Pregnancy Update!!

Last night I cried. Not big, heaving sobs, but a brief, quiet, tears-flowing-down-my-face kind of crying. I cried because I and my husband saw a "bump" on my abdomen for the first time in this pregnancy. And then "The Peanut" KICKED!!! I have been feeling movements for quite some time now, but this was the first kick that even my husband felt very clearly. I cried because before I got pregnant with IVF, I had given up hope on ever being able to feel that kick again. I had given up hope that I would ever experience the joys and discomforts of pregnancy again. That kick brought the realization that I AM pregnant. Almost into my third trimester now, actually. That there IS a baby inside me. Really. I keep forgetting that I am pregnant, what with all the running around I am doing all day long. Even though I am BIG! No - make that HUGE!! Each movement brings the same realization back - I AM PREGNANT!! I am not exaggerating. I really do get that sense of wonder with every movement.

I have hardly written anything about the pregnancy. Partly because I have been so busy and partly because it all still feels so surreal. Its like I am in a dream, nervous that as soon as I wake up, every thing will go back to "normal". One husband, one kid, one un-pregnant me.

I haven't even mentioned that we tried to find out the sex of the baby. But couldn't because the baby wouldn't co-operate. We have finally decided that the baby is a girl - because "she" so stubbornly refused to come out from under the placenta to help us find out. (That was the doctor's opinion!) So much so, that we had to schedule another ultra-sound because the doctor couldn't even get a good look at the heart, the brain and other organs which an 20 week ultra-sound is conducted for. By the next appointment, we had decided we didn't want to find out after all. But we are still sure the baby is a girl. Also because my daughter wants a baby sister. She says she is ready to share her room with the baby if it is a girl but if it turns out to be a boy, we will have to find another room for him :D So, a girl it is!!

The day before yesterday, I was very tired and uncomfortable because I had had this sore spot in my abdomen that made even normal breathing painful and ANY movement impossible. I guess The Peanut had found a comfortable spot against my ribs with her feet pushing against my abdomen wall and spent all day there. By evening, I was miserable. My daughter took one look at me and said "Come mommy, I'll take you to your 'personal relaxing place'!" She told me to close my eyes, took me by my hand and walked me to the office and sat me down in the chair in front of the computer. I thought she meant to say "Here, do what you like the most - play Spider Solitaire". But - NO. Then she turned the chair around, got me a stool to prop my feet up on and then proceeded to take my shoes off. After that, she started giving me a foot massage!! Then followed a hand/palm massage with her little fingers and then a neck massage. Then she rolled and rotated my neck gently to loosen up the stiff muscles and then made me stretch my arms out and did the same thing with them. In the end she massaged my scalp. THE WHOLE PERSONAL SPA TREATMENT!!!!!!!! From an 8 YEAR OLD!! I mean where DID she learn all that from?!! I was overcome with emotion. And I thanked God for my beautiful little daughter. Who takes care of her mother like a mother would.

THANK YOU AGAIN, GOD!