Week 20

What can I report for week twenty? For the most part I feel amazing. In fact, I feel so amazing that sometimes I forget I am pregnant. I will start exercising, then wonder why I am suddenly so tired. I now catch myself saying, "Oh yeah, I'm pregnant!" Now that I am able to move around, and now that my stomach is officially starting to grow to accommodate a full-sized baby, I am also starting to experience those intense aches women are talking about in my prenatal yoga classes: round ligament pain.

For me, round ligament pain is similar to menstrual cramps, but it feels like more of a stretching and pulling sensation along my hip line. My doctor says the pains should go away soon because the nerves will eventually DIE from the intense stretching of the ligament, but I have heard women say these pains can last through the entire second trimester and well into the third. If you are unlucky enough to experience this sensation as a pregnant woman, beware the sneeze. Any sudden movement can cause enormous amounts of pain, and I have started groaning from severe pain after every sneeze. I am just glad I do not have allergies.

Like I mentioned before, one of the hardest parts about being pregnant is the long list of things you are not allowed to do. If you are sick or in pain, you can basically take a Tylenol and deal with it. Under normal circumstances, a woman can take a hot bath or use a heating pad if she's feeling abdominal pain. Pregnant women, however, are not allowed to do this. Hot tubs, heating pads, hot yoga, and any other relaxing form of heat are all off limits. However, one night my round ligament pains were so bad I had to heat up a rice pack in the microwave and put it on my stomach. (Don't tell the pregnancy police! Someday you will know who I'm talking about if you've never been pregnant before.)

At week 20 we also had our official ultrasound, and it is in fact A BOY!!! He was moving around like crazy, and showing off his man package like it was going out of style. Jeff was so proud.

I think he has my eyes.

Breakdown

How do I feel?
Fantastic! The round ligament pains are worth mentioning, but they are not bad enough to keep me down for long.

Weight gain?
~15 lbs

Food cravings?
Chips and salsa.

Food aversions?
Nope!

Sleep?
I am not sleeping as well these days. I wake up multiple times during the night (mostly to use the bathroom), and find it hard to get back to sleep.

Movement?
So much!

Gender?
It's officially a boy!

What have I learned?
I cannot do everything I could before pregnancy. I am finally starting to come to terms with the fact that I can only do (at most!) 3 chores a day. Jeff has been amazing, and has definitely took over a majority of the household chores. Ladies, if your husband is the kind of man who expects you to do all the work around the house, even when you're pregnant, I feel for you...I feel deeply.