Compartment 14B

Not literally Labour Day, ballons, jugs, TMI? and, at last MOVEMENT! 2005-09-05 - 11:21 a.m. Ah Labour day. A three-day weekend and it�s sunny and gorgeous outside. What, you may ask, am I doing inside if it�s so nice out? Well, I feel obligated to do some cleaning up this morning, including actually packing away a lot of the clothes I tried on that wouldn�t fit anymore. Naturally, this means I�m procrastinating, so here I am writing. Guess what drifted on by yesterday? This picture was taken very hastily from my balcony. Why hastily? Look what�s going on in the corner of the balcony� Any advice on getting rid of hornets? Anyone? ------------------------------------------- At 17 � weeks I�m starting to see some more changes and anticipate the 20-week, half-way there mark. For one thing, I think my belly-button is getting shallower! If this were winter or if I shunned the sun I wouldn�t notice, but I�m seeing a tan line inside my navel. I have a very deep belly button and had never been able to imagine it becoming an �outie� in pregnancy, but I�m seeing a narrow crease of whiteness at the bottom which contrasts with my stomach�s a light beige colour. My boobs have finally started getting bigger. It�s subtle when I�m nekkid, but more obvious when I try to wear one of my normal, button-up office shirts. The buttons are starting to pull across the front and before I leave for the day in any particular shirt I have to evaluate whether gaps in the chest area have rendered it unsuitably peekaboo for the office. I think that the veins in my boobs are also getting more noticeable, but since I neglected to take topless �before� pictures of myself for comparison I can�t swear that it�s not just because I�m expecting it and am therefore looking for it. Speaking of boobs (and really, am I not always?), I read in one of the many �pregnancy week-by-week� places that I may, at 17 weeks, be able to express small amounts of colostrum by now. Well I tried it and guess what, it worked! At first I was like, �Wow! Cool! Look what I can do!� Suddenly my breasts have meaning and aren�t just a mild annoyance that have to be hoisted into a sling every day. I am woman; hear me roar. It did wonders for my confidence in my future ability to breastfeed�. Then it kept working. And kept working. And for 10 minutes I oozed just a tiny little bit, and I was afraid I�d turned on a tap that wouldn�t turn off. I imagined slowly leaking for the next 23 weeks, having to wear those little breast maxi-pads before I�ve even given birth, and I cursed my curiosity. Fortunately it did stop but since then there have been a couple of times when I�ve distinctly felt a slight dampness. I still think it�s cool though. Now for the big news� I think I�m feeling Grommet move! I�ve read a ton of literature that says things like, �every woman will describe it differently, but here are some more common descriptions�� Well I don�t think it feels squirmy or like bubbles popping. I feel no resemblance to butterflies, and it�s only like fish wriggling around if you�ve spent hours minnow fishing as a child (which I did) and have put your arm into the bucket and had a lot of them bump straight into you. For me it does bear a passing resemblance to gas but really, it just feels like soft, fast pokes from the inside. I guess I�m saying that I was expecting a side-to-side feeling from all the descriptions, but really, I feel it more as a poking outward sensation. Perhaps a light, a-rhythmic drumming. In the few days I�ve been feeling this, I�ve noticed that most times it�s been after I�ve had something to eat and them have laid down, i.e. I give the wee one some sugar and then am still enough to notice what�s going on. I�m still reading on my stomach, courtesy of a pillow or two just above and maybe below my belly to take pressure off; that�s when I really feel it. Lying on my back is almost as good. I know I�m not supposed to spend a lot of time on my back but it�s still early enough and the Grom is still small enough that I don�t think it�s a big deal � my body will let me know when and if it�s a bad idea since the reason you�re supposed to avoid it is that it can restrict blood flow and make you feel sick. My reasoning is: not feeling sick? I can keep doing it for now. So, yeah, lots going on. I think we�re scheduling our next ultrasound for between 20 and 22 weeks so in only 2 � 4 weeks I�ll have more to share for sure. I may even have my own cute-skeleton pictures to post. Before - After All content � Shawna 2003-2010 That means no swiping my stuff - text, images, etc. - without asking. P.S. If you're emailing me, replace the [at] with @ in the "to" line. Oh, and if you put the word "journal" in the subject line it'll have a better chance of making it past my junk mail filters. recommend me HTML and design help by Jo hosted by Diaryland