Pregnancy: 23 and 24 weeks

A nesting report:
I got a haircut.  Fun!  I so needed the pampering and my hair SO needed to be cut.  I scheduled my next two appointments.... which brings us right up to our due date!  Exciting!  I'm trying to get things like that in place.  Less to worry about later :-)

This week we'll be painting!  We were ultra-productive last week- we weeded our yard and flowerbeds, cleaned up the side 'yard', organized some things around the house, and I gave the kitchen and bathtub a good scrub.  It feels good to stay on top of things.

We had another midwife appointment yesterday.  It was great (as usual).  We talked about important things, not-so-important things, and at one point we were all dying of laughter.  Not your normal prenatal appointment, to be sure.  Our next appointment is our gestational diabetes check- we opted for a modified test which means we'll be going in for a finger poke then going out for a heavy-carb breakfast.  Two hours later we'll return for a blood draw and regular prenatal appointment.  I'm excited not to drink glucola (gag!), especially since I have tried to cut out much of the sugar in my diet because of my RLS.

My belly is measuring 25cm, which is about a week ahead but I'm not surprised since our ultrasound showed that Baby is measuring large.  Oh please, let his weight "even out" by the end.... Either that or he can come a bit early!  I really don't want to birth a huge baby.  Not that I don't think I can do it, but waddling around with a giant belly (I'm pretty petite!) doesn't sound all that fun.  Oye.  (// end naive rant.)

I'm trying to keep my weight gain in perspective, too.  I am a few pounds ahead of where I was at this time with Owen, however, I am less active now (I was still working on my feet all day during last pregnancy) and I am a second-time mama.  I also didn't gain enough during my last pregnancy- my midwives were never concerned and it was a perfectly healthy pregnancy, but I lost all the weight far too quickly (please don't throw tomatoes at me).  I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight by two weeks post-partum.  This all sounds great, right?!  Not.  Not for a breastfeeding mama, especially.  I had no energy and I was starving all the time even though I was eating a ton of food each day.  I just couldn't gain any "extra" weight!  I didn't have the calorie stores to be able to breastfeed AND maintain a good energy level, so I'm trying to convince myself that it's okay if I have a couple extra pounds post-partum.  I was spoiled last time, for sure, but losing the weight that quickly isn't ideal for breastfeeding.  Still, it's hard to gain weight (yes, it's even a mental struggle for me during pregnancy when I'm SUPPOSED to gain weight.  I think that's completely normal).

Anyway.

She put us down for "dad catching baby" and "placenta encapsulation" at the appointment.  Doesn't that sound exciting?!  So thrilling, I know!  If you don't know what placenta encapsulation is, you just wait.  I'll tell you ALL about it.

And here is a 6 month belly shot.  Thank goodness, now I can cross "take belly photo in a parking garage" off my to-do list! (kidding)