23 weeks 3 days

I'm thinking that our little Besido is going through a crazy-fast growth spurt right now.  Nothing about my midsection feels normal.  In fact, sometimes it downright hurts.  My skin feels like it might snap from how tightly it's stretched, I'm finding it hard to breathe, and I'm also getting rib pain.  (I looked this up online, and apparently it's normal despite the fact that none of my reading forewarned me it might happen.  Check out the article here.)  And you know that feeling you get when you've eaten way too much and you feel like you might explode and you just can't wait for some of your food to digest so the pressure goes away??  Yeah, well, apparently pregnancy feels like that 24/7.  At least for me.  Who would have known. 

Top that off with plantar fasciitis in my left foot (I guess due to feet expanding, extra weight, etc.?), nightly heel pain, daily swelling in both feet, indigestion, acid reflux, back pain, and difficulty bending over or getting up from the floor or laying down, and you've got yourself one officially-pregnant Kara.  Whoo hoo.

Is it worth it?  You bet.  Am I enjoying it?  Eh...not-so-much.  At least not right now.  Maybe I just need some more time to adjust.

It is pretty cool, though, how much I can feel now.  Today I felt actual body parts, not just a kick or a bump or hiccups.  Like I put my hand on my belly and felt something hard underneath, and then the hard thing moved across my hand.  It just about made me squeel out loud.  It is sooooooo weird.

Oh and I had read that the baby can startle from a loud noise, but I hadn't experienced it yet.  Then, this morning, I started the coffee grinder, and all of a sudden little Krew started kicking and wiggling like nothing else.  It made me smile. :)

I've now gained between 7 and 8 inches in my waist at my belly button.  That doesn't sound like much, so maybe a picture would be a better representation. :)  Here is my 23 1/2 week belly:

Quite the change from below, at 7 weeks!!

And it's going to just keep getting bigger...