Going BANANAS!!!!!

Baby's now the size of a banana!Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion, and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, if baby is a girl, her womb is now stocked up with her lifetime supply of six million eggs (the number will drop to around one million by birth).

For some reason, the banana analogy has hit home the most. I mean, I know it's silly to think of McBaby as a fruit or veggie, but I have been, thanks to this fun little game. Not to mention I have co-workers coming to my office door each Thursday morning in anticipation of what the new week brings. Thinking of baby as a banana (and almost a foot long!) makes things seem very real. And yes, I am still struggling to think of this is real. I know some might think I am crazy, b/c how could it NOT seem real after 21 weeks. But, it's still very abstract to me and I hate that. I've heard about all of the "bonding" the mother is supposed to do with baby while in-utero and I've had a very hard time with that. I suppose it's self-preservation. Oh how I am envious of those fertile people that just pop up pregnant and live in happy oblivion that they will have a healthy baby 9 months later.

That said, since we found out about Miss McBaby I have started to get outwardly excited. I'm (more) comfortable telling people than I was. I'm more comfortable wearing clothes that accent my bump (YES I HAVE ONE!!) I'm more likely to ask questions of new moms. And as I ASK those questions I'm realizing just HOW much I know NOTHING about babies. Reproductive endocrinology? No problem. But babies? I have nothing. Less than nothing. So I'm entering a whole new arena of things to research, which, if you know me well, you know that I love. (This might also be mistaken for a way to procrastinate at work!)

There are lots of exciting things on the horizon, which I am happy to report I am ALL about.

1) shower planning!!! I know my poor friends have been bouncing off the ceiling waiting to discuss plans, but know me well enough to know that I just wasn't ready...until now.

2) hand in hand with a shower is the registry. I will preface that by saying that I have always been uncomfortable with the idea of a registry. To me, it is essentially telling people what they should buy me and that's just not me. But shower implies gifts so registering has been on my mind. And with that goes the research I talked about above. So many things, so many reviews, so many decisions.

3) my FAVORITE current exciting thing is planning the nursery. There was a time several years ago when I had ideas in my head. I'm sure my thoughts have changed alot since then. I will be making most of the "bedding set." I am not the theme type person and I can't find much I like in the way of prepackaged bedding sets. So I found the BEST, most FABULOUS fabric this weekend and I bought yards of it!!! I'll make the bedskirt, curtains, a few pillows and maybe a few other decorative things in the room. I can't wait!!! Now that fabric is chosen, next step is wall color. And of course the crib:-) I still need to decide on that. It's really down to 1 big decision, white, cherry or espresso finish. Maybe that will be on my to-do list this weekend!
So that's my week. Physically, I'm ok except for the never-ending reflux. It seems to have gotten worse over the past week or so. I won't go into details but I wouldn't wish it on anyone:-/

AND, I think I might be starting to feel little miss a bit. For the past 2 nights, I've felt these weird "thumps". No bubbles, no fluttering, etc...I think I am past that stage anyway. Silly me felt it the first time and then starting jiggling my belly and I felt it again. I have to imagine that was her?!?!? Then I got paranoid that I was going to seriously injure her by the constant belly jiggling so I stopped. We did find out at the u/s last week that I have an anterior placenta, which essentially means that 1) I am screwed up in another way, and 2) the placenta positioned as it is is stopping me from feeling her kicks, kind of like a pillow. I'll settle for the thumps though, if it is really her:-)