19w5d: It's a numbers game

Every time I see a reflection of myself it makes me smile. On some level, I guess I keep forgetting that I'm actually quite pregnant. Then I see a photo of myself, or I accidentally brush a door against my belly and realize, "Hey, wait a minute, there's another inch there that wasn't there yesterday."

My body's perimeter is changing rapidly. The belly is growing by the day, prompting mirror double takes and many moments of baby bump awe. At last week's peri appointment (18w4d), the fundal height was 25 cm, the equivalent of a mom 25 weeks pregnant with a singleton.

Since then, my belly circumference has increased at least one more inch, from 40" to 41" earlier this week. When I measured last night, it was almost 42". So I'm not imagining it. When I said to my husband the girls must be going through a growth spurt, he concurred, saying empathetically, "Yes, I can definitely see that!" It's very reassuring to know that they're growing.

In terms of weight gain, it has finally started to pick up. I've gained 18 pounds so far. The nutritionist said last week that I was doing great, and that I should aim for 24 pounds by 24 weeks, which finally seems like a reachable goal. It's much less than Dr. Barbara Luke's recommendation, but I feel like I'm eating as much as I can, eating whenever I'm hungry (and trying to squeeze in as much protein and nutritious food as one human being can handle, even when I'm not all that hungry).

On Monday, I will be 20 weeks along. Wow, five months. Although not the halfway mark as in a singleton pregnancy, it gets me that much closer to my first of many milestones: 24 weeks. Thereafter the goal is 28 weeks, 32 weeks, and then 36. For now, it's one week at a time. I'm sure the day will come where it will be one day, and one hour at a time, but I can't think about that yet.