So I’m just a couple days shy of 18 weeks now. I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday (all is well, though my uterus is apparently larger than normal at this point, which made her question my due date for a moment.) She said it’s quite active, to which I said I haven’t felt a thing and everyone keeps asking and it’s making me paranoid. She said not to worry, then told me the same thing my friend, J, told me – I probably have felt it, but thought it was just a gas bubble or something.
I didn’t think I’d felt any gas bubbles, either (all I’ve really felt is B.L.O.A.T.E.D) but then, this morning while lying in bed, I had an A-HA! moment. I felt it, the faintest of movements which yes, I’d probably barely noticed or thought was just my body doing something weird.
Then this morning, I had a few sips of coffee (still can’t drink more than that because it makes me feel wonky) and just like that – we’ve got some definite motion in the ocean.
Side note: Sometimes I now pee when I sneeze. How annoying is that? And is that supposed to happen already? Boy, am I in trouble once I’m further along.
On another note – all of that fear & trepidation I felt the first few months? Gone. I mean completely & totally gone. Just like that, again. Which is kind of normal for me – it’s my pattern to spazz, adjust, and move on, going full speed ahead like it’s the most natural thing in the world. So much so that… shhh… don’t tell my mother, but I’ve already had “maybe we should have another one after this,” thoughts. I’m an only child and Hank is an only child. I will always defend the state of only children – it’s NOT a horrible thing to be and, strangely enough, of all the only children I’ve met, they’ve all left home to go explore far, far away. Hank moved across the country to California, then England, then back to CA (from Pennsylvania.) I moved to Prague, then to CA. Another friend of mine moved from PA to Seattle with a few months here and there in India. My closest friend, M, moved from Texas to FL and now out to CA. I met several only children while living in Europe. That’s not to say that only children are the only ones who travel & explore & go away – but it does seem that only children are more likely to spread their wings as far as they can. (And we’re hoping s/he grows up instilled with the travel bug. I’d love for him/her to go to school abroad.)
Then my mom made a comment about how it might be tough to be an only of two only child parents – they wouldn’t have a close set of relatives. Although, I’m not all that close to all my cousins, so… whatever. Regardless, I’ve found myself thinking I might already want a second after this.
I also got blood drawn for my second semester genetic screening yesterday. (This is the part that’s sure to get me some hate mail. *smile*) It’s a little nerve-wracking, actually. It wasn’t the first time, and there’s really no reason to worry about it but the more attached that I get and the further we get along, the more I start having those “so much can go wrong” thoughts. My Dad’s great aunt had Down Syndrome – far enough down the line, relationship-wise that it’s not a concern to the doctors – but it’s till there, in my mind. And if we DO have another, I’d be over 35 and… eek. Suddenly they consider you “high risk.”
My next appointment, in July, will include another ultrasound. She wants to check this to confirm my due date again (ya know, cause of my big uterus) and we’ll also be able to find out the sex. I was, from day one, against finding out ahead of time even though Hank’s been begging to know. I’m a traditionalist that way. But, ok… we’re all tired of referring to it as “it,” and now that I’m looking forward to it all, I, too, would like to put more of a personality to it, so to speak. As my doctor said, “You’re going to find out eventually, anyway!”