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2006-01-18 - 10.36pm��previous entry��next entry
20 weeks pregnant - halfway there!!!!
Yay, 20 weeks pregnant at last!!! Although "at last" feels a bit weird, as it has gone SO fast so far! I am now halfway to my due date exactly - wow! I know I won't get to finish this entry before Arthur wakes from his afternoon nap, so I will finish it this evening after Neil gets home from work and takes my 20 week belly pic! Last pregnancy my belly pictures from 20 weeks were full body shots, so I guess I should do the same this time. But I feel kind of shy about it for some reason! I haven't posted pictures of my face (gasp!) on my diaries for a long time! I feel like I look really tired and pasty and messy lately, so I'm a bit squeamish about posting a full picture. But unless they come out TERRIBLE, I will do it! I want to make my record of this pregnancy as similar as possible to last time, to make it easier to compare :) So I will have that added to my belly gallery before I add this entry in the end (I hope!).
Today Arthur and I were out with my friend Katie (who is sure to be mentioned a lot in this diary since she is due 2 days after me and I see her a lot at church, etc!) and her little boy. She really doesn't look pregnant yet! I look like I'm at a whole different stage of pregnancy to her. It's so weird how different people carry differently and show at different times. I have several pairs of maternity jeans and trousers that are going to have to be put away already! They have smaller stretchy bump panels than the others and tighter waistbands, and my bump has outgrown them already! They feel pretty tight by the end of the day. I am still wearing them for now, but I do have lots of other (bigger) jeans and trousers to wear when they are put away. Neil found ANOTHER big box of maternity clothes in the loft last night!!! Wow! I knew I was missing one of my favourite maternity jumpers and my favourite maternity top that says, "Pregnant and Proud!" (hehe!) so I figured they must be up there still. So when he checked, he found a whole box that I'd forgotten about! So I have summer clothes for when I'm huge, and MORE trousers and tops. And pyjamas. I am rapidly outgrowing all my non-pregnancy pyjama bottoms, so I need the maternity ones now, and it's not warm enough weather for nighties yet. It's very different to be at this stage of pregnancy at the opposite season to last time (I was 20 weeks in June last time!) but at least I have all the clothes I need for any season! Most of this forgotten box contained trousers that are way too big for me, as I bought them nearer the end of my pregnancy last time when I had gone up 2 clothes sizes! But they are there if I need them again.
Talking of which, I noticed in my diary for last pregnancy, at 20 weeks I had checked my weight and found that I had gained a total of 10lbs so far. So this morning I weighed myself and I am now 8st 12.5lbs (after breakfast and in lightweight pyjamas though), which means a total weight gain so far of 9.5lbs! Sooooooooooo similar to last pregnancy. The last time I checked my weight at the same time as last pregnancy was 17 weeks, and I had gained 6lbs last pregnancy, and 5lbs this time! So it's all going smoothly and exactly as it did last time. Who knows if I'll gain 54lbs again, but I really don't think I'll be able to keep it on, with how active Arthur is these days!
I have a really big appetite these days! Same as this stage last time (again). I am eating the most enormous portions for dinner, and Neil is flagging before he can finish the amount I eat, and ends up leaving some! My tummy hurts all over and I get indigestion after big meals, but I get SO hungry that I just have to eat till I'm full. Otherwise I feel sort of constantly hungry and pick at things even after my meals. I prefer to get FULL in one go! I had heartburn in the night last night though, and I do get it a fair bit, but it usually isn't bad enough to take something for it yet. But I did last night. This morning I still had a tummy ache from my huge meal! But still needed a big breakfast :)
Ohhh I had another nightmare last night, urgh. I woke at 3.30am having just been murdered with a machine gun. Ugh. I hate these dreams where I'm killed! They are always sooooo vivid. I always die, and never fast enough, from my wounds, which are sometimes horribly painful. Last night I was machine-gunned across my chest and lay there in the dream actually AWARE that it was a dream, and desperately hoping I would finish dying, or wake up, before my lungs filled with blood and suffocated me, as I knew I did not want to feel that sensation. Unfortunately for me, I did not die/wake up fast enough. Yeurgh. I always wake when I finally do die though. I HATE these dreams. I know they are about everything in my life changing though, and so I see them as normal considering what is happening in my life at the moment! I just hope I stop having them soon!
