A long pregnancy post

I'm 22 weeks exactly in this picture. Like the cowboy hat? I was carrying it around for Liam at the pumpkin patch. Who am I kidding? I thought a red cowboy hat was the perfect accessory for my outfit. :)

It's been a little while since I did a pregnancy update so here goes. I'm in maternity clothes now. I've been in maternity pants for a while since as soon as I found out I was pregnant my hips spread out as if I was going to give birth that very moment. I guess they know what they are doing this time but, really, they had nine months to do that. No need to show off. But I'm now wearing maternity tops as well (or very long pre-preg tops) and they aren't swallowing me whole.

Brygit has been kicking up a storm and you can now feel it and see it from the outside. She likes eating and she likes laying down. Those are the two things that get her moving. She was a little shy of people trying to feel her kick from the outside but she doesn't mind much anymore.

Liam has been asking me to lift my shirt up so he can feel my belly and it has now turned into him laying his face on it and talking into it like a microphone every now and then. He says "it's growing and growing" a lot and just this morning he told me "it's moving." I lay down with him in his room at bedtime until he falls asleep and he now asks to see mommy's belly while I'm there. The last 3 nights or so he falls asleep with his hand on my belly and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world for a few minutes while I lay there with my son's sweaty hand on my belly feeling my daughter kick him repeatedly. It's seriously heavenly.

I went ahead and did the AFP blood draw to screen for any "problems" the baby may have. It was a difficult decision to make, especially because of the large number of false positives and unneeded stress that can come out of it but I decided I would like time to prepare in case something was wrong. Our results came back negative which means she is at a low risk of having something seriously wrong and my anatomy ultrasound results were good too. I just keep thanking God that I have two healthy children. It's absolutely unbelievable and I never want to take it for granted.

Thus far I have gained 14 lbs. What's funny is that, just now, as I typed the word "far" I accidentallly typed "fat." Freudian slip? 7 of those lbs were gained in the last 4 weeks which I think is a bit much but this is how I'm rationalizing it. My doc didn't even mention it, I was underweight to begin with so I should be gaining more than average, I'm eating healthy (minus halloween treats), I gained a lot with Liam and lost it all and more through breastfeeding, big babies run in my family and Liam was 9lbs 7 oz so Brygit may be a little large as well, and if all else fails, after she's born, I'll run. The end.