22 week update

STATS:

How far along: 22 weeks.
How big is baby: The size of a spaghetti squash or a papaya- around 1 pound and 8-10 inches

Total Weight gain: 15 pounds. Geeze!
 Maternity Clothes: Yep. So far the maternity jeans/pants still fit comfortably. I wonder if I'll reach a day when only leggings or dresses will do. Luckily it will be warmer outside during my biggest months.

Sleep: OH.MY.GOODNESS..My husband is a saint! He got me a pregnancy pillow for Valentine's Day. You can read all about it on our main blog. Every night of using the pillows has progressively been getting better. I've been waking up less and less each night but realized that something was stirring me from my sleep and it wasn't the bathroom. Every night we sleep with a noise maker. To save battery life I set it on a 60 minute timer. The other night I kept waking up and turning it back on. I was  sleeping more comfortably and didn't really have to go to the bathroom so I realized it must have been the lack of white noise in the room. The next night I took the timer off but I woke up suddenly at 2:45 AM. As I was laying there, I heard footsteps from our neighbor above and realized that he was probably waking me up. The guy is an insane insomniac- I'm telling you. He frustrates the life out of me! We've been having problems with him ever since we moved into this apartment in August. Who in their right mind needs to be up stomping back and forth around their apartment in the middle of the night. We've gone to drastic measures with this guy (banging on the ceiling, visiting his apartment, writing him a letter and having it translated into Korean....) and nothing has worked. It's a hopeless cause. So I resorted to earplugs and got the best sleep of my pregnancy the other night (Wednesday).

Best moment of the week: Well, Valentine's Day was preeeetttty amazing. But Wednesday night was almost equal. I slept from like 10:30 or 11 pm all the way to 5 AM uninterrupted! I didn't wake up once to go to the bathroom, hear the upstairs neighbor stomping around or anything. It was so amazing!

Food cravings : Maybe my iron levels were low this week because I just really wanted meat. On Valentine's Day we went to a Brazilian steakhouse- you know the all-you-can-eat meat places. You'd think that would have been enough iron for a week but, no. The very next night I really really wanted a hamburger!

Food aversions: Still just onions. Oh and my new prenatal vitamins (I finished off the first bottle) smell yucky. They have Omega 3 fish oils in them.

Symptoms: I've had a couple times of pretty bad heartburn this week. Not fun. Occasional leg cramps. Other than those 2 things, I feel really great. I'd have to say this is the best I've felt yet. Everyone says the 2nd trimester is when you feel the best. In the 1st, you look forward to the 2nd; in the 3rd, you long to have the 2nd back... I'm enjoying it now. I feel really great. I'm also really thankful that I haven't experienced some of the common symptoms like the dark line on the stomach, extra hair, the dark spots on the face. None of that so far although I think I have seen some stretch marks appearing. :( I oil and lotion my body every day but experts say that stretch marks are more genetic than anything else, so there's really not much you can do to prevent them.

Movement: Yes. I'm trying to discover a pattern in the baby's movement. I think I notice it more after I eat a meal, especially dinner.

Gender: We know! :)
What I’m looking forward to: getting the diabetes test over with at my next appointment. :( Please pray that I don't develop gestational diabetes...I REALLY don't want that to happen!

What I miss: nothing. I'm really enjoying this stage.
Next appt: Tuesday, March 6

What is baby doing this week? Baby now looks like a miniature newborn; the limbs have reached their final proportions. Everything is mostly developed and operational. This week the senses are really developing. Taste buds are forming and nerve endings are developed enough for the baby to experience the sensation of touch. Baby's reproductive system is developing. Baby can also respond to rhythm and melody so we can sing and talk to baby. We bought a book set the other day (Goodnight Moon, the Runaway Bunny, and My World) and will start doing bedtime stories with baby. Studies show that what you sing/read/say to them in utero is recognized by babies when they are born.