Journal
Sign guestbook
Arthur's Mummy's Diary
Matthew's Belly Gallery
Nathan's Belly Gallery
Benjamin's Belly Gallery
My Fertility Friend Chart
2007-09-22 - 10.20pm��previous entry��next entry
19 weeks, 6 days - halfway there!!!
Thanks Jemma for the reassurance about funny feelings after scans! :) It does make sense, thank you! I don't know why my guestbook is causing trouble - is it the same for lots of people? Not that you can tell me if it is! ;) But hmmm. I've only had the odd couple of messages lately, maybe something's up with the guestbook? I will have to try and find out what.
Just a couple of things today really. Tomorrow I will be 20 WEEKS pregnant!!!! How exciting! I can't believe I'll be in the 20's already as far as weeks go, and that I'm halfway through my pregnancy! Of course, I'm probably NOT halfway till the middle of next week, haha! I wonder when Beanlet will be born? So far nobody has arrived when they were due! I wonder whether to basically just expect the same this time too?
I am having REAL trouble with my pubic bone. It hurts so much, all the time now. I had to take painkillers today, and they didn't do much. I can't think why it's this bad, or what I might have done to aggravate it - other than the usual daily things with the little ones of course, and I can't do much about that! It hurts ever so to climb the stairs, or do anything that involves moving my leg out to the side (either one, but especially my left leg). It's the left side of my pubic bone that is more painful. It hurts more when I'm walking when I step with my left foot than with my right. I checked my diary entries here for my previous pregnancies to see when the pubic bone pain started those times, and discovered that it was much worse on the left side both times. I just have some sort of wonkiness, I suppose! I MUST get it fixed as best as it can be, after I have had the baby this time. I meant to do that last time, but I guess it slipped my mind once the pain was gone and I was all busy with little ones.
It hurts to sit, lie, walk, climb, stand - anything I do (or don't do) these days, which is frustrating. I am just sooooo hoping it won't get progressively worse from now on! I think it didn't do that in my other pregnancies. It started later with Arthur, but was AWFUL from that moment on, and with Matthew I first noticed it at 13 weeks and was all worried, naturally! But it wasn't so bad till the third trimester, and then my memory of it is that it never really got as awful as it was with Arthur. But maybe it was just the same at the very end, and I was too busy and distracted to notice as much? I don't know. Anyway, poo. I don't like pubic bone pain! It restricts me quite a bit because I can't walk ANY distance at all outside the house without pain, and at the moment it's bad enough to make me walk a bit funny to deal with it, so that's no good - especially with two little toddly people who need daily exercise and fresh air! :) Anyway. Hopefully it's extra bad right now because of something I've "done" and it will ease off as it recovers a bit.
I forgot to say last entry, but baby Beanlet had hiccups for the first time (that I've felt, anyway) one morning last week! So about 19.5 weeks this time around. I was noticing hiccups with Arthur from probably a similar stage, definitely by now anyway. With Matthew I didn't notice hiccups until quite a bit later than this, and was all worried about why I hadn't felt any yet, hehe! He didn't seem to get them much in general in any case, whereas Arthur got them like 5 times at least, every day throughout my pregnancy! He still gets hiccups easily, and Matthew not so much. So I guess Beanlet will be a hiccupy child like Arthur, if I'm feeling them already! I always LOVE the thought that hiccups happen when the fetus is practising breathing, inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid. I am so excited to have real I-can-feel-it! evidence that Beanlet is practising breathing already! Grow strong, my tiny one!! I can't wait to meet you! :)
Comparing my diaries around this stage, I'm noticing that Beanlet's movements are possibly the LEAST vigorous of all my babies. Arthur was BY FAR the most strong and constant with the kicks. He could keep up vigorous movements for a lonnnng time, even at this stage. Matthew was much quieter at this stage in comparison, though he seemed to be getting more like Arthur suddenly from around 21-22 weeks. This baby does have lots of wiggles and kicks, but they seem to me to be generally gentler, without so much strength behind them, and also not so many per "lively session", if you see what I mean. Last time round, I wondered if Matthew would be a more laid-back baby than Arthur as a result, and in lots of ways he IS, but he has always been as active as Arthur, if not more at times. Just more focused and determined with his active-ness. He works hard on motor skills, and practises them LOADS when he has figured them out. Arthur is more random with his energy and just bounces about! He is also extremely fidgetty by nature (definitely gets this from me *sigh*), whereas Matthew is not a fidgetty type of person at all (like Neil). So maybe Beanlet will not be the fidgetty type either. I hope not! Arthur's extreme fidget DOES bug me at times, even though I know it's something I do as well! It's also nicer for the actual baby to be the type of person who isn't compelled to fidget all the time, and this is calmer on the inside by nature. I wish I had a more calm interior!
