Saturday, May 21, 2016

Week 23

So, after the lovely week 22 blog post courtesy of my husband, there are a few highlights that he didn’t include and since week 23 has largely been a continuation of week 22 I thought I would cover some highlights for both weeks in this post. 

The weekend of week 22 saw us going to a child cycle sale which had tons of baby and kid stuff, as well as a bit of maternity gear, all second hand and for great prices. We didn’t buy much, just a few blanket type things and some cloth diapering supplies. The ‘exciting’ thing for me was finding two pairs of maternity pants that actually fit for the far more acceptable price of $6 each. Take that, Thyme maternity! Suck on your $125 price tag.

Ahem. Yeah. So that was cool… I am surprised to report, however, that I still fit into most of my normal pants as long as I can extend the button. My shirts, however, are straining to contain my ever expanding bosom and growing bump. So, I’m wearing a lot of stretchy tank tops and baggy sweaters. And yet, for some reason, I haven’t purchased any maternity tops. I can’t seem to bring myself to spend money on clothes that I’m not going to use for more than a few months. (And yes, I recognize I won’t instantly return to my original shape as soon as Speck pops out, but even so, as I’m not at all convinced that we’ll be doing this again, it’s likely to be a pretty limited time that I’m using anything “maternity.”) And I’m cheap. And I don’t particularly like clothes shopping in general. So… yeah.

On the other hand, we have been getting a bunch of free stuff from friends who already have kids and that has been hugely helpful. We are all about the hand me downs. 

As Speck can now hear voices and start recognizing them, Corey and I are talking to Speck more often. One day last week, when I was trying to nap, but Speck was having a dance party instead, I spent an hour and a half describing to Speck its entire family in Spanish. Why Spanish? Because this kiddo is going to be bilingual at least! Speck will definitely learn Spanish early on, and hubby and I will probably throw a bit of German and Japanese in there too, because I’m all about kids learning as many languages as possible so we’ll use all the languages we’ve got. 

And we’re increasing our singing. This kiddo is going to get serenaded as often as possible. 

One notable thing from week 22 was that on Mother’s day people wished me a happy Mother’s day. That seemed weird to me. Not that I didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t feel like I’ve earned the title yet. I consider myself a proto-mom, I’ll reach full momdom when I’ve pushed this little one out. 

My last prenatal went well, weight is on track and I didn’t get any more lectures in either direction, and Speck seems to be healthy. Due to a misdirection of paperwork I did not get the report on Speck’s ultrasound, but I will assume that now that that’s been corrected no news is good news and I’ll just wait 'til my next appointment. 

The biggest thing that has happened in the past two weeks has nothing to do with Speck, but I’m too excited not to mention it. I finally finished the first draft of my next book, which means it’s time to dive into revisions soon. I’m thrilled to have gotten back to writing fiction in this pregnancy as the first trimester completely wiped me out in a way that didn’t leave me with enough creative energy to do much at all, let alone write fiction. And even once the energy returned, it took me a while to get back into the book that I had started writing back in November. I finally managed it, however, and now the first draft is done. There’s lots of work ahead before I can release the book, but having the first draft done feels like a huge weight off, and I’m looking forward to revisions. 

Then the biggest Speck related news is that not only can Corey feel kicks now, but I can sometimes see them, which is a wholly new and alien situation. Seeing your body move at someone else’s volition is an insane experience. 

In terms of overall pregnancy wellness, I mostly feel pretty good. I generally feel as though I have my normal energy level and I only occasionally need to go down for a nap in the middle of the day, but I do still periodically feel like Speck is pulling me down into an abyss of slumber against my will. Nausea has been very sporadic, but still pops up now and again. Nonetheless, trimester two seems to be treating me quite well. What’s crazy to think about is that the second trimester is almost over. Where the first trimester seemed like it would never end, this trimester is flying by. I’m curious to see how the third one goes. 

Speaking of which, at the end of next week Speck will be ‘theoretically’ viable outside the womb. Which is exciting when one considers all the things that can still go wrong. The pessimist in me will be greatly relieved when we hit that milestone. 

And I think that about covers weeks 22 and 23. Right now I’m sitting at KeyCon in Winnipeg, selling my book to folks and chatting with people as they stroll by. Conventions like this are generally big sales weeks for me, as well as a lot of fun, so I’m glad that this seems to be a high energy week for me. 

However, due to how busy I’ve been prepping for this weekend, and the weekend itself, I have no bump picture for this week. Fortunately, since last week you all got to enjoy Corey’s bump I have last week’s shot for you as well as a non bump shot of me from today.







2 comments:

  1. Japanese and German is great 'n all but how about trying some of that French? Ici au Canada...

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    1. French is great! But as I don't speak French, it's difficult for me to teach it to anyone else. Luckily, if the kiddo learns enough other languages then it won't be difficult to pick up yet another one. Perhaps Speck and I can learn French together.

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