21 Weeks

I keep doing these updates so late in the week that the title should actually be something like 21w5d.  I'm almost 22 weeks already!

How big is baby: Carrot!  Produce is fun/

Weight gain: I'm pretty sure I've held steady since last week.  I really don't weigh myself too often, and I don't think there's nay real change here.

Sleep: It's been off and on this week, with a few really bad nights.  Honestly, though, my pregnancy doesn't have that much to do with my bad sleep.  It's more the stress and anxiety that I talked about in this post.  But it's improved dramatically as the week has gone one.  Sure, I still wake up a few times a night, but I'm doing my best to keep my brain off so that I don't stay awake.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: I was really wanting some sweets this last week: ice cream and brownies got stuck in my head for awhile.  I persevered, though.  I did not eat those things.  I am SO looking forward to some delicious Super Bowl food this weekend, though, and am trying to plan a larger something to eat that is betes-friendly so that I don't just eat tortilla chips.

Exercise: I got a lot of walking in this week early on, but it just is not consistent.  I'm too tied to my desk since I'm writing, writing, writing nonstop.  Speaking of, I totaled up my page count for my diss, and I've written 132 pages in 18 days.  Oof.  Exercise of a different sort.

Movement: She's a pretty consistent wiggler.  I feel her several times a day and am just waiting for a true jab rather than a flip or a flutter.  I still can't wait until Nick can feel her too.

Belly: Oh, it's there:

 

This thing is no longer able to be hidden, but it also sort of just looks like I'm rotund unless I strike this particular pose.  I'm definitely feeling the extra girth when I try to walk my normal speed (I'm a fast walker) or jog up the stairs.  Baby girl does not agree.  Nick and I have been talking about a conference I have coming up at the end of March in NYC and how my mobility is going to be seriously compromised.  I'll just have to make more time to get from point A to point B.  I don't like being poky.

Symptoms: A little bit of round ligament pain in the last week, telling me that I'll be getting even rounder in no time.  Otherwise, I feel pretty normal.

Diabetes: Things are ok.  No insulin resistance yet, but a lot of lows lately.  I had a very scary one yesterday: a 45 mg/dL that slid down to 37 by my 15 minute retest.  I felt awful and I was home all alone.  I've only once ever seen a number lower than that on my meter, and the carbs I kept eating didn't seem to be making a dent.  Obviously, I made it out ok.  I had Nick on the phone to talk me through it and to tell me what to do since my brain just was not working.  Yuck.  That terrifies me for being home alone with baby girl, but I know my target range will be higher then and I should regain (hopefully) some of my awareness.

I had a Fetal Echocardiogram on Tuesday and everything looks perfectly normal.  I was a little nervous going in, afraid that even my tight control wasn't enough to protect her, but the cardiologist was satisfied with the size and development of her little heart.  I only have about six more weeks until I get to see her again, at my 28 week scan.

We have some very, very good friends who just had a baby on Sunday.  She was 20 weeks ahead of me to the day, and every Sunday we'd text to see how the other one was doing.  It's surreal that now there is a baby on the other end of that text rather than a belly, and seeing his photos just made me want to hold my girl.  I love that she and I are one right now, but I'm so eager for her to be herself, to be here, and to start on the crazy adventure of parenthood.