22 weeks - kicks, baby clothes and the dreaded hormones!

22 weeks today and the dreaded hormones hit with a vengeance this week! I have been feeling really exhausted by the evening after work - I don't know if it's just because we've had a busy few weeks as well as the emotional upset over Granny Sinclair passing away, or if this is the start of things to come. I have been ready to howl over the slightest little thing for most of the week but I'm glad to say I've been feeling much better over the weekend! I was reading today that this is the point at which mood swings often start...and the article comfortingly informed me that these are just temporary and usually disappear late in the third trimester or shortly after giving birth... ho hum! Sorry Alan :(

Baby B is now apparently around 10.5 inches long and weighs around a pound. Scary thought that his or her weight will probably still increase by another 6 or 7 pounds (hopefully not too much more than that!) by the time s/he appears. I am already aware of the extra weight at the belly if I've been on my feet a while and dread to think what it's going to feel like by the end! At the same time though, when I see the photos of how big the bump is, I would expect to be more aware of it than I actually am! Bending to pick things up is getting harder now and I actually got stuck in a space at work, which was the cause of a lot of hilarity! I was trying to squeeze between the back of a chair and a partition - a space I'd definitely have been able to get through a couple of weeks ago - and my belly got stuck against the back of the chair! I think I need to judge spaces a bit better before I try to get through them now - I just forget that I have that extra bit at the front! I am very glad that I have the useful talent of being able to pick things up with my foot - I can see that coming in very handy over the next few months.

The kicks are getting stronger all the time and it's still such an amazing feeling. Baby B is very active, especially any time I have anything to eat or drink. I still can't feel much from the outside yet - I've felt one kick so far and daddy-to-be has felt one, but Baby B moves so fast it would take a LOT of time and patience waiting for another kick at the place I'd just felt one! He or she often seems to think my bladder is a trampoline these days as well. I can actually feel Baby B flipping around and moving from one side of my stomach to the other as well as poking and kicking me. S/he is still at his or her most active at bedtime - probably preparing us for when s/he is actually here. Still plenty room to move around in there - hope s/he is making the most of it...it won't last!

Alan has been my personal shopper this week, tracking down some maternity tops for me. I now have two and definitely look more properly pregnant in them than in normal clothes. I had a bit of a stressy moment in the Metro Centre last week when my normal size clothes would not stretch over the bump and I couldn't find any nice maternity clothes - followed by a hormonal, teary moment in the car on the way home! However, with the help of my mum trawling the internet and Alan phoning around various stores in Edinburgh I managed to get hold of two nice tops. At least that's a start! I think I am definitely into my last week or two in my nice pink coat, which I am quite upset about.

We've been trying to work out what basics we are going to need for the baby coming and have come up with a list of sorts but there's so much out there it's really hard to know what we actually need. We bought our first clothes today - a pack of five little bodysuits...so cute!

It's so hard to believe that in just four months we will have someone who will be wearing those. It's started to hit us this week just how close we are now to getting a baby. When you think of it in terms of how many pay days there are to start buying things for the baby there are really not that many! I was also counting up that I will fit in another two haircuts then the next one after that will be about a week before my due date - scary! I keep forgetting how pregnant I actually am until I catch sight of myself in the mirror and get a fright...

Apparently the nesting instinct can start as early as the fifth month, which could explain why I have been cleaning like a fiend this weekend. Our kitchen has never been as sparkling as it is right now! I have also spent the afternoon cooking like a fiend, stocking the freezer for the next couple of weeks.

My memory is absolutely shocking now and I'm relying on lists all the time. It's a worrying thing that Alan's memory is actually better than mine at the moment - he is notorious for his terrible memory!

Cravings are still the same....especially orange juice which I just can't get enough of (thank goodness for Costco!) and apples together with cheese. Separately just won't do! I wonder if Baby B is going to be a cheese fiend...