Week 16

We eased into the new year with very little fanfare - we went to bed quite early 'cause I'm still tired enough to go to bed early every night. No resolutions, either, I'm just excited for everything to change and I know there won't be room for pre-baby resolutions.

I've decided that two weeks between OB visits is the optimal time for my emotional well-being. About two weeks after my last visit I woke up not feeling the ligament pain and starting to get a little worried about how things were going. I've been coping just fine, and I think a lot of it is that the hormones aren't nearly as raging as they were during my first trimester.

Symtoms are about the same. Ligament pains come and go, but don't seem to be as frequent or strong as they have been. I'm still waking up in the middle of the night to pee, usually around 3am. My eyesight can be kinda funky, especially when it's dark out - mostly going cross-eyed. I'm having a harder time sleeping, but I think that's because I've been trying really hard to keep on my side all night and so I wake myself up every time I try to turn over.

On the sleeping front, I've started using a spare pillow between my legs when I sleep. I'm wondering if using a pregnancy pillow will help keep me from rolling onto my back and also not make me wake up in the middle of the night. My coworker has a Bump Nest, which I'm going to borrow in order to make my own ('cause if you buy them they're EXPENSIVE!). I'm excited to try it out!

In more visual news, my belly has started to stick out! I can tell it's unusual (I've always had a bit of a belly and this is more than the normal pre-pregnancy belly. I asked Cory last night if, objectively, he could tell if it was a baby in there or just a burrito, and he said he didn't think he could tell if he was a stranger who saw me (of course to him, obviously pregnant equals most likely due in two weeks). But *I* know that it's a baby, and so far that's (mostly) enough. I am a little worried about gaining too much weight, though - I don't care about gaining weight in general, I just want it to be the healthy amount, so I'll probably ask the doctor about that when I see her again on Monday. I've started walking every other evening, which will get easier as it gets lighter in the evenings, and hopefully that will help as well.

The other day we were watching Friends (it's on Netflix now so we're watching the whole series) and came to the episode where Ross talks to his unborn child. I asked Cory if he knew that our fetus could hear our voices now, and that sparked a really cute little chat and mini-cuddle in bed, him and the belly. I can't wait to see him with the baby - it's going to be so awesome to watch that bond form.

Now off I go to bed, to read another few pages of Hypnobirthing.