22 Weeks

("Honey - you are really looking pregnant now!" - Ed after taking my picture this week)

Thankfulness: I am so thankful to have reached Winter Break! This week was *hard*. Between some very long work days, due to meetings, and a bit of resurgence of morning sickness, and adding in the hype of students very ready for a holiday, and you have a bit of a mess. I am so, so appreciative that the next two weeks will be full of family, fun, rest, and love. 

How Far Along?  22 weeks! I hit 5 months yesterday, meaning I'm now in my 6th month of pregnancy. That sounds unbelievable, but pregnancy is 9 full months, so I still have at least 4 before Baby Evan makes his appearance.. 

Size of the Baby? A papaya! Baby's measurements are a bit confusing this week, with their huge ranges. I'm guessing baby is at least 13 ounces, since he was 12 a week and a half ago, but it's amazing to think he could be up to a pound already! No clue on length. Hopefully he grew another inch :). It certainly feels like he's been going through a growth spurt - at least that's what I'm telling myself about why I'm so tired and feeling bigger daily. 

Sleep? I had a *dream* night of sleep Monday night. In bed asleep at 8:30, and slept until 6:30. Yes, I woke up a few times, but never for that long, so I'm counting it as 10 hours of sleep. I felt fantastic all day and was floating on a cloud. Of course, ever since then, I've felt like I've been run over by a truck. Seriously rivaling first trimester tiredness. Cannot wait for two weeks with no official wake up time!

Eating? Ugh...the holidays make this so hard. Students have been bringing me treats, and there are always chocolates and cookies on hand somewhere. On the plus side, I made really delicious lamb curry this week, a Paleo recipe that I love. So, it hasn't been all bad. This may just be a gray area for me until January, and that's okay. A bit worried about that scale though... 

Exercise: Sadness. Definitely not happy with only hitting 3 workouts this week, but I just couldn't bring myself to do any more after work Wednesday and Thursday with how I was feeling. Sometimes, you just need to listen to your body. Still, had a fantastic hike Sunday. 

Can I count that as double?

Best Moment? That night of 10 hours of sleep. Ed has also instigated some nightly bonding with Evan, by reading to him and playing some of his favorite music for him. So far, we've gone with Brahms clarinet concerto, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Copland. It's very cute, and Evan seems to like it, though was much more active listening to the Magic Flute than the Brahms. Also up there, our diaper arrival :).

Milestones: Finishing 5 months of pregnancy feels pretty huge. We are now definitely over halfway, and closer to 3rd trimester than to 1st. 

I'm also feeling much more certain that I've been feeling Evan moving around and have really been enjoying that. Ed hasn't been able to catch a kick yet, but hopefully soon!

Another milestone is that we've signed up for childbirth classes. We are going with, in the words of one of my midwives, the "PhD" program of childbirth classes: the Bradley Method. This is a fairly intensive 12 week course that is supposed to prepare you for the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of labor. Almost 90% of couples who attend Bradley classes achieve natural birth, which is pretty good odds. By the way, I'm going for natural (drug free) birth, which I feel weird about putting out there, since pre-pregnancy I *may* have not understood women who had that desire. But, I figure with my personality and love of endurance events, birth is sort of like the ultimate ultra, right? :). In any event, I am super excited that we're registered for our course, and for Ed and I to learn a lot more about this birth process. We don't start until February, 12 weeks our from delivery. I have a feeling it'll be here before I know it.

Mommy Update: The last week before break is always crazy, teaching wise. You're trying to cram in all you can for the end of the quarter, prepping for when you get back so that break doesn't have to be all work, and dealing with hyped up students. We are all ready for the break. Christmas presents are mostly bought, though we'll need to definitely do some more shopping on Saturday (and maybe after that). I did buy Evan his first clothes from me, which was pretty fun. I did limit myself to a couple clearance items, but how cute is this?!?

Baby Update:  Evan is heading into another big growth spurt (I feel like they're always saying this), but he still does have a lot of growth to do before he's ready to get here :). He's looking increasingly like a newborn baby and is sleeping 12-14 hours a day, in cycles. He also can experience the sense of touch, according to one of my books, and might be exploring that by touching his environment. His brain is also entering a period of rapid growth.