Oh I am terrible at updating this thing, aren't I? I'll try to give as thorough of an update as I can. I'm told you lose 8% of your brain when you're pregnant, but I swear I've lost more than that.

People have been asking me for weeks if I've felt the baby moving yet, and just about a week ago I finally did. It was just once or twice, and very faint, but now I feel it much more often. The baby is doing a dance on my uterus right now, actually. My sister asked me today what it felt like. Many women have cute ways to explain it like butterflies or flutters. I guess those work, but if I were to really give someone an idea of what it feels like I'd have to go with this one: it's like a severed hand in my belly, flicking its little fingers against my uterine wall. Creepy, I know, but to be honest it does feel a bit creepy to think there is a person inside me. Weird.

Other than that the pregnancy has been pretty uneventful recently. I'm still coping with back and knee pain. It's not constant so I can usually manage it by remembering to take it easy. Now that the holidays are over we can start working on clearing out the room for the baby (and by we I mean Mike). I don't have any big ideas for decorating the baby's room. I just want it to be something neutral that won't go out of style too quickly. I don't exactly enjoy remodeling and decorating so it needs to be something that requires little maintenance. Plus, I'm not into all that pastel frou-frou baby stuff anyway.

We have another Dr. visit on January 11th, and we'll have an ultrasound then to find out the baby's sex. I'll be sure to update again then!

I had two weeks of second trimester bliss: lots of energy, happy hormones, and enjoying every bite of food I could get my hands on. But now I am back to "normal," with only my protruding belly to remind me that I'm pregnant. That and the occasional flashbacks to morning sickness. Every week or two the nausea will come back. It will get worse and worse each day until I finally give in and sacrifice my last two meals to the porcelain god.

Did I mention I never had any dreams of being pregnant? I just wanted to be a mom, and if this is the way to get there, so be it. I had no delusions about how great pregnancy would be. I knew it would be rough, but what I did not realize was how long it would take. It's only been four months (almost) and I still have a long way to go. The nice thing is that things are always changing, so as soon as I get tired of my current symptoms they change again. It's definitely a journey and one I am trying to cherish and remember every moment of.

I started drinking coffee again a couple of weeks ago. Partly because I got the taste for it back (first trimester the smell of it disgusted me) and partly because I read that one, two, or even three cups a day is safe. But then Sunday I didn't have any and I ended up with a caffeine withdrawal headache that lasted a day and a half. So I'm back to the no caffeine thing. I don't need it anyway. If I have a coffee craving I can just head down the road for a decaf.

This month's prenatal visit went well. The heartbeat is strong and steady. As it turns out, our doctor's first name is Joel, middle initial E. Next month I'm going to ask him what his middle name is. The name we had picked for a boy is Joel Edward and that would just be eery if the doc's name was the same. I swear we didn't know his first name before we picked the baby names. We weren't even sure what doctor they would assign us to; we were still seeing the fertility doc at the time and just knew we wanted to stay with the same office. The doctor said not to worry about not getting enough calories, the key is that I'm gaining weight. I gained 6 pounds since the last visit and he said he is fine with that. I found out I'll need to get a shot at 28 weeks because I have a negative blood type and it could conflict with the baby's blood if theirs is positive. If we can show proof that Mike is also negative than we won't have to. Mike doesn't know his blood type but we're pretty sure the first fertility doctor we saw ordered a test for it so we just need to track down the results.

I threw up last night. The last time that happened was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and I think once a week or so before that. So it hasn't stopped happening entirely but it's definitely more infrequent. I think the reason it's happening now is because there just simply isn't enough room for normal size portions of food. I'm hungry all the time and I find it's a challenge to get enough of the recommended allowance of daily calories. So when I eat too much at one time (and "too much" is not much at all) it all comes back up later.

Yawning, coughing, and breathing in general have become quite uncomfortable for me. I'm a short woman and so there isn't much room in my upper body to accommodate a growing baby. I know my body will adapt and things will stretch and move, but I predict it will always feel a little cramped.

I'm starting to show but I think if you didn't know me you wouldn't be able to tell. To me it just looks like I put on some pounds, but my friends and family swear I look pregnant. Mike is going to take pictures of my belly each week so we can watch the progression. I know people who have done that and I always thought it was neat to see so I look forward to having those pictures.