The past few weeks have been an absolute blur. Given how the first 15 weeks or so seemed to creep by at a snail's pace, I'm a little stunned with how quickly these recent days have gone by. It's hard to believe that at nearly 20 weeks, I'm just about halfway through this pregnancy.
But throughout the blur, things have been going well. The weeks before the holidays kept me running at a frantic pace, trying to keep up with preparations for my last two shows of the year, as well as the online etsy orders streaming in. The week before Christmas, I came down with an AWFUL cold. And let me tell you, being sick and pregnant is no picnic. I'm thankful to be on the tail end of that.
John and I were talking the other night about how surreal this whole year has been for me - leaving my full-time job, not really having a clue as to what was ahead for me - and ending up very pregnant and very pleased (and stunned!) about where this year has taken me. I am so grateful to everyone who has made it all possible - my family (and most especially my husband), friends, my coach, this remarkable online network, and of course all of the people who have made my business such a success by supporting my work. It's almost too overwhelming for me to take in.
As far as I can tell, little Bumble is doing just fine. I've started to feel her pretty regularly now, and it's quite an odd feeling at times. I feel lots of pokes and kicks - all the way from my cervix to up above my belly button. Sometimes it just feels like she's doing somersaults in there. Some days I feel her all throughout the day and other days I only feel her once or twice. John generally knows when this is happening because I seem to burst into uncontrollable giggles. I am completely amazed by this little life growing inside of me, and I can hardly believe that this is actually happening for us.
I have been trying my best to take it easy. We had a little scare two weekends ago. On Saturday morning, I had a bit of heavier bleeding and spotting, and I had been having a significant amount of cramping the night before. I called my OB's office and luckily, my OB was on call. We talked for about 20 minutes and she thought that everything was fine - that the old bleed was just resolving itself. John and I went in the next day and everything looked good - and the doppler picked up on Bumble's heartbeat right away. I sort of get the sense that she doesn't like it though, as I got several kicks while we were listening, and it sounded like she was trying to move away from the doppler. We have our next appointment with the specialist next Friday (1/4). I'm excited to see little Bumble again and to see what's happening with my placenta.
John and I have started talking about names, looking at furniture, and thinking about what we need to do to get ready for Bumble to come home with us. We're working on getting the nursery all cleaned out and ready and I've got a list of things I would like to research. I can't believe that there's only 4 1/2 months until she's expected. I still worry about all of the things the could go wrong, but each time I feel her swimming around in my belly, I'm filled with hope and so incredibly grateful for the chance to bring her home with us. And, for now, that's enough.
