Holy Cow - Now *That's* a Belly!!

Somehow, in the last week or so, Peanut must have doubled in size. My belly is definitely saying "prego". You can see it now in pretty much all my clothes. In fact, since we finally have something to show, we've decided to post a picture. Check out that profile! Oh, and yes, I'm quite proud of the top-half of that profile too, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the belly is catching up quickly, so my days of looking "busty" are definitely limited. :)

There Goes the Fun Food

So one of the things I let happen while I have been pregnant is that I've done away with my food allergy diet. I mean, if I'm craving something, I'm assuming the baby is in need of something in that food. I haven't gotten a lot of cravings, but I have changed my diet since being pregnant. I started eating cheese again (me, the dairy-free person). And wheat. And more sweets - not not like cupcakes or bad things like that, just sweeter type juices or syrup every now and then or cereal. All things I tend to stay away from because the sugar content is high. Well, for 5 months now, everything was going fine - even eating all these "allergy" foods of mine. Until recently. I noticed last week that no matter what I ate, I felt awful. I've hit that before (in times of cheating on my diet), so I decided maybe my days of allergy-free eating were over. I started behaving again - cutting out the cheese, and wheat, and sugar. Things started getting better. But one of my rules was always "cheat on the weekends". I mean, you have to feel human!

So last night, not very hungry for dinner, I decided to have a bowl of cereal. The cereal was wheat-free, and I used rice milk, so it's not as bad as it sounds. But about 4 hours later (after falling asleep in front of the TV), I woke up in a huge sweat. It was just dripping off of me. I threw the blanket off thinking I had just overheated while sleeping. But then I realized I was also shaking. Oh no! It's the darn sugar. Even though I had such "good for you cereal", my body didn't have enough protein and my low-bloodsugar problems were kicking in. I got up clumsily and grabbed the cashews in the kitchen and just kept eating handfuls of them. Let me tell you how fun it is to fill your belly when you aren't hungry (or drunk) at 1:30 in the morning. It took about 15 minutes or so, but the shaking went away, the sweating went away, and I was gaining my strength back.

If you've ever been hit with a food allergy, or a blood sugar problem, you know that it is unpleasant. Fortunately for me, neither are extreme and I can always control them with diet. But my carefree living of eating cheese and wheat and all the other fun stuff in a typical American diet are gone again. It appears Peanut is either following in Mom's footsteps, or on his own and leaving me back to my own problems.

As for this weekend, I don't think I'm going to cheat so much. Last night was an awful start that I wish not to repeat!

Half Way There!

Today was Peanut's 21 week checkup. Yes, we are half way through!!! Peanut is doing great, resting the little baby's bottom right on Mom's bladder, which explains why I am rushing to the bathroom all the time! Everything is developing normally and Peanut's due date (based on measurements of the femur, the belly, and the head) are still indicating about May 20. This means that Peanut is growing at a very normal rate. The doctor is not concerned about my weight because the ultrasounds show Peanut is doing fine, but then again, I think I'm actually right on track for the normal 25-30 lb gain. I've gained 10 lbs so far.

I apologize that Kim and I are slacking on posting pictures. Seems that everything is a whirlwind these days. Hopefully we'll be better at putting pictures up once Peanut is born and you have a real child to look at instead of a belly!

A Good Start to a New Year!

Tonight is January 2 - our first day back to work. Luckily, we left work early, and the weather was very nice so Kim and I went for a short run before making dinner. After eating, we were relaxing by watching a documentary. I'm not sure if it was the run or the dinner, but Peanut was kicking up a storm. I realized that it was pretty much in the same place and fairly periodic. So, I put my hand on my belly to see if the kicks were strong enough to feel on the outside. Barely. But, just for grins, I bared my belly and told Kim to just set his hand on it. It didn't take long - then all of a sudden he yelled "I felt it" at the same time that I yelled "Did you feel that one?" Yea! Now Kim can enjoy a connection with our child every now and then as well!! It may also mean that mom needs to run a little more often. :)

BTW, I am now at 20 weeks. Half way through!