Movement?

I am now 18 weeks (no picture this week since the bump really isn’t that much bigger than last week).  According to “What to Expect When Expecting” the baby is now the size of a mango, about 6 inches long and half a pound. 

My pants are definitely tight – I put on a pair of my regular jeans yesterday and was barely able to button them.  I certainly couldn’t bend over when they were buttoned.  The main issue, until I develop a distinct bump, will be finding pants that fit well.  The maternity jeans that I was raving about last week (which only cost me $8) got super stretched out after only wearing them twice!  The main problem with maternity pants is that the only think holding them up other is a stretchy elastic panel – and since my belly is not quite big enough to hold up the panel, I find myself constantly pulling the pants up throughout the day.  Maybe if I buy a pair brand new the elastic panel won’t be as stretched out and will last me more than two wearings.  Maybe after I wash the current maternity pants, the elastic panel and the jeans themselves will shrink to the point where they are not falling down every time I go for a walk around the block.  Ugh, I have enough problems trying to find jeans that fit my short legs when I’m a normal size!  Oh well, at least I only have to go through this for a couple months.

Last weekend my dad asked me if I was feeling any movement yet.  I said, “I don’t think so?”  Apparently, the first movements are supposed to feel sort of like gas bubbles.  I’ve definitely felt gas bubbles – and a lot of those.  However, over the past week, the “gas bubbles” have started to follow a little bit of a pattern – after lunch it’s pretty common to feel them . . . but again, those could be real gas bubbles and not the faint movement of the mini me.  Then on Friday night, Aaron and I were sitting watching tv and all of a sudden, I felt a jab from my insides . . . it was either the first real kick, or it was just a muscle twitch.  I really have no idea, but I kind of like to think it was the baby.  This is probably how I ended up going an entire month without realizing I was pregnant.  I get too cerebral about things sometimes.  I think too hard, and convince myself that something “magical” is really explained away by something mundane: “I’m not pregnant, that was just a light period.” “That’s not baby flutters, it’s just gas bubbles.”  “That wasn’t the baby’s first kick, it was just a twitch.”  At least once the baby’s out, it’s milestones won’t be so nebulous.  I will know for sure the first time it rolls over or sits up . . . right?

Oh, speaking of “it” – tomorrow we have our “big” mid-pregnancy ultrasound . . . you know, the one where, assuming the kid is not being shy, we should be able to find out the gender.  So as of tomorrow (hopefully) I can start referring to “it” as “he” or “she.”