First Second Trimester Belly Shot!

It is already so late and I'm getting pretty sleepy, but I had to make time to do my bi-weekly ritual. This week I have clearly noticed my waist is "thicker." If you look closely at my waist in the pictures (maybe need to click on the picture), you can see a red line from my pants (proving they are definitely getting tighter and soon will not fit without a bella band). Right now, the "real" bump, I can feel laying down, goes no higher than waist band of these shorts and is not protruding. The only thing I noticed protruding consistently lately is a strange pooching near my belly button...almost like I am getting a gut without gaining weight. I realized it is from everything slowly getting pushed up to make room for baby!

Before I sign off and run for bed, I will quickly write a couple interesting updates from the day. First, I totally forgot to set my alarm last night and Michael didn't set it either. Thankfully though, I woke up EXACTLY on time when I heard our next door neighbor yelling something to one of her kids, and noticed the light appeared to be how it normally was when I got up. I checked the clock, and it was right around 6:45 am. It was such a cool blessing to not oversleep, and a good sign that I am also getting more energy. I even got to bed a little late last night and still got up on time feeling refreshed!

Today I also told my manager and the design team my news at last! I told Stacy (my manager) that I had some good news and some bad news (starting with the news I wouldn't be going to Washington DC as the bad news!). She was very excited and supportive, said she had no idea whatsoever! I told her I also plan to come back part-time, and I found out there are a lot of options I will get more details about later. I am also wondering if they will let me work from home some. I learned one more cool thing. I knew my company offered 12 weeks of maternity leave, but didn't know if I got paid or not. I learned they pay for 8 weeks in full, with only the last 4 weeks unpaid. We can totally do that without a big strain on our budget at all!

We later told the design team by bringing them after another editorial critique I had with the product manager, editor, and my manager. They did give me some feedback, but then I broke the news in a similar way. At first a few people had that look like "are you leaving?" When they heard I couldn't go because I'd be 37 weeks pregnant, everyone was happy and said congratulations. Only Cindy, the designer who's been around the longest had wondered at all! She said wondered anytime anyone had a Dr. appointment now, and actually was looking at my waist this morning! No one had really guessed for sure though. The guys were totally clueless. It is fun now everyone knows and I don't have to be as secretive. They admired my restraint in not saying a word any sooner, but I didn't think it was hard at all.