Just the Facts:

Weeks pregnant: 23 weeks 1 day

Weight: 146 for real this time. It was fluctuating last time, but lately it’s been pretty steady.

Gain: +11 so far

Size of the baby: almost a foot long still (head to foot)

Weight: Just over a pound, probably.

Other pregnancy related crap:

Emotional crap: In just a few months I’ll have a whole other person here. Another child in my family. A family of four, not three. It is craziness. I keep wondering if I’ll be “done” with having kids. In any case, I think I might be finished for a while… and maybe have a couple more in a few years? But on the other hand, the Guy and I might decide to have another baby sooner rather than later. Who the heck even knows?

I asked a friend who just had a little girl recently (and who has a toddler boy) if she wanted more kids. Without hesitation, she said yes. I don’t have that. I have no idea if I want more or not after this. Nothing to do with “one of each,” but with Anneliese I KNEW I wanted at least one more kid… I didn’t want her to be an only child. With this one, it’s so weird to go through everything as if it might be the last time. This might be my last pregnancy. It might be my last birth. It might be the last time I have a snuggly floppy newborn…

But oh my gosh, when I say things like that, even though I’m not in love with pregnancy itself, it makes me want to commit to having 7 kids. I can’t imagine “The Last One.”

Physical crap: He’s not moving a lot. It’s just his personality…nothing wrong. But I felt him slightly more often today and yesterday. By which I mean probably 4 times a day instead of 1. haha. He’s in there. He’s doing well. I actually just felt him from the outside before writing this post, after smooshing my uterus to try to get him to move more. A little kick. So sweet.

I, on the other hand, am having horrible horrible reflux (y’all, don’t give me heartburn remedies. heartburn is not reflux). I took some papaya enzyme before bed last night and it settled things enough for me to sleep. I took some today too and it helped, but only temporarily. Then I moved on to milk (also supposed to help) and it doesn’t seem to be working… before bed I’ll eat some raw almonds… those helped me some with my reflux when I was pregnant with Anneliese.

What I want to devour: Things sound good to me but then I don’t feel like making them, or I do make them and then don’t want to eat them. EXCEPT twice this week I’ve made home-fries (like little cubes of potatoes cooked up like hashbrowns in a pan) with over-medium eggs, and gobbled that up. Mmmm… and before that, I made a huge batch of potato salad. Yeah, I had a lot of potatoes in my CSA basket last week.

What makes me want to hurl: I still don’t want to cook and eat meat. Like, at all.

Supplements: Prenatal vitamin, calcium that has a little bit of Vitamin D in it. Vitamin D3, Fish Oil. Now sometimes Papaya enzyme chewables for reflux.

Activity/Training: I had a 3 hour babywearing mall trip one day this week. THREE HOURS. With a 21+ pound baby on my back. And stopping to pee like 4 times. But still. Also feeling more comfortable with doing more physical things again. I finally moved my patio furniture from the back of my house to the front (the table is HEAVY, y’all. HEAVY.) and have been moving boxes all around to try to declutter… the only problem now is that my belly is getting in the way. Changing the water jug for my water cooler is hard because carrying it is so awkward with a big ol belly in front, even if I feel strong enough to do it otherwise. Awkward.

Birth prep: I don’t think anything really.

Baby prep: Since this guy isn’t going to be wearing dresses, I went through all the stuff I had saved for “in case the next baby is a girl”… meaning the things that I kept after the first round of de-cluttering Anneliese’s old things. I only kept “heirloom” things (obviously) and some that I made. Other than that, I think I put ALL the rest in a box to sell/donate/whatever. I just can’t see storing it for who knows how many years until I get pregnant again (IF I do) and then maybe having that baby be a boy too, or a girl due in December (so totally different size/seasons lineups than my July Anneliese), you know? So yes, more decluttering. I have 2 big boxes I’ve set aside this week. Need to go through toys and things..

Tandem nursing / BOOBS:

Nipples aren’t as sensitive as last week thank goodness. Anneliese has been nursing in a really “focused” way sometimes, which made me wonder if colostrum had started to come in, but it hasn’t.

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Yesterday I tried to express some and couldn’t even get a drop out of either side. Just now I tried (writing about it made me curious) and got a drop out… regular weird pregnancy milk, not colostrum. I tasted it (again, curious… if you have lactated and haven’t tasted your own milk you’re a liar or have no sense of curiosity), and it is extremely salty, almost like how sweat is. So weird. Anneliese still doesn’t care, still nurses a couple times during the day when she needs a cuddle or is feeling sad/hurt/uncertain/whatever, every morning for a while (on and off), and for a few seconds before bed and naps.

She also likes to wear my nursing tanks as necklaces.

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Other stuff:

In the past, dangly earrings have been my accessory of choice. But with babies who like to grasp and pull things, I haven’t worn them very often in the last year and can’t see myself wearing them often for at least another couple of years (sadface). So I’ve been picking up more “statement” necklaces (i.e., not delicate chains with a precious tiny charm). It’s fun. Anneliese likes them too.

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And this is The Belly a few days ago, just before 23 weeks.

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