22 Weeks

THIS WEEK
I am 22 weeks and seriously, I can't believe I am so blessed to be carrying our miracle. This week Dylan and I went out and took advantage of the (short) beautiful fall weather to take some photos, in part to put together a little announcement to extended family/friends (yes, we've held out this long) but mostly because we wanted to celebrate our little girl and capture this moment in our pregnancy. Other than that it has been a quiet week, fall is officially here and as we welcome the cooler weather and the onset of the holidays we are reminded by how quickly this time of year seems to go and in no time we will be holding our beautiful little girl (I can't wait!).

BABY UPDATE

Baby girl is the size of a papaya, spaghetti squash or egg plant, weighing between 15 ounces and 1 lb 3 ounces and is just under twelve inches long from crown to heel :) I usually reference a few different websites/apps to find the most common fruit/vegetable for these weekly comparisons and I think we've reached the point where they are starting to get a little weird, we went with an egg plant this week because when we compared the other vegetables/fruits for this week (especially to the ones for the next few weeks where most places estimate the same height and weight of baby) they didn't make senese (for example the smallest spaghetti squash was still visibly larger than the papaya for this week or a pomegranate or grapefruit for the coming weeks.

Baby girl weighs (approximately) a pound and her movements are now deliberate, with the purpose of preparing motor skills and coordination. Baby's brain is beginning a period of rapid growth and development while hair continues to grow on baby's head, the hair has not yet developed a pigment.

MOMMA UPDATE

I've been feeling a lot of movement this week, she's only getting stronger and it is such an amazing thing to feel her move around. She's kicking much higher lately and I've started to feel my uterus move above my belly button, I cannot believe how big my belly is getting (I love it!) and it seems like every day my belly button gets closer to finally popping - although realistically we've been at this stage for a few weeks now I am definitely feeling like it is just around the corner now haha. This week I have been so emotional and I hate getting so worked up because I worry so much about it affecting our sweet little girl. While not as bad as last week I am still experiencing some heartburn and it seems that my nausea has come back sporadically but nothing in comparison to the first trimester. Still having a lot of aches and pains, especially in my lower back and hips (just like my first pregnancy) of course it's absolutely worth it and I love seeing my belly get bigger knowing that our little girl is growing big and strong. My chest has been very sore this week and although I am still going to try to wait it out but I'm starting to accept that I have long outgrown my bras and need to up size.  (I know it is only going to get worse in the third trimester and I can't even think about how my body is going to handle nursing) but I really don't feel like owning a bunch of different sized bras that are (in theory) only going to fit me for a short period. No big cravings this week, but I am very eager for Thanksgiving and even Halloween - goodbye appropriate weight gain and hello holiday goodness, haha.

Belly is measuring 41 inches!

DADDY MOMENTS

Aside from being so incredible and working so hard to get renovations done before my third trimester, having Daddy still get excited about feeling her kick and hearing him exclaim how strong she is getting is wonderful. It is kind of amazing to see the bond Daddy already has with his baby girl

FAVORITE PART OF THE WEEK

Taking a handful of photos to celebrate our baby girl and this beautiful (more than) halfway mark.

LOOKING FORWARD TO

The big echo ultrasound next week and (praying) we hear nothing but good news for our beautiful little girl.

xo, Anne.