28 weeks!

Monday (April 13th) marked 28 weeks for the baking of my growing peanut! (Although at the doctor's today, they calculated me as 28 weeks today.) My belly has definitely popped, as has my belly button! With Carson, my belly button never completely popped out, but with this little guy, it's almost all the way out! And there's something I passionately love about it. In fact, whenever I'm in a weird, crabby mood, Alex has me lift up my shirt a bit to reveal my belly button. Looking down at it inevitably makes me smile. :)

The baby is roughly the size of an eggplant now, and his lungs are mature enough now that he'd have "a pretty good chance of surviving (with help from medical technology)" if he was born right now. Haha, kind of a weird thing for the baby website I use to say! Let's keep you in for at least 10 more weeks, little baby!

I haven't really had an specific cravings lately, but as my nausea lessens, I'm definitely able to enjoy more and more foods. Thank goodness! Nausea still strikes now and again, but as with my last update, what's really getting me is aches and pains. Ugh. I will just leave it at ugh!
I'm sure I've been this way throughout my pregnancy, but I'm becoming very aware of my mood swings. I don't know how Alex stays married to me when I'm pregnant because I'm driving myself crazy! Seriously, I'll get into a funky mood over who knows what, and then the weirdest things will pull me out of the bad mood! The other night I was in one such mood and in a light-hearted-but-slightly-timid voice Alex asked if I was in the middle of one of my pregnancy mood swings. I couldn't help but laugh!

Today I actually had my 28 week OB visit and ultrasound. Even though these more frequent ultrasounds are to determine the growth of my fibroids, the health of my placenta, and mostly the size of the baby, it's still so fun to see him getting bigger and bigger! Today his toes were wiggling all over, and as usual, his head was snuggled up in the right corner of my uterus. He's got just the cutest little face!

Even though the idea of having this baby on the outside and dealing with two little kids is slightly...wait, no...completely terrifying, I can't help but get more and more excited to hold this little guy in my arms.

Dr. Pollnow said that things with the baby are looking good. The little guy is a tiny bit behind where he "should" be (according to his gestational age), but not at all enough to be concerned about. Dr. Pollnow says the baby has been doing so well that he's going to hold off on another ultrasound until I'm 34 weeks along. It's so reassuring to see him not too concerned but still very thorough.

He also talked a lot about my fibroids in terms of their size and placement and how neither is a concern. So far they aren't affecting the placenta or anything like that. Dr. Pollnow said that most likely, I won't need to do anything about the fibroids in the future; that they'll most likely just get smaller after pregnancy and larger with any future pregnancies. But he was still so comforting and thorough with options of future treatment plans. Gosh, I just love my doctor! I'm really, really grateful for everything he's done and continues to do. And I'm also really grateful Alex has been able to come with me to these appointments because I get far more anxious and nervous than I should.

Basically, I'm feeling super blessed. Despite a rather difficult pregnancy and many awful days, I feel so blessed to have a growing baby bump, excellent doctors, a sweet little 18-month-old to enjoy the passing time with, and the most amazing husband I could ever ask for.