Cross-Reference: Trip to London

March 9, 2008 (15 weeks, 6 days):

Robert has business meetings in London, and it's my spring break, so we fly to London for a week-long "babymoon." Apart from a couple trips to New York in April or June, it will probably be our last trip together before the baby comes--mainly just because flying is such an uncomfortable, nerve-wracking experience anyway, these days, with delays and security and overbooking, that we don't see the need to do it in my third trimester.

Last week, a day before we left, I think I may have felt the first movement. At first I wasn't sure if I was imagining things or not, but when I described the sensation to women who've had kids, they say it sounds like the first feelings of movement--which, interestingly, Robert was shocked to learn is called the "quickening": "You're serious?" he said. "They really call it that?" Uh, yes. I love Highlander, but yes, this context came first. What it felt like was almost the sensation of a hand tremor or a muscle spasm, that vibrating kind of motion you sometimes feel in your foot or leg when it twitches while you're falling asleep at night, only internally--like from the inside of my stomach out--kind of near the surface, just under my belly button. I was lying on the couch with Robert and we were watching a movie when I felt it. From what I've read, babies in utero may be more active when the mother is still, and vice versa, so it seems to make some sense that way, too.

I also bought my first maternity clothes before leaving for London. For the past three weeks I'd been making do by wearing my roomiest, stretchiest pair of jeans unbuttoned, but with various contraptions (a rubber band, a Bella Band--which actually worked quite well, but became annoying when I had to wear it every day--etc.) to keep them up. Furthermore, the sensation of walking around the city, taking the train, climbing stairs, and teaching in front of a roomful of students with unbuttoned pants was disconcerting--even though both rubber band and lycra Bella Band never once let the pants sag--and I just wanted to be able to wear more than one pair of acceptable outdoor pants (not counting yoga pants around the house). So I bit the bullet and went to H&M and Macy's and bought two pairs of maternity pants which fit me now--the elastic waistband is not snug but not falling down--but definitely have at least several more months of stretch in them.

March 17, 2008 (17 weeks):

Kelley came yesterday for the second pre-natal visit, bringing along one of her assistants. We heard the heartbeat again with the Doppler, and everything looked and sounded very good. I weigh about 145 pounds at this point, and both my chest and stomach are definitely not the same size they used to be. I don't think the expansion in either area is nearly as noticeable yet to other people as it is to me, though. Over lunch at Super Dumpling, Robert finally told his colleagues at work last week, so that's the end of the (exhausting!) "telling people" part, as far as I can tell.

Back: February 2008 | Continue: April 2008

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