Pregnant After IUI: Week 23

I seriously can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going... Maybe it'll feel like it'll slow down once we get in the hot summer months and I'm uncomfortable, but for right now it's just flying by.

Baby is about the size of a papaya or a grapefruit, depending on who you ask: approximately 11 inches long, head to heel, and weighs somewhere between 12 and 20 ounces. That's crazy big. Like, I feel movement on BOTH sides of my belly at the same time sometimes now. Or really up high. It's the coolest thing ever.

My symptoms have been super easy to manage still. My hands and feet ARE swelling, now, which is, I believe, the only new symptom. I asked my doula about it, and she said to go to blueribbonbaby.org, so I did. It's a website about the Brewer Diet. Dr. Brewer had no cases of toxemia in his practice, by having his patients follow a very high-protein diet. So I've been working to increase my protein intake (which I know was abysmal) in order to combat the swelling. I'm hoping it at least doesn't get any worse. It's not uncomfortable or anything, I just don't want it to become an issue.

I got a cold this week: First time I've gotten sick since I got pregnant. And here I was, just sitting here, all proud of how I didn't get sick all winter long. There goes my bubble. Ah, well. I'm on the mend now.

So I might do a separate post on this (I say that too often and then never follow up on it) but I've been reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. I have learned so much from these books! The biggest thing I've been thinking about is the use of pain medications (or any drugs, for whatever reason, really) and how untested they are and all that... And now I wish more than ever that we had been able to afford a home birth, and that having to deliver at the hospital the cards are stacked against me... It's hard to explain. I just don't want to put my baby--or body--at risk for unnecessary interventions. Yeah, I think I need to do a post on it...

I've been doing more exercises and stretches to get ready for labor. Squatting, Kegels, the cat/cow stretch (I think that's what it's called) and things like that. Nothing major.

So anyway, I'm off to consume my high-protein meal of kidney beans and rice with ham in it. And eat my dessert of yogurt with chocolate in it. And spend time with my husband. Can't beat that.