Inappropriate Juxtaposition

I have numerous things to cover in my post, and they are horribly at odds with one another in terms of appropriate-ness. But I'll go ahead anyway.

Most importantly, there are some scary things going on in the blogsphere right now. If you haven't already, please go lend some support to:

Alexa -- after losing Amos 2 weeks ago, she is now on hospital bedrest trying to keep his twin, Simone, inside and growing nicely for at least a few more weeks. She's currently being tortured by the dreaded mag sulfate, but -- as always -- is enduring it with incredible wit and humor.

ME -- bedrest, a cerclage, a shortening cervix, funneling and general fear prevail as she fights to keep her 3 little girls on the inside for at least another 6 weeks.

AMS -- there are no words to describe the horror of what they have endured these last three weeks. After delivering Zoe and Lennox at 24 weeks, she lost Lennox 2 days later and then lost Zoe 19 days later. I'm not sure how one is supposed to be able to survive that kind of grief, but I will surely be praying for all of them.

Now for the terribly inappropriate change of topic...

Yesterday was my birthday. We won't talk about how old I actually am (because I am in serious denial), so don't even ask. What I will share is this birthday card I got from a family friend. It doesn't even matter what it says on the inside (something about being a party animal), it's the outside of the card that made me laugh so hard I actually snorted. Hope you enjoy it as well:


I mean seriously -- do you see the 3 separate sets of cleavage? Dang, is that funny.

My last item is that I seem to have "popped" overnight. Many people at work still don't know I'm pregnant because I don't look all that big (let us not forget I was a solid size 10 pre-pregnancy and already routinely sporting elastic waisted pants). I went to bed yesterday still able to wear a few non-maternity items of clothing. Today, no dice. My belly is sticking out farther than my boobs. Now that's really saying something since they have grown from a C cup to a DD cup in the last 2 months. I think they need their own zip code.

Needless to say, I feel like a giant whale. I can't believe how huge my belly is now, and am having equal amounts of trouble comprehending that I'm simply going to get bigger and bigger over the next 16 weeks. Yikes. I guess all things considered, I'm not doing too bad considering this is my 2nd pregnancy (okay, it's my 4th, but only the 2nd one that made it past 9 weeks) but Holy Hannah I am one. big. chick. today.

If it means Spidey is growing and thriving, then I'm all for it. Just 6 more days until the anticipated 24 week mark which means possible viability. I know it's far, far from a guarantee but it will feel mildly comforting knowing that we've at least reached that milestone intact.

Of course I won't discuss that I can only sleep sitting up, have round ligament pains that last upwards of 10 minutes, take 300+ mg of Zantac daily for my outrageous heartburn, and generally feel so worn down that it's as if my entire body has been hollowed out from head to toe and filled with concrete. NOT that I'm complaining, though...