that I even asked my friend Brandi what the heck it could be) and literally the next day, I looked down and my belly button was out. Now, let me clarify, although you may think otherwise given the title of this blog, I luckily do NOT have a deep belly button, so really it just looks flat vs. poking out. That said, I'm a little nervous that it is already out and I still have 4 months to go. My sister told me this weekend that I'm going to have a HUGE baby considering how big I am already and I'm not even due until early April. Awesome. Now I will say that all along I've been praying for a big baby as everyone tells me they sleep better, eat better, etc. the bigger they are. However, to hear someone tell you that you are basically huge already and still have a lot of growing to do was pretty darn frightening. However, considering my sister had big babies, I myself was a big baby and Josh was also a big baby, I think our destiny is pretty much set for us. Come on 9 pounder! See below for a picture of my LARGE 23 week belly.




In other news, we are officially 23 weeks and 6 months pregnant today. It is unbelievable how time flies in your 2nd trimester. I can't believe we only have one more month in these "glory days". Then comes the 3rd and final trimester. I'm honestly glad it is going fast...I am just overjoyed with meeting our little one and the date can't get here fast enough!

Tylenol Only

So I've been meaning to post about this for awhile, but among all the other little adventures surrounding this event, it has fallen by the wayside. So, low and behold, here comes my feelings surrounding all the drugs that you can't have when pregnant but supposedly are OK for you while you are not pregnant...WTF?! How is that just because I'm carrying another life around all other drugs (Tylenol aside) suddenly become unsafe? Doesn't my own life count for something? Even if I'm without child, should I really be putting these things in my body if they could potentially harm a baby? This is something I have a real issue with.

Some things to ponder:

- Why is Tylenol OK when pregnant and Advil is not? I'm thinking I probably should not be taking Advil ever again. Clearly it has something harmful in it.

- Why is sweetner NOT OK when pregnant but all other times it is a free for all? Um, no thank you. If it could kill my child, I better not indulge myself.

- Why is only one cup of caffeine allowed when pregnant but all other times the caffeine can flow. Again, clearly caffeine has harmful effects so I think I'll enjoy one cup a day for the rest of my life.

- Prior to getting pregnant I was a huge proponent of Pepto Bismol...I literally called it the miracle drug. Well, imagine my disappointment when I reached for my trusty drug at the first sign of some stomach pains in the first trimester and there in big bold letters on the side was "NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO ARE PREGNANT OR BREASTFEEDING". UGH! My so called miracle drug is apparently a killer drug. I guess that is why i called it the miracle drug...clearly if it can take care of 90 different ailments there is probably something pretty lethal in there. Pass!

Well Tylenol, you have just acquired a new brand advocate. Our entire medicine cabinet is now full of Tylenol only drugs. Nice Work.