My little mango

this little boy growing inside me is 23 utero weeks old and supposedly has a sense of movement that's well enough developed that he can feel me dance. that is really unfortunate for him. he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound, which is the size of a large mango (and the amount of lasagna i ate last night). he can hear now, and i'm sure what he hears most loudly is rani. she's always saying things like "baby kick" and "baby kiss", which are very cute, but these are interspersed between the more vociferous "no rice!!!" and "bicycle!!!" and when he hears her, he kicks. i said it before and i'll say it again, this boy is a ridiculously strong kicker. what the heck, he's the size of a mango! how can he kick so hard?? lately he starts around 4 pm and goes till midnight, which cuts down my cinnamon bun sleep time to about 6 hours total.

i started with my new OB in milwaukee, someone i chose randomly from the providers' website. my criteria: female. no offense to male OBs, but the thought of a guy being so personal is just kind of weird. she was friendly and approachable, and unlike in chicago, there was absolutely no wait time at the clinic, which i forgot was even an option. there was free valet parking and the staff were super nice. really? what was the catch? i found out...apparently the hospital i'll be delivering at is the hospital version of motel 6 in regards to aesthetics. it's got the best nicu and emergency services in the downtown area, but instead of rothkos on the wall, it has disproportionate seagulls; instead of mahogany banisters, it's got light colored laminate plastic. all of which i'm fine with as long as i don't have to deliver in a triage room like i did last time when the other fancy-schmancy hospital was full. i even worked there as a resident at one point! hmph.

so now for the news all my girlfriends are going to be secretly ecstatic to hear: at this halfway point i've already gained the amount of weight i gained in my entire last pregnancy. sixteen pounds. and counting. if i keep on track and gain a pound a week, i'll be up 33 pounds by the end. i might actually have to start working out after this delivery. then again...a toddler, a newborn, looking for a new house, and going back to work? i think that might do the job for me.