27 weeks

These weeks are going by faster all the time - yikes! 13 weeks to go...

Weight Gain: Roundabout 18 pounds. I seem to be maintaining a pound-a-week gain, even when I have days like these last few super-hot days when I feel like I'm not eating much. I think this is just what we're doing, and I'm (mostly) OK with that. My legs are going to be super strong from hauling all this weight around!

Symptoms: Does "can't handle heat AT ALL" count as a symptom? The heat this past week was just oppressive, and walking a few blocks made me feel exhausted/dizzy. Also, occasionally, my left hip bone feels like it wants to exit my body via my butt cheek, which isn't the most comfortable feeling. This is what the prenatal yoga lady refers to as "increased flexibility due to hormonal changes".

Cravings/Aversions: Iced drinks - this has nothing to do with pregnancy - is all I want to consume. I feel a little bit like I'm getting some of the "meh" feeling about food back that I lost at the end of the first trimester - some days, food doesn't interest me, and then I feel a little queasy when my stomach is empty. But it's a billion degrees, so is that just because I'm hot?

I am loving: The air conditioner and the Snoogle - no way I would sleep without those two things - AND our new box spring, which we got so we could toss our old IKEA bed frame before the big move. So I'm loving anything that helps me sleep.

I miss: Being able to bend forward easily.

I'm looking forward to: Being finished with moving. We started packing weeks ago, and I feel like we've been living in transitional mess FOREVER (we kind of have, since the beginning of June...). Good lord, do I want to just have a neat, organized living space that doesn't have crap sitting everywhere. It's maddening.

I'm freaked out about: The actual process of moving. Our landlord was a little too chill about letting us know when exactly the prior tenants will be out, so there's that, but I'm also already frustrated with my lack of heavy lifting abilities. Note to self: in the future, avoid moving when pregnant, if at all possible.

Milestones: Depending on whom you ask, I'm in the third trimester. Didn't I just find out I'm knocked up? Crazy.

Movement: Frequent and stronger all the time. He makes my whole belly jiggle sometimes. Every night when I lie down to sleep, he does this crazy rapid-fire kicking in my side which, while still entertaining, makes me wonder how sleep is going to go down in a month or so, and last night I swear he was doing his own version of the Three Stooges running around in a circle on the floor move after I got up to pee at 4am. Sometimes it just feels WEIRD. And I kind of think he knows that. Can they laugh at their mom at 6 months' gestation? I wonder.

Exercise: It's so hot out that walking a few blocks is too much for me. I've done a half hour of yoga each evening when I can (at the end of which - and this is pretty low-key yoga - I've been POURING sweat), and I'm trying to do all my Bradley exercises every day, though there are a million of them. When we were on our anniversary trip I got to go swimming, which was wonderful. Can't wait for after we move when we'll have a community pool nearby, because being neck-deep in water is very appealing these days.

Diet: I'm still aiming for lots of protein, and the heat has both restricted how much I eat and encouraged me to drink a LOT of water, so I'm doing pretty well without trying much.

Something nice: This week seems to have marked the passing of a critical belly-size point. Just today a stranger asked me on the elevator: "how far along are you?" and a bank teller I see only occasionally said, "Are you having a baby?" Before now, folks would look, but not say anything, so I've clearly passed the "too much beer" look and have shifted into "great with child". Both women told me I look great, which made me feel good. Folks, always tell a pregnant lady she looks great. It's something we need to hear, and since I'm so suggestible these days I saw my reflection later and thought, "hey, I do look great!" - which I guarantee wouldn't have been my thinking without that outside input.