Week 22

It is now week 22…time flies when you are having fun! Mark and I have had a super spring so far and we can’t believe that we are only 18 weeks away from meeting our baby. We can’t wait!

Our baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound. Its skin will continue to appear wrinkled until it gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers its head (we can only hope) and body is now visible. The lips are becoming more distinct (of course it is a Batia!), and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath the gum line. The baby’s eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and the pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily. That is so amazing! The baby is getting so big and active now that it is impossible not feel it move everyday. The really cool part is that now not only can I feel it move but you can feel it move from the outside too! Everyone we saw this past weekend was able to feel it dancing around in there. It was so much fun when my nephew Tanner got to feel it kick…he was like “whoa that was cool!”


I am feeling great these days. My belly is getting bigger each week and I am starting to notice that it is more cumbersome to do the “little things” now. Tying my shoelaces is a chore! I think that my legs are too long and that my arms are too short…my belly can’t be that big already! Getting up off the couch and the bed is harder now too…I feel so old saying that! My belly is getting so “big” now that I have to sleep with a pillow underneath it when I am sleeping in my side (which is all the time now). I can only imagine what the next 4 months have in store for me! Other than that I feel super. I am still working out most days a week but I am finding it harder and harder to run. I think the extra weight that I have packed on so far is starting to take a toll on my legs and especially my feet. The poor guys aren’t use to the 12 or so extra pounds! Walking still feels ok as well as all the machines at the gym. I am finding myself there more often now that it is warming up. The humidity is definitely building here…it is so sad when it is already in the mid seventies when you wake up in the morning! I do believe that summer is upon us here in Orlando!

Well Mark and I had another very busy week this past week. Besides the normal work stuff we took a little road trip up to Perry to see my family and to Gainesville to see friends. Perry was great and it was so funny to see the look on my dad’s face when he saw me for the first time in about 2 months! I don’t think he thought I’d be as big as I am…it was kind of sweet. While we were there we also got to help Tanner and Trevor celebrate their 13th and 10th birthdays. It makes me feel even older now that Tanner is a teenager! Gainesville was great too. We stayed with Alex, Andrea and baby Brady Hart. He is getting SO big! (I keep saying that the baby in my tummy is either going to be Brady’s best friend or his girlfriend!) While we were there we all got to celebrate my birthday together (a week early) with an All American BBQ. It was Alex’s idea and the menu consisted of all things American (i.e. hotdogs and hamburgers, corn on the cob, mac-n-cheese, and chocolate chip cookies)…too funny. He even wanted us to all wear Red, White, and Blue! It was great to get outside and have a summer time cookout.

We have big Memorial Day plans for this weekend. We are heading over to Melbourne to hang out with Harts again (we can’t seem to get enough of those guys!) It should be a fun weekend of fishing, sunning and just good old relaxing…I can’t wait!