Two nights ago I had a dream where I was wading in the sea (I'm terrified of being out of my depth in open sea as I have a really irrational fear of sharks) trying out a waterproof baby sling, and I was scared but everyone kept saying to go a little further and a little further out. So I was up to my neck and the feelings were so real, and then everyone left me and waded back to the shore. I couldn't go fast being that deep, and then someone yelled "SHAAAAAAARK!!!" and my first thought was, "Don't be daft, this is England!" But lo and behold, there was a big ole fin moving towards me. In open sea. With my megarooney fear of sharks. And it was so vivid, it was like I was actually there in that situation, in reality. I just froze and the fin swam right up to me and stopped. I waited to be eaten and THANK GOODNESS, woke up while I was waiting, all out of breath with my heart racing. Sometimes I LOVE that pregnancy dreams are the most vivid I'll ever have, but other times I hate hate hate that fact! I wish I had some NICE vivid dreams. *sigh*
I really want to change the subject after that sharky dream! Let's see, what can I write about Sprout? The top of my uterus is now right at my tummy button - exactly as it should be for 20 weeks, and exactly as it was last time at 20 weeks. Sprout's measurements are given from head to heel for the first time from 20 weeks onwards! Yay! I feel like Sprout has graduated something or other! There is a crown-to-rump measurement for 20 weeks as well, but it's the last one. So, crown-to-rump, Sprout now measures 16.4cm (6.4 inches), and from head to heel that is now 25.6cm (just over 10 inches!!!!). Wow. That is just so big. For a tiny, still-can't-believe-I'm-actually-pregnant fetus! Sprout also now weighs 300g, or 10.5oz. Getting nearer and nearer to that 1lb mark! But that usually comes around the time of viability, 23-24 weeks. I can't believe Sprout is now THAT close to being viable! I remember last time that although the baby is viable from 24 weeks, if something goes wrong and labour isn't starting, they won't induce labour and try to save the baby until 28 weeks. It's only if the baby makes an appearance from 24 weeks that they try to save it. I remember feeling shocked about that when I went in for some brief monitoring last pregnancy at around 25 weeks. So I'm eager for 28 weeks to roll around so I can know that Sprout will be given EVERY chance if anything happens!
I can't believe we're in the 20s already! Wow. TWELVE days till my scan!!!!!!! I'm sooooooo excited. Four weeks till Sprout is viable (who will have a name by then, and not be called Sprout any longer), and then 4 more weeks till my safety zone! I hope nothing goes wrong this pregnancy. I worried a lot about anything and everything last pregnancy, but nothing happened, so I have been trying to tell myself not to do any worrying this time, as it's likely that everything will go smoothly. I hope it does! I hope Sprout will be all healthy and normal at the scan. As it gets closer I start to be slightly anxious about that - I just want everything to be alright with out newest little one.
I am noticing a clear difference between Arthur and Sprout though, now that there have been a good number of weeks since I started feeling proper hard kicks and movements. Sprout is way less active than Arthur was. I am still just trying to figure out exactly what the difference is, and maybe it's not activity as such, but the type of activity? I will have to wait a few more weeks to be sure that I'm right. But although Sprout is busy in there and CAN kick me really hard, I am really noticing that the things I was describing of Arthur at this kind of stage of pregnancy in my old diary entries are not nearly the same with Sprout. Arthur seemed active all the time, and would kick and pummel hard for like 20 minutes at a time, especially if I ate chocolate or something. Sprout doesn't kick for long, and is more prone to sporadic episodes of a few kicks or squirms at a time. Also Sprout doesn't appear to be affected by what I eat! The other thing about the activity is the strength of it. At 19 weeks last pregnancy, I would lie on the sofa and balance the TV remote on my belly, and Arthur would kick and kick so that it wobbled and tipped about! I wouldn't even bother trying that yet, as Sprout doesn't kick hard enough, and most kicks are just the odd one or two, and directed downwards or sideways rather than at my tummy. Maybe my placenta is anterior then? But that can't be, because I have been feeling movements since so early.
Anyway. Sprout seems to kick more gently, or rather, less strongly. He/she seems to have a more laid back physical side to Arthur, who, despite being very laid back in personality, was NEVER laid back physically (and still isn't!)! So that is a big difference I am noticing - pretty much the only one so far, except the morning sickness stopping so much sooner.
