Status: healthy

In our 23^rd gestational week, with new developments all the time these days.

I feel huge but keep being told how small I am. The intent seems to be friendly, but it bums me out a little to not be perceived as part of their normalcy spectrum. Still, it would be something to only get comments about how healthy I seem.

Since becoming pregnant, I have gained somewhere between 13-15 lbs (it vacillates from day to day) and now have a 39” belly, an increase of 9 inches.

As of last Friday, my morning sickness and nausea have returned, though in a new shiny package. Turns out, I can no longer take out the trash or compost without gagging and instantly vomiting. I loathe vomiting. I will resist it with all of my being, so it is not an understatement to say that instant puke is a damper on my day. Still, I am fortunate it is garbage and not some other food related smell that is a trigger.

Another plus seems to be that while I have had two big migraines, I have ONLY had two migraines in 23 weeks!! That, friends, is a record. I am delighted to be part of the percentage of women whose headaches decrease during pregnancy.

Now to the super exciting developments. Minor Threat is a dancing machine! I can feel her especially on my drive home from work in the evening (bumpy ride/loud music), and around 9:30/10:00 at night when I am in bed. She moves mightily enough that Max can feel her jabs by placing a hand on my belly. Her subtler movements are throughout the day, and a sweet reminder we are in this together.

For the last week or so, Max and I have been social almost nonstop, and have been spending time with peers who are parents or are expecting their first child around the same time. It is funny, even when we get a chance to talk about something else, I find the conversation always veers back to parenthood, child development, and names.

Our new name strategy is to track names using four columns: 

• names we like (13), 
• names we are considering (60), 
• names we like that are too popular – in top 100 (6), and 
• names we can not use or no longer like (growing). 

This grid is perfect for my flighty mind. Until now, I kept deleting the names Max did not like, and than a week later asking, do you like this name? No, he does not. And now we have a record.

I will post more photos of my ever-growing bump soon.