21 weeks

I don't know if this is a product of pregnancy or just having a very busy week, but it's 2:30 am and I'm writing this entry. After my nightly wake-up to pee my brain was too thinky to get back to sleep. I gave it a good college try for a while, but finally decided to do something instead of just dwell on the fact that I couldn't fall back asleep. Let's hope this does the trick.

It's become pretty obvious that I'm pregnant now, so I'm glad to not be trying to hide it anymore. I guess I never realized how excited people get about pregnant ladies, but they do, which is pretty cool. A lot of co-workers with whom I am more friendly have been so great about expressing excitement that it makes me even more excited about the whole thing. I only got one weird response to the news, and it was from a weird co-worker, so I can't say that I'm that surprised.

Despite all of my bitching about maternity clothes shopping, I am in love with my new pair of jeans. They are super comfortable, fit really well, and look like regular jeans. Because of my love affair, I have graced you with two belly pictures this week:

We've got to get re-focused on our childcare search, but the past couple weeks have not been conducive to visiting places. We visited a center last week that seemed pretty good, but without anything else to compare it to, it's difficult to truly judge. I hope to get refocused on this next week. In the meantime, I've been doing some reading - it's what I do best!

I've also been exploring changing from my OB/GYN practice to a group of certified nurse midwives. This would also involve switching hospitals. I've realized that I really need more personal attention from my care provider and to feel as if I am more involved in my care. Making this kind of switch could help facilitate that. To help decide for certain, we're going to attend a Meet the Midwives night in a week and a half to get some more information and in fact meet the midwives who I would be working with. Just based on my phone conversations with them, I am feeling optimistic.

On the baby's development front:

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. If you're having a girl, her vagina is formed now, though it will continue to develop until birth. Your baby is really on the move now. Fetal researchers say babies move about 50 times an hour even while sleeping. All that movement helps stimulate your baby's physical and mental development. You may not notice 50 kicks, punches, and twirls during the day, but as you're settling down at night, don't be surprised if your little guy seems ready to dance the night away.

Incidentally, as I was trying to fall back asleep, Stumps was having a dance party. I hope Bill will be able to feel it soon. So far every time we've tried for him to feel it in the past the baby has stopped wiggling about just after he placed his hand on my belly.