Bottom of the 2nd

Ladies, you know you've been pregnant for too long when you a) forget how far along you are and b) have no idea why people who haven't seen you in a while are dumbstruck.

I was telling people all last weekend that I am about 5 months along. Sorry y'all, I'm actually 6 months along, or about 24 weeks. How am I supposed to keep track of these things?

A freelancer came by the office to work with my boss. I still had my coat on from my trek down Market Street (I'll get to that in a sec), and my stomach was pretty well hidden in my puffy coat. I moved a laptop to give him space to work and the next thing I hear is "Oh my god! Oh my god! What! What?" I'm looking at the laptop thinking I did something wrong. It took a while for me to realize that he was exclaiming about my pregnant stomach. You would think it'd be hard to forget you're pregnant.  Maybe for some women it is easy to remember, but I carry on as though nothing out of the ordinary is happening to my body.

Kinda...
I am walking slower than usual. I now enjoy riding up the escalator when I'm too tired to walk it (people riding the escalator is one of my pet peeves tee hee hee!) I have to grasp both handrails and pull myself up the stairs to get into the train. This week I decided I can no longer wear pants because they don't give the baby room to move*, and at work I sit more often than not these days. It is becoming more difficult to tie my own shoes. And I stay a little later at work to catch the train home with my husband so I can slide myself in the car and not have to walk up the hill from the train station.

Yes, I could take the bus home from work. If you had to sit on the 23 bus for an hour, you'd wait for the ride too.

Sleep is uncomfortable. I can no longer sleep on my back. One morning I woke up and the left side of my back was tingling. But when I sleep on my sides my hips and back ache. Oh, how lovely- a segue to my Market Street trek story. See I told you I'd get there!

I went to lunch Thursday. My back was aching, so I decided that I was going to buy a body pillow before I got food. I dragged my poofy stomach and my throbbing back from the Gallery East mall to Macy's on 13th and Market on a cold winter's afternoon. Not one store I stepped foot in sold body pillows. The frickin' Macy's doesn't even have a home furnishings department!

Oh, yeah, I'm fighting a cold. It sucks. I'm glad I've been taking my vitamins almost daily, and that I got the flu shot or else I'm sure I'd be sick now. And eating lots of citrus fruits (we like oranges and red grapefruit!)

*Speaking of moving, we think we felt a foot a few days ago. The baby likes to move at night while I'm lying in bed. I do a routine rub, you know, to say hello. So I'm rubbing, and suddenly I feel this bulge. "What is that?" I said out loud to get you-know-who's attention. He looks, I look, we're rubbing this thing that's sticking out at the top of my stomach, and we've decided it was a little foot! Sure it could have been an elbow.  Either way, the baby's growing and stretching, which is always a welcome sign of life.