23 Weeks!

Things are moving right along. I was told by a couple people that once I hit the halfway point and found out the gender the pregnancy would fly by. Let me be the first to tell you that it's not "flying" by. It doesn't help either that I don't have any patience. I mean we were engaged for 14 months before getting married and it seemed to take forever to get to the actual wedding day (when I get really excited things seem prolonged). Looking back we've been married three years next Wednesday and I can't believe how quickly the three years have gone by! Maybe in a few months I'll agree that this time has "flown" by. For now, come on baby, I'm ready to meet you! Then again, it is nice to have a few more months to save money and figure out exactly what our next steps are (living situation, car, etc.)

How your baby's growing:
Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance (this is great news! Now I can play rock band and have an "audience". Although, she may not like mama's singing) And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango) you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes (haven't seen this happen yet). Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

As for me, I'm still feeling great. I try and work out if not every day then every other day. I've recently started swimming at the gym. That's been a nice experience. Fortunately the updates I get on how "my body is changing" haven't happened, at least not yet anyway. The most recent update I got was my feet are probably starting to swell, sluggish circulation in my legs, and just overall swelling. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that these things don't happen, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they do. I can see that my face is starting to fill out...and I still have 17 weeks to go!