Master, it lives! (part 2)

I am 24 weeks pregnant today.

On Thursday evening, I was being a couch potato when I felt Tadpole kick. Bas was around so I figured I might as well summon him over to have a feel. He must have misunderstood me because he tried to have a fondle instead.

I wasn't too hopeful, as on Tuesday I had placed his hand over my bump and he couldn't feel the kicks even though I could (he must have been too distracted by Jessica Alba in her Fantastic 4 suit). And sure enough, Tadpole got coy and went all quiet.
And just as Bas left, he started kicking again. Typical. This time Bas came over on time to feel not one, not two, but three kicks in a row.

While Bas was all grinning and happy that 'our son is growing strongly', I certainly wasn't looking forward to being at the receiving end when, in 5 months' time, Tadpole runs out of play room and decides to use one of my ribs as a rattle, or my full bladder as a soft toy.

Oh well. So far, it's not painful at all and it's even kind of a fun feeling. I'll just have to keep on ignoring all these people (including my poor mum) who say it does hurt.

Signs I'm starting to show

Today I'm 23 weeks and 2 days.



I've reached the growth spurt stage. Unfortunately I'm growing forward, not upward.



From now on and I guess till birth, my abdomen will grow a centimetre per week. Today I am 84cm (for the slow pokes who haven't switched to the metric system yet, that's 33"...). So all going good, before Tadpole pops out, I'll be 84+17=101cm (or 39.7"). No wait, maybe it'll grow an inch per week; in which case, I'll be 33+17=50" (127cm). Will have to get Bas to confirm. I don't dare taking out the tape measure to find out how big this is.



Although I guess I'm not too big, from what people are saying. I have more of a beer gut than a pregnant belly, but for those who know that I'm pregnant, it's getting obvious.



Just how obvious is it in my day-to-day life?

• My toes remain visible until I stand up straight. Now I see them, now I don't...


• Bending over to reach a glass of water, with the laptop over my lap, results in my belly mousing and clicking using the touchpad. I've learnt to save my work before doing so.


• Bas notices it getting in the way when we kiss and hug. I still maintain it's his belly.


• I have to hold my breath in when bending down to tie my shoes. That, or resign myself to heavily drop to the floor and sit in order to reach my feet.
  
• I'm starting to have very slight trouble getting in and out of the car, or the couch. I haven't dared touch the beanbag lately, but Jai insisted she wants some entertainment when she comes over for lunch next week-end.


• People briefly divert their eyes from mine when we talk. Interestingly enough, women seem to do it more openly than men.


• Naliah, our cat, is finding it increasingly difficult to claim my lap space when I'm using the laptop.


• Bas keeps on rubbing my belly as if a genie was going to come out of it. I guess something will, eventually.


• I now wish I hadn't teased Trudy about how much she waddled like a duck when she was pregnant. I have to remind myself that I can still walk gracefully.
  
• I've bought a belly band and a maternity belt. If I don't, my belly will get cold and my now mostly unzipped trousers will fall off.


• At the end of the day, I love to slip into something more comfortable. Like track pants with elasticated waist.

22-week visit

I am 22 weeks and 5 days pregnant today.

Another routine check at Auckland Obstetrics, this time with Dr Geoff Bye. I have met Geoff before, when he was specialising in gynaecology and not obstetrics (yes there is a difference. One's a woman specialist, the other's a pregnant woman specialist). He successfully removed pre-cancerous cells before they became an issue, so I'm quite grateful for these smears.

The normal procedure is for me to do a DIY urine check (just a tab with sensors for glucose and protein, like these Ph tab thingies on the Ph-neutral Dove soap ads) and weight before seeing the obstetrician. But last night, I had a nice long uninterrupted sleep, and had to gently walk (no running or upsetting the bladder at all costs!) to the toilet and therefore didn't have much to provide in the way of samples. So I made sure to have a glass of water and force myself to have a hot chocolate in the hope that it'd be enough.

During the visit itself, nothing outstanding really happened. My blood pressure is good, and Tadpole's heart is still beating. Ahh, the wonders of technology. I took my i-mate with me, and here's the result.

This time, most of the questions that we had would be addressed at 30-35 weeks of pregnancy, so no point in having them answered then trying to remember the answer 2 months later.

Reception gave us an independent midwife's card, Beverley Thys, to contact and book for post-natal care. She also said that only 5% women have their baby on the due date, and most first-time mothers have them later than the due date. Why don't they then just change gestation duration from 40 to 41 weeks escapes me. And she recommended that I take it easy during the last month. And I'm not sure why Bas smirked when she told me to get plenty of rest.

Then I remembered (all right then, Bas reminded me) that I still needed to test my urine. So I merrily headed to the toilets, confident that I drank enough hot chocolate.
And just before buckling up my pants, realised that I forgot something - to use the test tab.

I'm 51kg.

Baby showers

I'm 22 weeks and 4 days pregnant today.

Ave had a baby shower last Sunday at Shona's place.

That was the first baby shower I've ever attended, and judging from the hints that a few people have dropped now, it won't be the last - I'm expected to have one as well.

It actually was a lot more entertaining than I had expected. Shona's great at organising these things (she organised some activities at Ave's hen's party as well), with fun activities and yummy food.

