Week 23
How far along: 23 weeks, 5 days
Size of Baby S: more than 11 in, just over 1 lb
Fruit/vegetable comparison (according to Baby Center): Large mango
Total weight gain: 9 lbs. I panicked when I got on the scale and saw a 4 lb increase this week, but then I realized that I didn't weigh myself last week so an average of 2 lb/week growth spurt isn't so bad. Especially with all the Scottish food and American junk food I've been grazing on. :-)
Sleep: Okay. This week has been a little rough and I've been tossing and turning some. When I switch from one side to the other my abdomen hurts and I can't tell if that's from a full bladder or tight muscles or what.
Movement: Houston, we have fluttering! I *think*. Still difficult for me to tell, but there were a couple times when I thought I felt something and it didn't turn out to be gas or my stomach growling. I call that progress peeps.
Unglamorous body changes: As my stomach gets larger I have noticed that I have a good amount of white hairs on my stomach that are more noticeable to me now than before. Not super unglamorous, but a change I noticed.
Maternity Clothes? 95% maternity pants. No maternity tops or dresses yet.
Showing: Yes! I even had someone in my work group tell me I am starting to look more pregnant. Success!
Food cravings: Our cafeteria croissants. Boy do I heart carbs.
What I miss: Someone mentioned spaghetti-os and now I am craving a can of that processed, barely qualifies as pasta, delicious-ness. Add that to the list of foods to eat in the States in March.
Anything making you queasy: Nope.
Strange experiences: Not all chivalry is gone. I've had two encounters where I came into a meeting and there were no available chairs and guys have made a point of getting up and making me sit down despite my protests that I'm fine. Slightly awkward, but nice of them I suppose.
Milestones: Baby girl can sense movement. Her lungs are developing and her hearing is getting more distinct.
Best moment this week: 1. Finishing our registry! We still have a few things left to research (car seats, high chairs, etc.), but the majority of it is finished. It was pretty overwhelming trying to sort through everything that's recommended and what we actually need since I have come to the conclusion that babies in the US are completely pampered. Boogie wipes? Really? Our kiddo will be sleeping outside in her pram. She'll survive with regular facial tissues.
2. A special surprise gift from my friend Megan. She asked her mother-in-law to make us a baby blanket! She gave it to us this weekend and it's absolutely beautiful!! It's Winnie the Pooh and friends and we cannot wait for Baby Girl to be crawling on it and enjoying it! Thanks Megan and Loren's mom!
3. Deciding on our stroller! Sweet Jason has been spending a lot of his evenings reseraching strollers. He's watched videos, read reviews, and of course made a comparison spreadsheet. In the end we narrowed it down to four different strollers. Two were available in the US, but only one was US-based. The other three are European ones and two of them are only available in Europe (and one only available in Scandanavian countries). In all of Jason's reserach the features that we want/need being in Norway are just not available on most US strollers. The amount of walking and weather conditions here warranted opening up the search to non-US stroller. We were able to go look at three of the four strollers (as the other one is only available in the US and UK) and fell in love with this one - the Emmaljunga Nitro.
Looking forward to: Starting to feel Baby Girl kick more distinctly! :-)
