I can’t believe
it’s been so long since I last wrote. I
just don’t know where the time has gone, I intended to write regularly, then I
intended to write at 20 weeks and now I’m 28 weeks and I’m only just getting
round to it! Rest assured though that everything is fine!
14-20 Weeks
From about 14 to 20 weeks I was feeling pretty great, well
certainly in comparison to how I had been feeling. You never know how nice it
is just to feel hungry and enjoy food when you’ve spent about 8 weeks feeling
desperately hungry but not fancying anything to eat! Apart from the occasional random
vomiting incident I felt well and my energy and fitness began to return. I felt
up to swimming again at about 14 weeks and it felt amazing just to be in the
water stretching my muscles a bit.
By this point in the pregnancy I was starting to feel a bit
more confident that something wasn’t going to go wrong and I let myself start
buying a few bits and pieces for the bub. We want to try and get most things
second hand as the price of buying everything new is ridiculous and in my
opinion a complete waste of money. I quite
enjoy looking for bargains on selling sites and I love the satisfaction of
getting something for a fraction of what it would have cost new. I figure the
more money I save of getting things for the baby the more likely I am to be
able to have a whole years maternity leave and spend more time with the bub
which she’s bound to appreciate more than she would a brand new cot!
I started to get a bump pretty early on in my pregnancy,
probably from about 13-14 weeks more perceptive people would have been able to
notice I was pregnant. My theory is
that because of the Ovarian Hyperstimulation stretching all my muscles and skin everything was a bit
pre-stretched and so I showed earlier than I would have – much the same as they
say people having their second babies show earlier. I didn’t mind at all though, I’ve loved every
minute of it, I just couldn’t stop, and still can’t, having a look at my bump
each time I go past a mirror and marvelling at the thought of the little person
growing in there.
As I went past 18 weeks I was counting down the days until
the 20 week scan. At the same time I was
getting increasingly nervous as people started asking me “Have you felt it move
yet,” which only served to make me more and more uneasy because I wasn't sure
that I had. I perhaps felt the odd
movement in the 18-20 weeks period but it didn’t feel like people kept saying,
things such as “Like butterflies” or “like bubbles,” it was more just like a
little swirly feeling but nothing really distinctive that I could be sure it
was the baby.
20 Week Scan
I’d always thought that I wouldn’t want to find out the sex
of my baby before it was born. I liked the idea of having a surprise on the day
of the birth and having that moment of “it’s a…” Matt on the other hand was absolutely
determined that he wanted to find out and managed to convince me, largely by
pointing out that if I knew the sex I’d be able to make it a lot more
things rather than having to make everything neutral! As it happens I’m really glad we did find
out because both Matt and I thought we were having a boy but it turned out we’re
having a little girl!
The scan itself was amazing, it’s crazy how much they can
see! All the chambers of the heart, the aorta, the bones of all the limbs, the
kidneys, the spine. It was a very long
process for them to get all the measurements they needed too, first they sent
me away to have a wee, then they sent me away to have a walk, then we changed scanners
to the high definition one, then they sent us away for lunch before finally
they had all the information they needed. I really didn’t mind though, I could have
looked at her all day and the advantage was that this meant we ended up with 2 different
sonographers as the first one’s shift ended, so they both had a check of the
sex of the baby and both said girl meaning it’s less likely they’ve made a
mistake!
And here she is…
I was (and am!) thrilled at the thought of having a little girl, I think
largely because of all the crafty things I enjoy doing, I’m
hoping that a girl is more likely to want to learn to knit and crochet and do those kind of things
with me. When I got home I stood in my
little craft area upstairs and said to Matt, “This is where my sewing machine
can go, and this is where her sewing machine can go.” Though of course I am
very well aware that she’ll have a mind of her own and might not be interested
in any of that but we’ll see!
From 20 Weeks Onwards…
From about 20 weeks I could really begin to start to feel
her moving about. I can’t put a date on the first time I felt a proper kick,
everything just seemed to progress gradually and get stronger day by day. She still
has quieter days and some really active days where she seems to be wiggling
about all over the place but it’s got gradually more distinct. The last couple of weeks I’ve really started
to be able to make out where she is, sometimes which was round she is and often
feel little limbs moving around.
All through this time I’d been measuring myself to see at
what point I reached the same size round that I was when I swelled up with all
the fluid at the beginning of the pregnancy. It took me to 24 weeks to
reach the same size that I was at just 4 weeks pregnant, which is 94cm. It was a completely different experience
though of course, this time it's comfortable (thought beginning to get a little less comfortable!) and natural and a nice neat bump
rather than at 4 weeks which was painful, scary and which made me swollen all
around my back as well. At 28 weeks I’ve
now surpassed this by quite a way and I’m nearly 100cm round!
28 Weeks, Looking Forward
So today I’ve reached 28 weeks and it feels like a massive
milestone. I can’t quite believe that
there’s only 12 weeks to go (or up to 14 if I go overdue) until I finally get
to meet her, my daughter! It feels so
strange to think of it, the idea that after all the waiting, all the heart ache,
I might finally have everything I ever wanted. I feel so amazingly blessed and
so thankful. It’s still nerve racking, I
spend a lot of time analysing her movements and worrying that she’s not moving
enough and I think I will until I have her safely here in my arms, then of
course the worrying won’t end and I’ll have a whole new world of things to
worry about but I can’t wait to be able to see her and cuddle her in my arms.
Looking forward it’s crazy to think that I’ve got to grow
for another 12 weeks! I feel pretty
enormous already and can’t really imagine how massive I’ll be by the time she’s
due. The last few days have been pretty
uncomfortable, I think perhaps she’s had a bit of a growth spurt as the
discomfort is starting to ease off a bit now as I adjust to my new size. Just 4 more weeks at work, 8 weeks of nesting
and then life changes forever….
