25 weeks

STATS:
25 weeks 3 days
Starting weight: 128
Weight: 142
Waist @ bellybutton: 36.75''
Issues: The baby likes candy and sweets, this can't be good...
How Big Is The Baby This Week? He weighs about the same as a rutabaga (about 1.5 pounds), and is about 13.5 inches long, head to toe.


TJ is gone visiting his family in Ohio this week (I didn't go along for numerous reasons, mainly just because I didn't want to use a week of PTO since I plan on using that during maternity leave). Anyway, since I was all alone over the weekend I decided to get a prenatal massage. It was pretty nice, but every so often the masseuse would rub a part of my back that would make the baby move, and that kind of freaked me out, like he was somehow hurting the baby. So I probably won't be getting another one.

I finally gave in and bought a pair of maternity jeans over the weekend. I still wear my normal jeans, but there are some days when they're just not as comfortable, so I'll wear the maternity ones on those days. I feel bad buying maternity clothes knowing that I won't ever wear them again after August, (yes, except for during the next pregnancy).

I had to go to the lab for blood work this week to do the standard tests for gestational diabetes. I probably won't get the results back until my next doctor's appointment in 2 weeks, unless of course it's positive, then I'll probably know by the end of this week. The stupid nurse guy who took my blood decided for some odd reason to use the vain on the top of my hand instead of the one in my arm like normal people, and now my hand hurts like hell and is all bruised and sore. Then, after he takes 1 vile of blood, takes the needle out, and tells me to be on my way, he says "oh, wait, there's another test they want to run on you, I'll need 1 more vile of blood". Are you kidding? Well I wasn't going to let him use my hand vein again, so I gave him my other arm, which apparently has a bigger vein because he used that one without any hesitation. So I left the lab looking like a pin cushion with cotton balls and tape everywhere.

Oh, and I mentioned last week that I have 3 chairs at my desk at work because I can't find one that doesn't hurt my back. So this week I bought a big exercise ball to sit on instead, and it feels much better. So I'm excited about that. Plus, since I'm basically balancing myself on the ball most of the day, I'll be getting a mini workout for my abs and back muscles while I work :)

I think I might have started having Braxton Hicks contractions. I'm not sure though, I'll have to bring it up to the doctor at my next appointment. My stomach gets really hard sometimes, it doesn't hurt at all, it's just hard. It kind of just feels like the baby is in an awkward position though, so I don't know which it is. Oh, and remember that weird ab muscle separation thing I mentioned last week? Well this week, it's actually started bothering me and being a bit painful, so I did some research on it and found out that the medical term for it is diastasis recti. I called the doctor to see if there was anything I could do to make it feel better (even though I was pretty sure there wasn't), she suggested I buy one of those big ugly maternity support belts, but I don't want to. I guess I'll wait and see if it bothers me enough to go get one in the coming weeks. And in case you're curious about my diastasis recti, below are some pictures of my stomach. The first shows what a "normal" pregnant belly looks like when looking down at it, this is what mine looks like when I'm just standing normally. The second picture is of my muscle separation, this is what my stomach looks like when I tighten my abs: