17 Week Bump

Morning sickness has officially worn off so there has been no more french onion dip at 3:00 a.m. or quesadillas for breakfast. It's kind of a relief to feel like I am no longer being stalked by nausea, but it's a little bit disorienting to just be flat out hungrier, watching my body expand.

We hit 17 weeks on Tuesday, which is super exciting. We peeked ahead and found out that Peppermint is the size of a turnip. In my mind, isn't an avocado bigger than a turnip? Come to think of it, I know next to nothing about turnips. This is about the time that some women start to feel baby movement. If I have ever wanted to be an early bloomer, now is the time! Last night Jeff and I spent a while trying to feel the baby, but if I was honest with myself, every gurgle and wiggle was really just gas. In the middle of the night, however, I was tossing and turning a lot and at one point, around 4:30 a.m. I was laying on my left side and I put my hand to where they tell me my uterus is. And I swear to Christmas, after about 35 seconds, I felt something on the inside. It felt like a little tiny mouse scurrying across the inside of my womb. The image I had was a little mouse on a harness scaling the outer dome of my womb just like that guy who was running on the roof of the Beijing stadium during the opening ceremony of the Olympics this summer. It lasted less than a second. I think that was Pepps' debut as a kicker. They say the early flutters are called "quickening" and feel like popcorn popping or butterflies in your stomach. It's completely fantastic and making it seem like someone is really in there, not just the remnants and legacy of my unorthodox eating habits of late.

I have a hearing at work today and finding a suit that fits has been a real challenge. I am sporting the "Bella Band," a black tube top looking article of clothing that allows women in my condition to put their pants on as far as they will go and then slip the band on to compensate for the fact that the zipper won't zip and there ain't no way those buttons are getting buttoned. I have never worn it before and I am thinking I should have done a test run before a day in court. Every time I sit down I can feel the zipper inch down a little further....and it doesn't have that far to go. I am trusting this little band to keep me from being found in contempt of court for losing my pants in front of the Judge. I console myself with a considerable up side if my pants fall off: Our case has some weak facts that would be overshadowed by my public nudity. Come to think of it, this is really just good lawyering. If only it weren't 8 degrees outside, I could get a little more excited about the whole potential lack of clothing aspect of the day.

Really, I can't wait to come home and lay on the bed and wait for my little mouse to scurry across my belly some more. How, oh how, can I figure out how to get paid for laying in bed?????