A Bun in the Oven

Well it's no secret at this point that I'm pregnant. My once tight tummy has now burst out of every pair of pants I own and I'm relegated to flowing dresses and maternity jeans; but, these are not complaints! At a little more than five months (22 weeks to be exact) pregnant, I really can't complain about anything. I didn't have morning sickness, the nausea I experienced from smell sensitivity has subsided, the headaches I experienced every day for a week have passed, and my energy level has increased since the early months where I wanted to nap four times a day. The best part is that baby is waking and resting rather regularly now, which means at any point during the day I can feel shifts, kicks, flutters, or nothing at all. On one rather fun-filled weekend, baby actually kicked rather furiously on the two separate occasions that I watched Captain America, which made a very nerdy Daddy and Mommy rather happy.

We are about half-way through "the bun's" baking process and I couldn't be more pleased to have a happy, healthy baby. We get regular tummy rubs from Daddy in the evening when he gets home, midday tummy rubs on special occasions when Daddy isn't too busy at work, regular exercise, an occasional ice cream treat, and lots of songs and chats from Mommy throughout the day. One such chat focused on the fact that baby needs to stay in the oven until fully and completely baked without any surprises; baby should also consider coming out as close to on time as possible considering we have future school years to think about (we wouldn't want baby to be the oldest kid in class because he/she missed the September 1st cutoff).

Last week, our excitement increased when we had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound and got to see baby wiggle, kick, hide from the camera, and even try to put a tiny fist in his/her mouth (I say "we" because Daddy hasn't missed a single ultrasound appointment yet!! In fact, we rescheduled the appointment to be sure that he could make it.) From the darkness of my womb, there appeared an adorable face complete with a nose, ears, eyes, lips that parted and pursed, two tiny feet with just the right number of toes, hands that balled into fists, and a strong heart that pounded away as we listened intently. I smiled, I cried, I finally associated the movements with the baby instead of bubbles of gas! It was wonderful!

Overall, I'm a pretty happy pregnant woman and consider it an honor and a blessing to be carrying such a wonderful gift. I'm already looking forward to emptying this oven and starting over again from scratch with bun number two...but not too soon.