Weeks 17-20

Hey Baby B, please kick harder, move more, let me feel you. Any day now I should have been able to feel the baby kick. After all, it was the size of an ear of corn or a whole banana. How could it be possible that I still felt nothing? During these four weeks I gained all the weight and a little baby bump started to form. I was ravenous. We hiked more and made progress on the big items in the nursery. We were half way!

I was feeling very emotional during this time. I think some of it had to do with the weight gain/ not fitting into clothes, and a little bit had to do with COVID wearing on us. Joe would pump me up all week as something to get through my work week and then somehow whatever he pumped me up for wouldn’t work out. Not about pregnancy in particular but life didn’t seem as smooth as it typically was for us.

It ended with Joe’s sister coming to visit for Thanksgiving. This time was so nice. They have a 1yr 10month year old and she is also pregnant with baby number two. We were able to get a lot of great advice, play games, hike and see what great parents both her and her husband became. The last time we had really spent time with them their child was still pretty young and they were still somewhat figuring things out. They gave us tips on career, giving birth, pregnancy clothes, and navigating unwanted advice.

Weight: 153lb. Thanksgiving was in there but I gained 8 pounds in four weeks. I used this Pregnancy Weight Gain Calculator to double check myself. Although I was within normal range, I wanted to slow my roll. I knew from the second OB visit they mentioned I should only be gaining around 25-35 pounds total.

Symptoms: Weight gain/Hunger

Joint ligament pain – We went on a couple hikes and on the way back down I felt a strange pain in my lower abdomen. This was joint ligament pain. At first I didn’t know what it was and thought that may be the extra weight so I tried to hold my tummy up and in. I was eager for the next OB appointment so that they could tell me everything was ok, I still did not feel any movement.

Acne – I am still waiting for that pregnancy glow. I am unsure if it is due to the constant masks I have to wear at work, or pregnancy’s hormones but my face is a wreck. I committed to washing my face 2 times a day and bring face lotion to work with no reprieve. If you have any suggestions please share.

Workouts: Week 18 was my sister birthday and she had been raving about the Obe’ app and wanted me to join. The week of her B-day we woke up early and worked out together. This was really fun and such a commitment on her part. She was waking up at 5:00am and I would not classify her as a morning person. Around week 19 Joe broke down and got me an indoor bike as an early Christmas present. This was really nice and I am glad he gave it to me early since it was dark leaving for and coming home from work, I was not able to run. I LOVE the bike. He set me up like a peloton and we got the Peloton app. Any weight training went out the window, all I wanted to do was bike.

Food: I was hungry all the time. I was waking up at 5:30 – 6:00am because I was just hungry. It seemed like from 6am-3pm I could not stop the hunger. I was strangely not that hungry for dinner. I had no particular cravings, but just wanted hearty meals in the morning. The weather turned cooler and cold smoothies no longer sounded good.

Doctors Visits: The 20 week ultrasound this was one cool visit. They showed us everything. We counted all the fingers, toes, arms, legs, saw the heartbeat, the babys head, the spine, we saw everything. It was unreal. Our baby looked like a little human. Joe and I sat there in awe as the US tech flipped around and told us what we were looking at. It was over in a flash. I could have sat there all day and looked around. I really wanted to take the probe and look around myself but I know I wouldn’t know what I was looking at anyways. There was one point we saw the baby kicking. I tried to quickly close my eyes in efforts to focus on feeling movement and sadly I couldn’t feel a thing. The doctor came and and said everything looked good, asked if we had questions and the visit was over. We did get printouts of the US screen captures so that we could savor the moment and bring it home with us.

Money Spent: OB visit –

Nursery – Dresser, Rug (Joes mom got us this Rocker)

Pregnancy pillow– Joe got this for me, and I am grateful. I probably would have picked out a different one for myself but this one is working just fine.

Sleep: I kept waking up on my back in the middle of the night. The doctor told us I really should not be laying on my back so we got this pillow. Joe really wedges me in there and I do not toss and turn nearly as much. I no longer wake up on my back. I have not had notable uncomfortableness sleeping or anything. Up until this point I was getting up pretty consistently at 5:30am but that started slipping around week 20 and I felt like I needed more sleep and my bike rides started occurring in the evenings.

Our To Do List:

• Finish getting the big things for the nursery – We wanted this done before Christmas and knew that December would fly by.
• Pick up the activity levels
• Buy some clothes that fit – I was no longer able to fit in my work pants. This was a big task, and It did not seem to happen gradually. It was like one day I just needed new clothes.

When did you start showing? What your pregnancy wardrobe / style? Were you able to stay active in your pregnancy? When did you feel your baby kick? Did you have a weight surge or were you slow and steady in your weight gain? How much weight did you gain total? Did you ever feel like you had pregnancy glow?

Let me know what else do you want to know, I am an open book.