SEVENTEEN.

Another week down and things are still going well. This period of time between appointments seems to drag on forever, though. Our next appointment/anatomy scan isn’t until April 6th — I’ll be 20 weeks and three days. Our last appointment was March 2nd, at 15 weeks and two days. So that’s more than five weeks in between appointments. The gap feels especially long since we saw the RE weekly during the first trimester and, then I had OB appointments at 13 and 15 weeks. If all looks good during the 20 week scan, I will keep going monthly until 28 weeks, and then the bi-weekly appointments start up. Then weekly appointments start at 36 weeks. Hard to believe I’m almost halfway done!

Here’s what’s going on at 17 weeks…

Baby: is approximately 5 inches long (head to rump – legs don’t count for some reason) and 5-6 oz in weight — about the size of an onion (or an iPhone). Big developments this week include the ability to swallow and moving his joints. I’m definitely feeling more of that movement now, which is fun.

Mama: is definitely feeling bigger. Yesterday I got my first public comment from someone assuming I was pregnant — which seems ballsy to me, considering I still think I just look like I’ve had too many cheeseburgers. I mean, you’ve got to be reeeeaaaally sure someone is in fact pregnant if you’re going to comment on their pregnancy! I’m almost 100% in maternity clothes now and I’m finding some of the pre-pregnancy clothes I thought I could make work just don’t cut it. I should have known better – this isn’t my first rodeo. And even though I have a very large maternity wardrobe, thanks to my pregnancy with T (and some friends who have passed down some clothes), I’m finding a lot of my clothes aren’t the right season now that we’re headed into spring. (And let’s face it, these clothes are 3 years old, so not everything is still in.) So I may need to do some shopping. My belly button is getting shallower already, which I don’t remember happening until quite a bit later last time. Not looking forward to the inevitable outie – AKA the belly nipple. Having a pretty good week as far as the PGAL brain goes, but I still use my doppler almost daily, just for that added reassurance. I’m also finding that now that we’re mostly past the risk of spontaneous miscarriage, I find myself worrying about things like incompetent cervix or premature labor/rupture of membranes. I really have no logical reason to worry about these things, but it’s like we’ve been through so much that my brain can’t comprehend that things could go right, so I’ve got to move on to the next thing to worry about. Shut up, brain!

Weight: Up 1 lb. this week for a total gain of 7 lbs. now.

Cravings: Fruity and/or sour candy.