I finally had my 20-week anatomical scan last Friday and it’s good news all around. There is one (singular) baby residing in my womb who scored straight normals on all counts. Seriously. Head shape: normal; profile: normal; abdominal wall: normal; genitalia: normal. I hope this kid knows that this is the last time it will get away with pulling this average crap. Not one excellent on the entire page. Pshaw.
The truth is, though, that I still cannot get over the fact that there is a little human in there. This is my third baby and my fourth ultrasound and I still do a double take the first time the tech says, “There’s your baby.” I don’t know what exactly I’m expecting. By 20 weeks I know it’s not going to look like a tadpole anymore, but I still think it’s going to be some sort of sea monkey-type creature. But no! It’s a human baby. Only one human baby and a healthy-looking one at that. Fucking A, as they say.
We didn’t find out the gender, of course, because everyone knows only the weak and morally inferior need to know their baby’s sex. *Break to guzzle Coca Cola and unwrap my second McDonald’s cheeseburger.*Burp. As I was saying, I’m still kind of in denial about this whole third kid thing and finding out the sex is just bound to make it all feel so much more real and imminent — which it is not! This pregnancy is scheduled to continue for at least another four months and I intend to enjoy our mutual anonymity while it lasts.
Oh, here’s the glamour shot:
This was the best Mother’s Day so far, mostly because Colum was so incredibly jazzed about it. He worked on a special surprise card for two days at school and kept talking about breakfast in bed all week. (Do you know how hard it is to eat cereal and sip coffee in bed with two kids bouncing around on it? Yes, of course you do.)
Here is the card:
It says: "Mommy," at the top and that teensy picture is me. Then it says, "I love you."
"... because you let me watch tv." As pictured.
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This was apparently a popular reason for loving your mom in Colum’s JK class. At least I didn’t get, “because you let me play video games.” Mean anti-video game position vindicated!
And as long as I’m uploading pictures … here’s a solid month’s worth.
My friend Helena suggested I do a compare and contrast, reconstruction kind of thing with old pictures of Irene’s pregnancy. I thought it was a good idea and took a couple shots at 17.5 weeks. I am now 19.5 weeks, but better late than never, right?
Colum and I about three years ago.
Here we are at 17.5 weeks now.
And more shots from that same day:
And because it’s feast or famine with photos here at Playground Confidential, here are some random shots of us at the beach yesterday evening.
And, finally, with all due respect to Charlie Sheen, THIS smile means winning.
And we have a heartbeat!
I figured I should probably just cut to the chase since I’ve left you all hanging for four days after finally hearing the heartbeat. I blame my husband; you should too. (WINKING! Totally winking here. The guy’s been working his butt off lately which just means less time and energy for me to do what really matters: blogging.)
After much waffling and foot shuffling, I finally decided that I should pop in for another listen. Hearing that several women I know have had missed miscarriages late in their first trimester was definitely an influencing factor. So was a friend just saying,”Go!” So I dropped the kids off with my parents last Thursday morning, figuring I’d probably have to wait around for a while and then I’d go in for my monthly blood draw at the lab.
Instead, my midwife saw me right away and found a crystal clear heartbeat in less than 30 seconds. It took longer to walk from the car. (Mostly because I refuse to pay for parking, but still.) What a relief! Now I no longer have to wonder if every tummy rumble and gas bubble is the baby moving or if I’m simply losing my mind. I can relax and let that first definite movement be a wonderful surprise.
I’ve also taken to squeezing into my regular jeans for as long as I can, which seems to make me feel less huge. So I’m not stressing about twins any more. We’ll find out eventually, but there’s really no good reason to worry. So all’s well and good in the pregnancy department, despite my tricky hip and lowered bladder capacity.
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