23 weeks

…and 6 days today!

How your baby’s growing: Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound. Her skin will continue to appear wrinkled until she gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her head and body is now visible. Her lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath her gum line. Her eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and her pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily.

She will be 23 weeks tomorrow! And as of today, I only have 120 days to go! Not too long now..

How grown up… she’s getting to be so big… there are times when I feel like I have 2 or more babies in there.. kiddo’s sooo active! I think she’s learning new tricks, like there are times when my tummy gets cramped up, sometimes on one side, sometimes everywhere, and it would get sooo rock-hard that I can’t even bend my body. I’d have to stretch to give her more space, and relax till she loosens up. I learnt that she’s hardening her muscles, you know, like stretching, whenever that happens.

There are days when kiddo’s so restless, apart from the kicking and stretching (which can be felt from the top of the ribs right down.. well.. there) she will be turning around and around and around. I can feel her movements, which are not exactly hard kicks, but sort of making ripples on the tummy, and I can feel her turning when I put my hands on the tummy. It’s such a weird feeling, like having this large fishy swimming around in my tummy, always bumping into its flexible aquarium. I think she is getting aware of how much space she has, and is testing the limit of how far she can go. And when kiddo kicks, she REALLY kicks. My goodness this is one active baby!! She can spend hours wriggling around, swimming, bumping, kicking, sometimes making me say “ouch” out loud coz she catches me by surprise sometimes with her rapid movements.

I LOVE the fact that she’s so active.. (but in a way making me wonder HOW she’d be when she’s out!) but there are times when she moves so much and so strongly that I get worried she’s uncomfortable or something… to which Daddy always tells me to stop worrying hehehe. But really, she moves soo much I wonder when she sleeps. Or does she move while she sleeps? Ouh and I’m quite sure she’s responding to sounds now.. like there are times when she’s quiet.. and when Daddy calls to her and touches my tummy, she’d suddenly give him a kick! And Daddy gets kicked in the face/ear/cheek a whole lot now hahaha almost everytime he puts his face there.

Few days ago, Daddy got to listen to kiddo’s heartbeat for the first time… I’ve been able to just feel her heartbeat with my hands sometimes, I guess it’s when her back is near the surface of my tummy. I’ve been dying to hear it, but well that is quite physically impossible now isn’t it. So that night, I was lying down with my hands on my tummy, feeling the little girl squirm, when I felt her heartbeat.. so I asked Daddy to try and see if he could hear it, and lo and behold! He could!!! He was smiling from ear to ear that night.. hehe how proud Daddy was of kiddo..

As for me, I am holding up fine so far.. still haven’t gotten that ‘appetite’ thing going for me… I still eat my normal portions.. I still do puke at times.. urgghh I hate that. Gaining weight verryyy slowly, but I am very sure it is sufficient.. haven’t grown out of my size 24 jeans yet hehehe that’s good news, except of course I can’t button them up la.. discomforts, well the infamous backaches are here, with the growing tummy… getting harder to get myself comfortable at night, cos it’s so hard to find a comfy position to sleep in. Spending 9 hours at the office sitting down really takes it toll on the back and shoulders.. thank god for Daddy’s massages hehehe and yoko yoko. Lately, few days back I started getting numbness on my left wrist, and it lasted for 2 days, I was so worried it would continue till delivery! And I prayed hard it’s not the pregnancy-induced Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.. For now, it’s gone… Hmm I guess that’s it on my part… another thing is that my perfect ‘innie’ belly button is no more… hahaha. It’s level with the tummy now, sometimes even becoming an ‘outie’! I looks so unmistakeably preggy