Belly Pictures

So I forgot to ask Omar to take some pictures yesterday...I took a couple myself this morning! Not the best photography, but gives you an idea of what is happening with the belly :)

He was moving while I was taking pictures.

This baby is now about 15 inches long from head to foot, weighs around 2 lbs, and can do everything a newborn can (suck his thumb, blink his eyes, kick his legs, practice "breathing") BUT he would still have a very difficult time if he were born now. He just doesn't have enough fat on his body, and his brain is not as sophisticated (can't regulate body temperature, for instance, or breathe rhythmically).

Another note: If you look at my belly, the area from my shirt to about 2 inches below is my stomach. It is squished. This is why after eating dinner, I look a LOT bigger, but I can't actually fit very much in there. Everything below that space is pure baby. I even feel him moving above my belly button now.

He is big enough now that he can't hide in my pelvis and kick my bottom, like he used to :) Now I can actually harrass him by pushing on one side of my belly button and feeling him squirm to the other side. I can tell he has been practicing breathing because he has been getting hiccups more frequently. This comes from swallowing amniotic fluid.

I remember the University of Houston nurse asking me at 12 weeks if I wanted "to keep this pregnancy." I had already seen his little legs and arms in an ultrasound! I was so shocked that I actually didn't understand her the first time! This is not a "pregnancy." This is a baby, and I am in awe of how God is knitting him together!

28 weeks!!

Wow, it is hard to believe I have come this far already...only 12 weeks away from experiencing Eve's curse firsthand! Only 12 weeks away from holding this precious baby next to my heart!

I AM going to post pictures of my 3rd trimester belly, I promise! I keep waiting for Omar to take some of me because I am terrible at doing my own, so maybe we can do that tonight. If so, I'll get them posted tomorrow morning! Till then, just imagine what I would look like if I had swallowed a soccer ball. Omar keeps hoping my belly button will pop, but it is still resolutely "inny," although practically flat.

The cutest thing happened this morning. I woke up around 6 from a nightmare about being lost in Mexico City and spent about 15 minutes just lying in bed, recovering. Right at 6:15, Omar's multiple alarms started going off. One goes "Beep. Beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep beep..." The other one plays a very cheerful cell phone song. Well, just as these alarms started ringing, David woke up!! Suddenly he was kicking and twirling around inside! I swear he HEARD the alarm and woke up. Isn't that adorable?
But I really hope that doesn't happen when he's a newborn sleeping in our room!

Day 1 of Being Husbandless

Well, depending on whether yesterday counts (I said goodbye to him at 8 AM), this is either day 1 or day 2 of my first separation from my husband!

I realized today that I have never been a single adult in Houston. This is important, I think, because it means I have no idea what to do in my hometown without family or boyfriend/husband. On the other hand, I could totally rock this week of singleness in Boston. I would be down at the ocean eating cannoli instead of doing google searches about pregnancy pains.

So let's just cut me some slack and agree that Houston is not the best city for inspiring energetic single living. Particularly in summer.

So far, I've been doing pretty well, though, I think. I paced myself yesterday so that I didn't watch the movie we had rented until 9 PM (the later the better, because then I can go straight to sleep). I actually cooked an awesome Brazilian salmon soup for myself and didn't follow it with a bowl of ice cream. OK, I admit to putting on Omar's boxers and the teeshirt that smells like him to watch the movie and sleep, but you know...we've only been married for seven months...

This morning I went to church by myself and had a good time despite the church being quite empty. Then I visited Central Market to check out the July 4 scene and eat some samples. I bought some fruit while I was there because I have discovered that buying fruit is the ultimate consolation for loneliness. Since yesterday, I have acquired 8 peaches, 2 mangos, 1 pineapple, a box of strawberries, and one box of blueberries. Today I added another box of strawberries and 4 "plumcots."

Somebody told me that the nice thing about being pregnant is that you're never alone. I don't feel that occasional tapping in my uterus qualifies as companionship, though. That's especially true this week because David has been growing capillaries and spinal bones and hardly moving at all. I can talk to him, but he can't talk to me.

But truthfully, I am really looking forward to this week as a chance to do some of my own kinds of things I haven't done in awhile -- cooking new recipes, going on long walks, reading some good books, and hanging out with some friends I haven't seen a lot of lately. I just have to find a way to keep myself occupied in the evenings/nights when I am most likely to miss my best friend.

By the way, Omar is on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic :)