Flitters and flutters... and quite big kicks

The baby's movements have crept up on me quite suddenly. I thought I was feeling little flutters...kind of like someone accidentally brushing your arm with something very soft... from about 13 weeks. But I had to concentrate hard to feel them. And in retrospect, it may have been all in my head. Then, about 10 days ago there were some flitter flutters, a bit stronger than what I'd thought I'd felt before. It happened every so often, but I still wasn't sure...

Towards Christmas day, they were getting stronger and stronger, and every so often there was a little tap from the inside. Like a baby bird trying to tap out of its egg shell. And then there was the goldfish movement. These were like a goldfish turning circles in my tummmy, round and round and round... And felt a little unpleasant... Nice, obviously because it's the baby, but... Still a bit weird. Over Christmas weekend, the baby got quite excited and started properly booting me every now and then. Turns out the baby likes snow, sledging and hanging out in grandma/grandpa's house watching TV. Sometimes making me jump with surprise when thoughts of baby had momentarily dropped out of my mind. Maybe 4-5 times a day, there would be a small football match in my lower abdomen, interspersed by little bubbly flutters of position changing and wriggling.

So yesterday I was getting on with my revision for finals (urgh) and the kicking continued. Every now and then, I'd put a hand down to see if I could feel the kicks from outside... but no... still too soft. But last night, lying in bed, I had another feel and I could definitely feel them. I got Nick to come and feel and he definitely felt them. He'd tell me when the baby kicked, and he was right every time... So exciting! I've been able to feel the baby for a while and have been getting used to it - but this was really exciting for both of us... Partly cause it's a bit more real for Nick now, but also because our wee baby was actually having some kind of impact on the outside world, and partly cause I was a bit worried it was all in my head... Yay for kicks!

Bubbles...

It's all about bubble baths. I can't get enough of them. It's getting ridiculous. My lovely husband comes home from work and knows where to find me without even shouting around the house...



Pre-pregnancy I restricted myself to a maximum of one a week to save on hot water for climate change/energy bill reasons. But now... I can't keep myself out of the bathtub.

It's amazing. There actually may not be anything better than a proper good soak with some decent bubble bath. Since I've been pregnant my body hurts all over most of the time, enough to make me cry some days. The only thing that made this any better has been the bath.

I now fantasise about bubble bathing products day and night. Got an awesome bottle of bubble bath from my mum for my birthday at the end of October which has long gone... Boo - it's smelled great and was really soft. Had to nip out and buy a bottle of cheap bubbles to keep me going last weekend - not so lovely, but good bubble volumes. And I'm actually ridiculously excited about getting to Lush on Monday to buy some bathtime treats.

Another weird pregnancy thing is that my skin has started to hurt, get really dry and peel. This hasn't been something I've ever experienced before, but apparently it's quite common in pregnancy. Trying to fend it off with some good body lotion. And there's the fear of the dreaded stretch marks... Arhg. I have some cocoa butter which I'm using fairly religiously in the vain hope it might work. Any tips welcome!

So suggestions for body creams/butters/lotions and bubble baths/salts/bombs very very welcome. And if Santa wants to put one or two wee treats in my stocking...

Baby Belly - 13 weeks and 6 days

Last week I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself side on in the mirror in a public bathroom... Wow. There was curvature. Interesting.

A week later (now 13 weeks and 6 days), and there are definitely certain things I can't wear anymore. There have certainly been some bemused colleagues pointing in my direction... My wonderful mother turned up this week and helped me find some ace maternity jeans and work trousers.

Still not sure I definitely look pregnant, and worried that I'm just looking a bit fat. Unless you know me particularly well and that I normally have a flat tum and have lost 5.5kg since getting pregnant!

Otherwise, this week has been pretty good. Have only puked a couple of times, which is another gradual improvement. ALthough the vomiting does seem to be getting more forceful when it does happen. Was actually sick in my mum's car this week! Good work. Still really really fussy about my food and prefer things that have no flavour at all... Still getting very dizzy, especially first thing in the morning. Have nearly fainted a few times when standing up for a while, and my consultant now forces me to sit down during bedside teaching. This is embarrassing, but necessary. Guess my blood pressure's going down.

So what's the bub up to? Well apparently, it's now 8cm long. Makes lots of funny faces and if you prod my tummy it does a sucking reflex cause it thinks it's time to breastfeed.

We found out the sex of the baby last Friday and I'll be writing a new post on this soon... Also coming soon, more on our plans for a home birth - all very exciting!

Shooting Your Own Roots

So... Here's the wee roots of my own that I've been busy shooting over the past 13 weeks.

It's the oldest cliché, but pregnancy is actually the most amazing miracle. It's such a wonderful idea. God could have planned a number of other, simpler, more straightforward way of replacing the population... Babies could be left in cabbage patches or be delivered by storks. People could just pop up fully grown, magically appearing from nowhere, able to care for themselves, resilient, independent.

But instead, they grow inside other people?!

What a privilege to get to grow a little person inside yourself. To watch it grow and develop, stretch your skin, start to move around... and then to help if out into the world, where you will need to care for and protect it if it's to survive beyond day one.

What a magical way of creating new life. You couldn't think up this kind of fairy story if you tried.