21 Weeks along

By Dr. Yasmine Kalkstein

Adam and I are doing well, and so is the "little little one". His kidneys gave us a scare, but a level II ultrasound confirmed that they were all good, as was everything else. It was a great relief. And no, we did NOT find out the sex. Although, you'll probably notice from my speech and writing that I have my suspicions. We found out his feet are about 3 cm, and his brain from ear-to-ear is about 4 cm. Overall, he's probably a little over 10 inches by now and just about weighing a pound. As far as me, despite the fact that it's more of a struggle to figure out what to wear everyday, I am definitely enjoying pregnancy more now since I started feeling the baby move this week. That was super exciting. Most people feel like fluttering or something or they say that once you know what it is you'll realize you've felt it before. Not so with me. Out of nowhere, I feel kicks. There was no transitional phase. I mean, they don't hurt, but it surprises me everytime like there is something twitching in my stomach. Even Adam can feel it when his hand is on me. The other very serious development involves my belly button. Everyday, I check my belly button. I have a very deep inney that has "suction" (as a select few of you already knew) and I'm starting to lose this suction. This gets me disgruntled. "What to expect when you are expecting" (which frankly, i'm NOT sure i'd recommend to people despite all the "you gotta get this book" i got) says that i will lose my inney. Today, while we were watching the shuttle launch, I started feeling my belly button being punched out from the inside. I explained to the baby that he can take up all the room he wants, but if he could just leave my belly button an inney, it would be much appreciated. I haven't gained a ton of weight really, but everyday I think I look more pregnant. Emotionally, I have many minutes (hours?) of thoughts I must express on a daily basis--everything from labor to my latest views on parenting to what crib I think we should get to how I feel about all these changes and back to labor...Adam has patiently (or at least appearing to be patient) listened. Overall, we're doing great. Working on our dissertations, and wishing summer wouldn't fly by so quickly.

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