22 weeks

I feel like my belly grew SO MUCH this week!!
Look! It's ROUND!

Okay... that isn't the best way to highlight my figure, but it is an accurate representation of how I feel. (Hazel weighs 8 lbs and is the size of a small cat, so you can use her for scale in these images.)

I also experienced swollen ankles for the first time.  They were so bad that it looked like they were both swollen from bad sprains, so I put my feet up and let my supper guests finish the BBQing. This next photo is a better representation of what  my belly looks like in proportion. (I chose not to photograph my sad puffy ankles.)

I am a worst-case-scenario planner so I felt a little bit freaked out by the swollen ankles... (preeclampsia!!  varicose veins!! oh, woe! not this early!!) ...but I did all the self-care things that you can do and then they started to get better within a few hours. 

Here's what I decided to try:

• Epsom salt bath
• feet elevated (see photographic proof) as soon as I noticed the problem
• foot massage by dinner guest
• drinking lots and lots of fluids (non-caffeinated, and mostly water)
• feet elevated at my office the next day
• ankle rotations to get my circulation going even when sitting
• short walks throughout the work day
• lounged around watching the CPAP postal workers debate on TV last night with my feet up

I was also going to go swimming yesterday, but I ended up forgettingng my wallet at work and couldn't pay for parking & the swim. I'm going to try to do it once a week or so and several of my friends seem interested in joining me. All together, the self care helped a lot and my ankles are pretty much normal this morning (36 hours later.)  I also tested my blood pressure just to make sure that the suddenly puffy ankles weren't due to preeclampsia, but it's my usual low-end-of-normal and I'm glad for that.  I booked an acupuncture appointment today which should also be good for me. I haven't done acupuncture since I was 8 weeks pregnant (mostly because I don't like booking appointments but also because it's expensive). I'm looking forward to having a treatment today.  I always find it to be so relaxing...

In other news:

My housemate pointed out to me today that the average newborn is 8lbs and that Hazel is 8lbs. She said that she couldn't imagine birthing something as big as Hazel.  I told her that Hazel would probably be easy to birth because her head is so aerodynamic. According to the ultrasound, by kid's head will be pretty darned round when it comes out.  I'm grateful for that, despite the harder birth that comes with human round skulls compared to canine skulls.  It'll make hat shopping so much easier.