A Real-Life Pregnancy: Week 22

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Photo Credit: Dean Lipoff

You're not alone in this whole pregnancy/parenthood venture, no one is. You probably have a husband, or boyfriend, or partner, or significant other, or best friend who is living this pregnancy with you. By this time, you have to have noticed they're showing signs of pregnancy also! Really! Take a close look. I know that my husband's stomach and mine are starting to look pretty similar! In fact, he's looking closer to six months pregnant than I am.

Sympathetic Pregnancy—It's for Real!

I got out the trusty computer and found that sympathy pregnancy is common. Those who are close to you during this special time often start sharing your "pregnancy symptoms." I keep waiting for those crazy cravings and the overwhelming emotional ups and downs, but I haven't had many. My friends and family comment on how calm I am or how I just seem to be sailing right along. I'm starting to wonder if I'm missing out on something. Then the other night, it dawned on me as my husband was snacking on a bowl of frozen yogurt drizzled with peanut butter after he had eaten a handful of pickles (I am not joking) that I'm not missing out on anything—my husband is pregnant.

I started to think about his behavior over the last couple months. I realized that he has been the one with the major emotional outbursts over little details, that he has been the one who hasn't been rational in certain situations, and that he has been indulging in constant snacking. Look around you—someone near and dear to you is acting pregnant, too!

I brought it up with my husband on our way to the ultrasound we had this week. Of course, he denied everything, blaming stress at work, being overwhelmed with the idea of a baby—but I think he knew I was right. We let the conversation go once we got to the ultrasound office.

Ultrasounds Are Fun

During this part of your pregnancy, expect to do an extensive ultrasound where all the baby's internal organs are checked out and measured. It's the last chance to really check on any major issues that may be happening.

Everything looked great, according to the ultrasound technician. She said, I kid you not, that she was "excited about the baby's heart and renal glands." That must be good. We started to wonder if all ultrasound techs get this excited about everyone's baby, or if ours is just super special. So when we got to that moment, you know, where the tech can tell the gender of our baby, she asked us to turn away from the screen. We had told her we did not want to know the sex of our baby. I turned to glance at my grinning husband and share a little look with him only to see him looking straight at the screen! He peeked! I couldn't believe it! Right away he made a comment and sat down. Everything became a tad more real for him in that brief moment.

Now, my husband said he wouldn't ruin it for me, and really, does he really know what he thinks he did or didn't see? I mean, the ultrasound tech had to tell us what was our baby's head and what was the heart! And somehow my husband thinks he could figure out the baby's gender with a two-second glance? We'll see. We won't know until the moment the baby is born. I think he enjoys having a slight idea of what might be coming. For me, the most amazing thing that happened this week was seeing the look on his face when we were able to see a real image of the baby that we had created, having that special moment together.

Sarah's Stats

Waist measurement: 39 inches
Weekly weigh-in: 162 pounds
Pregnancy symptoms: Lots of movement in the belly! You can even see the baby move on the outside!
My favorite pregnancy anecdote for the week: "Now, you might think you know what you just saw, but you just can't be sure until the baby comes out. And I'm not gonna tell you." Quoted from our ultrasound tech after my disgruntled comments to my husband about peeking at the gender of our baby.
Pregnancy "first" of the week: We got to see all of baby! All the body parts, fingers, toes, spinal column, heart, eyes ...
Doctor's visit: Ultrasound!

About the Photo: The above picture of the author was taken during her 22nd week of pregnancy by Dean Lipoff.

Read the next installment: week 23