I know it has been ages since I wrote. I have been very busy at work and quite exhausted. It also has not helped that I have been having the same pregnancy conversation about five times a day so by the time I get to writing about pregnancy I have, unfortunately, lost interest. Off course the hand difference situation doesn't help.
So what to say? Well travelling to work has been a nightmare as the company that run the direct train between my local station and my work one have been in long running disputes with their drivers that started in October. The negotiations do not appear to be coming to an end at any time soon so I am now forced to travel across London to Victoria then down to surrey from there. Unfortunately the increased complication has come just as the weather has turned! It’s been snowing for about three weeks no and travelling to work on some days has become a nightmare with delayed and cancelled trains and a lot of waiting around. I am currently looking forward to going on maternity leave.
My pregnancy continues to be relatively uneventful though the hospital continues to cause me no end of stress with the insensitivity of the staff. I continue to contemplate changing hospitals as no matter how much I try to make them understand that I am a person the majority of the staff continue to behave as though my husband and I are lab rats. It appears that this is the new face of professionalism. What I find most unnerving is the glee in their voices if there is any hint of anything being wrong with LD. It is disturbing and the only reason that I haven’t changed yet is I like the midwives – they are not fussy, but are sensitive and impartial. A good balance for me – if I never step foot in the Foetal Medicine Unit again it will be too soon for me.
The community midwife I see and my local doctors’ surgery are wonderful despite the fact that I don’t often see the same doctor. They have been very supportive and don’t roll their eyes when I behave in a neurotic manner. And, just to annoy my American friends, this service is part of the National Health Service so whenever I am worried, I just book an appointment and they listen to my baby’s heart beat, check my blood pressure, weigh me and measure my belly (I was worried there wasn’t enough room for LD, apparently there is). And to further Annoy my American friends I found out on Friday that I get £190 just for being 25 weeks pregnant! That could get the cot I was eyeing. I am also now entitled to free prescriptions and free dental care until the baby is 12 months old – It is times like these that I am happy to have been paying my taxes!
I have grown and am now showing, though my bump is not that big (two weeks ago my little sister said I looked bloated! Thanks)– it isn’t very much use on the train or tube! I can definitely feel the baby move. It’s not gas! LD has a daily pattern which, unfortunately for me, starts at 4am and means I am head butted for a few minutes to get my attention before the baby goes back to sleep. Strange but true. I can feel the baby move around a little every hour. Needless to say, like most other pregnant women I get quite neurotic if I don’t feel the baby move for a little while but apparently sometimes it moves and I can not feel it. I can however feel the daily pirouette that occurs between 3:30 and 4pm and has me rushing into the loo.
I have told my office I am pregnant and they have been surprisingly supportive (we have a lot of women with children in the office) though it has resulted in the aforementioned situation where I have to have the same conversation over and over again.
I have never actually been around to see another person’s pregnancy up close and personal. I find their interest fascinating as I have never been that interested in other people’s pregnancies for some reason, but then again I still haven’t been to a wedding other than my own yet! Come to think of it, I haven’t even really been around other people’s babies – I find them slightly boring! I know a pregnant person probably shouldn’t be saying that but most babies just eat, cry and sleep – they don’t really do anything at all interesting to anyone other than their parents, grand parents and other such relatives. So all of this pregnancy stuff is new to me and quite unnerving and all the attention a little irritating though a lot of the time if the baby is not kicking I forget I am pregnant.
I am not getting bump envy the way I used to when I wasn’t showing at all – quite relieved that my bump isn’t that big – not sure I could cope with being the size of a house given that I hit myself in the side with a door yesterday having misjudged the size of my stomach! This off course led to more neurosis about the well being of the baby. I didn’t hit myself hard and LD appears to be fine – though there was no 4am head butting today. I am getting quite a few aches and pains mainly my sides and round the front where the bump is growing and my hip joints – this is apparently all normal and probably due to my ickleness – midwife has recommended physio but she suspects there won’t be much they can do. Hopefully should be better once the weather warms up, as it is currently not that much fun walking around in the snow. I do, however, get to groan like an old lady and alarm people in my office and on the train, which is fun.
So we have 14 weeks or so to go…will try to be better at keeping you posted.
