25 Weeks!

It's official. I can absolutely no longer wear my pre-pregnancy jeans. I've been wearing a couple of my baggier pairs using the rubber band trick, but as of today the trick is a failure. I just read in my baby book that from here on out my belly will expand about 1/2 an inch every week! Yeah. That's 7 1/2 inches more that I could pop out between now and delivery...Holy cow. And here I was just yesterday thinking "Wow, my skin could not possibly stretch any tighter." And queue stretch marks. Speaking of skin stretching I am starting to lose my belly button. And my ankles too. Infact I think my calves are definitely a little swollen too. My face is starting to puff out a little as well. And my lips seem swollen. Having nice full lips already makes this sort of comical.
I called my insurance company this week to see if they might cover a breast pump. And if we have a premie or either baby or I have congenital anomolies that make breastfeeing difficult they will cover 80% of the cost! So while it's not a sure thing, and I sincerely hope we have no problems feeding, it's nice to know that if i REALLY need a pump my insurance will cover so much of it! They also told me about this program they offer called Baby Yourself. It's FREE and gives me access to a registered nurse with tons of OB and L&D experience by phone and email. I got my nurse today. Her name is Sandy and she's super nice. I told her all about the suspected Braxton Hicks and she reassured me that it's normal to be feeling them at this point in my pregnancy. She confirmed that they are a good indication that I'm getting dyhydrated or I need to rest (which i figured). But she also said that I will probably get them if my bladder gets too full and to make sure to pee before I'm bursting. That's good to know! I am especially exicited to have someone qualified to call to get all my dumb questions answered so I don't have to feel like a moron facing the nurse at my OB appointments. Now I can only call the OB for the important issues! YAY!
We're all set to start our prepared child birth classes on Thursday night. I'm really looking forward to having a couple of hours each week together and devoting our attention to our baby. I really hope Justin enjoys it and we both get something out of it. And bonus: they gave us an infant care class for FREEEEE! It starts in March.
And I think that's about all I got for now. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow is knitting night with my gal pals and I'm making Roasted Beed Borscht for everyone. It's SO healthy and delicious and I've been craving it, but Justin doesn't like it (or any "meal" without meat in it), so I'm glad to have an excuse to make it. And I always relish the opportunity to correct people's misconceptions about Russian cuisine.