A Lovlier Baby Bump

So I already knew that I'm gaining weight, duh. I'm pregnant. What I didn't know was that I packed on a whomping 15 pounds in a single month when I weighed in last week at my doctor's visit. I started crying on the spot. That's as half the weight I wanted to gain total and I knew it wasn't because of the extra blood I'm pumping or the one-pound fetus I'm growing. Yep. Halfway through pregnancy and she finally weighs pound, don't ask me how that works.

The nurse didn't help. She remeasured it to double-check and gasped in shock. Lady, you do this all day and some women gain like 80-100 pounds. I ain't the first chick who put on 15 in a month. Shoot, I think I did that my freshman year of college without growing a fetus. As she wrote it down she clicked her tongue and shook her head saying, "You're gonna be in trouble...the doctor is totally going to put you on a diet."

I calmed down after talking to the doctor and she convinced me I won't starve either of us or digest my baby if I take some control over my hunger to keep myself from turning into a bloated sea cow between now and Valentine's Day.

But we're talking serious now, people so I went home and weighed myself as soon as coming home from the office so that I'd know the difference between our scale and theirs. Ours registers at 4 pounds lighter. *sigh* But, now I had a baseline so I know exactly what to expect going in for my next month's visit.

And I felt a lot better when I weighed myself in the same clothes exactly 24 hours later and was 4 pounds lighter yet. But no, those mysterious 4 pounds couldn't have disappeared before my appointment, could they? Cruel irony.

So the Battle of the Bulge is going into high gear. I'm limiting myself and letting my stomach growl and since Grant is working and we're on a normal schedule, it's a lot easier. I've been hitting the work-outs too and I'm kicking trash and taking names in breaking a sweat on that blessed elliptical. I'm back up to my 45 minutes and I'm making it a point to walk at least one errand a day on top of escorting Grant to and from the El. Back to my dieting mode of no eating after dinner (but I'm not cutting desert--I never did cut desert out entirely, just the proportions), keeping better track of how much water I'm downing and limiting myself to my 3 meals and 1 snack in between. I'm surprised at how good I feel considering I spend more time hungry now than I ever did dieting.

But there has been a huge difference in my bump, and although Grant can still pinch the layer of fat insulating my uterus, we definitely have both noticed that it's hard pretty close to the surface.... Here's an updated pic (by request for my sister):


The first is the one we took just a few weeks ago, and I wore the same clothes to illustrate the difference. Whoa!

This is the first week people have started touching my belly, but so far it's all been people I know who already knew I'm pregnant and just "You're so cute!" and I'm okay with that. I've already decided that if a stranger ever tries it I'm going to do it right back and say, "Yeah, it feels weird that I'm doing this, isn't it? Same for me."

But with the bigger bump comes bigger movements. Grant can feel her through my clothes with just his hand. The first time it happened it freaked him out when he realized how big she was. I was thinking, "Dude, you snuggle with this belly every night. You've seen the size it's getting."

He likes to show me his bump too.

And it is pretty impressive, I must say.

I'm enjoying the joke while we're still the same size. In a few weeks I'll be able to neatly rest my fingers on my bump and his will disappear with a normal breath.

But that's okay. Deep down I'm even okay with gaining weight. I mean, I am pregnant so it's allowed. If I were just a newlywed faattie that'd be a totally different story.

But if you're pregnant, it's okay to outweigh your husband. Even if it is a little crushing to your ego and makes you hesitate to take pictures with him.