ok, seriously...how sad is it that this is my FIRST pregnancy picture of the pregnancy so far? It's horrible. Neil is not one to take any pictures...so I have to rely on creatively figuring out how I can do it myself. So...here's my first shot @17.5 weeks.
Just in the past couple of days I've gotten to that "my belly is tired" stage - when I realize that I've been naturally holding in my belly like I always do, and my abs (and the baby) are starting to resist. My abs get tired, and I finally am forced to relax...and I immediately look a LOT more pregnant. Amazing thing...
Oh, and we've decided to NOT find out what this baby is going to be. We have one of each, and we have everything we need for either one, and our nursery(as well as a lot of the other baby stuff) is gender-neutral, so we're just going to wash the gender-neutral newborn stuff (or both tubs of newborn clothes) and go from there.
of course, I think I know what it is anyway...I always do. And so far, I've been right both times. Bella keeps saying that she's going to be having a baby sister. we'll have to wait and see...
So far, I'm still running, though not as consistent as I would like, and I've had NO problems so far. Not one braxton hicks contraction. I had to stop running @ 16 weeks with Balian, and even earlier with Bella. I'm just going to run as long as I can this time around, just like the other times...only one difference - no bicornuate uterus - and that makes a HUGE difference! I think it would be fabulous to run at least until the beginning of the 3rd trimester (28 weeks). we'll see. I'm not pushing it - seriously. I'm only doing about 2.5-3 miles at a time and averaging about an 11-12 min. pace. Sometimes even slower than that - depepends on the day - how I'm feeling, what my heartrate is like, if I'm pushing both kids in the stroller, etc.
I'm starting to feel the baby move a lot at night. I felt it move once or twice at about 13 weeks, a couple of times at about 16 weeks, but the past couple of days, it's gotten really active. Last night I was carrying Balian, and apparently the baby didn't like Balian's knee digging into my belly, so it was kicking Balian's knee. Almost felt like muscle spasms - and it tickled! ha. Amazing how every pregnancy is different!
