19 WEEKS (MANGO): Aug 7-13

Couldn't find my black tank top this week! I'll have to go on a hunt! Or buy another one... I guess it's okay to own more than one black tank top.

• How do they figure that a mango is bigger than a sweet potato? I was in a veggie market and picked up a mango and it is definitely not 6 inches long! Some super mangoes they're talking about! :) Another website suggests a banana for the weekly fruit, and yet another one says tomato. Who knows! Let's just stick with a genetically modified, 6 inch mango...
• Baby is now covered in an icky waxy sort of coating called vernix. This protects the baby from the amniotic fluid so it doesn't come out looking too prune-y. Typically vernix is shed close to birth, but many babies are still born with some on them, particularly if they come early. 
• I have been having some tailbone pain, particularly if I'm trying to bend over to grab something, or leaning over doing dishes or something of the sort. I don't know if this is pregnancy related or if it's just random tailbone pain, but figure it might be worth noting! I recall at the cabin I was imitating someone's (Gina's) amazing high-kick dig in volleyball.
• Feeling baby "kicks" every day now! They say it feels different for everyone, but for me it feels like little bubbles. Almost like gas, but less... poppy? Hard to describe. The other day as we were going to bed, David had my hand on his belly and baby kicked pretty hard! Hardest one I've felt, but sadly it was not strong enough for Daddy to feel yet. Swift kick to the palm! :) 
• *Movement Update* On Monday I was sitting at work, feeling kinda crappy, but I felt something that I think is pretty significant! I started feeling some little nudges and bubbles in my abdomen, so I stopped what I was doing to enjoy the moment. There were 3-4 pretty good movements about 10 seconds apart. Then all of a sudden I felt this flipping/rolling down there! A friend had told me to be expecting a very bizarre feeling when baby decides to somersault, so I knew immediately this is what happened! I was super excited about it. I'm really enjoying these little moments, but I'm anxiously anticipating what it's going to feel like when baby is big and strong!
• *End of week movement update*. I was sitting at work at 19 weeks + 5 days, and I hadn't felt much movement the past day or so. I felt a little bit as I was sitting at my computer, so I decided to do some poking around to see if I could wake baby up and get him/her moving. Well... whatever I did worked! Baby started rolling and readjusting around, and then all of a sudden BOOTED MY FINGER AWAY! It was strong enough to visibly move my finger on the outside. This is the first time baby has been strong enough to feel from the outside. I cannot wait until David gets to feel this. I was so shocked. I called him right away. My jaw dropped, and I just said, "Well... it's official... there is an alien living inside of me!" That feeling cannot be described. So bizarre!! 19 weeks has been a good one :)
• I am still dealing with the remnants of Week 18's cold to start this week off. Nasal congestion is a common pregnancy symptom, so maybe that part of the cold just won't go away. I've been sleeping lots, and pretty well, but I am still waking up exhausted! How come I didn't get this major energy boost in second trimester everyone raves about? My theory is that people are so sick in 1st tri, that when they start feeling better in 2nd tri they think the whole world has changed and everything is magical. For me, since I wasn't really sick at all, I just feel normal. No super-energy for me!
• I'm still sleeping well! (Trying not to take this for granted right now). Through the night unless I get up once to pee. I also wake up on my back often, but Katherine from church generously gave me a 5 ft long body pillow! Hopefully I can finagle that to keep me on my side more often :)
• Starting to freak out, in an excited and nervous way, as I realize that I'm almost half-way... By the time I actually post this blog I WILL be half-way! Ah!!!
• Fundus is VERY nearly at my belly-button now! Just at the bottom of it. By the end of week 19, it will likely have reached the belly-button! It's pretty amazing how "they" can arbitrarily say, "by the time you are 20 weeks pregnant, your uterus should reach your belly-button" and that it actually happens. Everyone has a unique body, but somehow we all react the same sometimes. Bizarre!
• I was doing some online reading about this week (19), and came across this, "You could be very focused on the baby around this time and not too interested in other people. This is nature’s way of helping mothers prioritize what needs to be done and to ignore what isn’t as important. Avoid feeling as if you’ll never be able to think anything but baby again, most things have a way of working themselves out." I literally had a talk with David about this the other day, before reading it. I was feeling like all I have been thinking about, all that occupies my brain space is the baby, and the next 4.5 months, and what's going to happen after that. I felt almost jealous that David was able to live such a normal life and spend his energy thinking about and doing things HE wants to do, instead of being completely consumed by something else. Interesting!
• I woke up the other morning with a nice little morning bump. I've tried to explain before the difference between the morning and evening bump (just waking up vs. after I have all my food and bloat for the day). Here is a picture of the morning bump so you can understand how drastic the difference is! Still a bump though! :)

I swear it feels so much bigger than it is!

• No fun cravings lately. I will eat pretty much whatever appears in front of me (or... whatever I make appear, since I've been doing a lot more cooking lately). I find I'm not able to eat quite as much as I used to a couple months ago. Could be because I've been kind of sick with this cold, or maybe stomach is shrinking (back down to a respectable size after all the binge-eating I've been doing!), or maybe it's just in my imagination.