Paint The Barn Red: weekly baby bumpdate {18 weeks}

18 WEEK INTERVIEW

How far along?

18 weeks and 6 days!

Baby's size?

Baby weighs in at just under 7 ounces and 6 inches long! Baby is now the size of a sweet potato!

"I was supposed to go to Ann's parent's Christmas party. We're makin' yams."

"Tonight? Tonight is the office party."

"Oh. Okay. Well, I think Ann's parents are having their party on Bethlehem time, which is pretty early. So maybe I can make an appearance."

"No, no it's okay. You be with Yam. It's fine. It's good."

"It's Ann."

"It's good. It's fun."

Relevant pop culture references are relevant.

Days until next doc appointment?

My next appointment is tomorrow!

I had some weird twitching in my uterus yesterday and some this morning (not painful at all) which from what I've read is likely just the uterus expanding and totally normal. It started after I worked out last night, so I'm a little concerned that maybe I pushed myself too hard. But it's likely that it's nothing to be worried about. I'm still going to ask my doctor about it tomorrow. I'm praying everything will go well!

Total weight gain?

5.6 pounds

Maternity clothes?

There is a sad, sinking realization that I may have to wear my snow pants everywhere come winter. It's been a lot cooler here the past few days and my fuzzy leggings under a maxi skirt just haven't really been cutting it for keeping my legs warm. Aaaaaand pants feel really claustrophobic. Aaaaand I'm not buying maternity pants. At least in my snow pants everyone will know when I've entered the room. There goes my element of surprise!

Stretch marks?

None!

Sleep:

I've been sleeping well most nights! I'm having to learn to get used to waking up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom and then deal with sometimes not falling asleep after that. But, it's all in good practice for when the baby gets here! The past few days I've had to start propping myself up with a pillow under my ribcage for relief from acid reflux. It's actually pretty comfortable*!

*Being propped up by a pillow - not the acid reflux.

Best moment this week:

Jason and I have still been able to do our weekly walk to the park at the beach (the lake "beach") and look at baby names together! Sadly, I think last weekend will be the last time we get to do that :( It was already getting pretty chilly and it's supposed to start snowing today and this weekend.

But! We got to go to the park for three weekends in a row all on days with warm beautiful sunshine, so I am thankful for that (: When we took my bumpdate picture for this week, it was right before we were heading out on our walk to the park!

I also forgot to mention last week that Jason bought a chalk set for me! Maybe it sounds silly but I'm so excited about it! Now I have more colors to use for my weekly bumpdate pictures! I think it was really sweet he got them for me so I could get more creative with my drawings. (: It makes it way easier to draw produce when you have more than 5 colors to work with! haha

But, this week baby was the size of a sweet potato and no amount of chalk is going to let you draw a sweet potato and have it not come out looking like something else entirely.

If you know what I mean.

Movement:

Lots of movement! I think the baby might have even had hiccups last night! There was a steady "pulsating" movement in one part of my belly every 10-15 seconds for a few minutes. I've been feeling a lot of kicks too! I've had two so far that were strong enough to make me jump haha. I'm thinking this week will be the week Jason will be able to feel a kick (: I'm really excited for that!

Food cravings:

I haven't really had any strong food cravings lately. I guess I had been wanting an Icee for a few weeks and I finally got one this past weekend haha

Anything make you queasy or sick?

Not too much really. I still haven't ventured too much into eating meat. I can usually only handle eating meat maybe once a week at the most.

Have you started to show yet?

Let's just say I recently Googled "how to stop strangers from touching pregnant belly". Not that anyone has done this to me yet, but I need to be prepared with an arsenal of things to say/do for if and when the situation does arise. Plus, it's actually pretty entertaining the creative things pregnant women have done to get strangers to stop touching/groping/attempting to undress them in public.

It's nice to meet you, too.

Missing anything?

Not having to worry about such things as mentioned above. ^

Not having to pee every half hour!

Gender:

Don't know yet!

Labor signs?

No, but the spasm feeling I was having concerns me a little.

Belly button:

It's still in there!

Wedding rings on or off?

Still on. I've had a few moments where they feel tight but it was from being hot. They still fit! (:

Happy or moody most of the time?

Happy, happy, happy. But I do get emotional over the littlest things sometimes haha

Weekly symptoms:

Mild headaches (I've gotten better at learning how to help stop them from getting worse, and how to work with them when I have them without ever taking medication!), pelvic pain, low back pain, very itchy bumps on my legs, dry itchy patches on arms, can't really bend over to pick things up (squats all day), lots of pee trips, rhinitis of pregnancy (nosebleeds), acid reflux

Looking forward to:

I'm looking forward to my next appointment! (So long as they don't have to take blood and I have another adventure with Bug's Bunny.) I'm also looking forward to baby's continued growth and strength in the hopes that soon Jason will be able to feel the baby kick!

Would you like to see more?
Check out my other "bumpdates" below!