Pregnancy Progress

I'm in week 24 now.  I began to look pregnant, as opposed to chunky, around week 22.  My stomach is now protruding nicely and people have started to touch my belly.  My mom and I went shopping for maternity clothes two weeks ago and now I wear maternity clothes most of the time I'm not lounging around the house.

I felt the baby move for the first time while Chris and I were in Hawaii.  It was so different than anything I'd ever felt before that I stopped what I was doing to focus on this new experience.  Now, I feel the baby's movements daily, especially after I eat and when I'm not moving a lot.   Last week I saw the baby move for the first time when a particularly strong movement caused a quick rise and fall in my stomach.

At week 20, Chris went to my prenatal appointment with me because I was scheduled for a sonogram.  We saw our little baby, who no longer looks like a blob, move around in my stomach.  It was so neat to see the details, like tiny fingers, four sections of the heart, and spinal bones.

So far I have experienced several normal pregnancy symptoms, although not all at one time or in abundance.  It's been more of a random sampling of nausea, thirst, congestion, increased acne (darn hormones), elevated body temperature, hip and back pain, round ligament pain, leg cramps, indigestion, a heightened sense of smell, sleeplessness, and dizziness when I don't eat regularly enough.  I'll stop there for the sake of decency.

Despite all the side affects of being pregnant, I suspect that I will miss some aspects of being pregnant after this is all over.  People treat me so nicely, are genuinely interested in my well-being, and insist on doing things for me.  As excited as I am to meet my baby, I'm trying to enjoy these few months as much as possible.