23 Weeks

How Far Along: Twenty-three weeks, folks. Some babies born this early have survived (with significant medical intervention), though we obviously want him to stay in and cook until it's time. 

Total Weight Gain: I will see what the scale says at the doctor's office tomorrow. 

Size of Baby: Averages start to vary a lot, here...

(that's a grapefruit)

At this point, pictures of actual babies are kind of more helpful to me than food sizes, so here's this:

So, as babies go, still very small. However, as far as things to have taking up residence among your organs go, pretty sizable. In the next four weeks, he'll double in size and weight. I am hoping I do not also double in weight. His face is fully formed, but needs some fat to fill it out.

Maternity Clothes: Unchanged. Pants and some dresses. Long non-maternity shirts are still fine. 

Movement: Getting pretty emphatic. I wouldn't call it uncomfortable, generally, but he packs enough of a punch now that there are definitely some that get my attention. Especially the 11pm dance party (of one), which makes falling asleep challenging...

I also think he's starting to respond to our voices (or maybe just noise...I won't flatter myself), because if it has been quiet for a bit and then we start talking, he'll start to wiggle. 

Sleep: Generally ok to good. This is what everyone has started to ask about lately, so I assume it won't be so good for long. 

What I miss: Nothing specific, but everything. It's not that I want to have tons of booze or coffee or sliced turkey or to move all the furniture or what have you, but it's been about six months of being frequently reminded (sometimes nicely; sometimes not, and sometimes with conflicting information) that I'm not able or allowed to do lots of things, and that gets old sometimes. It goes without saying that we all want our babies to develop safely--but advising against everything just because there's "not enough information" makes that list grow pretty fast. I talked to a poor girl last week who is 13 weeks pregnant and had read she was not allowed to have pedicures. Now, I'm sure there are shades of grey here...but internet message boards are not your doctor. All I'm saying is that do's and don'ts can be really overwhelming in this age of ever-present information, and given that we all want to do the best we can, you have to make a conscious effort to not be paralyzed by guilt or indecision. So, to be precise, I suppose what I miss right now is the ability to do whatever I want (within reason and the law, of course) without worrying about it. 

Cravings: None, really. I had a brief and random craving for a root beer float yesterday, but that passed as quickly as it popped up. 

Other crazy symptoms: Feeling a little puffy. I can still wear my rings, but my feet swell easily. They're puffy when I wake up, and hurt by the end of the day. I've cut back on sugar (Halloween candy...I miss you...and also, sadly, orange Gatorade) and that might have helped a bit. 

Another first: I woke BA up with my snoring the other night. He, in turn, woke ME up and told me to move onto my back, but I'm not supposed to sleep on my back at this point. So I was just really confused. I'm chalking that one up to post-defense exhaustion and hoping it doesn't become a regular occurrence. Because yikes. 

Best Moment this week: Dinner at a lovely restaurant with my family on Monday night after a successful dissertation defense. Thanks to the responsible parties for organizing that, and for doing dinner on a Monday (probably not high on everyone's list). But it was fun and special and I'm glad we got to do it.