I get a kick out of you

I always promised myself that when I was pregnant, I wouldn't end up turning this into a pregnancy blog where I talked of nothing else but the fact that I am pregnant. However, I am rather excited about it, especially as it's my first baby too and whilst I don't plan on making every post on here about the pregnancy, I figured that now and then it's okay. And so I shall proceed.

A few weeks ago I was out at dinner with a friend and as we were sitting talking afterwards, I thought I felt the baby move. I wasn't sure but I knew it was different to any other feeling that I had ever had before in my stomach. It kind of felt like a tiny little wriggle. It only lasted a few seconds and then stopped. Of course, I was willing it to happen again to prove to myself that it was actually the baby moving and that I hadn't imagined it. Over the next couple of weeks following on from that I felt those little wriggles again, happening more frequently and slowly becoming stronger. Then when I was at work last week, I felt a poke inside my stomach. It was so exciting for me as I had become used to the little wriggles but the poke was different and I loved being able to feel the baby move. I know it's in there, of course, but it's one of those added confirmations that it is actually there.

A few days ago, I didn't feel the baby move at all, or at least not that I'd noticed.  I really like feeling it and I quite miss it when I can't feel it (I know that all of you Mums out there are thinking, you just wait a few months and you won't be saying that. This may well be true, but at the moment I am enjoying it so allow me to revel in it for a while!) When we had finished dinner as I was sitting watching some TV, I felt a few little kicks. They were stronger than I had felt before. I think that maybe the baby was reacting to the dinner that I'd made, which I didn't particularly like either (anyone who knows me knows that cooking isn't my strong point. But I can make an amazing white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake, even if I do say so myself!). I put my hand on my stomach, wondering if it was strong enough for me to actually be able to feel it and I waited for the next kick. I was so happy when I actually felt it through my hand! I wasn't quite sure if I had actually properly felt it though, as it's difficult when you feel it inside of you to know if you actually did feel it outside too, or if you were just imagining it. Has anyone else had that too? I called Seth in from the spare room to get him to feel it, but the baby had performance anxiety and he/ she stopped playing.

Later on that night as I was laying in bed, I felt the baby start kicking again, so once again, I put my hand on my stomach. I definitely felt it this time and needless to say, I was quite keen for Seth to feel it too. I quickly made him put his hand where mine had been and we waited. I felt the baby kick a few seconds later but I didn't say anything to Seth because I wanted to make sure he felt it too. When he looked at me grinning and did a happy dance (I am sure he is thrilled that I just shared that but I can pretty much get away with saying anything on here as I don't think he reads it. Ever.), I knew that he had.

Whilst it may not seem like the biggest deal in the world to anyone else, for us, it was amazing and I'm looking forward to more kicks. That may well change but right now, I love it!

And here are the beginnings of a teeny tiny baby bump.There's really not that much to see yet! It looks bigger in the evenings and this was taken at 7.30am. Ignore my veiny claw hand.

Taken at 18 weeks

Saturday with my family

It's official. I am a study widow. Seth has some big exams for his work coming up in April. Being as he gets home from work somewhere between 8 and 9 most evenings, it leaves little time in the evening for him to study and of course, on Sunday he doesn't study, so this only leaves Saturday. As such, on the day that we should be able to have fun together, poor Seth is studying and I am doing whatever I find to do to occupy my time! As much as I love shopping, there's only so many times you can wander around the same shops! Laura was going to be in Norwich at the weekend anyway and when on Thursday, she suggested that I come up too, it seemed like a perfect solution as I always love spending time with my family.

On Saturday morning I got up at 6am to get ready in time to go and get my train. Even though it was -5c outside, Seth still got up and dressed so that he could walk me to the station. He's such a good husband! Mum and Laura were at the station to meet me when I got to Norwich. It wasn't that long since I last saw them but there were big hugs as always, and anyone seeing us would think that we hadn't seen each other in months! One of the other reasons for me coming up to Norwich on this particular Saturday is also because it would mean that Laura and I were both there so we, along with Lin could practise the song we will be singing for Rache's wedding. We went straight to Lin's house from the station and spent a little bit of time with Sam and Cait. They were admiring the bump that I don't have and looking at me in a way that says, "um, are you sure that you are actually pregnant?!" (on a side note, over the last couple of days, a small bump seems to have appeared! Although still not enough for people to notice, they would probably just think I have a bit of a tummy!). We then practised the song. A lot. Or as Lins said, "They came, they saw, we sang, we sang some more, we sang still more, we repeated, I was a rubbish page turner as usual, but the song is well and truly practised. Then they left!". I like her summary of it. There are photos of us practising, but not on my camera - I forgot mine as I was getting ready that morning! 