I also noticed when comparing my diary entries for the other two pregnancies at this stage, that with BOTH my boys I had developed a craving for vinegraitte salad dressing by now! That was my "classic" boy craving. When I craved it like crazy with Arthur, I read online (several places, plus someone told me personally that's what it meant too) that vinegary/salty cravings are classic BOY cravings. Vinegraitte was mentioned as a craving several times and the mothers always had boys. So I actually kind of expected a boy as a result of that craving, when I was on my first pregnancy! So when he WAS a boy, and I was pregnant again, the vinegraitte craving that started at 19 weeks (the same time as with Arthur!) absolutely convinced me that I was having another boy. That and the totally identical pregnancy (except the shorter morning sickness). And the boy gender dream :) And when Jemma was expecting baby #2 and got vinegraitte cravings, I told her it was a real boy craving for me, and lo and behold, Jove was born! ;)
So now I am 20 weeks, just about, and not even a sliver of interest when I think about salad drenched in vinegraitte. Hmmm! Of course, it could all start up tomorrow. But still, hmmm....
This pregnancy IS pretty much identical to the last two though. I think I am carrying the same, showing the same amount, gaining weight the same (will try to remember to weigh myself tomorrow morning, as 20 weeks is when I weighed myself both other pregnancies), FEELING the same, etc. I have had the same morning sickness - slightly different duration to the other times, but basically the same because it fell in between when Arthur's finished and when Matthew's finished. It's the same same same.
I did want a cup of coffee the other day, and I NEVER drink coffee, ever, because I loathe the stuff. I just don't like the taste. But I DO like coffee ice-cream for some reason! But yuck, I just hate coffee. When I'm pregnant, the smell of coffee repels me at first. So it's weird of me to fancy a cup of coffee!! If I had had time that morning I think I might have even made myself a cup, but I didn't. I also REALLY fancy red wine at the moment. I'm not sure if I can call it a craving as such. But I think of it most days (any time of day too!) and think, "Mmmmm!" We don't really have it in the house, just the odd half-bottle maybe, so I'm not drinking it much. I DO drink red wine when I'm pregnant, and no I don't worry about it. I tend to avoid it during the first trimester, but I certainly indulge happily by the 3rd trimester! I only ever drink a half glass when NOT pregnant - I'm so unused to drinking alcohol that any more than half a glass of wine makes me feel funny. I hate feeling funny with alcohol, so I just make sure I never drink enough to feel that way. I like wine for the taste - it HAS to be good wine! I pretty much dislike all other alcohol - beer, spirits, etc. I love white and ros� wine too. So half a glass now and then is not something I worry about when pregnant, but I do avoid it during the first trimester, just like I avoid even the safe painkillers unless reeeally necessary then too.
I am thirsty these days and enjoying glugging down lots of water at once, after the months of not being able to tolerate even enough water to just wet my mouth! Yay! I like eating fruit, especially citrus, basically anything juicy that has been stored in the fridge so it's extra refreshing. There's nothing I'm particularly "off" at the moment, food-wise.
