First things first, the slightly boring facts, courtesy of babycenter.com: “At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, BB is starting to look like a miniature newborn,” i.e human. “Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she’s even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums” – before I know it she’ll be biting me with those tooth buds! Her eyes have formed, but her irises still lack pigment – so there’d be no way to tell at this point of Baby Blueberry has blue eyes like her big brother or brown eyes like her parents. If you could see inside my womb (gross), “you’d be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she’ll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.” Wasn’t that riveting?

So for the past couple of days I’ve had these short moments where I think, “oh that might have been a kick!” but then you wonder, am I just really really wanting to feel kicks and making them up? Because even though at 22 weeks I am just reaching the point where you should start feeling kicks, being my second pregnancy I’ve been bombarded with the knowledge that I could feel the kicks early – and I know a lot of you have felt kicks much sooner than 22 weeks – assuming you aren’t lying. But then I think, “honestly is it any surprise that I can’t feel that not quite one pound baby kicking through this thick layer of gut also known as my own fat? I mean I know I’m doing great and not gaining much weight, but ladies I am like 80 pounds over weight according to those BMI jerks – that’s like an 80 pound barrier between me and those tiny kicking feet.

Regardless, last night I decided YES I am feeling kicks. And by kicks I mean the sensation that something tiny deep inside of me might be doing back flips. So it’s less like kicks and more like tiny [blips] from inside. Didn’t stop my husband from pressing firmly on my stomach and begging poor BB to let him feel a kick. Doesn’t hurt to try I guess? But yeah, looking back, this all feels normal. I’m just approaching the 22 week mark, just confirming to myself that yes I am feeling “kicks” – so I guess I’d call that right on time. I’ve got another 18 weeks or so to go – giving me plenty of time to feel those real, how dare you kicks – to get all big and awkward and way too fat to feel normal – you know more so than how I feel now. More time to get all swollen and grumpy grumpier. So for now I’m just relaxing. My next prenatal appointment is coming up on Monday so maybe I’ll have some cool awesome news to report then, but I think this will suffice for now. Till next week then?