22 weeks: alone time with the baby

On Friday night we 'planned' a camping trip to Asheville for the next day. My husband was in dire need of mountain air to clear his mind. But Friday night I coughed my lungs out, had a stuffy nose, could not get comfortable in bed, and the baby kicked all night. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. So on Saturday I said good-bye to Gabe & the puppy. I do love alone time and was excited to spread out all my art stuff and not worry about talking to anyone or keeping the dog from eating anything. But it was hard, too. Unexpectedly so. He is camping in the state forest, not a campground, and I was worried Conan would run off, they would get lost, Conan would get eaten by a bear, Gabe would eat weird berries and get sick., etc. I'm not usually such a worrier, but I'm fiercely protective of these two creatures. 

So I'm here with the two cats and my increasingly active daughter. I usually feel her late at night and first thing in the morning, with some occasional rolls during the day. (During the day I notice her most in client sessions - I realized it's probably because I unconsciously lean forward and squish her a bit.)  When I sleep poorly I realize she's up intermittently throughout the entire night. Is this a bad sign? 

I had a dream last night I was laying in bed with my hands over my belly. I felt a big thump, looked down and saw part of her fist, three fingers curled up. Then it happened again later and it was her whole hand, which I held in mine. I called out for Gabe and told him what happened, but said I wasn't sure if it was real or a dream. Then I woke up, proving the latter. 

Today is 22 weeks. She is around 11 inches long and about a pound. She can hear and taste and touch. Gabe took our really nice camera into the woods so I don't have a belly pic. But  this is the week I officially feel like a pregnant lady. I got big enough to develop a shelf for collecting crumbs. The back pain got worse too. There are times the only way I'm comfortable is to meticulously arrange five pillows so I'm sort of squatting with my body thrown over them. I'm going to get one of those massage cushions stat. This all doesn't bother me so much until I realize that I have four calendar months of this left. I just can't believe I'm going to get four months' worth of belly bigger!