It's That Time Again!

What's going on? Lots! But at the same time, nothing horribly interesting.

How pregnant are you? 21 weeks. Wondering when I will stop reeling. I've now been pregnant in 2010 for 4 months, as opposed to 3 months of this year not pregnant. Perhaps I'll be accustomed to it by November.

Relate this pregnancy to objects we tend to eat or other daily stuff. Bugbear is likely to measure around 10.5" total length, or 7" crown to rump. That's about the size of a beer bottle, or a large banana.


Tell me some random stuff about the Bugbear.  I am tremendously impressed with his/her circulatory system, which is moving blood through the umbilical cord, through his/her entire body, and then back into my body, at 4 miles an hour. I wouldn't be happy driving at 4mph, but that seems pretty impressive for something the size of a banana. Bugbear has fully formed fingernails this week, and his/her eyelids are also fully formed, though not ready to open for another month or two. There seem to be lots of developments in terms of digestion this week. S/he is forming tooth buds for permanent teeth, his/her tongue is fully developed and practicing new swallowing motions, and s/he is absorbing water and sugar from the amniotic fluid that gets swallowed.
Because taste buds are forming en masse on the tongue and cheeks this week and next, there are theories that the more variation in foods I eat, the more likely Bugbear will be to eat and enjoy similar tastes when s/he gets food. I'm not sure I buy that, but so far s/he's on the fast track to enjoying milk, ice cream, milkshakes, nutella, hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, cereal, blueberries, cherries, grapefruit, frozen mixed fruit, tomatoes, peas, onion, garlic, eggplant, broccoli, pine nuts, and pasta. Oh, and key lime mango cheesecake. Not sure what exactly some of those would look like as baby food, but I do like the idea that right now it's my job to expose Bugbear to as much as possible. Maybe that'll help me stop being so tired of eating.
Somewhere in the middle of second tri, Bugbear is likely to start getting the hiccups. I find this adorable, and terrifying. I went through about two years of constant hiccups in my early teen years, and it was miserable. And somehow, I don't think that standing on my head, drinking water upside down, or letting sugar dissolve on my tongue without swallowing until I have weird rivulets of sugar drool running down my face are likely to stop hiccups that both are and aren't mine.

What are you doing with/for Bugbear that's new?
I'm making Bugbear diaper wipes, partly so that we have as many as we need or more, and partly just to fill my time.

I'm also trying to read him/her different things, in addition to the Heartbeat story I try to read nightly. So far we've done Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutskey, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, some psalms, and some chanting. None of these seem to have any effect on movement, though s/he may come out spouting rhyming religious insights, in which case I will believe that s/he actually could hear what was going on out here.

Tell me how you feel physically. Big. I can't find a comfortable way to do a forward bend, because if my legs are far enough apart to fit my stomach between them, I'm in more of a hamstring stretch than a real forward bend. It's weird, and while I know this is still the beginning of stomach growth, I also really don't know where it's going to go. I'm showing more today than yesterday (the nurse at my chiropractor couldn't get over it), and I think it's because I seem to have a big bulge for the 4" under my navel instead of just having the general roundness of three days ago.
Other than that, I'm tired. I'll sleep amazingly well some nights, and be restless/tossing/turning other nights. Touch wood, migraines and sciatica are both better, and the heartburn that I am having I can handle.

What are you craving? Nothing. It's 95 degrees, and I don't like eating when it's hot outside. I've had to force myself to stop skipping breakfast, and be sure to eat not only lunch, but dinner, and also snacks. It's surprisingly difficult; I think that each winter I forget how little I eat during the summer, and now I have to be very sure that I'm eating. I've even tried giving myself permission to eat whatever, whenever, and I still have trouble coming up with things that sound even vaguely appetizing.

Are you crazy emotional? Sort of...sometimes...I'm happy that things seem to have evened out, or at least gotten more predictable. I cry for about 10 minutes at night when I'm very tired, and then I'm done. That I can deal with.

Tell me how you feel otherwise. Okay. Excited to run to my mom's for the weekend, happy that Michael and I continue to really talk about things and grow with each other through this, and generally uneventful.