The Belly

Week 18 and feelin' fine! We got our test results back for the maternal serum screening and to quote nurse Barb, "everything is perfect". We're still having our bi-weekly doppler shows. We thought that the sessions would get shorter now that we've become more accustomed with locating the heart beat, but lately we've been finding mine first and then the baby's will kick in and harmonize. We'll hear both together and then we'll get a quick baby beat solo. It is one of the most amazing sounds ever! I haven't been feeling any real baby movement yet. I get a flutter every now and then but nothing really pronounced, like a good kick! Soon, I'm sure.

I was having a bit of a time with the whole pregnant body image thing. When people would say, "wow, you're really starting to show", I'd hear - "jeeze you're getting fat". And if they'd say "you're not really showing yet", I'd hear - "are you sure that you're pregnant?" Perhaps I was experiencing some sort of the-grass-is-always-greener kinda syndrome. Or something similar. Like, if you have curly hair, you want it to be straight. I am a woman after all! And a pregnant one to boot!

Here's an example of the kinda crap I get to hear. At work, we we're all placing an order for lunch. I choose the small chicken noodle. Buddy* next to me says something like, "you better order the small. you're really starting to pack it on". I say, "I must really get you that list of things NOT to say to a pregnant woman**. As a matter of fact, Bill* has it right now. Maybe you can get it from him". Bill would be the guy who growls "prrrreggggo" every time I walk by. Buddy got the hint and a few minutes later he came around to apologize. Whatever. And then there's the waiter at the local pub, "wow, you sure are gaining weight fast!" "Well, I am almost at 18 weeks now." "Really? Didn't you tell me that you were at 12 weeks?" "uh, ya...that was about 6 weeks ago." Duh!

Please don't get me wrong. I'm more than proud of my ever expanding belly. Just ask Jay! I'm dancing around holding my bump and telling him to look at it and talk to it and sing to it and touch it. There's someone growing inside, isn't that just freaky!!!?

I've always thought that photos of pregnant bellies were kinda , well, strange. I will admit to having perused sites where women post their preggo bumps. I HAD to compare. And it looks as though I measure up! But recently I've actually had some requests from people wanting to see what it looks like, so here you go...

18 weeks

* names have been changed to protect the stoopid.

**why do we say pregnant "woman"? is there such a thing as a pregnant man? or are people just afraid that others might think that they're referring to the pregnant cat or dog or cow or sheep? In Spanish there's just one word for it - embarazada. Which, of course, can be easily confused with avergonzado (embarrassed). So it would be an easy mistake for a person learning Spanish to make: "Pablo esta embarazado". Paul is pregnant!? How embarrassing!