The belly groweth

By request, the obligatory belly shots: 26 weeks

I swear the bottom one is NOT photoshopped- there are NO stretch marks yet!! You can see every vein there is, which is quite attractive. My bump is growing nicely. People tell me how cute it is. I've only gained 9 pounds, and my doc wants me to make sure I gain a pound a week from here on out, which puts me at a total gain of about 25 pounds. I've had people at work tell me they couldn't even tell that I'm pregnant, and I'm like, WHAT? I feel like I look pretty big, but maybe it depends on what I wear.

At my last appointment, my hemoglobin was pretty low, so I am supposed to be on a high-iron diet and taking supplements. I'm supposed to eat beef and chicken, and stuff like broccoli, baked potatoes, raisins, and several more things I can't remember. I have a list. I've been trying.

My newest complaint is quite possibly the worst so far- I get these horrible pains in my rib cage and back, on my right side. The doc said it was just organs and baby moving around in there, but by the end of the day, I am pretty painful. I feels like someone has stuck a knife in my back. I can get it to go away by laying down a certain way, but sitting up is the worst. It gets bad right after I eat, too.

I'm happy to report that I am sleeping better, though. She get so active right when I go to bed, and when I wake up in the night. I'm getting good about sleeping through it.

I'm also happy to report that I have several close friends who have recently found out they are pregnant too!! I can't say who yet, but it is so neat to have other people going through this at the same time as me. I've learned a lot, and am glad I can share my knowledge with my buddies now.

I talked to the AP at my school about my maternity leave, and I swear, as long as she comes close to on time, I could not have it any better. I plan to come back after December track out at the first of January and work about 3 weeks. I'll start my leave a week before she's due, and I'll have 6 weeks off, then I'll be on track out for 3 weeks, so I really get 9 weeks for the price of 6! I should have plenty of days to cover me while I'm out, and have some left over.

On a different note, we've finally gotten some rain around here! It's bizarre to see rain after so long without it- my kiddos were glued to the windows, like it was snow!

That's all for now- I'll try to update more often as I enter trimester 3!