Wednesday, December 19, 2012

13 Weeks!

Thanks to Pinterest--and the fact that I'm not currently working--this will be the most well-documented pregnancy ever. Ha! Just kidding. But it is dangerous seeing all the adorable things people do to mark their pregnancy. And since I'm feeling so great--knock on everything possible--I want to remember these days. As I said in the beginning though, I don't want this to turn into a pregnancy blog. I'm going to try to limit my pregnancy posts to once a week. That's reasonable, right? No promises on what will happen once the baby's actually here though :)


We're due June 20th, which means I'm 13 weeks and 6 days.  It's been strange being pregnant here in England. Since I've never been pregnant I didn't know what to expect. My only sources of information were my best friends who have babies in the States, my mom, and popular culture. It turns out that these sources are all heavily slanted toward an American perspective...big surprise, right? Well, England does things a little differently. I'm coming to terms with all the differences, but at first it was really scary.

The major difference for me at first was that I'm using the National Health Service, which is free. NHS does not do any confirmation testing until the 12 week ultrasound. I had two appointments with a midwife prior to my ultrasound, but they didn't examine me or have me take a pregnancy test or anything. They just told me that they trust me. Although I knew I was pregnant, I wanted someone else to confirm it. It didn't seem real otherwise.

The ultrasound went great though and put my mind at ease. We got fantastically clear pictures of the baby and got to see him/her moving all around. He/she was pumping fists and kicking up a storm. It's too early for me to feel any of it, but it was such a moving experience to see a live being inside of me.


One funny quirk in the NHS is that while all the health care is free, you have to pay to get a copy of your ultrasound picture. They have a little machine where you insert coins and then you get a token to collect the picture. So weird!

Buying tokens for the ultrasound picture

How far along? 13 weeks
Maternity clothes? Only because they're comfortable. My skinny jeans don't fit anymore, but everything else does.
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep? Ok, but I'm having even weirder dreams than normal. If you know me, this is significant.
Best moment of the week: Running 5k and feeling good!
Miss anything? Runny eggs :(
Movement: I think I may have felt something, but everyone says it's too early.
Food cravings: Oranges!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not drinking enough water gives me headaches.
Have you started to show yet? I think so, but no one else does :)
Gender: We don't know yet
Belly Button in or out? In, but I'm worried its days are numbered.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy, but you'll have to ask Dan what he thinks.
Looking forward to: Starting to show for real

2 comments:

  1. So exciting :) I'm liking the informative update :) keep it up :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. yea...this is a great way to get info when I forget to ask the important questions...love the pics as well.
    Love ya Cal........

    Mom

    ReplyDelete