I thought you had to have a shower to get stuff.

I am so blessed with all the hand me downs and gifts that our amazing friends have been bestowing upon us in the past few weeks. While we still have a ton of stuff to do we at least have some clothing to put him in, a place to change him, and some baby containment units.

On Friday little Buddy turned 24 weeks old. That is a huge milestone medically because if for some terrible reason he decided he needed to come out into the world early, his little lungs are now developed enough that he would have a fighting chance at survival. He is also about a foot long. Ironically I think I ate 3 hot dogs that day which added up to about a foot (don't worry they were nitrate free organic turkey dogs that were heated until steaming hot).

Other milestones Buddy should have passed in the last few weeks:

His facial feature are already defined to the extent that if we got a 3D ultrasound we could find out whose nose he has.

He can suck his thumb and open and close his eyes.

His taste buds are developed and as he swallows amniotic fluid he can tell if I ate a lot of garlic or chili peppers (sorry little buddy).

He is also kicking a lot. Other people are able to feel it pretty easily now and I have been able to see it as well (I am a little concerned an alien might pop out of my stomach).

Now some things about me:

I am feeling fantastic except for a bit of back pain that has gotten much better as I follow the stretching regiment of my awesome midwife (I'm not as dedicated as I ought to be).

I am no longer able to wear my regular jeans even with multiple hairbands holding them together.

I still don't look pregnant to people who don't know me, but I feel like my belly is huge!

I am starting to get used to random tap dances on my bladder.

I am starting to feel like the baby may have to sleep in our room forever because eliminating all the stuff in the most cluttered room of the house seems like an never ending task.

I am looking forward to starting childbirth classes in a few weeks so that I can hear other people stress about the same things I am.

I am not looking forward to my next appointment where I get screened for gestational diabetes. Luckily I don't have to fast for this test, but I do have to drink a very sweet, yucky and not small beverage.

That's it for now. Below is a picture of a 24 week old preemie. Stay in there a bit longer Buddy!

Belly Progress

The belly is getting a little bit bigger.

Tonight we had our first meeting with a Bradley Birth educator named Emily. She went over nutrition and exercises. She also helped us to start thinking about what kind of birth we want to have and how to give ourselves the best chance to achieve it.

In other big news... While the little bugger has been dancing on my bladder for the past week, Stephen felt a kick for the first time tonight. I told him to come feel my stomach because I felt a few strong kicks in a row and he felt a big kick right away. There were a couple more soft kicks he couldn't feel then the baby went to sleep. I'm sure there will be many more kicks to come. Stephen says "It was cool, but a little bizarre". He is looking forward to feeling more kicks. I will try to post again after our appointment with the midwife next week.