Jude doesn’t have much room to maneuver now that he’s over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it’s so snug in my womb, he isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore (haha, try telling him that), but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

My uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside my pelvis when I conceived — now reaches up under my ribcage. If you could peek inside my womb, you’d see that there’s more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. My ballooning uterus is crowding my other internal organs, too, causing lovely heartburn, frequent potty trips, gallbladder attacks, constipation, and simply that urgly feeling that accompanies the baby’s flips and somersaults.  Yes, he is still flipping head to tail, tail o head, and sideways.  Often these flips are quite painful as he is ginormous at this point and, really, too big to be performing acrobatic stunts like that anymore!  I am finding that food lasts a really long time anymore.  I’ll eat breakfast and not be hungry for a really long time, then suddenly be starving!  But I can’t eat too much, my stomach size is compromised and little meals are what’s called for.  I actually get sweaty if I eat too much.  I find that kind of funny. And too much isn’t a lot so it can be tricky sometimes!

We had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday.  Everything went well.  I figured out that I lost about 12 pounds at the beginning of pregnancy and have only gained about five of those back, leaving me with a deficit of seven pounds still.  When the baby comes out and all the other gack is lost, I should be about 22 pounds down from pre-pregnancy.  I know that I am supposed to gain weight while pregnant, but I can’t help but feel a little excited that I’ll be post pregnancy weighing less than when I started.  With my current goals of weightloss, I am kind of excited and motivated to keep on with the downward trend!

We had a really nice Valentines’ Day.  I awoke to flowers and a card from Bradley and Gigi, followed up by THE party at school late in the day. It’s amazing how much students just LOVE to give and receive those silly little Valentines.  My students danced and sang to High School Musical.  Guinevere was very influenced and we spent a part of this morning dressed as a cheerleader dancing around.  That night Bradley gifted Gigi and I with new Wii games.  Raving Rabbids for her and Tomb Raider for me.  We used to play that all the time when we were first together and we have been finding it still intriguing and a fun time waster.  We had a nice night.

Today we spent tying up loose ends, driving to Ikea to buy shelves (thanks Grandpa) for the baby’s room, then to Target to buy a rug for baby’s room (again, thanks Grandpa) and finally to Grandma Sheri’s storage unit to get Bradley’s childhood dresser for the baby.  Now we are all set.  We are painting the dresser and bought new handles for the pulls.  It should be pretty cute when we’re finished.  It’s funny, Gigi has my old childhood dresser and now Jude will have Bradley’s.  Fitting.  So now all we need to do is put things together and place them in the room.  Yeah!

I am in the process of applying for my National Board Certification for next year.  It will be a big job and I’m having difficulties getting back into essay mode.  I am applying for a scholarship too.  Hopefully it will all work out.  If I am nationally certified I will be able to teach in almost every state, plus I’ll get a little pay increase which doesn’t hurt.  I am not looking forward to the process, but I have little choice.  It’s either my master’s, a year long (and lame) professional certification program, or this.  This seems to have more options long term.  But ugh!  I feel like I JUST finished school and am just getting the hang of my job.  I’m not ready to go back to school yet!

Have a super week,


Comments are closed.