Is It Chocolate?

So, Wimbledon is upon us and Iona isn’t very impressed with my preferred viewing … that said she is currently bopping along to Madness, which on TV from Glastonbury.  Very sweet!

My bump is expanding (now 18wks and 3 days), quicker than last time I think and its quite uncomfortable – quite a lot of pulling across the lower abdominal area.  Ho hum.  And I get totally bloated after eating small amounts – yesterday an apple (!) left me feeling distended and bloated for about 4 hrs which was completely bonkers and uncalled for.   Today, I drank a coffee and had half a pot of fruit salad and felt totally stuffed. How I am meant to eat enough for me and a baby when I find eating so difficult.  OK, I know that I am not meant to eat for 2, but I am not exactly a very big person, so do need to make sure that I get enough calories, but not really unhealthy ones.  Its difficult.

And I have just moved into my maternity jeans – a couple of weeks earlier than last time but then again bumps are usually bigger second time around as the abs know exactly what is expected and are probably weaker than first time around!

And its hot, hot, hot….. I am certainly not complaining about the gorgeous weather, although it makes working out a bit of an issue as I am not meant to get too hot.   Sleeping at night isn’t that easy either as the house is a bit hot – cooler than if we were in London, so I guess that’s something.  But it is more than lovely to see the sun, not have to worry about coats and so on.  Just sun screen!

Potty training ….. Oh! What a different experience from when we tried last year – Iona is cooperative, clearly relishing the idea of wearing big girl pants and keeping them clean and dry and last week she even managed to do a poo whilst at creche – huge progress from a little girl who until very recently was scared of such bodily functions!    Shame that she is being a bit of a toddler and madam at times!  Still we can’t have it all now can we?

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OK, I have faffed around for long enough.  Time to tell the world.

I am, happily, proudly (if bump free!) pregnant!   

Scan was on 14th May and all looks good.  It was a big relief as I have two friends going through the hell of testing for Down’s syndrome so I feel especially lucky: not only did the clomid worked, but it seems that all is (so far) going well and healthily.

Right, time to go public on facebook and friends on email who live in the dark ages AKA don’t do facebook!

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Today saw us head to High Wycombe for our 12 wk scan.  I had been concerned that, since I find it hard to drink sufficient fluids and our scan was at 10am, I might not have a sufficiently full bladder for them to do the scan, but it seems a full bladder and what I would consider to be a full bladder differ somewhat!  We had thought we were 11wks and 5days pregnant, but it turns out that according to their expert eyes I am actually 12wks today!  Oh well, what do I know, I was just using the methodology I was taught (first day of last period being the date from when they start to track pregnancy, which means that for the first 2-3 wks of pregnancy you aren’t actually pregnant at all!) – I bow to their expertise.  So we got to see our little one on the big screen, heart beating healthily, baby is growing as it should and the nuchal transparency was suitably thin to put me at a low risk of having a down’s syndrome baby, which is good news, felt acutely since a friend has just had a less than optimistic nuchal transparency result.  We tried to get Iona to watch the screen so she too could see the baby, but she just wanted a biscuit and to watch “Thomas the tank engine” and so the poignant moment when Iona first saw her sibling / rival was lost.  

It is such a relief to have had the scan and to have been told that all is going well. We have the photos to prove it too. £4 for them but worth every penny.   OK some might say it looks like a met office weather image, but to me its my baby.  It even waved at us, having been decidedly loath to move much at the start of the scan. 

This weekend we go public and tell family and then friends…….. exciting stuff.

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And ouch again. I have damaged my ribs: either the ribs themselves, a ligment or intercostal muscle. Either way it hurts.  I think I did it when putting Iona’s socks on when she was in her car seat and I was leaning round from the front seat (why couldn’t she just put her socks on at home like a normal child???), anyway, however it happened, it did happen.  Of course having a cold (or is it swine flu?) as well means that coughing and blowing my nose have become rather painful operations.   It was getting better, then I went swimming yesterday and I am sure I heard something go pop or crunch and its now worse again.  I managed to struggle through a short run at the gym but some of my weights program had to go to the wall – rather embarrassing when a 2kg weight makes you wince don’t you think?   On the plus side the gym has finally got a BOSU (both sides up – its kinda like a hemisphere with a rigid flat side and an air filled dome – you can use it either side up – hence the name – and its really good for core stability) so I had a play on that, doing some lunges and squats.

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Whoever named it morning sickness was incredibly lucky, incredibly optimistic or, more likely, male.  Today is in fact the first day in almost a fortnight on which I have not spent some time over the sink or a bowl gagging and retching.  That’s not to say that I feel on top of the world – the nagging nausea is still there, its just not following through at the moment.   Still, its a sign that my hormone levels are high and that is a good thing as it helps sustain the pregnancy.

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Today Iona was introduced to ice-cream.  She has gone on about it in the past having seen people eat it on TV, seen people on the streets and of course she knows I buy ice cream, but when she had tried it before she complained it was too cold. Today as a reward for being so good when we were stuck in the car, which was being temperamental, I promised her ice cream as it was very hot in the car.  She wasn’t going to let me forget it and she chose some Pooh Disney ones and proceeded to demolish it in the car on the way back from Waitrose.  Very sweet.

