25 weeks (almost)

Just a quick update for a belly shot - today is actually 24W+5D but it's close enough! 

Dear God do my eyes look that baggy all the time?

At 25 weeks, our girl can reach her own toes and hold on to them! She can also make a fist (so that's what I've been feeling lately!).  If you listen from the outside, it's now possible to hear her heartbeat without a doppler or stethoscope - we'll have to try that to see if it's true, or if you only really hear my stomach deciding if dinner was a worthy choice or not... I'm feeling all kinds of movement lately which range from gentle bumps to some stronger pointy jabs. Matt felt a particularly swift kick the other day and was shocked at how strong it feels even from outside! He asked "what does that feel like from inside when it feels that crazy strong outside?"  It's hard to explain, but sometimes it feels like if you jammed a few irregularly shaped balls or objects and then rolled them over one another inside a sock or something.  Pretty cool :-) 

In other pregnancy related news, I've decided not to teach my winter session of Zumba after all.  With the increasing SPD (pelvic/pubic pain) I've been having, plus the possibility of complications from placenta previa, I just felt that it was important to listen to my body and take it a little easy (which many of you know is particularly hard for me to do sometimes).  I wanted to teach this winter for a few reasons, including staying in shape before delivery and also not letting my students down, but I know I have to do what's important for the pregnancy and that was that. I'll plan to go back to teaching in September, but a little break will probably be a good thing anyway.  The SPD is pretty obnoxious, and that literally feels like my pubic bone is separating when I move certain ways (rolling over in bed, pushing something with my feet or even taking off one shoe using the other foot, going up stairs etc).  The only thing that really helps that is to take it easy, and Zumba is not exactly that, unfortunately. I'm going to get a support band to wear around my hips to see if that helps, too, because it's getting challenging to stand for longer than 15 minutes at a time, and sometimes it is so achy it hurts to stand on one foot long enough to put my legs in my pants! 

Our next ultrasound is in 3 weeks, and they will re-check the placement of the placenta (and I am going to ask them to turn on the 3D for a minute to try and get a glimpse what our girl looks like...hoping they will!).  If it's still low-lying or completely covering the cervix, they will do a repeat u/s again at 32 weeks, and begin to make a delivery plan if we have to think about a c-section.  If it's all clear, then we can proceed with planning a normal delivery.  We're enrolled in a condensed childbirth prep series at the Center for the Childbearing Year which will be 2 Saturdays in the early spring regardless, and I think that will be good for us even if we think we're planning for a c-section just in case that option changes at the last minute.  I definitely feel like I need to start getting my head in the game if I'm going to have a natural delivery, which is the way I'd like to see this go.  More on "birth plans" in a future post, however. 

3 more weeks until the 3rd trimester begins...so hard to believe I'm nearly 2/3 of the way through this!