Pot Belly Momma - a pregnancy update!

By Friday, I'll be 17 weeks into my third pregnancy and my tummy is already rounded like a Pot belly pig's! My tummy popped out pretty fast last time around too, but this time I'm looking like I could be ready to drop this little sprog by springtime - not the middle of August!

I had to endure my first baby's third trimester in the Texas summer. He arrived bang on schedule, on September 17th. August in Texas is brutal, so lugging 30% additional body weight around with a preggo heating blanket wrapped around your midriff definitely gives those hormones a run for their money. Thank goodness for America and it's air-con (says my husband)! This year my due date is August 10th, so fingers crossed we can make the drop on time and hopefully get some respite from the - hard to endure full-term pregnant - summer heat.  

We haven't formally announced that we're expecting - on Facebook I mean. In the past we've posted a photo of the digital pee-stick; then a picture of baby number 1 with a digital pee-stick (not actually holding it.. that would be yucky!), but the timing was pretty unfortunate for the announcement of this little one. I'm sad to say that we've had a number of our close friends experience some tragic losses over the past few months, so we've held back from shouting it from the roof tops - which, under happier circumstances, is no less than my hubbie and I would want to do!

It's no secret though - how could it be with a pot belly? We've referred to it diplomatically on our Facebook walls, it's right here in my blog, and all our close family and friends have been aware since the time it took me to pick up the phone after the word pregnant flashed up on the test stick - technically 4 weeks give or take a minute or so! I think it's fair to say I can't hold my own water (except until minutes before baby's wild water ride - but that's a whole other blog)!

It tickles me to go out and about in the Hill Country bumping into friends and acquaintances I haven't seen since before Christmas. This morning I surprised a number of friends when I walked into the library with a jutting out tummy. My OBGYN was even caught a little off guard when she saw my little rounded pooch at my last check-up. She wasn't intending to do a physical check, but when she witnessed the pot-belly, she asked me to lay down so she could press on my tummy. She confirmed what I had suspected  - my uterus is still very low - and my pot belly tummy, is still just a whole load of tummy!

See I lost all my baby weight last summer - and then some. Even today, at 16 weeks, I weigh barely 131lbs - that's a few pounds lighter than before I fell pregnant with my first baby! But I never flattened my tum. I might have been doing a fabulous job at holding it in last Autumn - and then I got pregnant again. What a relief! Now I can breathe again fully in public and have a grand excuse for such a beautiful and bountiful belly!

The diet has taken a bit of a U-turn since we got the good news. Then came Christmas, and since throwing baby's 1st birthday party three weeks ago, I've been working hard at eliminating chocolate from the house. There's only been one way out for the choccies - Mommy's tummy! I'm lucky it's only my belly that's started to fatten - I have to remind myself there's still time. I plan to get back on the wagon quick smart, especially as I'll be coming up for my gestation diabetes screening soon.

In a few weeks I'll be due for an ultrasound, and we'll be able to get an anatomical screening if we wish - meaning an answer to the big question; Does she have a penis? With two boys already in house, I'd be fibbing if I said a girl wouldn't be a wonderful gift, but, my boys are so my boys - and a trio of little men would set my heart aglow (if it could possibly get more aglow)! Honestly, I'm only wishing for this little one to be healthy and happy and safe - and I can't wait to see those tiny digits wave at Mummy and Daddy and big brothers on the screen!