Week 26

We are in the last week of the second trimester, according to my handy week-by-week book, which means Baby Monkey is about 2/3 done being incubated!  Here's a "from my view" belly shot taken while sitting at my desk today.  The thing that struck me is that you can *barely* see my hand there under the bump.  Wowsa.

I was lucky that in talking to friends and family, there wasn't too much I wasn't at least aware of when it came to all the "fun" things that come along with pregnancy.  I have to say that two things were/are a bit more extreme than I expected.

1 - Sleep.  Oh sleep, how do I miss, thee, let me count the ways.  I haven't really slept well or much since about the time I found out I was expecting.  First trimester is was this sort of random insomnia (joy) and second trimester has been pain/discomfort making sleep elusive.  I work my way through the bed, the couch and the recliner at various points throughout the week (and sometimes all three in one night).  The whole "it's good practice for when the baby comes" thing might be true, but I sort of though that I'd at least be able to get a FEW good nights sleep before the Monkey arrives.  Silly me.

2 - Heat.  I joke about being an incubator for the baby, but little did I know that I'd heat up like an incubator too!  I'm always the cold one in our house.  Hate using the air, bundled under a blanket in the basement in the summer, multiple layers in the winter, that's me.  Lately though, it's a bit of a role reversal.  Even the dog is now curling up next to me at night because I'm throwing off the most heat.  It's a bit ridiculous how warm I am.  I'm breaking out in a sweat, Jay's under a blanket he's so cold.  The incubator joke is more reality than fiction.

Oh, and a third bonus one - the kid is already turning my hair gray!  I thought I had a few years before the stress would get to me, but apparently now.  Luckily, my hair is still light enough that the gray hairs still look blond, but with close inspection you can see the difference.  I'm already planning an excursion after the first of the year to cover those pesky hairs up, along with any others that might want to appear in the next few months!