Week 13...creeping along sloooooowly

For a while everything was moving a bit quickly for my tastes, but now I feel like I'm barely moving...I think that's because quite literally, I am barely moving. I have been good with the ol' workout routine, but that's about all I can summon the energy for in a day. The rest of the day (when not sitting on my yoga ball at my desk working) is spent on the couch. I confessed to Libby (my all-things-pregnancy-and-child-related guru) that my rump was actually getting sore, assumably from spending too much time on it. If I roll over onto my back at night, my sore rump wakes me up and I have to roll back over onto side or belly. Libby, as usual, had a helpful scientific reason for this soreness rather than agreeing (at least out loud) with me that I was a lazy bum. Apparently my body is starting to produce a hormone called relaxin (which is not very relaxing!!) which helps loosen up my pelvis to make room for my uterus (yes, the uterus is still on a crutch), and it also encourages the joints connecting the hips to the backbone to loosen (to make childbirth easier). Lo and behold, while reading about week 13 in my books, I got the very same news, though nothing about how it could make my rump sore (the cause of that is still up for debate but as I have not yet taken to using a bed pan, I don't think my laziness has gotten out of control), but it does seem to be the cause of a sore back which is a new symptom I'm experiencing. One night last week I woke up with very sharp pains in my lower back and some discomfort in my pelvis too. I grabbed two hot water bottles, sandwiched them around my middle, and was able to fall back asleep. I thought that was a fluke incident until this morning on the elliptical. Out of nowhere the stabbing lower back pain started again. I worked through it, determined not let this baby derail my exercise routine any more than it already has. Fortunately, I had only planned on doing 20 minutes prior to the body flow class. All that stretching and tai chi and yoga helped out so no more pain.

In other news, the fetus is now about the size of a peach. I guess being the size of a peach opened up the abdomen a little because the little bugger was able to pull his/her intestines inside rather than letting 'em float around beside him/her like they have been doing. All 20 baby teeth and their sockets have formed in the gums (hopefully they stay there for quite some time as I'm not looking forward to having my boob gnawed on--I think having it gummed will be painful enough). The baby's vocal cords have also formed, though the ability to make noise does it little good while floating around that fluid-filled sac.

In the "Changes in You" section this very helpful book has decided to point out that my boobs will change...um...duh! They were the first thing to blow up (literally). As a result, they were one of my tell-tale signs prior to actually peeing on a stick. Now, according to this, these bad boys are going to continue to expand during pregnancy...I'm not okay with that. Although hubby number 1 enjoys the "fun bags getting funner," they're busting out of my workout tank tops and my sports bras. I'm going to have to get new clothes to store the boobs, never mind the belly. Speaking of, I'm getting requests for belly shots so as soon as I have a photographer, I'll take one and post it (hubby number 1 is still gone but he'll be back for good on Sunday late). I'm not really showing yet, but I am definitely pretty pudgy around the waist. It looks more like a beer belly than a baby right now (I know because I had a beer belly when I was 23 and the look is identical).

That about sums up this week. The moms is driving down to be my valentine for the weekend, and I'm super psyched about that. I'm not really into the cheese that is this holiday, so I always preferred a good girlfriend for Valentine's day anyway. My personal favorite was back in my beer belly days when Autumn and I ordered Chinese take-out and spent the evening watching a tv movie (though in retrospect I doubt the validity of that memory since Autumn has never been able to sit still long enough to make it through a tv show, let alone an entire movie). Despte my anti-cheese attitude, I'm gonna be a good wifey and make the hubby some sugar cookies (he digs on cheeseball stuff so I ease up my tough candy shell every now and again to make him smile). Speaking of tough candy shells...I splurged and bought some dark chocolate peanut M&Ms at Target the other day. I think it's time to dig them from their hiding place and feed them to the growing elephant in my belly.