23 weeks!!!

it's been a good week, i have had a little more energy to do some productive house cleaning and organizing and even got to catch a few naps in between.  i have been extra motivated to organize as my mom is coming to visit and i want to send her back with baby girl clothes for my sister.  so i have officially gone through all my newborn through size 6 month clothes and will be sending my mom back with a lot and have sold or donated the rest!  it is a good feeling to make room for the new clothes for this lil man.  i got to go out to dinner with one of my pregnant girlfriends and it is always nice to hear that the struggle is real.  i hate to complain because i feel so lucky to be this far with a healthy babe, but this pregnancy has a whole new set of aches and pains for me.  it was definitely easier to be pregnant without a toddler.  but i also feel like i am getting too old for this, LOL.  i don't feel old, but again there are things this time around that i can't keep up with as well as i could during my first pregnancy.

so the one very unusual thing this week is my freakish reaction to miralax.  i posted a couple of weeks ago about how i got super sick suddenly and wasn't sure if it was from some expired almond milk.  i kinda doubted it was the almond milk because it had JUST expired and it didn't taste or smell bad, but the only other thing i did differently that day was drink miralax.  well, i also noticed the bottle was expired, although by a few months.  i felt i got sick from one of these things, but never was able to narrow it down.  so i threw out the expired miralax and bought a new bottle this week, well sure enough about an hour or so after i drank it i suddenly got sick.  it was late at night, and i rolled over in bed and started getting chills and achey.   then started with the full body shakes.  i got up and started the bath water.  taking a bath is always my first go to when i don't feel well.  i called jarad in and told him i was having the same feeling i did a few weeks ago.  i was uncontrollably shaking in the tub, chilled and nauseous.  it was at that moment we had the AHA moment and realized that the miralax is making me violently ill.  i have no idea why i am reacting this way, i drank it throughout my entire pregnancy with bowie with no issues at all.  but this time around it is like a poison to me.  i felt a little better after i puked and the shakes stopped at that point, but i was up until after 4am feeling crappy.  i was worthless the next day, still not feeling 100% and super exhausted.  good thing i had back up with my mom here!  so needless to say i will not be taking that again!

this lil guy is moving around a lot and one afternoon while bowie was playing in the play room he was particularly active.  i was laying on the couch and decided to watch my belly to see if i could see it move and sure enough i can see movement now!!  it is so cool!  bowie was watching too and kissed my belly.  sometimes she will lift her shirt and say "baby belly."  i have officially caught up to my pre-pregnancy weight.  my belly has also "popped." it can be hard to see when i wear sweatshirts, but when i wear a tight fitting top you would be surprised at what is hiding underneath!  i am continuing to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and only do cardio.  i feel like i need to up this a bit as i feel like staying active, especially walking really helped me stay healthy and bounce back quickly.

baby milestones...

~starting to gain baby fat
~constructing blood vessels in his lungs that will allow him to breathe air on his own once born
~a little over a foot tall
~weighs about 20 oz or about 1.25 pounds (i have a feeling he is bigger!)
~50% chance of survival if born early
~next 5 weeks will be a major growth spurt
~cerebrum part of brain (memory and motor skills) is preparing to be able to communicate between cells
~REM sleep is starting to occur
~lanugo hair is darkening
~baby is the size of an ear of corn