So, the car?   Therein lies a story.  I put Iona in the car and she started to play with the autolock thing on the keys, once safely in the car, I took the keys and went to start the car.  There was an unhealthy spluttering, then nothing.  I called D who gave me the number for our Private banking perk of RAC membership and I called them – only to be told that I, and my car, am not covered by the policy even though we are married, because the bank account is not a joint one.  1) no one told us that when we took out the private banking thing, with all its perks and 2) if spouses aren’t covered in such instances, how come I am liable for D’s debt repayment if he doesn’t meet the repayments.  Somehow it doesn’t add up.  The bank takes takes takes and gives nada.   Arseholes.   There was some choice language, including the priceless “fucking keys” from Iona… little did she or I realise how close to the mark she was!  Conversations with D, Nick (my bro) and RAC followed and they were dispatched on their merry way to rescue me. It was baking in the car, so I went to get Iona out and noticed her door was locked.  Now, my car has a weird immobiliser whereby if you unlock the car but don’t start the engine within 60secs then the car won’t start – you have to relock it and then unlock it again.  Odd I know.  Anyway, I returned to the driver’s seat, unlocked, relocked and then unlocked the car again and tried the ignition…… BINGO!  Fucking keys  indeed.  Quick round of phone calls to D and then to the lovely RAC before we head off on our merry ice-cream-buying way.  Glad to be home now and I am off to sit in my sunny garden with a cool drink of sparkly water.   Ice and lemon? Don’t mind if I do!

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Despite the wisdom of experience, I am sure the sickness I am suffering this time is worse than before.   Maybe time has just dulled my memories, but this time I have already missed a workout, and that certainly didn’t happen last time – maybe I was just more dedicated last time?  Also I wasn’t so damned tired last time around, despite getting up earlier and having a full time job, rather than being able to slump on the sofa if fatigue takes over. Could that be the problem? Could the fact that I can be the reason why I am seeming so tired?  Last Friday my workout was shocking. I just completed my run, but was nearly sick at the end and my pulse went too high and I had to rest during my weights circuit because I just didn’t have it in me. I got home and collapsed on the sofa, and barely moved over the whole of Easter weekend.  Suffice to say I am looking forward, eagerly to the conclusion of the first trimester!

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I have gone off chocolate.  Not totally, just  mostly.  Not a good thing.

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My Aunt remarried yesterday. Different man, different style of wedding.  She married my uncle, the father of her kids (who later cheated on her when she had breast cancer, and he cheated with the mother of one of his daughter’s class mates but that is another story) in a garden in Mexico. Hey, it was the 70’s. Thus her family wasn’t present. This was a very different affair: the assembled masses included friends and extended family. Juraj, her new husband is Czech and so there were many representatives from eastern europe too.  Juraj, a doctor, was in London when Prague spring started: he never returned home (except to visit after the collapse of communism). He and Auntie Mary met at a concert and have been together for … a decade already, or thereabouts.  Yesterday they wed, in front of their nearest and dearest at a beautiful Wren church in the city: St Stephen Walbrook and the reception was at Coq d’Argent, with drinks on the roof terrace. Nice!  It was a gorgeous, warm spring day, the church was filled with light and the terrace was perfect – it would also have been a great vantage point from which to watch the G20 riots!  Needless to say, Iona and her young cousins, Charles and Alexander (oh when will they be allowed to be kids and be known as Charlie and Alex…..?) failed to be quiet during the quiet bits during the ceremony, or during the readings, but all their chatter was good natured and tantrums were avoided.  It was lovely to see Auntie Mary and Juraj finally tie the knot and it was also great to catch up with siblings, nephews and cousins.  

I also saw my old landlady from my days living in lovely Fulham: her neice was my flatmate and I learned that she is now a matron in Devon, expecting twins in 2 weeks! Yikes!  Funny how things change.

Iona looked lovely at the wedding (I will post photos), but boy did we have a problem getting her in to her outfit: she usually wears trousers (but not jeans, oh no, she won’t wear jeans) and trainers, but yesterday it was dress, pretty tights and her brand new shiny shiny shoes, which she chose.  Firstly the dress was refused and I had to man-handle her into it, then the tights were rejected – again I struggled with her and then she decided she wanted to wear her trainers….. I almost gave in. She had  a major strop for the first half of the journey but, thank God, she recovered her humour before we arrived.  Not sure I could have coped with the humiliation of having a bratty baby!

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Phili has guessed that I am up the duff after I posted that I am “tentatively excited” on facebook. I hope I have put her off the scent of truth!  But she has also confided that she is pregnant herself – due 2 days after us, on 30th November.

Other news is that I have spoken to the midwife, and she’s going to make an appt for me for the first week in May!  Apparently our local maternity unit, High Wycombe, is due to close sometime this year, which means we will be dispatched to either Wexham Park in Slough (Ugh – that’s even worse than Wycombe) or Stoke Mandeville!  Can’t we just have our baby in London like last time.  I believe we are meant to be able to choose, but the midwife is scarey and I don’t know if I am brave enough to suggest London for this one……

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