Pregnancy week 13

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The last entry was at week 9, so you may be wondering what has happened to the last few weeks…or maybe not! A couple of things happened: my hosting site had server problems and my site was down for a few days, which knocked my confidence and to top that off I had been feeling extremely tired and was struggling to keep up with the essentials in my life, like taking care of the kids and maintaining some order in our household…Let alone write, edit and post. Sorry if you were coming back regularly to read these updates!

So… what’s with Sticky Bean?

The scan

We had our dating scan on the 23rd of November (almost 2 weeks ago). Sticky Bean then measured 6.5cm, so they revised the due date by just over a week. …We know the earliest conception date, so unless this pregnancy is result of a miraculous and immaculate conception I am sticking to my guns and we are at week 13 not 14+, as the professionals wish to believe.

It was rather funny, as the sonographer was quite adamant that their method was precise and we must have our dates wrong…till Oh-so-supportive-Daddy said,” well those dates aren’t really possible, as I wasn’t even in the country”. Suddenly there was a moment of deadly silence in the room and the sonographer backed off, apologised and said she had to revise the dates in line with her data. I have since been teasing Oh-so-lovely-Daddy with the milkman and the postman…it’s easy, as we are both scientifically minded and know our dates, there is not a shadow of doubt in either of our minds that we have it right!

The 12 week scan is also the nuchal fold scan- where the sonographer measures the thickness of the skin at the back of the neck of the foetus. This is quite tricky, as the foetus has to be lying on their back and relatively still (ha, fat chance!!!), then still the sonographer has to dig deep into your stomach to get the correct angle to capture the right image. One should have a relatively full bladder for the scan, which is an absolute torture for this part of the scan. The only consolation: You get to see your little being for a lot longer. Sticky Bean had a hand behind the head, in a “I’m a cool Dude/ Chick” sort of way and the other hand waving around as if listening to reggae.

After the scan, of which we could buy 3 images for £10 (!), I had a bloodtest. This was to test for Downs. The results of the scan and the blood analysis together give a more accurate result than the old triple test. My results were back within a week- low risk! Phew! One hurdle overcome.

Coping at the end of the first trimester

Over the past weeks life has been pretty hellish. The nausea turned into huge swings in bloodsugar levels, which have a catastrophic effect on my mood. The Dragonlady reared her head several times, threatening to throw the one-loved-most out of the house several times for minor offenses. I do love him for putting up with this crap!

There have been a couple of near fainting experiences too. From these I have learnt to eat continuously, whether I am hungry or not. … not good for the size of my rear end, but as a twitter friend put it … I maybe able to get my own postcode if it grows that significantly! Now there’s a thought!

An aspect of nausea has remained- an enhanced sensitivity to smells. At times just the slightest sniff to some offensive smells- cigarette smoke, poo, mouldy food, etc.- will set me off retching with no result to show for it. (TMI, I know! Sorry!) Everyone in the house, including children, just dismiss this now… “oh, mum’s just being sick.”

Sleep has featured quite significantly in my timetable recently. I often fall asleep at 7.30- 8 pm on the sofa 5 minutes into a programme on telly, only to wake up at 2 am and toss and turn in my own bed. Often not falling asleep till the morning. Apparently, it’s all to do with the balance of hormones in the body- which has an edge at what time of the day, etc.. All I know it is very annoying, missing out on some productive evening time and then not being able to do anything at night for fear of waking the house…no fun at all!

However, as the Guinness ad says: “good things come to those who wait”… this weekend I actually felt motivated to do some cleaning around the house and to actually hang the washing to dry instead of just bunging it in the dryer. Slight glimmers of improvement in mood and state of wellbing. The price of constantly eating is worth it… it seems. …new postcode, here I come!

Long may this state continue!

Now comes the dilemma:

When do we tell the children?  When did you tell them?

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