18 weeks

Last Tuesday was the 2-year anniversary of my very first due date.  Isn’t that weird?  I can’t believe that if everything had gone well with my first pregnancy I would have a two-year-old running around.  Just crazy.

Instead, I’m now 18 weeks with an extremely active little guy.  He kicks randomly throughout the day, sometimes over and over for 10 minutes at a time, and sometimes just once every hour or so, to let me know he’s still there.  It’s really nice to have that reassurance.  I’ve only been using the doppler sparingly.

Before yesterday, he had been lying sideways across the bottom of my pelvis, randomly kicking my bladder, but about noon yesterday he started kicking up a storm.  The kicks moved up the right side of my uterus until he was kicking up by my belly button.  It was so weird.  I can’t even describe what it felt like, other than this strange, alien creature doing gymnastics inside my pelvis.  But right after he moved up, the pressure on my bladder was gone and THANK GOD because I was getting sick and tired of having to pee every two minutes, especially when I’d pee and as soon as I stood up I felt like I had to pee again.  I even got tested for a bladder infection because it was so annoying.

Today is the first day I’ve worn maternity jeans to work.  They look hideous on me.  They’re super wide through the hip, then almost taper at the ankle and they’re too short.  They were on clearance at Target and I guess I know why now.  I checked Kohl’s but they only had XL.  I also got a pair at another store, but they again have the weird extra hip fabric.  I understand that at some point my hips are going to spread, but it’s super annoying for now.

I’m having trouble with finding tops to wear, too.  I never thought of myself as wearing skin-tight clothes, but apparently I did because I don’t own anything baggy.  I have, I think, about 7 tops I can still wear.  Enough to make it through the week, but still.  It’s getting old.  You would think it would make it easy to find something to wear in the morning, but last Friday morning I had a meltdown.  Just one of those days where nothing was going right and everything I put on made me feel pudgy and ugly.

G was able to feel the baby kick last Thursday and he was super excited.  Whenever the baby kicks now, I have him come over and put his hand there, and of course, the baby stops kicking.  Yesterday I made him sit for five minutes with his hand on my belly while he typed on the computer with the other so he could feel it.

Here’s my 18-week picture:

My belly at 18 weeks

And here’s a shot showing my bruises from the Lovenox.  The giant one on my left has actually faded a bit since last week.  Crazy.

Lovenox bruises at 18 weeks

Next Tuesday is our big ultrasound and I’m so excited!