Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 17

Hey there. Here I am. I feel like every day I look down and my stomach looks bigger. I can't imagine how much bigger it's going to get..... Slightly scary to think about.

Baby Stats:

Length: 5 inches
Weight: 5-6 ounces
If it were a vegetable, it would be: an onion.

I was so excited to tell you it had been 12 days, almost two weeks, since I've thrown up. This morning ruined my streak. It was also the first time Jed actually heard me throw up. He said it was pretty gross ha ha.

Another great thing: I think I've been able to feel the baby kick a little. I know it could be anything, but I can't recall ever feeling these little movements in my abdomen before, so I count it as baby kicks! The first time I thought I felt something was at the dentist's last week. Do you ever get like a little blood vessel or muscle spasm in you leg or on your eyelid or arm where you can feel a twitch? (And sometimes see the twitch?) Well I had just one sudden twitch in my abdomen, and I've never felt a twitch like that before in that area. It was not a surface twitch, either, like those others I've described. It was definitely coming from the inside. On Monday I swear I felt a movement like teeny little limbs kicking back and forth like you would kick if you were swimming. Almost every day since, always in the afternoon or evening, I have felt little pushes from my abdomen, sometimes just one and sometimes several in a time period, and so I dub these little pushes to be our active child! In case you can't tell, I've tried very hard to decipher what I've felt and to be sure it wasn't just gas or something, so I feel pretty confident saying it was me feeling the baby!

This week I wore maternity jeans for the first time. Not that I can't fit into my old jeans, but they have developed some holes that show off my underwear, so I finally had to give in and say they were not wearable. However, then came casual Friday and I couldn't wear slacks! So I grabbed a pair of jeans from the bins that my wonderful sister in law gave to me which are full of maternity wear, and I put them on. They fit perfectly. The thing I don't like about them, though, is they don't have a place for a belt! Where the belt should be, there was a 2 inch band of stretchy material. So, all day long, I was constantly tucking in my undershirt and making sure nothing was showing since they slipped down a little every time I sat down (the fact that the majority of the time I sat was in little kindergarten chairs or on the floor did not help). Tell me this isn't how the rest of my pregnancy will go, right? Will I be forever in a state of re-situating my pants?

A sad thing: one of my coats is getting a little snug down around my waist. The buttons are noticeably pulling, and so I think this coat may have to be retired until next fall. It saddens me deeply, especially as I imagine the size of my stomach in February and think about which coat I will be able to wear.... So I may be in the market for a new, roomy coat pretty soon. Can I justify getting a cute, nice coat solely for when I'm pregnant? I'm bound to be pregnant during the winter another time down the road, right? Or perhaps I will permanently weight more and will need a big coat anyways? Let's not think that.

Pregnancy Symptoms I have yet to experience:

• High frequency of... visiting the restroom, shall we say? Nope, never felt that one. Thank goodness, because right now it is rather convenient to not need to go to the bathroom in the mornings until lunch time.
• Increased appetite. Unless you count wanting to eat more times throughout the day, but I don't feel I eat much more than before. 
• Swelling of the ankles, feet, hands, face
• Major weight gain

Symptoms I have may have yet to mention, but have been experiencing

• Mood Swings/more emotions. I cry often, or at least tear up. Biggest Loser, Extreme Home Makeover, these are big contributors to my crying. The other night I cried while watching Under the Greenwood Tree (BBC movie - watch it on Netflix, I love it). Why did I cry? The main girl was playing the harmonium in church and some people had put some sort of fluid in it, and so when it stopped working, people were laughing at it, not at her, but she ran out of the church, feeling humiliated. I was near sobbing at this point. So yes, my emotions are very high.
• Headaches, migraines, it varies what ails me, but those have yet to go away. I will say, Excedrin Tension Headache = greatest invention for pregnant women.
• Nasal congestion. I have to blow my nose all the time, and I'm not sick, it's just a fact of my life now.
• Sensitive gums that bleed when I brush. As if brushing my teeth wasn't already unpleasant enough.
• Fatigue.

This is a super duper long post, and I apologize for that. On the bright side, anyone who reads this knows exactly how I've felt this week! I feel closer to you already.

P.S. I still want to do a party to announce the baby's gender, also just as a way to invite people over and eat cake. But my mom can't be there! So I'm debating.... should it be the day after? Can I wait that long??