Week 25 Update

Today I am 25 weeks pregnant! That means I am 5/8, or 62.5%, done. Baby weighs about 1.5 pounds and is over a foot long. While baby has gained 1.5 pounds, I unfortunately have lost 20 pounds. But baby is measuring correctly (at my OB appointment on Wednesday, baby was measuring between 24 and 25 week) and is kicking constantly, so I am okay with the weight loss. In the past couple of weeks I have become very fixated on my belly. Not because of my expanding waistline, but rather looking at the little jolts that sometimes occur. While I was excited to be able to feel the baby kick with my hand on the outside of my belly after weeks of feeling the internal movements, there is something more entertaining and comical about WATCHING it kick. You see these little jabs punching up at different places of your belly, depending on where the baby has repositioned, and then the baby decides to "roll over" and you can see a big sustained movement. I have told Keith several times to stare at my belly, but inevitably baby decides to stop kicking. It's okay - baby is just a little bit shy. I have become obsessed with fetal development updates on the internet. Every week I type "XX weeks pregnant" into google and am greeted with several websites that compare the size of my baby to fruit, tell me what new anatomical and physiological developments are taking place in baby, tell me how much weight I should have gained by now, and then tell me all of the symptoms that I may not have known that I had until I read them online. Some symptoms, like nausea, are pretty obvious and are suffered by many pregnant women. Other symptoms, like red palms and heels, are less common. I keep on looking to see if my hands have adopted a rosy glow however. I am very thankful that, while I have suffered from several yucky symptoms, I have been very fortunate to avoid others thus far. Apparently this is the point in pregnancy where edema tends to ramp up. Unless it is a super hot day (which I think those may be coming to an end quite soon) and I spend a lot of time outside with my feet down I don't tend to get swelling (about a month ago, after getting back from our Niagara falls vacation - several hot days and lots of walking and sitting without being able to put my feet up - I had "gained" 4-5 pounds, which I subsequently lost in 1 day of keeping my feet propped and becoming hydrated). I have also been able to avoid restless leg syndrome, itchiness, leg cramps, sciatica, stretch marks and the linea nigra (that dark line that appears running below the belly button on pregnant women; 90% of pregnant women get it, but it is less likely if you are fair-skinned). Most of all, above avoiding all of the untoward pregnancy symptoms, our baby seems to be healthy from the ultrasounds and measurements that have been done thus far. We are very thankful for this and are looking forward to meeting baby in just over 3 months. :-)