I have milk today, just a little bit (breast milk, that is!). Other times I seem to have none at all. I'm trying to soothe Matthew back to sleep in the first part of the night when he wakes, instead of putting him on the breast. I haven't got any milk for him so he just wants to be pacified. I don't really mind that, but at night if he doesn't get any actual nutrition from breastfeeding, I would prefer to start encouraging him to stop waking to nurse! He has slept RIGHT through the night several times now, and other nights just woken once around 4/5am. But there are still enough nights where he's waking as he used to, several times spaced out throughout his night. Often he WON'T give up without a breastfeed, he gets very cross that he isn't offered it! Sometimes I persevere and rock him and pat him, but other times I don't bother. It depends how desperate I am to get back to sleep, and how persistantly noisy he's being! I'll get more serious about it in later months.
I can't believe there are only 4.5 months till my due date! And my scan is only TEN DAYS away!!!!! Wheeeee! I can't waaaaiiit! Beanlet will reach "viability" in just 4 weeks. He/she now measures 6.5 inches from crown to rump, and 10 inches from head to heel! He/she weighs 300g (10.5oz!), that's all!! The weight will pile on later. Beanlet is perfectly formed already, just skinny! ;) Although, Arthur had actual chubby cheeks at his scan, BEFORE the baby even develops white body fat, haha! He still has those gorgeous round cheeks today :) Beanlet's tiny feet are an inch long now! With Arthur I could really believe it, but I'm amazed at that information today. I haven't really felt those little inch-paddles pushing me about much yet. I did feel what HAD to be fingers, grappling and fiddling about in random bursts the other day! The sensation was so tiny and delicate. The size of what I was feeling was kind of like the tip of my little finger split into "fingers" - that was how tiny the little ticklers felt to the inside of my abdominal wall at the time! I recognised the movements as the kind of thing that is felt when a baby is playing with its umbilical cord or grabbing at its hands or feet, or something. It did feel possible that it was grabbing and grappling in there! So sweet!
Well I can't think of anything else to say now, so I think I will have some more water to drink and start to get ready for bed. I am trying to stick to an 11pm bedtime at the moment (not always hitting my target, but always getting to bed well before midnight so far!) which is better for me.
Oh, I know something I forgot to say! I am much more "off balance" these last few days. If I lean casually against something, I find that I will start to overbalance even leaning against an object! My balance is never as secure as I think, somehow. If I squat down (not doing that much today - ouch!) then I don't seem to have much control over my centre of gravity, and before long I topple over backwards! I know it's just to do with my bump expanding on my front, and it's affecting my centre of gravity now. I need to adjust to my new shape and weight-distribution, but because it's still so new, I'm not used to it yet, so I keep overbalancing! I need to take extra care around the stairs, especially when holding one of my little ones.
I continue to feel exhausted at times, and breathless at the slightest exertion at random moments, like when talking or getting up or crossing a room! But it's okay. I haven't been too bad with that this week, or at least it has seemed more manageable. I seem to have had more of the type of energy that I can dig down and tap into, the type that lies under the usual exhaustion. It wasn't there at ALL in the first trimester, so I'm delighted to be able to draw on it now when I'm tired out! I do have more moments this week where I feel faint with sudden exhaustion, and don't know HOW I'll make it through the next minute with the boys, let alone the next several hours! But it passes. Sometimes it takes an age and I'm pretty useless lying on the sofa for half an hour or so, and other times I just get up and carry on anyway and I don't end up falling over after all (!) and the feeling passes.
Okay, that's all for now. It's only 10.20pm but I feel really tired out so I think I will call it a night. Will update again asap, and tomorrow is belly picture day so I'll try to get that special 20-week photo done where I wear the same clothes as the other two pregnancies for comparison! I'll post it tomorrow evening if I can. Otherwise Monday. I'm so excited to have made it halfway through my pregnancy already!!! :) Yay! I can't wait to meet Beanlet!!!
Recent entries.....
Babies 7 and 8! :) - 2016-01-10
Babies 6 and 7! - 2013-02-17
Baby #5 !! - 2010-04-03
Nearly 3 months postpartum! - 2009-10-05
6 weeks old already! - 2009-08-25