Unfortunately, and yet fortunately, my sweet tooth returned. I eased my way back into the land of ice cream (though still only on occasion and with no real cravings), chocolate, and cookies. The unfortunate part of this being that I would have loved the sugar aversion to continue to the end of the pregnancy so I could decrease my risk of extreme weight gain. The upside at the timing is that I could enjoy my favorite Halloween treat, Halloween Oreos. Yum.
I had gone through a stretch of not sleeping very well. I would get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and then not be able to fall asleep again for a couple of hours, if at all. I was getting headaches that kept me up. And, unfortunately I had such a headache on the day of Chris' 38th birthday. His celebration consisted of cupcakes that I took to work and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. I was feeling extremely fatigued, but unable to actually hit the REM cycle when trying to take naps during the day. I realized that if we went to bed just a little bit later and the last thing I did before closing my eyes was to go to the bathroom I could make it to the morning. Having figured that out I was sleeping much better by the time the 20 week mark rolled around.
I was looking forward to the half way point knowing that the countdown could really start. I celebrated my 20 weeks by going shopping at Destination Maternity, a large store directed solely toward expecting mothers. I felt a little self conscious when I walked in and wished my mom or sisters were there to share the experience with me, and deflect some of the over-attention from the staff. I shopped around and found some tops that I could grow into and purchased my first pair of maternity jeans. I could still fit into some of the low-rise pants that were once too big, but those maternity pants felt so soft and snug over my belly. It was like putting a pillow in a pillowcase. My favorite part about the maternity store was the belly attachments that were an estimation of how large the abdomen would be for someone at 7 or 9 months. I tried the 7 month one on with a couple of shirts just so I could get an idea of how they would fit later on. I couldn't bring myself to put on the 9 month belly, hoping that because of my height I might only make it to the 7 month look.
I wanted to get Chris something to honor 'Hump Day', which is what Chris called it because the actual 20 week mark also fell on a Wednesday. I think he needed to feel the 'Daddy' vibe so I bought an outfit for Baby Girl Bell that said 'Daddy's Girl' on the front.
Chris surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers which helped me to know that we were celebrating together. His genuine thoughtfulness was so surprising and appreciated.
I had a doctors appointment the next day and was slightly nervous at getting the ultrasound report. This is the time when I would be told if there was anything out of the ordinary. I was relieved when Dr. Wang told me that the ultrasound looked perfectly normal. She measured my abdomen and it was 20.5 cm, which was right on track. She asked if I could feel any kicking yet. Oh, yes. She's a mover. I told her that I could especially feel her when I was in the car with the seatbelt or when wearing tight jeans. She said that Baby Girl Bell must not like it and she wants her space. When using the doppler to hear Baby Girl Bell's heart tones Dr. Wang put a little pressure on my belly with the probe and exclaimed that she felt her kick back, even with that little amount of pressure. She said that Baby Girl Bell already has a bit of a personality. I just laughed to myself knowing that this little girl is going to give me a run for my money the same way I did to my mom.
I had already started the motherly habit of resting my hand on my tummy when laying or sitting and relaxing. I had never felt Baby Girl Bell move from the outside, only from the inside. I wondered that if Dr. Wang could feel her move then I should be able to feel her, too. Two days later on a lazy morning when Chris didn't have to go to work until later, I was half asleep with my hand lightly on my belly when I felt a slight kick in the palm of my hand. I could feel Baby Girl Bell moving on the inside and realized that I was now feeling her from the outside. I laid there with my hand on my tummy and felt a whirl of movement for the next couple of minutes. I was so excited I wanted to wake Chris up and tell him, but I let him be. Once he started to stir enough that I could tell he was a little bit awake I told him I could feel the baby. He rested his hand on my belly and after a few moments he felt some movement. He wasn't quite sure what he was feeling, but once Baby Girl Bell gave a couple of strong punches, ones that I could feel inside and he could feel outside he realized he had just received his first baby high-five.
Although not much time had passed since the last belly bump picture it seemed that my 'Buddha Belly', as Chris termed it once, had really started to become visible. I had become more accepting of my changing body and didn't feel like I needed to camouflage it anymore. I really began to embrace my pregnancy instead of working so hard to prevent what inevitably comes with the diagnosis. Though I was still not lovingly wrapping my arms around the continued tiredness and various aches and pains. Running was becoming more and more difficult as pains and cramping seemed to become more and more prevalent and increasingly painful. I resigned myself to the bike trainer and enjoyed swimming when the water at our apartment wasn't too cold. As far as weight gain went I was adding the L-Bs as expected and was just glad to not be an over-achiever in this area.
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