I have nicknamed this baby "Norm." Short for "enormous."
If you have seen my Facebook page, you can see the recent pictures of me at 22 and 24 weeks. I am significantly larger in just 2 weeks. And, like the song says, it doesn't show signs of stopping.
Someone reminded me the other day that I should be keeping track of the little funny/odd/random things that go on with this pregnancy, because I won't remember them all and they will make great stories later. Possibly to embarrass her in front of her boyfriends. Heh.
- For starters, last night Rick and I entertained ourselves during one of her bouts of dancing by balancing the tv remote across my bellybutton and watching it dip, bounce, and wiggle.
- I have been comparing her with both the Aliens chest burster and the scene in Constantine where the demon tries to escape through the gal's abdominal skin. Some days it feels like the skin is bubbling up in repeated lumps when she gets going on a tumbling run.
- Baby hiccups TICKLE. Not my favorite sensation, but somewhat entertaining when she's lying high enough up to feel the bounce w/less tickle. When she bounces her hiccups off my bladder and groin for 10 minutes, it is absolutely creepy-crawly all over the place.
This next one is a TMI, so anyone who is mildly weird about natural processes, you may look away. Also, you should probably stop reading this blog altogether, since I am a "sharer."
- So... nipple crusties. That was new. And kind of gross (in a fascinating way). You know, like how you get little eye crusties in the corners of your eyes when your eye gunk dries there overnight? It seems that colostrum will do the same thing occasionally.
- I have no idea how she does it, but she still responds to Rick. His voice, his hand on my belly, she always moves towards him. Even when we very carefully swap hands in identical positions, as soon as it's not my hand, she stops moving... tests the area, usually by a light kick/punch or pressure... then moves directly into the area he is touching. We don't know if it's a pressure or temperature difference, or if she can feel his electromagnetic field, or what! No matter how sneaky or quiet or careful we are, she unfailingly picks out where he is. Once I had my hand and his on the belly together. She settled under his hand, then kicked mine. HOW DOES SHE KNOW???
- I've also joked that I'm gestating the reincarnation of Shiva, because she seems to keep sprouting extra limbs.
- She's been doing morning calisthenics lately, mostly with her feet just left of my bellybutton. If I say nothing and move carefully, I can get Rick's hand over onto the spot she's kicking while she's in the middle of a series of impacts. He's felt her kicking so many more times that way. If she's not alerted, she will complete the set of kicks before she realizes it's dad and settles down.
- Don't know what the difference is, but when her feet are upward and she's mostly kicking me at bellybutton level or higher, it doesn't hurt or annoy as much. Less nerve endings in the surrounding guts, I guess? She tends to settle head down in the pelvic cradle at night, then kick me high in the mornings before I get out of bed. Once I'm up and moving, she drops down and lies either sideways or head up. Then the kicks are low and against my groinal area or bladder. That's always fun. Plus, they can actually hurt if she gets a good one in against a sore hip or tired ligament.
- I read somewhere that most uterus (uterusses? uteri?) tend to slant to the right, so baby will often lie to mom's right side most often. Naturally, that means this baby has spent her time mostly on my left. She's already a weirdo. Guess that suits for parents like Rick and me.
- I feel so bloody huge all the time, and I know I've still got a LOOOOOONG way to go, belly-wise. Though it is interesting to finally be to the point where we can watch my skin ripple as she rolls over, and tell where she's lying by which side of me is asymmetrical.
- Pregnancy amnesia is bizarre. Things that are routine become challenging. Trying to think of the word "amnesia" one day, all I could come up with was, "Pregnancy... insomnia?" Mostly it's been forgetting words or losing track of what I was saying or doing. The worst (and funniest) occurrence so far has been in the restroom at the college. I exited the stall, headed for the sinks. I pulled a paper towel out of the dispenser. I stared at it for a good 10 seconds. I said out loud to myself, "You can't wash your hands with this, Linnea." I set it down, got some soap, and washed my hands. THEN I picked up the paper towel and dried them. *sigh*
I'll try to remember to add more as they occur to me, but with all the pregnancy insomnia, it's hard to say when. :D Baby has been awake and kicking as I've typed this, and I think would like me to get up and move around a bit. So I'm going to go help Rick work on prepping the 2nd bathroom for installation! Yay!
