HALFWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I should have used a lot more exclamation points, but I think you get the idea.

You'll notice a small adjustment to the ticker above. The doctor has confirmed that we won't be going past Thanksgiving day, so I adjusted it to meet our new due date. I'm not technically 20 weeks yet, but I am halfway through my own pregnancy.

This is very very important for two reasons:

1. Getting this far is really really good. It means we have a good shot of continuing on with no problems (as we have so far) and that we could safely deliver a healthy baby. Hitting this point means that if something were to happen (God forbid!!), the baby may still be able to survive with intensive medical intervention - even outside my body. That's huge! Of course, we don't want any preemies or micro-preemies, but it's still a good thing to know that we're a bit safer.

2. I'm on the downhill slide (albeit the less comfortable one). Gone are the days of not feeling movement and not looking pregnant (although I think some people still can't tell if I'm fat or pregnant, but that's their problem) - it's all pretty apparent by now. Every day the movements are more frequent and stronger and my clothes are tighter and far more uncomfortable. I was able to get away with regular pants for a lot longer with Katie, but they really don't feel great right now. Anything with a non-stretchy waistband is very constricting. I think some of this is that I'm carrying this one higher (another indication that it may be a boy) and that after the last pregnancy and C-section, I have few stomach muscles to speak of - so I'm expanding quickly. On the bright side, I think I've only gained about four pounds total (I'm supposed to stay on the low end of weight gain - about 12-15 pounds total), so I'm on track with that.

It's also really nice to be halfway because I don't have to deal with too much of the "oh, you're still really early" or, my personal favorite "you're just barely pregnant." Uhm, no. Barely pregnant is first trimester and we're done with that. I've found that most people don't really consider you pregnant until about 20 weeks - once you can say 20 some, life is better. I can say 20 next week, which will be really nice. (My personal favorite was the urologist who forgot I was pregnant. I reminded him and he said, "Oh, but you're not really very pregnant." - whatever that means - and when I said 16 weeks he - like a man - said, "Yeah - you've got a LOOONG way to go." Thanks dude!")

So, in all, things are going well. We're prepping Katie for the idea that it is a brother baby since that's the one that's giving her trouble. We figure if we keep talking about a brother and referring to the baby as "he" then she'll start to adjust. I'm hoping that way that the sonogram will be more pleasant (no crying fits) because she'll expect a boy but be really happy and surprised if it's a girl. We'll see...the best laid plans...