22 Weeks

So, at 22 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I finally felt ready for a so-called "belly shot". Things are really taking off in there, with lots of movement and "pops" around the clock, and the occasional Braxton Hicks contraction. I'm definitely in the second half of pregnancy, and trying to remind myself daily (sometimes hourly) that I am over halfway through this marathon.

The acupuncture I wrote about last week really did seem to help -- for about three days. I felt truly fantastic, and then things got really bad again. I didn't have another appointment until Thursday and in the meantime, I just had to get through my days. I got really upset -- it is horrible to feel horrible again after feeling so good. I had been warned that because acupuncture's effects are cumulative that I would probably have some bad days again, but I wasn't prepared for how awful it would be. I was so relieved to go to my appointment for another treatment come Thursday. I've felt pretty good again since then, with a few bad moments thrown in, but all in all I do think the acupuncture is still working. We've got a prenatal appointment this week, though, and I'll be glad to review all this with my doctor, as she's been out of the loop for the last few weeks. And its in the last few weeks that this has gotten really bad.

For fun, Henry let me take his belly shot too. He does this thing where he pooches his belly way out and manages to look more pregnant that I do!

The greatest part of feeling good has been noticing things that I had forgotten about when feeling sick -- things like the fact that it is summer and the farmers' markets are busting out with amazing fruit. We went down to the farmers' market at Jack London Square this morning and picked up a bag of gorgeous nectarines, a quart of blueberries and a few others yummy things that just screamed SUMMER. We took everything home and whipped the nectarines and blueberries up into a pie, that we then took to enjoy with our friends Marco and Christine and their twin girls. Yumm, yummm...

Another great benefit to feeling better is being able to realize that in 17 weeks (or so) I'll be giving birth and actually being able to start planning for that. We have wanted all along to hire a doula to assist during the birth. She'll provide labor support for me and for Henry, and help us both through the experience, and also act as out advocate with hospital staff. She'll help me avoid medication if I don't want it, and hopefully avoid an "emergency" cesarean. We interviewed two candidates this week and it was really hard to pick one, because we liked them both so much. They each had incredible experience and credentials. In the end we went with the one who exudes this incredible confidence, because I feel that if my own confidence starts to fail during labor, she'll be able to pump me right back up and help me finish the job.