23 Weeks!

Today marks 23 weeks of pregnancy!  Abby and I are both getting bigger every day :)  Baby girl has been kicking lots and I still really love to feel her moving.  Unfortunately, Dave hasn't been able to feel her move again.  She's sitting in a very low spot and seems to freeze up whenever he tries to catch her moving.  Hopefully soon her movements will be easily felt from the outside!  Here is my 23 week picture:

Abby is about the size of a grapefruit this week, measuring about 11 inches and weighing over a pound:

Lately, I've become the kind of pregnant person that I used to REALLY dislike...a PREGNANCY COMPLAINER.  The truth is that pregnancy isn't really what I expected it to be.  I know it's SO unrealistic, but those pictures of happy, smiling women with glowing skin and thick, lustrous hair clutching their basketball bellies made me so excited for pregnancy.  It's really, really not like that!!  I'm still getting sick a few times a week (including this morning, yuck), my skin is terrible, and my changing body has quite literally become a major pain in the rear (and back!).  Last weekend I started having some mild back pain.  I ended up being pretty active on Sunday and Dave and I cleaned out the closet in the nursery and moved and rearranged a lot of things in storage.  By Sunday night, I was in excruciating pain.   I was on the floor on my hands and knees just crying because every step I took felt like someone was stabbing me in my lower back and then dragging the knife down through my booty.  I ended up taking Monday off to rest, and I called the doctor (and my sister!) just to make sure everything was ok.  As my sister predicted, the baby was sitting on my sciatic nerve, which was causing the extreme pain.  I rested a ton on Monday, plus I did a prenatal yoga dvd that my sister sent me and googled some other stretches/exercises that are supposed to encourage the baby to move.  By Tuesday I felt a bit better, although by bedtime I was back to being in a ton of pain.  I've been doing the stretches and exercises every day and am feeling MUCH better today, which is good.  My fear is that this is just the start of some major sciatic pain to come...but that's being pregnant I guess.  I still LOVE feeling her move (although who knows, that could always change too!) and I know that it's all for the best reason on earth.  I will say that people who do this over and over again are CRAZY!!  Michelle Duggar is obviously insane!  And to think, I'm only 23 weeks.  I'm trying so hard to remind myself how very, very badly I wanted this and to try to enjoy the things that I can.  Women have been doing this since the beginning of time, so I can survive too :)

23 Week Survey:

How far along: 23 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: minus 10 pounds.  That was this morning after absolutely stuffing myself at my birthday dinner last night at Bravo, so the real number is probably a little lower.
Maternity clothes: Of course!  Although, I tried my old jeans on the other day for fun and surprisingly they can still comfortably button!  They don't look good though because of my big belly, so I'll stick to the secret panel maternity pants.
Stretch marks: Nothing new this week.
Sleep: Same as the last few weeks.
Best moment this week: My birthday dinner out to Bravo with my husband last night.  A bonus was that my old manager was working and he majorly bumped up our wait time and comped our appetizer, which was so nice of him!
Movement: Her most active time this week has been very early in the morning (between 4-6am).
Food cravings: Nothing really this week.  I wanted an all out carb fest for my birthday, and it was wonderful!
Gender: Still a little girl!
Labor Signs: None.
Belly Button in or out: Still in.
What I miss:  I really wanted a glass of red wine at book club this week!

What I am looking forward to: Still our Portland trip!  It's coming up fast and I hope the weather forecast starts looking up.
Milestones: Nothing really this week!

All in all, I really have to be thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far.  Just a few more months of work and then our baby girl will be here in our arms, and that's all I want.  My resolution for next week is to try to be more positive about this pregnancy and my changing body, and also about work, which has been an enormous headache lately.  None of the things that are bothering me are life or death, and they won't last forever.  I do know one thing though, I am VERY happy that it's FRIDAY!! :)