Yesterday, Arthur and I drove to our nearest (not very near!) stockist of the Out n About Nipper (double pushchair thingy). I put him in it and pushed him around the shop, and it is really nice. He seemed comfy in there and rode about swinging his legs and looking happy! It WAS lightweight, but not quite so much as I expected. Perhaps I was thinking 9kg would feel EXCEPTIONALLY lighter than Arthur's current 14.2kg pushchair. It was definitely lighter though. It pushes very smoothly, but you have to lift the front wheel to turn a corner, as the front wheel is fixed. Which is fine, just something to get used to. Anyway, I liked it, but I just didn't feel 100% sold on it yet. So I'm still looking.
Arthur is awake so I'll stop for now. Back later! :)
Okay, it's 8.10pm and Arthur is asleep again! Neil saw a lady with twins in a Jane Powertwin tandem pushchair in Sainsbury's this evening, and he said it looks fab. He even went up and asked the lady about it and she let him push her twins about in it a bit! He said it pushed beautifully, but I know it will be too heavy for me to lift in and out of the car, sadly.
BUT, today I took Arthur to a big mother-and-toddler playgroup (MUST write about that in my main diary!), and saw lots of double pushchairs and a couple of tandem ones as well. I hung around taking my time strapping Arthur in his pushchair at the end, just so I could watch the other little ones being put into their double pushchairs and to see how comfy they looked once in. I saw THREE Mamas and Papas Twin Arias, all containing two children of different ages rather than twins, and although the seats did look a little narrow, even the 2 year olds that were bigger than Arthur and dressed in winter coats seemed okay in them. I mean, they FILLED the seats, but didn't seem uncomfy or complain about it at all. I really liked the look of them too, so I am pretty sure we WILL go for one of those. I know a side-by-side double pushchair is going to seem SO cumbersome and wide and hard to manouvre, but I will get used to it. I'm getting quite excited about it actually! The tandems there were LOVELY, but too heavy and bulky to lift in and out of the car :( Oh well. So I am going to bid on a M & P Twin Aria on eBay, choosing one local enough to go and pick it up, as the postage costs are quite high. I hope they won't get too expensive to bid on, as we really haven't got any spare money. Neil is getting a bonus this pay cheque, so we'll use it for a pushchair, and a travel safety gate and a single mattress (more on that in my other diary if I EVER get time to update it!).
I am really desperate for chocolate these days. Reeeeally desperate. Or sweet things in general. But mainly chocolate. I don't care in what form! But we have none in the house, and I never seem to have time at the moment to go shopping. Today I got so fidgetty about it that I found some bitter cooking chocolate in the cupboard and ate that! Yeurgh! But yay, chocolate! At least, that's all I could think about. Then Neil - my knight in shining armour! - came home with an ENORMOUS bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and a box of Quality Street!!!! I love my husband! :) He shouldn't have, but man oh man, I am so glad he did! :)
And he has taken my belly pic. It took forever as I wasn't happy with a million photos until we finally needed to just take one and be done with it because dinner was ready and we were so tired. So I DO have a full body shot in the gallery for 20 weeks :) And to make it even more comparable to last time, I wore the exact same outfit that I wore for Arthur's 20 week belly shot :) Facing the opposite direction though. And I do think my bump is very much the same as last time, but slightly more large/pouchy - probably the stretched-out-once-already factor! Anyway I thought it would be fun to post both photos here for easy comparison!
Here I am during my pregnancy with Arthur at 20 weeks exactly:
And here I am today, exactly 20 weeks with Sprout!
I am telling you, these two pregnancies are JUST the same! So weird. But I like it that way really. It doesn't feel so "unknown" then, as it's all just as I've already experienced it. Maybe it's a boy. There's a poll on Fertility Friend where someone has asked if an identical pregnancy to the last one tends to result in two babies of the same sex. There are a lot of people saying they had identical pregnancies and babies of opposite sexes, so I guess you never know. I will just have to wait till the scan (how many times will I say this yet?!)! It's already driving me crazy wanting to know!
Anyway, I am tired out and I think I have written the things I wanted to write, so I'll finish for now. I will update again soon! Thanks for the lovely guestbook entries and notes again! You guys are so sweet :)
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