Ever Growing

Well, I have gotten to the point in my pregnancy where people have begun to ask me how many babies I am carrying. It happened last pregnancy, but it's still depressing. It's fine to hear about how freakishly huge I am the first 200 times, but it gets old after that and is starting to chip away at my self esteem. Also, my belly button never popped back in after the birth of Helaman so now it sticks out so far that you can still see it even when I am wearing four layers--I guess that tricks people because they always think that means I'm about to give birth. Here is a picture of me this last week at 27 weeks...

While I have been ever growing so has Almaya...she has gotten so much more active these last couple of weeks. Her eyes have opened this last week or so and her ears have finished developing. I have definitely noticed a change in her behavior since these two things have happened. She is much more consistent to how she reacts to things happening both inside and outside her little utero world. She seems to be experimenting a lot more with her body and new-found control over it. I know this is happening at a usually pace, but it still seems really late because Helaman was developing these skills much much earlier.

One new joy that Maya has found is bouncing. A few days ago she discovered that when I lay down to go to sleep on my side she can turn sideways, put her feet against my belly so she can touch the surface of the bed, and kick off the bed as hard as she can with both feet. This will make her bounce which will in turn make her head hit the other side of my uterus. I am not sure why she enjoys this sensation, but she absolutely loves it. She will do it over and over and over for hours. Needless to say, I haven't slept in almost a week. It's cute, and funny to see from the outside because you can see the bed bounce as she kicks off it then her head hit the other side of my belly, but it's not very comfortable for me. : )

As for me...I am doing ok. I am getting very tired of being pregnant, although I still have quite a ways to go. I don't have as many charlie-horses in my legs as I did with Helaman but I have more in my back. The number of daily contractions has stayed about the same so I am grateful that they haven't worsened, but my legs and feet get swollen so fast that it's hard for me to be out of bed for very long. Jose, bless his heart, is being so incredible. I have been so emotional these last few weeks, between the physical pain and discomfort to the daily stress of life and the strong bitter-sweet memories of last Holiday Season ever looming near, it's been hard to handle all at once. But he has been so patient and always making me laugh even when all I want to do is cry.

That's pretty much it on the updates. I am still not sure on the exact due date. The doctor says we will have to wait and see how Almaya continues to develop. So we will both just keep growing and waiting...