22 WEEKS!!!

Baby Maple is the size of a papaya! Getting closer and closer to being over a foot long. Now, our little sapling was measuring ahead of gestational age, but they have not changed my due date. The sonographer as well as our midwife thought it had to be because the arms and legs are so long...sounds just like his daddy!
During week 22, Baby Maple is growing so fast and taking over what used to be my space. Leading to shortness of breath and an achy back. However, I work in a hospital and stand on my feet for the better part of the day, so nothing new or a whole different kind of ouch, who knows! Also my belly button has gotten extremely shallow; however, this week with the rapid growth my innie belly button may actually pop out.  I have to admit, I find this somewhat mortifying. I have been on the outlook for the start of any stretch marks ( one of my big fears!) Every night we use our MotherLove Belly salve and I try to moisturize throughout the day. But bottom line, it has a lot to do with genetics and thank goodness!
Baby is looking more and more like a newborn. More developed eyes and lips and he now sleeps in cycles for about 12 to 14 hours per day. I can now tell when he is sleeping and when he isn't,  based on how much movement I feel.  Jonathan also felt him kick for the first time!!
 

Jonathan here: This initial part is a beautiful post about a beautiful thing called…baby love.  Baby love is this phenomenon that happens when you discover the gender of your baby and begin feeling his first kicks.  Speaking of gender, I am still so proud of my swimmers for willing our baby to be a boy.  I’m going to create a t-shirt with the universal sign for males that says “I support my local swimmers.”  I think that’d be a great shirt.  Now don’t get me wrong, Tara has a much bigger part to do now! 

At some point, having a baby come into your life feels as natural as going for a walk, wanting a root beer float or taking a really sweet 2hr afternoon nap.  It just feels right and wonderful.  Tara and I are there and, perhaps we have been there for a long time.  We have gone shopping for clothes and outfits and all the fun things that make having a baby well…fun.  I can’t wait till this next Halloween.  I’m going to swaddle him up as Yoda and go as a Jedi!  THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE.  Unfortunately, our little sapling has a little TOO much force.  You know how when you’re sleeping and say, the power goes out,  your fan goes off and before you know you wake up because the white noise has stopped?  Apparently, little growing babies are affected in the same way.  Except, in his case, the white noise happens to be all the sounds that come as his mama is hustling around, wooing him into bliss like a vibrating, sloshing, Swedish massage uterus.  He is in Hog Heaven when she is her busiest and he sleeps like a dream.  Well guess what a “power outage” is in baby land?  That’s right…when Mama sleeps.  Everything is…still…and quiet…you can…barely…hear her breathe as she drifts off to slee…OMFG WHAT WAS THAT.  Enter Chuck Norris roundhouse kick#1 right to the bottom of the belly.  WTF…is this baby trying to bust out of here?  Kick #2…then #3.  He spins and twirls and kicks and break dances inside Tara’s belly while she is trying to sleep. >_<

What in carnation are you supposed to do when your wife describes a giant melon sized game of dreidel going on in her belly?   Good place to start is: get ready for bed earlier than normal, lukewarm bath before bed, foot rub, lotion on calves, foot rub, calf rub, sweet nothings, foot rub.  All that together and we seem to get a good response out of Tara and Baby Maple.  We also learned a cool trick with ice packs.  If we need him to move to relieve a certain area of her baby bump use an ice pack.  He’ll jump away from that area like a PETA member from a fish taco.

There is also another phenomena that has been happening to Tara.  She totally has the I’m pregnant glow…and it is amazing.  She is just…even more incredibly beautiful than before.  Guys, I have to tell you, if you’re on the fence about kids or just thinking about it, stop thinking and knock your lady up.  It is seriously SO worth it.  I’m telling you, all the parts you loved before get even better!  It’s like every woman’s chance to have super model features (the magazine photo shopped kind).  Flawless skin, bigger boobs a sustained burst of energy…the works.  You have this time frame in there where you may just find her more irresistible than ever before!   We have been doing a lot of reading to our baby and we even busted out my old DJ headphones and played some music for him.  To top it off, we are getting in the habit of doing yoga each night.  It feels good and I feel like we are getting ready for the big Hike on D-Day!