12 Weeks

Baby Bird is 12 weeks and the size of a large plum! Our little travel bug has now been to Minnesota (obviously), California, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia (all from that crazy road-trip), and now Wisconsin and Illinois! All that since conception! Maybe we should slow down a bit. Last weekend I shot a wedding in Wisconsin and then we found out that a dear friend was staying in a hospital in Chicago, so we made the quick 1.5 hr detour on our way home to stop by and see her! Even though it was all totally worth it, I am beyond glad to say that I don't plan on getting in a car for a multi-hour road trip for the rest of my pregnancy! 

I can't decide if it's because of the back-to-back weekend road trips, or the pregnancy, but my lower back has been killing KILLING me for the past two weeks. It's probably a result of both. Because of this, Brian has become the sweetest husband ever! A couple days ago, he went to his friends apartment across the hall from our place to watch a sports game (I don't even know what sport?). I threw myself a pity party and started to cry big, fat, irrationally hormonal pregnancy tears because I couldn't get comfortable in bed and my back was so sore. So Brian came back, had me take a warm bath, lit some scented candles and gave me the best back rub ever! It was quite sweet. I am definitely hoping that this back pain will go away soon and not last the next six months, but my guess is that it's here to stay and I need to learn how to deal with it. I bought a maternity swim suit so that I could swim at the gym all winter long. It's supposed to be better for joints?

Baby Birds big cravings this week: pickles! I feel like such a pregnancy cliche! Brian teases me about the three different kinds of pickles we have in the fridge. Baby Bird also loves red meat! Which is strange because I've always been a bigger fan of chicken. I keep telling Brian this is totally his miniature person in my belly because meat is his favorite food: no matter what kind! Maybe it's a boy?

According to Baby Center, "Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his/her toes will curl, his/her eye muscles will clench, and his/her mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His/her intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.
Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long and weighs half an ounce."