When Lin, Lau and I practise songs for anything, it pretty much follows the same routine - us attempting to sing, us laughing a lot at I don't even know what, switching harmonies around A LOT because no one is quite sure exactly what they are meant to be singing. The usual drill. The worst is when we think of something particularly funny when we sing at a certain point in a song, and then from that point onwards, every time we sing that song, we always laugh and when it comes to performing it, we have to struggle not to laugh. Or sometimes we have indeed been known to just laugh, mid song. We're very professional like that. By the time we had finished practising though I don't think it sounded too bad. Hopefully we will have another opportunity to practise before the wedding! Then there's the page turning. I made Lin do it this time while Laura played the piano. Laura always tells us to turn the page when she nods. It doesn't sound that difficult, does it? She nods, we turn the page. All very well unless you keep time with your head. So Laura is constantly nodding throughout the song while we are left guessing as to which particular head nod corresponds to us needing to turn the page. Hence me leaving the page turning to Lin on this occasion! 


In the afternoon, we went to see Deb for a little while. It was lovely doing the rounds and getting to see the family, I always love spending time with them and getting all of the news! She is knitting a shawl for our baby and it looks lovely! When I see things like that, it kind of reminds me that I am actually having a baby. She also flicked through the Next catalogue looking at baby things. Deb is a huge fan of Next :) 


Mum, Lau and I went back home (to Mum's) afterwards and we hung out there for a little while. Lau and I had a dance party in our old bedroom, just as we always used to when we both lived at home. Ah, the memories! Then Laura took me to the station and I headed back home. 


Although I miss being able to spend time with Seth on Saturdays, this last Saturday was definitely a good one for me. I love spending time with my family and any opportunity I get to do that is always a bonus!

Trying to keep up

Seth and I were getting ready for work a couple of mornings ago and as usual, we were rushing. We aim to leave the house at 7.45am so that we can walk to the station together, in time for Seth to get his train at 7.55am and for me to get mine at 8.04am. However, it seems to be that getting up in the morning is getting harder and harder. The past couple of mornings the alarm has gone off at 6am and I have turned it off then rolled over and cuddled up to Seth for the next little while. That results in me rushing like crazy when I do actually get up! Seth gets up later than me anyway, but he too managed to get up slightly later than usual so at least I wasn't the only one rushing. When I try to be quick though, things tend to go wrong. Mornings when I'm running late are always the mornings that my hair looks bad regardless of what I try to do to it, etc. Such was my morning. The hair wasn't going right, the make up wasn't going right, luckily I actually managed to get myself dressed so it wasn't a complete disaster.

7.50am. We had prayed together and left the house. The train station is about a 10 minute walk from our house, so when we're on time we have a nice walk there together. Our walk that morning was still nice but think of one thing for a minute - how many of you have seen a little child trying to keep up with a parent who is walking briskly? You can tell that the parent is in a hurry to get somewhere and they are holding onto the child's hand, but of course, the child is a lot shorter than said parent, so they run every few steps to try and keep up with the parent, then they'll walk a little way when the child realises that they're level, then as the gap widens again, they run to catch up. With Seth being 6 foot 1 and me being 5 foot 2 (and a half, but who's counting?), I am more than familiar with this situation and I am indeed very much like that child. Given that I am an (sadly fully grown) adult, I often laugh at myself as I realise I am running every few steps to try and keep up with Seth, not only because I find it amusing but it must be quite an amusing sight for anyone else who sees us. Whenever it happens, I always have sympathy for children everywhere who are trying to keep up with their rushing parents. But, to have those extra 10 minutes of conversation and being together every morning, even when we're running late, it's worth it.

Follow up to the bump band saga

Just in case you were wondering, I have been making full use of my bump bands. That might be a little dishonest being as though I hadn't paid for them yet but I couldn't get to the shop any sooner than I went and we all know the fun that I had trying to pay for them over the phone!

I had the day off work yesterday as I had a midwife's appointment. It was scheduled for 1pm and being as though I don't work anywhere near where my surgery is, it was just easier to take it as a day's holiday rather than go into work for an hour or two, come home to go to the doctors and then go back! (By the way, all went well at the appointment - I heard the baby's heartbeat which was very exciting and I found out I had low blood pressure and that's why I get quite dizzy, which wasn't quite so exciting). So after my appointment, I went into town and went to the shop to pay for the bump bands. When I went to the check out and explained the situation to the girl there, she was lovely. She couldn't believe A. The incompetence of the people when I phoned them and B. that I had actually come in to pay for them. She thought it was amazing and said that she was going to tell everyone about it. I'm famous, ha ha! I told her that I couldn't not pay for it as I would have just felt awful. She then asked me if I was religious and when I said I was, she said that she had gone to a Catholic school and when you know what's right and what's wrong, it makes it very difficult not to do the right thing. It's quite pathetic just how good I felt for going to pay for them. Well, not good, just relieved that I had done it and sorted it all out. So now I can wear my bump bands which I rightly own! I would post a picture of me wearing them because I like blog posts with pictures, but I'm not going to because who actually wants to see a picture of me wearing something when it's purpose is to hide the fact that I can't do my trousers up? Quite.