Week 23: Where have my feet gone.

Here we are, week 23 already! I have my moments where I feel as though I've been pregnant forever, but most of the time I can't believe how close I am to meeting baby E or baby C! Last night I realized I have only 17 weeks before I hold my precious baby! Really, that is not that far away, I mean I've already been pregnant 23 weeks, which blows my mind!

Yesterday I had another appointment with my midwife Judy. She is truly a blessing, and I love how she let's me just be me, and be real about how I am feeling and doing, and she doesn't rush me but she listens. Yesterday was an emotional up and down day for me, and she encouraged me to let it out, to cry. I balled and told her how I feel like such a failure as a parent already; my occasional caffeine becoming a daily habit, and my food choices being Mcmuffins rather than salads... she was so sweet, listening to me cry about my bad habits. She told me she really felt like God gave us this process of being pregnant for 40 weeks to prepare us for motherhood. Of learning to be selfless, everything is not about me.

Yeah so anyways: How is baby?! Well, GREAT! Still quite the mover! Whenever Judy checks the heartbeat and she pushes on my belly our baby kicks SO hard. It makes me laugh every time she kicks her! I asked her if it's possible to have too much fetal movement, and she laughed and said that this baby is healthy and this is normal. I can't even imagine the movements this baby will have as it grows over the next few months!

Baby: Baby's sense of movement is well developed now, so he or she can feel me dancing! The baby may have grown over the past two weeks but I think it's around 12 inches & a little over 1 pound now. I can actually see him or her squirm and kick from the outside of my tummy! Blood vessels in his or her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises become familiar now. Baby knows her daddy's voice, I know it! Although sometimes he makes really strange voices while he talks, poor baby will be confused! I know it already knows Chey's little excitement squeal too!


Mommy: Today someone asked me, "Can you still see your feet?" and I looked down and I couldn't!! Already! I think the past two weeks I've become more and more aware of the fact that I am about to be a mother, each day is comes closer and closer. So God's really been working in me, to begin the preparation for motherhood, like we talked about above. Not just concerning food and how I am feeding the baby, but about my character, my fears, my trust in God and how I will portray Him to our baby. It's actually been an incredible growing time for me, I'm still growing and not just physically... a lot more growth to come. I'm ready to be completely changed by motherhood.

Yay.

Pics to come - I had a little 4-year-old ask me today "is that baby still in there", pointing to my tummy, I said Yep! it is. She then asked to see my actual belly so i showed her and she was like, "you're belly is HUGE!". It was awesome. Gotta love these moments. I was actually just thinking of how I can't remember what a flat tummy feels like. I just can't! Oh my word, so great and I mean that with everything in me. I wouldn't trade this for anything :)

x - Jami & Baby E or Baby C