I like papayas (PAPAYAS!) - Pregnancy Update {22 Weeks}

How far along?  Twenty Two Weeks

How big is baby?  According to The Bump we've reached a "range" for the next month.  

Weeks 21-24 (Month 5): Papaya
Average size: 10.5-11.8 in, 12.7-20.8 oz

As soon as I read Papaya I started singing this.

I wish my arms looked that good!

Total weight gain to date: 24ish pounds. I just read that in the next four weeks the baby will double in weight and that I'll be hungry and possibly DOUBLE MY WEIGHT GAIN.  Oh dear God I hope that's not true. I mean, I know it's not uncommon to gain 50 pounds during pregnancy, I just hope it's not by month 6, that worries me.  Ah, my back!

Maternity Clothes? I bought a few things at the Motherhood Maternity 40% off sale.  My favorite are the PJs pants, and this shirt which I wore today with a blue cardigan, jeans and TOMS to Mass. Lots of compliments! 

Stretch Marks? Sad. So Sad. I had one appear this week.  Looking down its on the right side under my belly button. It really hurts too. Trying not to itch it. 

Exercise: Spending Q.T. with the yoga ball, 3 lbs weights, pre-natal yoga poses, and either two short walks or parts of the workout video from Target.  It makes a noticeable difference in my sleep and well being when I spend even a few minutes working out.

Sleep: My body pillow and I are well acquainted now.  Sleep is coming easier and more comfortably. Praise God. I even took two naps this week.  The heat has made me a bit more tired this week.

Movement:  Oh, so much! And I love it :)  Baby girl loves to rock and roll around my bed time.  I feel her dancing and flipping around.  The bumps are starting to get harder and more defined.   Saturday night during Adoration I could feel her from the outside.  And of course, Eric CANNOT wait to be able to feel her moving around! My friend Lois is a week ahead of me and she said she *saw* her baby's kick from the outside this week.  So looking forward to it! 

Food cravings: Ice cream. I had 5 servings of ice cream in less than 48 hours.  I'm glad the drive through staff at Brusters and Wendy's changes often!  Glad I found a Groupon Now! for Brusters. Eric's been a champ at keeping the cantaloupe cut and ready to eat in the fridge. 

What I miss: My tailbone and publc bone not hurting. Seriously. Wow. Who knew? My friend Alyshia was just telling me yesterday that she broke her tailbone during delivery.  I cannot even imagine the pain. Girl, you are my hero! 

Also, my feet not being super puffy to the point that it hurts to wear real shoes. 

What I am looking forward to: Shopping for more of these... Thank you Meghan! 

Milestones: Lots of baby belly rubs this weekend! So far it's mostly been girlfriends my age, and they're great about asking first.  I've been okay with it so far, but I'm not sure what it'll be like when strangers start asking or just touching.

Every week I say to myself, "Now I really feel pregnant" or "Now I really look pregnant" That will probably keep happening. Haha.

Say What? You'd think being around 2400 teenagers for 3 days I'd have some quality material, but I don't.  Disappointed. Hhmmm, one of the girls I hadn't seen all summer admitted that she and her mom fought all through Mass last Sunday debating if I was pregnant or not. 

The popular question to ask this week is, "Do you have any names picked out?"  "What are they?"  "What? You're not going to tell? You can tell me. I promise I won't tell"  Uh, hi. You're 15. Not confiding in you. Sorry!

Sweet moments: This weekend we had Mass and/or Adoration late in the evening when Baby Girl is super active.  I loved feeling her move around during those sacred times.


Lois came for the closing Mass of the conference and we stood belly to belly and the teens got a kick out of it.  They came making up little conversations that they babies were having like, "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?"

One of the talks at the conference was on our Father's love, and the speaker began by comparing his own love for his daughters to that of the Father's for us.  He sang pop song that he rewritten the lyrics to be a silly song about an over protective Dad looking out for his daughter on her first date.  Eric stood up and cheered at just about every line of the song.  Too cute.

Make room for baby: Baby Ninja/Girl has received her first two gifts, the outfits for next summer from Meghan and some burp cloths from Heather. We've added a few things here and there to the registry. We've started a cloth diaper registry too.  Thank you to Bethany for doing a series on cloth diapers for beginners on her blog.  

On the one hand it breaks my heart that we probably won't have a super cute girlie nursery, but on the other hand, we don't have a lot of room for it...and Baby Girl will be sleeping with us for the remainder of our apartment lease.  What to do, what to do?

Oh, and THIS: My lack of summer tanned skin is really bothering me. Hello, vanity. I almost feel like I look sickly.  I just need to suck it up and get to the pool for an hour or two here and there to tan up a little, otherwise it's going to be a white winter. And I don't mean the snow.

I mentioned that my tailbone and pubic bone are sore this week.  I think it's fascinating that my lower back and hip muscle were aching for weeks, well now I get it...they were moving and stretching in anticipating for my pelvis to open up.  Dang, God, you knew what you were doing when you designed women.  Two thumbs up, Big Guy.

Lastly, we've started talking more seriously about Godparents. We came up with a list of guys and girls, paired them up and now we're praying about which "couple" should be Baby Girl's Godparents.  Honestly, this is more stressful to us than picking out our bridal party (which took all of 15 minutes).