15 Weeks

OK so According to my pregnancy guide...

Bubs is a about the size of an orange by pregnancy week 15 - nice!
He or She is between 4 and 4 and ½ inches long and weighing more than 1 ½ ounces!

This week bubs will apparently start producing lanugo, which is fine hair that will cover the baby's body up until a few weeks before birth. Lanugo covers every part except for the palms, soles of the feet, lips, penis, nails and inner fingers and toes. But so not fear our baby is not going to be ape -like! They shed this hair by the 8th month of pregnancy.

At this time minimo is likely to start sucking his thumb this week - which is more than likely if he or she is anything like his/her mother was!

Apparently with all this spare time on his hands bubs is using it to practice breathing, by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid *YUM*.

And as for me...

Waist: 90.7cm
Bust: 92cm

Well apparently my heart has enlarged (this is normal) in order to handle my increased blood volume. It is now pumping out 20% more blood than it did before pregnancy. Crazy cool!

I've felt a lot bigger this week but maybe I'm just bloated. I went for a run the other night after work and was stretching afterwards. Leaning forward pushing against a wall for a stretch I was shocked at the sight of my abdomen. There seemed to be SOOO much more of it and it was just hanging there.

When people ask Ryan if I'm getting bigger he says: "Well either that or she's letting herself go!" Charming! Thanks hun! but no really I haven't been eating that much more. I've hardly put on any weight, i do need to weigh myself again and see where i'm at. Hopefully I'm at an expected healthy weight. If you start off pregnancy at a healthy weight which i did they say you should expect to put on 11-15kg during pregnancy. And they say by trimester two which we're now two weeks into that you gain about 0.4 kg a day or 1lb. Gosh i wish i could see a picture of what I'm going to look like at the end of this.

But you know with all the changes that are going on in this body of mine at the end of the day I don't mind. My body is on loan anyway. It's only good for use in this life and if I can't make full use of it by bringing more life into this world I would be very sad. So I try to thank God again and again for all these changes that are occurring and have yet to occur and for the humility to embrace them 100%. To be a mother (and a father -although it's all too easy for these blokes!) is one of the greatest gifts and so bring it on!

Struggles at the moment:

Exercise - it's hard to stay motivated pregnant or not but i really do want to keep fit during this pregnancy. This weather is not totally conducive to outdoor activity but i'm just gonna have to deal with that. We have started making use of the treadmil at Ryan's work although i don't get the same satisfaction out of that. We do a decent amount of walking each week but walking has never seemed enough for me. I like to feel my heart pounding and the sweat dripping (eww).

I would like to get swimming here and infact today i should really go and actually check out the swimming pools and see exactly what they're like. There aren't that many here and they appear to be fairly expensive to frequent but i would really enjoy that.

13 hr shifts (with total 1hr worth of breaks for lunch and dinner) - These days due to changes in the rostering system we work more 13 hr shifts (7am-8pm). Most weeks I work 3 13 hr shifts and then have one day off during the week and a 6hr shift and then the weekend off. But already they're taking their toll. Well this past week anyway I have had a tired week. It has been a little more busy than pre Christmas. Three 13hr shifts in a row can be a killer. One day just blends into another. My alarm goes off at 5:45am I catch my bus at 6:30am, start work at 7am, finish work at 8pm, catch the bus when it decides to turn up sometime after that and make it home by 8:20ish. It's lovely to have some evening together but if i don't try and get into bed early I'm shattered for the next few days. Eventually the closer we get to the due date and maternity leave I may need to cut back my hours but we're trying to save as much as we can so every little bit more i can manage will count.

ZZZzzzZZzZzzZzz's - lately I haven't been sleeping that well. I think I'm lucky because I have always been one to sleep on my side so I'm not having to adjust to a change in sleeping position due to an expanding stomach. But for whatever baby or non baby reason I'm just not waking up very rested. I am a light sleeper which doesn't help but apart from the odd snoring episode from the one I share my bed with we live in a quiet flat surrounded by quiet flats. I get up once or twice in the night to pee (our baby's way of reassuring us that it is growing) so that disrupts things... I know i know it's all good training I guess but we've got a while to go yet before bubs is here and I would like to get as much sleep now while I can.

We bought a belly oil rub when we were home and that smells of lavender which i think has actually helped me have better sleep. It is a soothing smell. So solution perhaps is just to put that on ever night.

And that's about it for week 15.

These weeks are moving by fast enough that's for sure. 2007 is moving along swiftly.

July 5th will be here in the blink of an eye!

God be with us. Walk with us. Teach us. Prepare us. Bless our precious one.