First of all - I'm sorry Uncle Brad. We had visitors over Easter and it was hard to get a minute alone to post last weekend. Here's a lengthy update....
19 Weeks!
I can hardly believe it. Every morning I wake up and there’s that tiny milli-second before you even remember who you are. Then I become conscious and quickly check my tummy to feel if what I think I know is real!
I have gained 6kgs since conception and now weight 70kgs. My “bump” has completely popped out and I’m beginning to feel less like I’m fat and more like I’m pregnant! Yesterday Matt and I drove to Bateman’s Bay so I could buy some maternity clothes at K-Mart. It felt so good to put something on that actually fit. I’ve been wearing my pants and shorts with one button undone and occasionally, the zip pulled down as well!
The absolute most exciting thing is the movement. From 16 ½ weeks I’ve been feeling little kicks and rolls. The very first flutter I ever felt was at 14 weeks, but back then I couldn’t be sure. It was like a bird was flapping in my uterus! Now, I’m certain of what I feel. Sometimes I can (and Matthew can) even feel the little punch on the outside. It reminds me of popcorn – like a little piece popping up to touch the lid of the saucepan. I love it when I feel it – I get this goofy smile on my face and it’s nearly impossible not to touch my stomach and ask others – did you feel that? It’s like my own private mini-earth tremor and I can’t believe everyone around me doesn’t have the same sense of wonder on their faces when it happens!
I also feel it roll sometimes. The first time that happened I was laying in bed and I thought an alien was going to burst up out of my skin. It was the strangest sensation. Now that I’m more familiar with it, I can enjoy it more. After it rolls I can usually feel with my hands where it is. Sometimes I’m sure I can feel something harder and rounder like maybe a head or back and other times something just small and firm like maybe a leg.
Last week I had a scary moment. It was Thursday and I was at school. I had had some twingey pain under my right rib all day but I wasn’t in pain, just a little uncomfortable. My class were about to go to Library, it was lunch time and I popped down to the loo (toilet) only to find two tiny spots on my undies – reminiscent of the whole spotting-bleeding saga back at 7 weeks. I panicked in a full Lady MacBeth kind of way (out damn spot) thinking that something terrible was beginning.
I left my kids with the teacher librarian and called Matty and went straight to the doctors. They fitted me in straight away. For some reason, even though I was worried I didn’t have that deep worry that I had back at 7 weeks. I could feel the baby kicking me as I drove along and I knew somehow that everything was going to be okay. At the doctors, he immediately did an ultrasound scan and reassured me that everything was fine. We saw the four chambers of the heart – beating away healthily. There was a student doctor in the room too and I think she was more excited that me to see the heart chambers! I was just so relieved. The spotting did not continue (and I wonder now if it really was spotting) and the pain was put down to ligaments shifting, pressure on the bladder, changing shape etc. I have felt some twinges of pain since then, but nothing to worry about.
So today the big news is going in the school Newsletter. A kid at school (local mouth from the south) has already asked me if I’m pregnant and I’m sure some of the mothers are looking at me knowingly!!
We’ve started gathering up all the bits and pieces people are lending us and giving us – cradle, blankets, clothes, bootees and so on. It is a lovely and exciting time. Last weekend I started crotcheting a baby rug. The child may be 21 before it’s completed, but it’s the thought that counts!!
On Wednesday we’re having a long ultrasound that takes about an hour. It is done at Radiology and I can’t wait. People have told me the medical imaging is amazing. But, then again, this whole experience is amazing. With each passing day I’m becoming more and more excited.
