Steamed Puddings

And, because I must, here is my update on 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Thanks to everyone for your comments on my “coming out” post from (egads) four weeks ago. We did hear the heartbeat at the first visit with my midwife, and later that week at the nuchal scan. So far everything is going just fine. We are counting down to the anatomy scan in another four weeks, where we will get to find out the baby’s sex if we so desire. Be warned that we might not tell you even if we do find out.

I’m doing very well. I still haven’t been sick, and I have more energy now than I did a few weeks ago. I think my sister-in-law may be envious as she had two very difficult pregnancies where she was ill from start to finish. I have had a few blood tests, and my risks for complications or genetic problems are quite low. Basically we are just living life as usual around here. I still fit in all of my clothes for the moment, though new pants will be on the horizon within the next month. I’m not sure whether it’s the (very small) bump or my recent attitude of “I can eat as much chocolate as I want because I’m pregnant” which is responsible.

Yes, there is a bump. I have always been pudgy around the lower abdomen, so it will be months before the bump is distinguishable to outsiders as something other than a series of poor food choices. Kiwiman says he can tell - but he gets to see the bump in its most uncovered state, so that’s almost cheating.

We’re in the midst of planning a “babymoon”, our last holiday as a couple before this THING starts overthrowing our life plans. We have lots of frequent flyer miles to use, so we might jet away for a week sometime in the next couple of months. I shall not say more at this time, except that it has been damn cold here in the last few weeks, and we’ll certainly be going somewhere warmer.

Speaking of overthrowing plans, we’ve used the bedroom repurposing project (a.k.a. baby) as an excuse to divest ourselves of years of accumulated crap. Val will be organizing a garage sale in the next few months, maybe when the weather is warmer. It’ll be great fun. We can nearly see the floor in the baby’s room. We’ll fill the room very slowly as I feel like it’s too early to buy a lot of furniture.

I’ve tried to be less paranoid about food now that the second trimester has started. I had soft cheese and smoked salmon a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t get sick at all. The majority of the baby’s sensitive development is done. I’m not worried about eating so-called “risky” foods when they come from reputable stores and are freshly bought. I am still steering away from dodgy leftovers and deli meats. Oh, and alcohol.

For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to recreate the Shirley Temple mocktails of my youth. I used to get them when I went out with my parents for fancy dinners. Our grenadine isn’t quite right (it’s grenadine “flavored” syrup), and I’m never sure whether to use orange juice or not - some recipes include it and some omit it. The ginger ale here has a much stronger flavor than the Canada Dry in the US, so I’ve been making STs with lemonade (a.k.a. Sprite), but then they’re too sweet. Maybe Dr. Brazen Hussy can offer some virgin cocktail suggestions to keep me hydrated. Can I make a non-alcoholic martini somehow?

We’ve turned a corner from thinking about pregnancy to wondering what we’ll do with this helpless, crying, pooing thing once it comes out. Today I bought a book for first-time parents which is filled with pictures! Other books looked perhaps more informative, but I don’t think you can beat pictures for ease of understanding. A picture really is worth a thousand words, and I think a sleep-deprived parent is only capable of reading about twenty at a time. We’ll gravitate back towards pregnancy thoughts when the bump is bigger and I become more agitated about the thought of pushing a watermelon out of my nose.

I’ll leave you with that happy thought.