22 Weeks- Baby is getting big!

     Twenty two weeks today...and coincidentally...I am twenty three years old today! So far it has been an amazingly wonderful day and I have been receiving Happy Birthday wishes all day long. One of my closest friends from nursing school treated me to lunch today and we even got to leave class a little bit early! I am enjoying putting my feet up and relaxing a little bit now. I had a clinical day yesterday where I was observing surgery and was on my feet for several hours at once and it has for sure taken it's toll on my body! Little Lucy is getting bigger and bigger by the second it seems and my body is ever changing as it accommodates my little nudger.

     Being my birthday and all I was thinking about how your whole idea of birthdays shifts when you are a parent. Especially a mother (sorry dads) has a whole new perspective on it. I am so thankful my mom went through all that she did to have me. There was hurdle after hurdle and she fought through them all to give me life. As a parent in general it's amazing to realize how much your parents actually sacrificed for you. Their lives changed completely just because of you. Two people had their worlds rearranged because of your existence, but the weird part is they are happy about it. So thank you mom AND dad for having me, raising me and setting me on the right path in life. 

     She is roughly the size of a baseball glove, or papaya if you're going with the fruits. I have a few different places I gather all this info from and I happen to like some of the other comparisons besides fruit. I couldn't tell you how big a papaya is but I can understand a baseball glove! The eyelids are still shut but her eyes are moving and tear ducts are forming. The eyebrows and lips are gaining more definition as she begins to look more and more like a tiny newborn. Tiny tooth buds are even forming under the gums. The arms and legs have reached their final proportions, although they will still get bigger. Her brain is now set to "warp speed" and is developing rapidly, specifically the germinal matrix which is kind of a brain cell factory which disappears just before birth. Hopefully she is listening during all of the lectures and absorbing all this information!

     As I mentioned earlier, my body is every changing to adjust to a growing baby. I almost feel like third trimester (only 5 weeks away!!) has come early for me. My ankles have started to swell, my belly aches and hurts by the end of the day and my back is killing me 80% of the time. I've also acquired several new stretchmarks. My poor skin is just being put through the ringer on this one. My belly has really "popped" out and my belly button is getting flatter by the minute. I get kicks ALL the time. Like her brother, she aims for my liver and ribs...but she isn't quite big enough to reach...yet. Kenny finally got to feel some good kicks. Little booger stages a dance party, but once his hand is on my belly it's quite as can be in there. I can see my tummy twitching and moving as she stretches and moves around (see video at the very bottom of this post). This makes up for all the other crud I put up with. We have our next ultrasound on Friday and I'm super excited to see little girl again...and pray that she is still a little girl. Otherwise I have a lot of pink things to change out. Other than that there isn't much else to report! Hope everybody has a great Easter weekend!