The Blossoming Belly Well, for those of you who don't know, Baby Powell v2.0 is on the way. This pregnancy has been very odd or maybe not odd in the "statistical significance" sense, but odd in the "not like the other one" sense. We tried for several months to get pregnant and after watching just about every other female family member get pregnant before me, we were finally blessed with the digital readout at the crack of dawn (6:30am 5/31) of "Pregnant." I was happy and excited but so bleary eyed that the tears ran down my cheeks on the outer rim of my eyes instead of the inner rim near my nose. Weird? Odd? Yeah, it was. Because we were on vacation, we promptly went back to sleep until Kayla woke up. The weeks following involved exponential weight gain (12 lbs in 6 weeks - thanks wacky thyroid!), nausea in the evening - what's that talk about "morning" sickness? Don't know about that... And being smacked on the head with a two by four fatigue at random times of day. For a couple of weeks, Jerry just tucked me in at about 9pm. Suddenly at 10 weeks - I came back to life! I could stay awake in the evenings! I tossed out my saltines that I had permanently attached to my person! I made it through the late afternoon without a snack! Ahhhhh...but then the belly popped out. And with a vengeance it went forth in its glorious round girth. There should be some law against "popping" before week 13. In one week, normal clothes became 2-3 inches too small. Maternity clothes from my previous pregnancy were all for the wrong season, so only a few worked at this stage. But all was not lost - $100 later - two pairs of pants and three shirts joined my life and brought me over to chic maternity land. Who knew that I looked so good in mint green? Or that the inventor of the "miracle pant" would now become a beneficiary in my will? Could sleek khaki pants and breast-hugging shirts somehow make me a better person? I guess that all remains to be seen. On July 11 we went in for my first midwife appointment. After all the talk about twins, she thought it best to do an early ultrasound verification. One little baby was hanging around in there - its little heartbeat flickering. All of a sudden - it started jumping around - thrashing its little arms and legs as if it knew it was on camera and as if to say, "Hi Mom and Dad - I'm doing good in here!!!" Our midwife laughed in surprise and said, "that is so unusual to see the baby moving this early." Well, as we have seen with Kayla, we don't have ordinary babies (and I mean this in the best possible way of course). Of course our baby would move around like mad at 9 1/2 weeks! Two weeks later (11 weeks or so), I felt that flutter feeling (Moms, you know what I'm talking about). Now with "normal" pregnancies this usually happens around 16-18 weeks. I stood there thinking to myself, "Naaaahhhhh, this is pretty early." It's as if this baby heard my thoughts and decided to do it...hmmm...seven more times! I know without a doubt that was the baby moving. I don't care what anyone else says. My midwife confirmed today that without the placenta in front as it was with Kayla, it is pretty likely that I'm more sensitive to movement and I did feel this little one moving. At my appointment today we very easily heard the baby's heartbeat - slower than Kayla's, but very strong as if to say, "I'm strong and healthy, Mom and Dad." I'm pretty convinced that like Kayla, this baby is going to have a story to tell when we meet him or her for the first time. (Kayla's was a pretty intense story as she screamed bloody murder for 45 minutes straight right after she was born. No little baby wah, wah for her!) It's been very different than last time, but so calm and peaceful. It is odd, but I'm looking forward to giving birth. Maybe I am slightly naive as I did not even have one contraction with Kayla (c-section due to her size - 10lbs 3oz), but I have a sense of rightness with this whole process. As for now, the belly continues to grow. I rub it and dance often - just to make Kayla and Jerry laugh. Ironically, even though this blossoming is so important, so unique and so well, fun this time, I have not taken one picture of it in its spherical glory. I guess it's off to select the appropriate photo shoot look and start clicking away.