Twenty Six Weeks

I'm finally starting to feel better, most days. I think I've only taken Zofran twice in the last week; what a relief! As a result, I have been eating more, if not normally. My belly seems to have grown hugely in response (look at last week's photo -- can you believe the difference?).

I'm up ten and a half pounds and feeling the change in my body -- it's suddenly so uncomfortable as to be painful to bend over or to carry anything heavy. Carrying Calliope feels slightly ludicrous -- I hike her up high, above the belly, then twist her sharply sideways. Needless to say, she doesn't get held for long.

Some days I have tons of Braxton Hicks contractions, mostly while walking home from the train. They are not exactly painful but they are definitely intense. I generally have to sit for a few minutes when I get home to recover.

And a couple of days ago, I felt a body part suddenly poke out at my skin. A limb of some sort. Still small but strong and distinct.

I suddenly panicked this week about the fact that I've done basically nothing to prepare for this baby's arrival. My plan had been to work on my to do list over February School Vacation but it suddenly occurred to me that I might not not be feeling full of zest by then. So this week I finally bought Calliope a long-researched twin mattress. And hopefully on Sunday, if everyone is healthy, we are going bed shopping. Thus liberating the crib mattress from the toddler bed so it can go back to being a crib mattress. That will be two big items off my list. It's possible that not every item on my list, things like "organize underwear drawer" will be addressed, but I'm trying.

Calliope has started asking to "hug my sister." She has threatened to "hold my sister" (hug my belly?) in bed when we are sharing a hotel room during our upcoming travels. Which makes my heart sing. I just hope Calliope still loves her sister when she's on the outside.

Calliope and Tree Leaf

Trying to Explain Marriage. And Talking About Daddies.

I explain to Calliope that we will be staying in a hotel in Mexico. She nods.

Me: Calliope and Mommy will stay together in our hotel room.

C: Will Eliana stay with her Mommy?

Me: No, Eliana will stay with her sister, Talia.

C, wide eyed and slightly aghast at the prospect of maternal separation: Why?

Me: Because Aunt J wants to stay with Uncle Jeff.

C: Why?

Me: Because married people usually like to sleep in the same bed.

C: Oh.

Me: Do you know what "married" means?

C: Yeah? (*She always says "yeah" but fails to answer when she doesn't know the answer to something.)

Me: People get married when two grown ups decide they want to spend their whole lives together. Sometimes it's a man and a woman, sometimes it's two women, and sometimes it's two men.

C, wide eyed: [So] Talia and Eliana are two womens [sic]?

Me, stifling laughter: No, Talia and Eliana are sisters. They can't get married. And also, they aren't grown up yet.

Me: So Aunt Jonquil and Uncle Jeff are married, and Uncle Nate and Aunt Sarah are married, and Seth and Amy are married. They aren't just mommies and daddies together. They want to spend their whole lives together.

C: We don't have a daddy.

Me: That's true.

C: We don't have one.

Me: Do you wish we had a daddy?

C: No. But we could be with one.

Me: You mean we could have a daddy visit? Like Seth visits?

C: Yeah! Or we could live with one!

Me: We could live with Amy and Seth?

C: Yes. We could live with them in our house inside their house.

Me: Hmm. That might be crowded. Where would we sleep? Where would we put Mommy's bed?

C: Abby's bed and Calliope's bed would be in Eleanor's room. Because Amy and Seth sleep together in their room. And that's the trick! (No idea what the "trick" part means.)

Twenty Five Weeks

This week seems to have lasted forever. After a day and a half of feeling good, another stomach bug kicked in. Totally different symptoms, so hey, that's fun and different, right? But I'm starting to worry about being sick for the rest of my pregnancy. And the prospect of fifteen (or even seventeen!) weeks of feeling like crap is worrying. On the days the symptoms are bad, I can't work. I just sit in the dark in my office, motionless, with a trash can next to me. I don't know how people work with morning sickness. I try to but I worry that if I open my mouth to speak, I'll vomit on my desk. This feels pretty paralyzing. The desperate runs to the bathroom are also not ideal for seeing patients.

I actually lost a pound (up nine pounds total so far) from all these different illness.

And despite being able to see movement on the outside of my stomach, I still find it really hard to believe that there's an actual baby in there.

Calliope is seriously into babies these days. When there's a baby in the room, she can't hear anything being said to her because she's in a total Baby Trance. Caring for Baby Jenna takes up a big part of the day. I'm wondering if we are going to have fights over who gets to hold Baby Sister. Or perhaps she'll be totally bored by the whole thing. Luckily Eleanor's parents generously agreed to have a baby two months before me, so Calliope will have lots of time to get used to the idea of a little baby being around all the time.

Front view

Side view

Side view displaying my prominent "outie" belly button -- eww!

Tenderly nursing Baby Jenna in one of her favorite, if non-traditional, seats

Twenty Four Weeks

I caught sight of myself partly dressed in the mirror last night and was completely taken by 

surprise. I can't believe I have a lot of growing still to do. 

Twenty four weeks has arrived! Hooray! Tree Leaf is technically viable, though I feel like at this stage, it's still a coin toss.

"My belly's not bigger yet but it will be soon!"
I think she's starting to question her own declaration that we BOTH have babies in our bellies.

I got sick last weekend with a stomach bug and my digestion has been off ever since -- I've been living on buttered (whole wheat, at least) bagels and watered down Vitamin Water all week and have been pretty uncomfortable all week. I'm thrilled to have been able to finally eat normally last night without pain, and today the frightening bloat in my stomach is finally gone and I am finally smaller... if not small.

Now if only two of Calliope's classmate hadn't been vomiting in the last forty-eight hours, I'd be really relieved. As it is, I'm bracing myself.

I don't look as shockingly big with my shirt down. Yet. 

But that gigantic belly button is poking through my shirt. Dead giveaway. 

From the front, it's not that noticeable... until I turn. 

Twenty Three (Plus) Weeks

Twenty three (plus) weeks. I've been battling another tummy bug, my second in three weeks, so my belly is looking (and feeling) very big and distended. After only once being sick between Calliope's birth and getting pregnant, I'm feeling like twice in three weeks is a bit much. Thanks, pregnancy immune system!

Two days ago, Calliope and I got to see Baby Tree Leaf's movements from the outside. Calliope was interested but not all that enthused, but I was excited, anyway.

It's hard to believe that in two more days I will reach another huge milestone, viability!