17 Weeks Tod....er Yesterday!! (17w1d)

From Babycenter:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

Starting to feel a bit off balance? As your belly grows, your center of gravity changes, so you may begin to occasionally feel a little unsteady on your feet. Try to avoid situations with a high risk of falling. Wear low-heeled shoes to reduce your risk of taking a tumble; trauma to your abdomen could be dangerous for you and your baby. You'll also want to be sure to buckle up when you're in a car — keep the lap portion of the seat belt under your belly, drawn snugly across your hips, and also use the shoulder harness, which should fit snugly between your breasts.

You may also notice your eyes becoming drier. Using over-the-counter lubricating drops may help. If your contact lenses become uncomfortable, try wearing them for shorter stretches of time. If you still have discomfort, switch to glasses until after you give birth.

From AlphaMom:

Your Baby:

• Is about five inches long from head to rump, which is the EXACT height of the jar of salsa I am currently quadruple dipping into. Bowls are for suckers.
• Has begun to develop the all-important adipose tissue — more affectionately known as baby fat.
• Is hard at working transforming its skeleton from soft cartilage into solid bone. Get this baby a part on Heroes.

You:

• Possibly feel immensely huge and very pregnant, but your bump probably isn’t as noticeable as you think it is. People may hesitate to comment or miss it completely, like the woman last night who came up and handed me an alcoholic cocktail and seemed genuinely shocked when I politely refused it, despite the fact that I feel like my belly eclipses my shoes at this point.
• “Normal” weight gain at this point can be anything between five and 13 pounds, although y’all know how I feel about the word “normal.” One book I read this week advised any woman who has gained more than 13 pounds to see a nutritionist and “be more careful”, while my doctor COMPLIMENTED me last Wednesday on not managing to gain a single blessed pound yet. I want to stab the world in the eyeballs with a fork right now, a little bit.

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Me: 17 Weeks just MAY be the magic number for me (KNOCK ON WOOD! KNOCK ON WOOD! KNOCK ON WOOD! Murphy's Law Gods just ignore me and go about your day). I think I have not thrown up in the past 4 days or so. Not even the not-so-bad dry-heaving in the shower routine. It's now kind of like how the first few weeks were for me, the general just feeling bad, but not bad enough to actually throw up. And the ENERGY! That's certainly a new thing. Before hitting 17 Weeks, I had mostly bad days thrown in with the occasional Just OK day. Bad days consisted of dragging myself to and fro and practically having to prop my eyelids open to get through the day. Not to mention nausea thrown in. Fun times!

Last Sunday was my last Exhaustion Day. I had grand plans to catch up on housework and go grocery shopping. But as soon as I got out of the shower, it was WHAM! My body felt like lead balloons and all I could then manage to do was fall into bed and maybe wiggle a thumb or forefinger to operate the remote. Rolling over or lifting my head took serious conscious effort. Monday I was feeling a little better, and Tues, Wed and today? It's like suddenly someone has injected me with 5 cups of coffee without my knowledge. I am AWAKE! I can barely SIT STILL! I have fast-paced HIP HOP music stuck in my head! The difference between previous months' Exhaustion and this weeks' Energy is a-mazing.

But all this energy doesn't help with me trying to fall asleep in the evenings. Starting a week or so ago, in the evenings I would fall asleep watching tv on the couch and then eventually get up and go to bed. But then I would be wide-ass awake. My mind would be reeling and I just generally couldn't settle down. It's like my body was suddenly fighting the sleep. The worst part was the Jimmy Legs. No matter what position I would try to get comfortable in, suddenly my legs would decide they needed to flinch, over and over again. One night it was so bad, that I decided to get up and go sleep on the couch, as I didn't want to disturb Dear Sweet Hubs, with all my Jimmy Leg shenanigans. I started taking Unisom (Dr.-approved) to help settle me down in the evenings, as well as temper some evening nausea that had cropped up, and that seems to have really helped. It could be a coincidence, but I've noticed that when I started taking the Unisom in the evenings, that I stopped throwing up the following morning(s). Wish I knew this earlier!

Nursery construction has commenced! Dear Sweet Hubs has started the demo on the formal dining room.