23 Weeks

Have any of you suddenly forgotten that you're pregnant? This morning when I woke up (which was just now), I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought "Why do I look so BIG...?" And then I was like, "oh yeah..."

Does anyone know why my pregnancy counter at the top is off by a day now? I am 23 weeks pregnant TODAY, not yesterday. It used to be right!

Out of yesterday's activities listed, guess which ones got accomplished and which ones didn't? That's right, 0 grading and grade entering. I think this is the part of the semester where I hang out at home in my pajamas and sleep a lot and ignore the professor's requests for work...? Um...? No it's okay, I just have to get it done today. Unfortunately I found out (in a brief phone conversation fraught with minor miscommunications- this is Professor Logic from last semester we're talking about) that he doesn't know how to made Excel drop the lowest two quiz and hw grades, so he was hoping I could do that- I'm sure there's got to be a command for that, right? I will shake the trees or talk to my home posses or whatever to ask. (Nate knows, right?)

I need COFFEE. I needed it 10 minutes ago. (That's a phrase I got from shows like ER or Rescue 911 [come on, you all watched Rescue 911, too, in the early 90's, didn't you! didn't you!], when someone needs something like 2 quarts of Blood and they're like, "He needed it 10 minutes ago!") There's a sense of urgency. Unfortunately, Caffeina-Starbuck in her old age seems to brew slower and slower. Or maybe it's just that in my old age, I need coffee sooner and sooner...

My Uncle Charles (dad's older [half]-brother) successfully made it through quadruple-bypass surgery ealier this week. Am I the only one that thinks the word "quadruple" should not belong in the same sentence with "surgery"? (Although, come to think of it, if I were having quadruplets I would much rather have a C-section than give birth by any other means, and then it would be a "quadruple C-section," right? And that would be okay. Well, okay in the sense that we would get Free Diapers for Life [wait a second- given the astounding rise in multiples rates due to the astounding rise in IVF, I bet quads are no big deal any more! I bet you have to have at least 6 or 7 babies at once to score the Free Diapers for Life and the free van and the spot on 20/20...], but Not Okay in the sense that I don't think one human being can care for 4 newborns full time and remain anything close to Sane. Last night we had dinner with friends from school and I found myself confessing how RELIEVED I was when it was confirmed that we're not having twins...)

Why is most of my text parenthesized? Maybe subconsciously I think it's weird for you to be reading the Insides of my Head.

Oh, this is supposed to be my Weekly Pregnancy Post, isn't it? Well, I've now mentioned pregnancy in some way at least four times, but still, maybe some of you hunger for the Normal Information. [And maybe some of you are like "THANK GOODNESS, we cannot stand the drudgery that is reading Neb's 'normal information!!'"] [Hang on, I have to go actually Start coffee if I want to Drink coffee in 10 minutes, right?]

Normal Information:

I weighed 147.4 yesterday and I just went to weigh again, just for the sake of complete accuracy, and this morning I weighed 147.8. [At some point at the end of 2003, right before I started thyroid treatment, I weighed 161 at the doctor's office. Pretty impressive, huh?]

The baby is kicking! A lot! Nate has not felt her yet. No one has felt her but me. But sometime! Sometime the timing will be right and he will feel! Also: I have contractions. When I mentioned this to the nurse at my last OB appointment, she said "Irregularly?" which, to me, shows tacit approval of the use of the term "contractions." When I mentioned this to the physician's assistant, Kara, she said "Actually, those aren't contractions, they are "uterine irritation," and they usually mean you need to drink more water." And I was like, "okay..." So, pregnant people that read this blog [Jordana]: Painless cramping/tightening of the uterine muscles that lasts several seconds and then goes away...? Anyone? Anyone? CONTRACTIONS, yes...? Braxton-Hicks...? I think so. I think I know more than Kara, ha ha. It's not like she does this for a living. My insurance just pays her a lot to test my urine every month.

Anyway, yes. Ahem. What else? I have heartburn occasionally. I sleep on my back sometimes. My wedding rings still fit but I check every day, just to make sure. My belly button is still an innie, but Nate and I were looking at it last night and there are definitive signs it's going to pop one of these days (maybe a few more weeks yet, we'll see.) I outgrew my jeans (as mentioned in the last post) so my tiny maternity clothes wardrobe is looking pretty tiny. I think that's about it. Does the third trimester officially start with week 26 or 27, by the way? Either way, we are just a few weeks away from some serious Third Trimester gestating action! Yeah! [Oh help me, I think Cheerleader Kara has rubbed off on me...]

So I should actually go grade now, huh? Okay, okay...

Love Neb

PS Pictures tomorrow probably.