What's up doc?

The answer...MY WEIGHT! I woke up this morning and went off happily to my doctor's appointment. I was excited, as usual, only to have the happy slapped out of me by the scale as soon as I got there! So far I have remained on the low end of the weight gain spectrum and in 5 months gained just about 10 pounds. Well, apparently I (and baby) had a growth spurt (that's the medical field's nice way of saying "wow, you really packed on the pounds this month, fatty"). I managed to put on a whopping 8 pounds in just one month! Yes, that is right 8 pounds - I gained in one month almost as much as I gained in the first 5 months combined. Although everyone, including the doctor, said that I am still fine and I am still in the "normal" range for weight gain, there is something about seeing that scale spike up that throws you for a loop.

I think I was so thrown because up until now, I was on the low end of the weight gain spectrum and felt great about it. Ill admit it; I was cocky, but now I have rocketed to the very top of the spectrum where my fat ass is about to roll over that cliff. As I left the office I kept thinking that there must be something I am doing wrong? What happened in the last month? I really did not eat much more than normally do. Then I slowly started to recall the last two weeks...Now that I am not fast asleep by 9pm, I am hounded by cravings for sweets around that time every night. I started to remember that I did down a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the past week all by myself and just two days ago reprimanded Mark when he ate the last vanilla fudge drumstick (of course because I had no mint chocolate chip left). I am starting to think that those may not have been the healthiest of choices. Maybe I should switch to sugar free pudding?

The very good news in all of this? The baby is thriving and living happily on all that I am eating. I didn't get a sonogram picture today, but I did hear the heartbeat and it sounded stronger and louder than ever - maybe it's all that dairy and calcium the baby is getting (yeah, let's go with that). Regardless of my crushed ego, below is a picture of my belly today at exactly 22 weeks: