belly pictures

Stuart told me that a couple weeks ago, one of our neighbors asked him, "Your wife's due pretty soon, right?"

I'm not offended. My front seems to be expanding every day. I've got four months to go, and I look further along than that. I'm a bit apprehensive about how big and uncomfortable I'll be before it's over, but there's nothing I can do about it. When I was pregnant with Daniel I was huge, but the weight dropped off in four or five months, so I'm not really worried about that in the long term.

When I was pregnant with Daniel, though, I got more regular exercise because I was biking eight miles per day (4-mile commute to campus) until two months before he was born, and after that I did a lot of walking. Now, biking is much more difficult for various reasons. While I keep myself in acceptable - if not great - shape running up and down the stairs to do laundry (endless, endless laundry), and chasing Daniel around the park, I'd like to do something more substantial to keep the sloth-like tendencies of the fast-approaching third trimester at bay. Plus, I'm already having some trouble sleeping, and I think if I was getting a halfway decent workout a few times a week, it might help.

So yesterday I bought a maternity swimsuit. I figure that owning a suit might provide enough impetus to sign up for a couple pool sessions per week at the nearby health clinic/fitness center. I keep telling myself I don't have time, particularly with this crazy semester ahead of me, but if anything, a regular swimming routine will help with managing that stress, too.

Have I mentioned how I kind of hate trying on clothes? Especially maternity clothes? Add swimsuits to the equation, and you're asking for some truly unhappy moments in the dressing room. Do you realize just how ridiculous maternity swimsuits look? I mean, there's no way to hide it when you're basically just a b*ooby-licious beach ball with legs...but still. I managed to find a simple black one in my size, but not before trying on, among others, a checkered blue tankini that flared out at the hips and had a little bow at the top. I looked like a freaking picnic table when I tried that one on. Yeesh. What were they thinking?