older

profile

guestbook

notes

diaryland

bumpwatch

Monday 24th – Sunday 20th October 2005

Monday:
There is nothing like starting a day without worrying if you’re gonna end up spreadeagled in bed groaning by the end of it. No wait, that sounds very wrong indeed. What I mean is that it’s lovely to start a day without having to fret about whether illness will strike you down before you get to lunchtime. Even in the dark early hours of a rainy Monday morning I was the happiest commuter of them all. I must have looked like a maniac I was so pleased with myself, I was practically grinning at everyone: people on the tube, the bloke that sold me my ticket, the guy I bought my chocolate bar from (what do you mean 7.45am is too early for chocolate?)

I got through the whole day, including a lunchtime trip to the post-office, the library AND the chocolate shop (what?) without any tummy problems at all. This is a BIG thing for me. This is HUGE. This is the elusive normality I crave. I was practically skipping on my way home.

I am now in Week 18 and I am feeling similar to how I did a few weeks ago - I feel a bit “in-between” – pregnant but not really looking it, not in the early stages but not very far along either.

Tuesday:
“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple”

Does anybody know that Jenny Joseph poem? It’s about getting old and getting to be less responsible and being able to do the reckless things you can’t do when you’re busy being a grown-up and setting a good example in the world.

That’s how I felt today. When I am not ill I shall wear red. Today I wore my new softer than soft knitted red bolero cardigan that my mum bought me on Saturday. I felt like a besquillion quid. And once again I was the happiest commuter in the world at 7.30am on the central line into the city.

I had a slight episode just before my afternoon meeting in Stockwell which was worrying and unpleasant and painful, but I refused to believe it was a return of the full-on symptoms of the past few weeks. And the rest of the day went well.

Actually, during my meeting in the afternoon I felt a bit uncomfortable and it took me ages to work out why – my jeans, which were fine all morning, suddenly felt a bit…tight. And when I looked down I actually caught sight of my belly and thought “Ooh, bump…” I think I might actually have started to grow.

Wednesday and Thursday:
I can’t get that tune from the Sheila’s Wheels advert out of my head. I can’t remember my own name most days, I tried to microwave an oven-tray on Wednesday, I am constantly walking into furniture and tripping over paving slabs, I make myself tea and then completely forget to drink it, but that bloody jingle remains firmly lodged in my head.

Hubby and I went to bed stupidly early on both days, we are just so knackered this week. We’ve been up early and working hard. Plus the stress of just too much thinking is wearing us down. We’ve taken to cuddling up early and watching TV until we fall asleep, I am usually out by 9.30pm, Hubby not long after. With all this beauty sleep and being well into my second trimester my skin should be radiantly glowing. Nope. Spots spots spots, bags under the eyes, the lot. I can’t work out if it’s pregnancy hormones or steroids.

I’ve started to pay more attention to my diet, ensuring I get the required five portions of fruit and veg a day as well as enough iron, protein and calcium. I am convinced that a good diet will help me live with these strong drugs and help the baby too.

Friday:
I woke up intensely irritated. I had been plagued by odd dreams all night where I would give birth but nobody cared or got excited and there didn’t seem to actually be any baby to show for the labour. My stomach was particularly bad and I was back and forward to the bathroom for an hour, which left me tired and drained. Then, as I was forcing myself out of the door to go to work, I discovered a pile of damp washing dumped by the tumble dryer, the living room phone shoved in the baby bath on the spare room bed and the rubbish bag not taken out for the third day running. All products of Hubby. He’s usually really good around the house but this week he’s been terrible. He’s had a suit lying in a heap on the hallway floor for a week, waiting to be taken to be dry cleaned, there’s a constant stream of footwear lying about the hallway and his football bag seems to have taken up residence in the spare room, placed for optimum tripping-up opportunity. Still, he’s still the best hubby in the universe and he looks after me so well.

It’s safe to say that I am most definitely ready for Week Eighteen to come to an end.

Saturday:
We spent the day in a cleaning frenzy to prepare the flat for a house-full of friends for a Halloween get together in the evening. Hubby carved a brilliant pumpkin (picture in Bumpwatch) which, as every year, looked more cheerful than frightening! Everyone had a good time it would seem, we ate loads and chatted and had a good laugh toasting marshmallows in candle flames.

Sunday:
An extra hour in bed with Valeie the Maternity Pillow!! Blissful! Then a leisurely morning on the sofa watching X-Factor and drinking tea whilst Hubby ran around Hackney Marshes in the cold playing for his Sunday League footie team. Lovely.
When Hubby got back from footie we headed to Hobbycraft (a truly wonderful experience! Like heaven on Earth..!) and then to Primark and Boots to do some Christmas shopping, we did well and I am pleased that we are organized in advance.

My dad called me all excited about us going to visit him at the end of the month. He’s going to take us to buy a car-seat for our little Micra and I think he’s looking forward to it. He also said that if we ever needed money all we needed to do was ask and that he was planning to give us a lump sum when the baby was born. It made me realize that we may have bills, we have debts, we don’t earn vast amounts and London living is extortionate, but we have an extremely strong support network behind us and we are not alone. This baby is coming into the best and most loving family there is, our family. And I am part of that family, and that makes me feel on top of the world. Bring on Week Nineteen…

last five:
Five Months Old - Friday 1st September 2006
10 Weeks and 3 Days Old - 2006-06-12
Lillia Charlotte arrives - 31st March 2006
Week 39-Monday-Wednesday - Monday 20th March-Wednesday 22nd March 2006
Week 38 - Wednesday-Sunday - Wednesday 15th March-Sunday 19th March 2006

| * * | bumpsadaisy 2005 | * * |

www.bumpsadaisy.diaryland.com