16.5 weeks & tiny kicks

Hello friends!

Not wanting to overwhelm the world with too many pregnancy details (I'm finding it hard to remember what a non-pregnant person would actually find interesting) but also wanting to keep our friends and families in the loop on all the new little developments, I figured it was probably time an update.

At our 15 week appointment we had the best ultrasound ever. We saw our baby wiggling it's little body, waving its tiny arms and legs, opening and closing its mouth, and somersaulting around in its warm, comfy little home. I was pretty positive I'd felt some early flutters (baby movement) a few days earlier, but seeing our baby move around so much confirmed that no matter what I felt (or thought I'd felt), our baby was already very active! In the last couple weeks, though, I've felt what I'm positive is the baby moving. It is the absolute coolest thing and by far my favorite part of pregnancy! It's so fun to be walking around and feel that little tickle/poking from the inside. I always treat it like the baby is saying hi to mom and take it as my time to rub my belly and talk to the baby... except when I'm at work/in front of people. :)

16.5 weeks, before work.
this top isn't the most flattering on me, but with leggings it won most-comfortable award!

As I said in my previous post, the 2nd trimester has already brought along some nice changes-- more energy, lessened nausea, and a growing (and quite legitimate, if I do say so myself) baby bump.

Speaking of the nausea, I do have to take a moment to brag on two of my friends for a moment. This past weekend we three were at the mall when an unexpected wave of nausea suddenly came over me. To make a long, gross story short, I got sick-- in the middle of the mall. My friends were amazing, though, and ushered me to a restroom in record time. They took really good care of me and helped turn what could have been a really embarrassing situation into more of a really funny story. So thankful for them.

Now that the bump has officially made its presence known, I've been getting a good amount of hilarious looks/stares and comments.

At In-N-Out last week the cashier definitely took a couple double-takes at my stomach. And a lot of days, I catch both strangers and people I know looking at my belly. I don't mind it at all-- it's just such a funny and kind of odd thing to experience.

Twice now I've had women tell me they "couldn't even tell" that I was pregnant. One lady I had just met and the other was a sales associate helping me pick out, ahem, undergarments for areas that grow exponentially during pregnancy. Their comments really made me laugh because I think they were trying to give me a compliment, like saying, "You don't look fat/You still look like a normal-sized person". What's funny to me is that I WANT to look pregnant. Granted, I know the days of waddling around are just around the corner, but I love that each week I look more pregnant and less too-many-doughnuts-ish. Being pregnant is so neat and I just want to parade it around!

Another cool part of pregnancy so far has been experiencing symptoms and side effects that no one ever thinks to tell you about. One thing being all the little aches and twinges you feel in your abdomen from a growing uterus/belly (the medical term for this is "round ligament pain"). The first time I felt my first sharp twinge while getting out of bed I was so afraid I had pulled something.

Also, since my belly's been growing and I'm able to feel the mass of the baby and uterus inside more these days, I feel like I can never get a really good morning stretch in. You know those really good stretches you do first thing before you even get out of bed? Yeah, I'm like scared to stretch too hard for fear of getting a charley horse in my belly. Weird, I know.

Hopefully next time I post we will know the gender of our (currently) onion-sized baby. Happy Fall!