17 Weeks

How Far Along: 17 Weeks

Food Comparison: Weight of an Onion; about 5 inches in length from head to bottom

Weight Gain: My midwife told me at my last appointment that I'd only gained one pound in 4 weeks and I could up my food intake to make sure baby and I were getting proper nutrition. I'm up a total of 6 pounds now.

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing more dresses and maxi skirts these days that aren't maternity but are very stretchy and loose-fitting. I have gained weight in my hips and thighs so that is making most pants uncomfortable, even if they could still technically fit with a rubber band around my belly.

Stretch Marks: My belly is still stretch-mark free. I can't say the same for my hips and thighs, but that's not necessarily just from pregnancy (thanks adolescence!). 

Sleep: Sleeping pretty well. My bathroom trips are still happening about once per night. Our mattress kind of sags in the middle (probably need to be looking at a new one) so it makes us both roll towards each other and I have noticed in the past week it's a little bit harder to roll myself out of bed to get up in the night.

Best Moment of the week: Starting to receive some fun baby gifts like a cute shirt, bib and burp rag and an awesome rocking chair for the nursery. 

Miss Anything: I miss the days when my body/weight gain/food intake weren't public record up for discussion (and advice/criticism) with just about everybody. It's a bad combination for people to get so personal with a pregnant lady who is overly emotional and highly volatile. 

Movement: Maybe? I don't really think so but there have been a couple times where I thought I might have felt something? I've been having some muscle spasms in my stomach the past couple days which feels weird, but isn't painful. 

Food Cravings: This was the week of burgers and fries. I bet I had that 4 times in the course of 7 days; it was bad. Thankfully I got it out of my system for now and fruit/veggies are sounding pretty good these days. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really. It is more of a smell sensitivity issue. We have a problem with our bathroom towels smelling moldy after just one use and this morning, I could hardly walk into the bathroom because the smell was so bad. I kind of want to just burn them all and start over. 

Have you started to show yet: Yes, but still in that looking more chubby and not really pregnant phase. I saw a picture of myself the other day and noticed my belly sticking out, but not really in the sense that any stranger would be able to tell I'm pregnant. 

Gender: We still don't know at this point. I change my mind just about every day about what I think is going to be. 

Labor signs: Nope.

Belly button in or out: In; not too much change here lately.

Wedding ring on or off: On and still fitting well.

Happy or moody most of the time: Moody! That's not to say I don't feel happy also but I have been crazy emotional the past couple weeks. There have been a lot of tears. 

Looking forward to: Feeling the first real movements! 

Pregnancy brain moment of the week: I went into my bedroom and laid down on my bed, on my stomach. I had the thought, "Whoa. I haven't laid like this in a long time. This is so comfy." After a few minutes of playing on my phone, I realized my stomach was hurting. I couldn't figure out why. About 5 minutes later it dawned on me that "I'm pregnant!" and I quickly turned over and then went through a crazy process of wondering if my baby was ok, wishing I would quit forgetting that I'm growing a child and mostly just being frustrated with myself that I did that. I probably cried, but my brain is too mushy for me to remember if that really happened :) Oh the miracle of life, right?