Twenty-Six Weeks

Westley is getting tired of the weekly belly shots. "Why are you always taking pictures?" he moaned as Rob grabbed the camera and we headed outside.

"So that when I'm an old, old lady, and you and your sister are all grown up, I can look back and remember what it was like to be pregnant and have a four-year-old little boy," I told him.

He just gave me a whatever, Mom look.

After being so interested in the early stages of my pregnancy, Westley has been less than enthusiastic lately. Pregnancy must seem incredibly long and boring when you don't really understand time or calendars yet, and you don't get constant feedback from a growing, moving belly.

The baby switched from parkour to Pilates this week. I'm still feeling strong movements almost every day, but it's less like someone trashing her hotel room and more like my uterus is doing the mermaid side stretch. Supposedly, the baby's whole job right now is to get bigger and put on fat, and I must say I'm looking forward to having a cushier passenger. Right now she's all elbows and knees.


I also changed up my exercise routine. I switched from thinking about resuming yoga to actually resuming yoga. Only in my living room, and mostly Cat and Cow into Down Dog. But it's a start, and it seems to have moved the baby's head up off my cervix a bit! Par-TAY! The near-constant downward pressure has been replaced by a feeling of overall pressure, which seems like it might be worse, but is actually much nicer. It seems more balanced. It also makes me feel properly huge.

My weight hasn't changed much up or down, but things are different round and round. Organs are in new places. Immediately after eating a medium-sized plate of food, I'm almost uncomfortably full. But 15 minutes later, everything settles and sometimes I even start to think I'm hungry again. I may have to start cutting my meals in half and eating in courses.

Speaking of food, I made glazed orange scones for Mother's Day and they were exquisite. I'm going to have to restrain myself from making them every weekend, especially now that I have a microplane grater. (How did I go this long without owning a microplane grater?)

I'm also putting chia seeds in everything. Chia oatmeal, chia pudding, chia kombucha (which can be sung to the tune of "Haga Nagila"). Fortunately, it's tremendously healthful as food obsessions go. I might have to experiment with replacing some of the margarine in the scone recipe with chia gel. Chia power!


Between thinking about doula care and researching the magical properties of various gems and plants (activities related only by their fringe-iness) this week, I started feeling strange bursts of anxiety over absolutely nothing. I have to assume this is the result of pregnancy hormones. I don't think I'm actually anxious, just going through the motions. Then again my daughter will be "full term" just 11 weeks from now.


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