A good week

It's been a good week this week: the scan; feeling pregnant, rather
than just fat; Bubble dancing away inside me. Maybe I'm just a late
bloomer!

Properly pregnant

Hurrah! I'm properly pregnant. By that, I mean I have a bump rather
than just being fat. It's official. A customer at the shop - who
hadn't been told (I checked!) - asked me when the baby's due, and then
wished me good luck. I could have given him a big hug!

Hurrah!

All is well with Bubble. Growing well (no change to the due date) and nothing abnormal detected on the scan - and there is only one! Even I could pick out bits on the scan - the spine, the four chambers of the heart - but a lot just looked like a blur of grey and white. The radiographer did point out other bits - hands, face etc, but we just ahve to trust she knows what she's talking about!

It behaved itself well for all the measurements and checks, but then wouldn't pose for the photograph. We still got one, but it's not very clear. Never mind, you can't have everything.

It's such a relief that my worries didn't come true - now I can start to get excited.

So now we can get on with the job of really preparing. Mum & Dad are coming in a couple of weeks time to help us move furniture around, so we can start to get nursery & dog-free playroom downstairs sorted. The following weekend we're off to Stuart & Rach's to raid their cupboards for baby gear. And then - you never know - I might be able to persuade Dave we can do a bit of shopping!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the 20-week scan. I'm still worried about it, still
niggling that something will be not quite right. But I've got to go to
find out, otherwise I'd just keep worrying and that's not doing me any
good at all.

I haven't really slept properly for a few nights (not just with the
worrying - bad hotel beds don't help either!) and now I'm tired as
well, which doesn't help the emotions. It's not taking much to set the
tears flowing. I'm trying to be positive, but for some reason it's
difficult. Hopefully I'll have more cheerful things to say tomorrow.

20-week scan

We've got the 20-week scan next Tuesday, and for the last couple of
days I've had niggling worries about it. Don't really know what about
it. Kind of the "What if..." thing, I think. I woke up last night and
was laid awake for a bit thinking about it. I really want it, because
I want to see Bubble, but I guess I'm scared that there's something
that I'm not going to like. I've got no groundings for this at all,
and maybe it's just me.
I mentioned it at the yoga class today, and it was pointed out that I
don't have to have it if I don't want it. Should I have it to set any
worries to rest? Should I not have it and just trust that nature will
make it's own way and everything will sort itself out?
I know Dave is looking forward to it, but I just don't know. It's all
quite scary - more so than the 12-week one, for some reason - and I
don't know what to think.

Yoga Classes

Been to my first pregnancy yoga class this afternoon. It's run by
Olivia, a woman trained under the Active Birth Centre
(www.activebirthcentre.com) and is designed to prepare you for labour,
birth and early parenting. Some gentle exercises, massage and
relaxation and then a chat over a cup of lemon and ginger tea! I've
never been to anything like this before, but everyone was friendly
enough and it wasn't too strenuous (although I'm aching just a little
bit!) I felt like the baby of the class - everyone else's babies are
due before the end of the year, so I'm quite a long way behind them,
but I've been reassured that new people join the class all the time,
so I'll soon feel like an old hand!

Bubble flutters

Over the past few days I've been feeling flutterings. Difficult to
describe really - a bit like gentle bowel movements, or butterflies.
People tell me that it's probably the first movements of the baby.
Great! It's not that often, and they're really faint - I have to be
quite relaxed and still to feel them at all. I'm hoping that it bodes
well for the future - a nice quite baby who isn't too much of a pest!!
Hmm, somehow I think not!

On a slightly different note, I'm having to spend money on clothes. I
bought a few bits a couple of weeks ago, but need more. This morning
at church I had a normal t-shirt (no maternity tops clean) on with a
cardigan over the top. I felt hot, but couldn't take the cardie off
'cos the t-shirt didn't really cover everything - not the best idea in
church! So I've just placed a few bids on eBay, so hopefully I might
have something to wear in a few days time. So far, the shops in
Sheffield have been not too helpful: Next wasn't stocking maternity
until they'd moved to the bigger store in Meadowhall (which might have
been this weekend actually); M&S have a small range in Meadowhall, but
nothing in town; not much at H&M fit me. Any more ideas? Where do
other people find all their nice maternity clothes, without spending
an absolute fortune?

Too much to do!

We're now 17 weeks through, and don't seem to have done anything to
prepare! Help! We've had a brief looks at pushchairs, have got a
long-ish list of names, but that's about it. There's furniture to move
around the house (and the house needs tidying/cleaning before we can
do that), decorating to do, shopping to do, money things to sort
out...

And that's without thinking about the pregnancy and birth, which I
guess should really come first. I've registered for NCT classes, but
haven't heard anything yet. I've just found out about someone in
Sheffield who does pregnancy yoga and Active Birth workshops, so I'm
going to sort that out as well. The more I read, the more I'm
convinced that I want a home birth, so there's things to think about
for that - making sure tings are clean, we've got everything we need
etc etc, and of course a birthing plan. Maybe I'm thinking a bit in
advance, but judging by what I've read you can never start too early!

I know there's about 5 months left, but Christmas is in the middle of
that (thinking money and energy here) and I certainly don't want to
leave everything until the last minute.