22 weeks

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I think since my last appointment I have gained 2-3 lbs, so that would put my total weight gain at about 13.

Maternity clothes? Still just wearing some maternity pants, some normal pants and all normal tops.  I think I will be able to wear a lot of my own tops for a while still.  Most of the maternity tops that I have are HUGE and will have to wait until the end of this pregnancy.

Stretch marks? Nope, not, yet.

Sleep: Sleep and I have a love hate relationship right now. Nights have been very warm for me lately, and if/when I wake up because I'm hot I have a hard time getting back to sleep. Most of my days start at about 5am, I guess this is just good training

Best moment this week: Everything has been pretty good this week.  I was able to take 2 relaxing baths after work this week so that was pretty enjoyable.

Movement: More and more movement from this little girl.  I will usually feel her a couple of times throughout the day, and at least once on the outside too.  She is tricky because everytime I will feel her on the outside I go to Dave so that he can feel her too, and she gets shy :(.  He did feel her kick about 3 times Friday night while we were watching a movie. 

Food cravings: Red vines!!!  We went to both Walmart and HEB to find them, and neither store carried them.  Dave swears they are the same as Twizzlers, but a real licorice lover knows that Red Vines and Twizzlers are very different.  We finally found a bag of Red Vines at Walgreens. 

Food aversions: No, unfortunately.  I have beeen doing a really good job about eating healthy though.
Gender: As far as we know, she is still a girl :)

Labor Signs: No.

Belly Button in or out? My belly button is very much out and proud.  I still love it.  I think it's adorable, but I know that many people think outties are gross.  I guess because I know that this is a temporary outtie, I'm really enjoying it.   Weird, I know.

What I miss: I miss people not telling me, "You can't do that, you are pregnant."  Yes, I'm pregnant, and I'm very much aware that I need to be slightly more careful in my daily activities, but I'm not crippled.  I'm very intuned with my body and I know what it is capable of doing.  Plus, being pregnant is not an excuse to be lazy and get fat.

What I am looking forward to: I know this is still a ways away, but I'm really looking forward to meeting Olivia and seeing who she looks like!

Weekly Wisdom:  Really listen to your body.  If you are tired, rest.  Try not to feel guilty about it.  This week my energy has been really high, but in spurts.  Tuesday through Thursday of this week I was pretty much worthless when we got home from work.  As a result, my house looked like a wreck by Friday, and I was completely okay with it.  I knew that I wasn't going to try and kill myself just so that the dusting, and sweeping got done.  I needed to just relax and lay low in the evenings.  So long as I got my daily morning walk with Thor, I felt accomplished. 

Milestones: The belly button is offically out, that is quite an accomplishment. Picture of the belly button below.... :)

 

Taken right after my walk with Thor. 

Bare Belly Picture:

Hello, Belly Button!

Edited to Add:  After I wrote this blog on Sunday morning, Dave and I went to the Round Rock Scott & White Medical Center to tour the hospital we will be delivering in.  I was so impressed.   I knew very little about this hospital prior to choosing a doctor and a hospital.  I have talked with our Bradley teacher a little about her experience in this hospital.  She told me that her experience being a doula for one woman at this hospital was overall very positive. 

This hospital is pretty new, so there aren't any ladies I've met that have actually used the Labor & Delivery here.  My doctor told me that we were welcome to tour the hospital anytime we wanted.  So Sunday morning before we headed out to San Marcos to meet up with friends we headed out that way. 

The hospital is about 20-25 minutes from our house and a pleasant drive.  It's not a really busy drive there so we won't have to worry about too much traffic if I needed to go to the hospital during rush hour.  The Labor & Delivery has Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum rooms (LDRP) which is exactly what I wanted, and this is the only hospital in Austin that is doing this right now.  What that means is that the room that we check into when we get there to deliver will be the only room we will be in. 

 This hospital also doesn't have the typical nursery.  Our baby will be with us in the room the entire time.  She will have her first bath there, here Apar testing right next to my bed, her weight and height and vitals will all be taken while we are in that same room.  The only time the nurses may take her to their nursery station thing is to do the hearing and sight tests at like 2am, and then Dave will have the opportunity to go with Olivia for these tests. The rooms are quite large and there is a pull out bed in the room for dad and any other family members that may need a nap. 

The nurse who gave us the tour was VERY helpful and VERY nice.  She reassured me that all of the nurses there on staff were very accomadating to each women's birthing wishes.  The nurse even said that once they (the nurses) are aware that a women wishes to not have the epidural or any meds they won't ask her again about it. I really hope we get to have her, or she has a least one 12 hour shift while we are there. 

The only thing I did not really care for was that baby and I are required to stay approximately 24-28 hours after Olivia is born; even if neither one of us has been given any drugs, or shows any signs of stress.  The reason for this is that there are several "tests" they like to perform on the babies 24 hours after they are born, so they make you wait for that.  I know I will be going crazy and ready to get to my home.  This, however, is something that we will just have to deal with at any hospital. 

Dave and I had actually been toying with the idea of giving birth in the Austin Area Birthing Center, which is one of the best birthing centers in the nation.  After touring the S&W Med Center I feel much better about using this hospital to deliver our first baby.  I feel like we will be able to have the birth that I would like and not be pressured into any unnecessary interventions. 

I must remember to be flexible about my visions for our first birth.  I must remember that there are a million things that can happen during labor and delivery that are completely out of my control.  I am trying to remain open-minded about every scenerio, while at the same time preparing for the birth that I want.  The more that I read and know about the things that can happen, the more I feel prepared and confident that when the time comes I can make the best desicions for me, our baby, and my husband.  I'm really looking forward to our birthing classes in September because then we will have even more knowledge about the birthing process.  I'm at the point right now where I can't get enough information about pregnancy and birth! I'm so dorking out about this, but I've really learned a lot about what is going on in hospitals in the US vs. the world. 

I can't wait till the main event :).