As promised.

I present, The Crusher-Belly, in various stages of rotundity.

Here, to assuage my vain side (and hopefully motivate me to get back into shape post-partum), is the baseline belly, at 4 weeks gestation:

Towards the end of the first trimester, at 12 weeks, things started pooching out a wee bit.

By 18 weeks, the belly was starting to take on a life of its own (and around the same time, Crusher started making his or her presence known to me on a regular basis, providing both reassurance and entertainment)

A few weeks later, we headed to Roatan, but you've already seen the floating-belly photos. Here's one from the week before we left (and documenting my failed attempt to turn Steve's shorts into maternity attire).

At 27 weeks, I was still climbing, but not for much longer. By this point, I was a pretty pathetically comical sight on the walls, limited by size, strength, and lung capacity to only the easiest routes.

Which brings us to the present, 32 weeks and counting.I I'm feeling LARGE now - slow and heavy and hot, particularly as we head into our umpteenth consecutive day of temperatures in the 90s.

But for the most part, I still feel really good, and I'm trying to stay as active as my body says it can tolerate, with a mix of moderate walking, swimming, and yoga. Crusher continues entertain us constantly with the belly-shaking antics of its baby disco routine. I feel so very lucky to be having this experience!

If you'd like to see the complete set of belly photos, they are here. Any guesses as to Crusher's boyness or girlness (or other qualities) that these photos motivate you to hazard may be memorialized in the comments. I may try to create some sort of baby-stats-guessing pool, if I can figure out how.

For what it's worth, Steve and I really have no idea as to the baby's sex. Steve's baby dreams have had me birthing everything from four-year-old twins to a very cute kitten, and now seem to be leaning girlward. My own, relatively few dreams on the subject have involved either boy-babies or cats. Since the ultrasound photos are decidedly un-feline, the fact that both of us are dreaming of cat-babies probably has more to do with our familiarity with that particular species of small, mewling creature, dependent upon us for food, snuggles, and poop management.

As for the VisionWalk, we are already nearing $5,000, almost a third of the way to our ambitious fundraising goal. Several folks have asked me for more specifics about the FFB's research that may be relevant to my situation, and I will try to post something about that soon. Thanks to everyone who has given already!

Comments

[Jennifer]

You look adorable!! What a cute baby belly! When's your due date again?

[Christine]

You look really, really amazing. I'm leaning boy.

[Shari]

I can't say what sex the baby is. They say if you carry the baby high, it's a girl and if the baby is lower and around the waist, it's a boy. People thought I was carrying a boy, but I had a girl instead. I didn't take pictures of my belly, though. Thanks for sharing.

I got a newsletter of a sort from FFB and there was no VisionWalk in WI. Did you start one in CO?

I agree that RP sucks and it gets worse. There's gotta be a cure somewhere.

Take care.