24 week pic

As you can all see, my ass is still larger than my belly. I guess that's the way it always is though.  I'm feeling pretty pleased with the progression, overall.  Not very apparent that I am pregnant if I wear a sweatshirt.  I'm sort of dreading the public gawking that is to certainly come.  We've all done it - you see a pregnant chick and stare at her womb, wondering how far along she is, or whatever.  It's not that I'm ashamed or anything of being pregnant, but I am resisting my identity including "mother" for some reason.  I'm much more comfortable just being Rachel, the amazing, sexy, smart, funny, student, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, granddaughter, and niece.  ;)   Don't worry, family, I'll get used to adding "mother" to that list at some point, probably when reality smacks me in the face when I come home from the hospital. 

Another doctor visit last week had me at 158.5 pounds...only 2.5 pounds since last time. That's pretty good. :)  I got a flu shot and the OK to travel to England for Thanksgiving.  I finally got in with a different doctor's office and they are a MILLION times more organized and modern than the last place.  The doctor spoke to me like an educated person, citing evidence to me and everything.  I will have to deliver in Pinehurst, though, which is about 40 minutes away from Sanford.  But the facilities are MUCH BETTER and I have a lot more faith in their abilities to get everything right.  It is the same hospital I did my first clinical affiliation with, so I'm comfortable with the change.

My next doctor's appointment is Nov 21 and I believe that is the one where I have to do the glucose screening test for gestational diabetes.  I'm not too worried about that, but maybe I should - I do eat a lot of sugar. :) (thanks to lots of leftover candy from Halloween and cool evenings requiring hot chocolate)

As far as naming is concerned, we're still unsure.  When Jacob was home last we kicked around some names and I think we've gotten a good start.  I would personally like to have Eden be incorporated into the name someway.  I don't know if we'll ever have a boy, and I wanted to pay homage to my grandfather, Ed, on my dad's side, so Eden is a great feminine form of Ed.  Plus it has the bonus connotation of being the birthplace of the first family, and she will be the beginning of our family.  So, we'll see how that all turns out.  We may wait until we can look at her to finally decide for sure. 

Other than that, things are going pretty well.  Now and then I still feel nauseous or have issues with digestion, but my energy is pretty good (until evening) and I've been doing some tougher workouts without negative effects.  I'm definitely looking forward to being able to sleep on my stomach and back again...I feel like I'm going to get pressure sores on my hips from sleeping on my sides so much.

Ok - enough for now.  Thanks for checking in, everyone. :)