A Scan and some Flutterings

After the nausea left me for good I started feeling really good. Now I was just waiting for the first flutterings. In our book it said that in a first pregnancy the baby could be felt for the first time between week 20 and 24. A friend of mine invited me to a cinema organ concert when I was about 17 or 18 weeks. Well, the music must have activated the alien in me: almost at the end of the concert I could feel something in my tummy that I had never felt before. It think it must have been the first flutterings but I can't be sure.

The flutterings and kicks started for good at about week 22. It was such an exciting time as they were few and far between. I kept calling Joe to come and feel but invariably the kicks stopped as soon as he put his hand on my tummy.

We had our second scan at 24 weeks (which is quite late but that's England for you). It was a cold, wet Monday in January and we were very excited. This was going to be the day that would confirm our feelings (girl) or Bren and Rachel's hopes (boy). The names had been chosen ages ago and we were not really worried about the sex of the baby. A boy was as welcome as a girl and vice versa. The funny thing, though, was that Joe and I both had the feeling that it was a girl. Our feelings were confirmed, we're expecting a little girl. Now, there's still a 2% chance that the lady doing the scan is wrong and it is a little boy. All I can say is that he is just as welcome as a girl but I do hope that he likes pink!

As soon as people knew that a girl was "in the pipeline" we received lots and lots of clothes and they're all pink! We got tiny pink socks, lovely flowery dresses, frilly jeans and pijamas with pink fluffy rabbits.

At the end of February we went to Switzerland. It was my last chance to fly without a medical certificate and I was desperate to go "home". It was a really good time and the start of the next phase in our baby's development: the "kick the sh.. out of your mum" phase and I can tell you it's no fun. Sleep became a word that I heard about, not something I experienced and I was so tired I was desperate. On the positive side, I was spoilt rotten by my mum and we went shopping for the first time. As we had received so many clothes and things we hadn't bought anything ourselves. Now we went out and bought a little bodysuit with lions and giraffes on and a yellow sleepsuit with bears. We also bought some bibs and cloths and none of these things are pink!

In the end the second trimester ended quietly with no big dramas just a very tired pregnant lady!