Things I learnt on this day:

• It's really difficult to suck fruit juice out of a #1 teat from a baby bottle
• Baby nappies are a lot smaller than I thought
• I don't know any English nursery rhyme
• I am physically unable to go "awwww...." at the sight of baby clothes, as hard as I may try

Let's say that I wouldn't mind having a do - after all, one of my goals this year is to be (somewhat) more social with my fellow humans. But I just don't think I can deal with all the attention. Oddly enough, if I'd have no trouble if I was doing some public speaking, but this kind of informal constantly-being-the-centre-of-attention isn't my cup of tea. Maybe I should train my baby shower guests on ClientBase Opportunity Recognition?

Second issue: can't handle all the hormones which will no doubt surface up at the sight of baby gear. I think growing up and working in male-dominated environments will have this effect on anyone.

Anyway, I told Bas I'd make up my mind as to whether I'd have a baby shower after I've attended Ave's. Fine. I'll have one if he can come up with a solution to the two aforementioned issues.

Master, it lives!

I was in the process of dragging my sorry self out of bed this morning, trying to convince some random part of my body to feel sore enough to warrant a sick day, and miserably failing.

And then it hit me.

More accurately, a limb hit me from the inside of my abdomen.

This is the first time that I've felt a kick (well it could have been a poke or a headbutt for all I know) for sure. It didn't feel like I had, or ate, butterflies, or like I was about to fart, and didn't feel like flutters either. More like a noticeable heartbeat way lower than where my heart normally sits.

Now I need Maltesers and a couch.

Baby stuff shopping

Pumpkin Patch in Dressmart was the very first baby stuff store that we had dared venture into in our entire lives.

After the initial bewildered feeling ("Ohmygod my eyes!!! Why is everything so pink???") and getting our eyes adjusted to the level of brightness from all the pink clothes, we wondered why on earth would a mum want her 2 y.o. kid to wear a denim mini-skirt. It was hard to find an item of clothing that did not have pink or flowers or butterflies on it, and I could not figure out what boys' parents would buy. So we had a quick wander around the store - nothing that really tickled our fancy, and besides how could we justify spending that much on three square pieces of cloth just so a kid could drool on it? Or a pair of socks that costs more than my own, which by the way I will wear for longer than 3 months?

Moving on a bit further through the store brought some light relief. We were in the girls' section of the store, and had now reached the boys' section. I noted that the girls' section felt considerably larger and had lots more choice. Not unlike adults' clothes stores.

We didn't get anything that day - didn't know at the time whether we had a boy or a girl, and neither trucks nor flowers felt very gender-neutral.

Our next bold move involved The Baby Factory in Onehunga. We paid it two visits, the latest one being yesterday, for Ave's baby shower.

The store had a lot more sober feel to it, bright colours and the goods nicely organised by types - not by gender. The Pumpkin Patch merchandisers must be sexist now that I think about it. But again that overwhelming feeling of ignorance came to me again. Why are there 15 types of prams and buggies on display, would a booster seat with the All Blacks logo on it really make a difference to the kid's sporting abilities, and what's the difference between babygros, body suits, gowns, sleepsuits, rompers, singlets and stretch & grows? Why don't babies come with their basic accessories and a user manual on how to use them (the accessories, not the babies), and then we'd just need to go to the store to get the extras, just like with iPods?

We thought it was hard enough to buy clothes for us. Nooo way. Valuable lesson of the day: how to choose babies' clothing.

- How old will the baby be at the time of wearing the item?

• 00000 - Premature, a.k.a. prem
• 0000 - Newborn. But 000 is also for newborns, so maybe this is for small newborns. Or maybe for bigger prematures
• 000 - Newborn. See above. Though some newborns find this is too big. So maybe this is for big newborns.
• 00 - 3-6 months. Or was it 1-3 months? How long do newborns keep their stuff for?
• 0 - Somethingrather. We'll worry about it when we get there.

Oh, and some clothes also come with the age on the label (3m), others come with measurements (64cm). The trick is not to think that 3m is designed for 3-metre-long babies.

- At the time of the baby wearing the item, will the weather be hot or cold?
Fundamental question which we didn't know about till Oma Yoke showed up to provide some 3-times-mother wisdom. Fleece in December is a bad idea, unless a 12-hour trip to Europe with a 3-month-old baby was on the cards.

- Will it be a boy or a girl at the time of wearing the item, and hopefully for the rest of his/her life? As with Pumpkin Patch, clothes are either very girly or very *insert the word for the male equivalent here*. Makes it hard when you don't know what gender the baby is. Neutral colours and designs were a bit blend. And I may be a baby ignoramus but I'd have thought that dressing a vomitting, burping, farting, peeing and pooing baby in white can't be the best of ideas.

But we had to get something for Ave. Thankfully we had a list of stuff she wanted and it wasn't just clothes, but even then we got so confused that we only managed to choose three gifts before settling on a gift voucher.

So now I have this spreadsheet, creatively called Baby.xls, which contains 90 lines of items that can possibly be bought for Tadpole. I have flagged items that are must-haves for a travel bag, must-haves in general, and whether they can be replaced with other less fancy, non-portable, space-consuming items. I have just added a column on where the item would be best procured from (i.e. family & friends).

Pity my goldfish-like brain can't process all this information efficiently.