Immodesty

The thing that has both surprised and amused me most about being pregnant is the lack of modesty that comes with it. It starts off slow and increases until by the end of pregnancy you no longer give a damn! Now, I have always been a little bit of a shy and modest girl. Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude but I am the kind of girl who likes dim lighting and turns her back to get undressed. Now I find myself not caring about letting it all hang out!

I've heard stories from friends of mine who were mortified after their deliveries to hear from their other halves that they threw off their clothes in the middle of labour and spent hours panting naked, and about the sheer amount of people who enter the room and have a good peak at your nether regions during birth. I guess this is the norm and you spend those few months of your pregnancy building up to that.

It's not just nudity either, there's also the bodily functions. Nobody warned me about the sounds I would be making all through pregnancy. I have never been a burping or farting kind of girl. Burping was a largely silently into my hand sort of affair after a gassy can of Diet Coke. Farting was rare and my husband always suspected I was shy and did it privately but that wasn't true, I just didn't do it much. It was kind of a shock to find myself emitting these sounds all of a sudden but once I (quickly) got over the shock and initial embarrassment of it, I have embraced it, and with glee! I have found myself making sounds that could sink a battleship and laughing over it rather than being mortified, and what's more, if I'm honest I'm kind of impressed with myself!! Luckily, Hubby finds it very amusing!

But anyway, if nothing else this lack of modesty is probably good preparation for labour and birth. I'm sure it's nature's way of helping us get through it. I for one am embracing it, it's strangely liberating!

A stunning comeback

My pregnancy sickness decided to make a sudden re-appearance today. After throwing up for 10 minutes and completely emptying my stomach I smelled vomit afterwards and figured I must have splashed myself so I had to leave early to come home and shower and change. I'm lucky my bosses are supportive. I guess I spoke too soon about forgetting how miserable early pregnancy was, and I needed to be reminded! I've had a couple of restless nights and I suspect that doesn't help. Maybe along with another hormone surge and the fact that my stomach is being squashed and crushed by my growing uterus? Anybody else had this happen to them? I'm 32 weeks now.

I'm also getting some abdominal pain but a quick google tells me that's pretty normal at this stage and is the ligaments being stretched a lot more again. Man, I can't wait to stop work and put my feet up!

Hi Bob!

Recently I think baby has been both growing rapidly and descending lower. This has caused increasingly frequent panicked dashes to the bathroom crying "Baby on my bladder! Baby on my bladder!", earning our little guy the nickname BoB.

Week 20 milestones

Starting around week 18/19 I suspected I was feeling early movements but at that point it was hard to be sure. It was like, is this gas or baby? It was similar to gas or trapped wind but felt a little different. It was kind of like bubbles popping. It was exciting though, and I really wanted to get to the point where I could feel distinct movement and kicks. I think it started to happen around week 20, it was kind of gradual. But the first real kicks were very exciting.

My linea nigra, that mysterious dark line on the belly appeared in week 20 too. It literally just appeared. One minute it wasn't there, next minute it was. Weird.

This week I also had that overnight growth spurt people warned me about. You know, the one where you stand up and find your feet have disappeared! Hubby had left the house by the time I discovered this but when I came home that evening with my nice newly rounded bump I stood behind his computer chair and said hello to him and when he spun around in the chair to greet me he almost hit his face on it! He was all, "Wow! That wasn't there yesterday!". Classic!

I also got carpal tunnel around week 18 and it got worse at around this point. There were a couple of nights where it was really excruciating, painful enough to wake me up in the middle of the night. I had to start wearing wrist supports to bed. Sexy!

Another pregnancy landmark

30 August - week 24
Today as we were walking to lunch Hubby looked at me and said, "You're starting to waddle a bit." Great!

Why do they call it morning sickness?

Seriously! Why would you so spectacularly misname something?!! It's morning, noon and night sickness. And I was one of the unlucky ones who had it until something like week 25 of my pregnancy. There has even been a few days since where I've felt the familiar waves but nothing near as bad as it was and by now I'm much less threatened by it.

It's a very weird thing. It started with very unpleasant waves of nausea that started in the morning, peaked at mid morning and mid afternoon and then lasted the rest of the day and night. After the first couple of weeks it built up to retching and dry heaves at the peak times, then in later weeks there would be at least one huge vomit during those times. It slowed down in week 14 and I thought it was finally over, but then made a spectacular reappearance in week 16 (on my wedding day, thank you very much!!), went away in week 18, returned briefly in week 20, then went away and returned in week 22 - you see a pattern right? It was pretty miserable, especially in the early weeks when I felt awful but couldn't really tell anyone why. I learned to manage it. The main trick was not letting myself get hungry. Eat little and often, became my mantra.

I used to be a huge baby about throwing up. Before I was pregnant I could tell you exactly how many times I've thrown up in my life and you could count them on one hand. Throwing up makes me cry. But now, I'm a pro at it!