MOVING & GROOVING (& GROWING)

I've been getting heckled from some of my 'audience' members for not posting frequently enough. So I'll try to make this post worth everyone's while. As most of our friends and family already know, Rich and I have had a lot on our plate lately. During the last month or so we spent several weekends looking for our first home in South Bend... and we found it! (Well, we're still waiting on pending inspections, but we hope to close the first weekend of May). It's a beautifully renovated old, two-story home. It's very cozy, has three bedrooms and two full baths and a double lot. There is just the right amount of room inside and out for mom, dad and the baby. The many arrangements between us, the lender, the seller and our realtor have been very time consuming, but well worth it. We've also been learning a lot (thank goodness for great supportive parents and a very informative realtor). As for work, Rich has been trudging through some long overnight hours in the ER, and I've been fairly busy wrapping up the 7 week program I'm teaching at work. Rich had to work all Easter weekend while I was in Indiana and we haven't seen much of each other lately, but we made up for it with lots of one-on-one time this weekend. What a relief.

Now for the baby. The day after tomorrow marks the beginning of the baby's 18th week of development. He or she is around 5 and a half inches long from head to rump (bell pepper size), and is moving often. In fact I've noticed that every few days, at similar time periods when I'm very still or relaxed, I can feel little 'flutters' inside. It's so exciting to know that what the baby is doing is now measurable by what I'm feeling. It will be even better when the movements get stronger and I can share them with Rich. All that activity our little baby is doing merits a recently formed second layer of skin (now he or she has both an epidermis and a dermis) as well as a slipperly, bruise-proof substance all over. He or she also has padded little fingertips and toes which will soon display a unique set of prints, owned by only one little person in the whole wide world. And (drum roll, please) our baby's sex organs are externally developing! When it's ultrasound-time, in just two weeks, we should have a clear view of the baby in all his or her glory! My impatience has peaked and I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!

Well despite all this action going on inside of my body, I'm personally feeling great. For the last few weeks my body has started to return to normal. I notice that I can once again easily operate on less than 9 to 10 hours of sleep a night (which was unheard of from week 8 to 15) and hardly any foods upset my stomach. I'm sure poor Rich is relieved that I'm no longer shooting down all his dinner suggestions for no apparent reason. My only physical complaint is an increase in dizziness. Inconvenient as it is, Rich explained that this is to be expected since I'm producing a huge amount of blood and my vessels are all dilated, so sometimes my blood 'pools' in the lower half of my body. Finally, the most obvious and exciting development is the size of my belly. As you can see from my photos, the 'bump' is growing. It's certainly no longer in question that I'm sporting a baby on the inside.

With all that big news off my chest, it's time for my to close the laptop. I have just a few more weekend hours to spend with my wonderful husband before he turns into a night owl on thirds and I stay on regular work hours... missing each other almost entirely throughout the week. Rich and I hope everyone reading enjoys a fantastic Spring week, full of lots of meaningful people and work. We look forward to talking with you soon.