Bump Watch: 28 weeks, 4 days

So, here’s the latest and greatest, taken just this morning:

And no, I don’t walk around holding my stomach like that- it’s just to show off the bump for the picture.    Here’s what I normally look like:

I’m at the point now where strangers don’t hesitate to ask about the baby- and it’s getting a little hilarious, because the most common question is, of course: ”So when are you due?”  I absolutely love to watch the reaction when I tell people I’m due September 13, so still have 2 1/2 months to go… not one person has said anything except, “Oh! That’s great!” but they are clearly a little startled, and are surprised that I still have so far to go.  I want to tell them- “Don’t worry, it’s okay– do you see how short I am?  She only has one way to go, and that’s out.”  My doctor tells me I’m right on track, so really, it doesn’t bother me  at all.  Actually, it normally doesn’t bother me, but when I see pictures like the above I am a little startled, too- I didn’t realize I was THAT big. 

As an aside, and taking off on my post about Mother Nature from yesterday- can I just say I was really sort of in awe when I figured out that when they measure my stomach (for those of you who have never seen this done before- they measure from top to bottom- so from a few inches above my belly button, which is the top of my uterus, to the bottom of my uterus), the number of centimeters that my belly measures is the number of weeks I am.  So, last week, I was measuring 28 centimeters, because I was almost 28 weeks.  If you’re measuring ahead, you are measuring one or two centimeters more than the number of weeks you are pregnant.  This just amazes me- because it seems so unreal.  I mean, how perfect of a trick is that?  Mother Nature has us grow exactly a centimeter a week, if we’re on pace and growing normally.  It’s crazy in it’s simplicity- I mean, I doubt humankind invented the length of the centimeter based on the growth of a woman’s uterus during pregnancy (just a guess- I’ve never actually looked up how the centimeter was invented), so I suppose it seems unreal to me that they match up so perfectly.  It’s actually something I want to explain to people when they are surprised that I’m so big— You see, a tall person can measure 35 centimeters without popping out as much, because the baby can stretch up and down.  My little girl doesn’t have that luxury, so I’m bound to look, well, big.  It’s all good.