25 weeks 3 days

Things are going well on the pregnancy front these days.  Dave has been busy painting all of the nursery furniture, which is coming along nicely.  I took "before" pics and will share everything after it's all done.  I'm pretty excited to be putting the nursery together.  And a little anxious.  Just around 3 1/2 months to go!

Here are some tidbits I've collected this week from the various pregnancy update resources I have:

*Feel like you're carrying the Karate Kid with all the kicking going on? Your baby is actually practicing all kinds of movements that will eventually be used in life on the outside — including pedaling against your belly, a sort of prewalking skill. (I've been feeling this lately! It's crazy! When I lay down at night on my side, it feels like he's "running" against the side of my body.  In a location I didn't think he'd be able to reach.  Very crazy indeed.)

*Your baby measures about 9.2 inches from crown to rump and weighs almost 2 pounds now. Its hearing is fully developed. As the fetus reacts to sounds, its pulse increases. Your baby will even move in rhythm to music.  (Awesome, I want to feel my baby dance!)

*During the remainder of your pregnancy you will grow about a ½ inch per week. If you have been watching your weight throughout your pregnancy and have been sticking to a balanced diet, your weight gain should be between 16 and 22 pounds.

*About 4 out of 10 babies born now may survive (with intensive care ervices). 

*Look who's looking. Your baby's eyes — which have been closed for the past few months (so that the retina, the part of the eye that allows images to come into focus, could develop) — are beginning to open.  What this means is that your baby is able to see what's going on now (unfortunately the view in your uterus isn't all that exciting). But do try this at home for kicks (baby's that is): Shine a flashlight at your stomach. Your baby might kick in response (as in: "Get that light out of my eyes!").  (I read somewhere that this could hurt the baby's eyes, so I think I'll resist.)

Krewson has definitely been keeping me entertained lately with all his movement.  In fact, yesterday I was sitting in a work meeting when I felt him start to go crazy.  I looked down, and it looked like there were fireworks going off inside my belly.  It was bumping and bulging all over the place.  I started to get embarrassed, so I tried laying my arm over my belly to hide it.  No use.  My arm started bumping all over the place.  I didn't know what to do, so I just kinda tried to look around and pretend nothing was happening.  It was actually quite humorous and it took a lot of self-control to keep my face straight.  And now, even as I write this, I look down and you can see my belly wiggling all over.  It's so amazing.  I wonder what he's doing in there.

It also amazes me when I feel all the places he can reach now.  Sometimes I will feel his movement way down near my pubic bone and other times it will be up near my lungs.  I'm also feeling on my left and right sides, like all the way over at where you bend when you bend straight to the side.  It makes me wonder where all my internal organs are currently hanging out.

In terms of pregnancy pain, I'd say my biggest complaint is that my sciatic nerve appears to be pinched and so I have constant tension above my right butt cheek.  It feels like I need to crack my back or something, but nothing removes the pain.  Sometimes if I stand or sit wrong, it will shoot pains all through my back, so I have to be careful about not making any movements that are too quick.  I asked the doc about it and he said there's not much I can do other than Tylenol and a heating a pad.  So I will just deal.

I also appear to have a mild case of diastasis recti, in which my abs have separated.  When I flex my stomach a certain way (which happens to be the way most people get up from laying down, roll over, etc.), my stomach forms a triangular shape when you look down from above.  When I'm flexing, you can stick a couple fingers between the two hard halves of my abs in the area around my belly button and it's complete mush in the middle. It's somewhat freakish.  I've read online that if I do the type of movements that cause the triangular shape, it can actually make it worse.  The link I provided above ("diastasis recti") gives the following precautions:

Avoid all activities that place stress on the midline, that stretch or overly expand the abdominal wall through everyday activities, exercise or inhalation techniques.

Some Types of Movement to Avoid
•Movements where the upper body twists and the arm on that side reaches backward, such as during a tennis serve.
•Exercises that require lying backward over a large exercise ball.
•Yoga postures that stretch the abs, such as “cow pose,” “up-dog,” all backbends, and “belly breathing.”
•Most traditional abdominal exercises that work the exterior abdominal muscles, such as crunches and oblique curls.
•All exercises that cause your abdominal wall to bulge out upon exertion.
•Rising from a supine position by rolling up and twisting at the same time. Instead, roll first onto your side, and then use your arms to help push yourself up to a sitting position.
•Lifting and carrying very heavy objects.
•Intense coughing while your muscles are unsupported.

So, um, that leaves me with about two abdominal exercises I can do.  Awesome.  In the meantime, it's pretty entertaining to show my friends the triangle on my belly and offer them the opportunity to feel the giant gap between my ab muscles.  You can feel straight to my insides...I suppose you'd be hitting the uterus. I just hope it doesn't start bulging out like they've said it can.  I don't want a perma-triangle preggo belly.

Alright, well, to finish off the post, here is a pic of me at 25 1/2 weeks, and also a diagram showing what my insides supposedly look like right now.  Enjoy. :)