finally!!! :)

so this morning, ben and i finally had time for him to take a picture of my ever-growing baby-filled belly, and i was able to finish picking up the nursery and take some pictures of that as well.

i posted them on facebook, but even if you don't have an account, you can click here to see them - the first 8 pictures were taken by ben's sister when we were with his parents for easter, the ultrasound was actually taken just before that, and all the pictures proceeding are from this morning - enjoy :D

update on baby: still haven't felt any movement yet, but i suspect i won't until i'm closer to 20 weeks along, and a week from today we have our next ultrasound! overall, i've been feeling both more and less energized. it's weird. by the end of a work shift, i tend to feel pretty zapped, but i'm finding i still have the energy i need to get through each day/week/etc... sometimes it just takes a little more get-up-and-go effort than it used to.

meanwhile, my sciatic nerve seems to still be ever present. i was able to enjoy a quiet little hiatus there for awhile, but the past two days it's been quite the little bugger. if i'm doing a half-limp-sort-of-waddle, that's why. it's not that the pain is at all unbearable. just uncomfortable. my stomach muscles have also started/continued (?) splitting, which causes a slicing pain in my abdomen (at least that's what my doctor said was causing the pain) - but all these aches and pains, strangely enough, only help me to be more excited for childbirth. well... maybe "more excited" isn't the correct term. less terrified. that's better. the way i figure it, though, these pains, while uncomfortable, unpleasant, and sometimes intense, aren't nearly as terrible as i usually feel pain to be. maybe because they're expected? natural? not caused by outside forces, like when stubbing your toe or scraping your knee on gravel?

whatever it is, i'm taking it as mild-practice for childbirth. here's hoping it actually works!