My Lil' Sidekick

The baby seems to finally be having regular sleep/wake patterns in the womb.  S/he kicks like crazy (seriously, like a stampede!) from when I wake up until I eat breakfast (maybe that's his/her way of telling me to hurry up and eat?), mostly on the upper right side of my belly.  S/he also usually wakes up about a half hour after I eat lunch, dinner, or a snack.  Nighttime has been quiet time recently, as opposed to a few weeks ago when s/he was practicing goal kicks (hooray for soccer!) right as I was trying to go to sleep.

Baby's kicking is like having a stampede in my belly!

It's really cool to feel a little life inside me.  I consider him/her "my lil' sidekick" since literally, that's where s/he's been kicking lately.  I am hoping for one of those moments eventually when his/her little foot is pressed against my belly so that you can see it externally & we can try to get a picture.

Over the weekend, I also got the results on my gestational diabetes screening test.  Yippee!  All looks normal.  My toxoplasma antibody level is still negative, another good thing.  (Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that can be present in cat feces, so it's a pretty big occupational hazard for me, considering my profession.  An infection during pregnancy can cause harm to the unborn child, including brain defects and blindness.  Passing off litter box duty and/or practicing excellent hand-washing hygiene can help prevent exposure.  Once a person has antibodies, she can fight off possible infection, but not having antibodies before conception exposes the fetus to risk of infection.)

Hooray for good blood work results!