Milestones

It’s hard to believe but I’m officially 20 weeks, which means I’m HALFWAY THERE!  It’s exciting, scary and a little bit sad all at the same time.  Of course, the bigger I get, the more I realize why women are SO ready to deliver by the end, so I’m sure I’ll be over being pregnant soon enough.  For now, at least, I’m loving it.

This week, I’ve started to feel her moving around.  At first, I wasn’t 100% sure what it was.  I thought it could have been gas bubbles or a muscle twitch, and I didn’t want to go around telling everyone I was feeling something in case I actually wasn’t (not that they’d know the difference, but still).  The other night, I laid down in bed and I could feel her.  People always refer to it as “flutters,” so I guess I had imagined it would feel lighter than it did, but it felt like a cross between a muscle twitch and someone lightly tapping me from inside my belly.  I laid there for a while, just feeling her move around, feeling so full of love and happiness.  The first part of the pregnancy is so surreal.  You barely grow at all and it’s easy to wonder if there really is anything in there.  The ultrasounds help, but they are few and far between.  Suddenly, my belly has grown exponentially and she’s poking around to let me know she’s there.  It makes me feel really connected to her and reminds me that there’s really a person in there, not just a few cells that happen to be growing.

I told JD about the moving, but he didn’t seem overly excited at first.  I might have been offended if I didn’t know him well enough to ask, “Do you feel left out that you can’t feel it yet?” 

“Yeah,” he replied sadly.

I tried to explain to him how it felt, so that he could be a part of it.  He poked my belly a few times, but she seemed to be done moving around for a while.  Soon enough she’ll be kicking hard enough for him to feel it and maybe even see her moving around.  I can’t wait for him to share in those moments.

We also started our baby registry and are about half done.  Many, MANY thanks go to two of my friends, who I emailed asking for advice and they provided very detailed responses with stuff they recommend, brands, features, etc.  This saved a TON of time (and probably a nervous breakdown) when registering. 

When we originally found out we were having a girl, JD was insistent that there would be absolutely no pink.  I just smiled and nodded, knowing that there would be plenty of people who would buy us pink outfits or pink toys, but I was surprised that when we registered, he picked out a few pink things on his own.  We were looking at some green swaddling blankets, and he turned to the pink and brown polka dot ones and said, “I like these.”  I didn’t argue, just smiled to myself and said “okay,” picturing JD holding our little baby girl, all wrapped in a pink polka dot blanket.