From Egg to Egg
It is amazing to me how the course of a pregnancy progresses. For the first few months it doesn't seem real, because nothing really changes (aside from the elimination of wine with dinner!). I don't feel anything, I don't look any different, I'm just a little more tired than usual. Frankly I keep expecting someone to tell me that it was all a big misunderstanding and I'm just tired because I have mono or anemia or something. During this time there's a teeny little person inside me who started out as just a couple of cells, working really really hard to make more cells and differentiate to create eyes and ears and fingers and a nose and so forth. And while I technically know this is happening, it is all invisible to me.
Eventually there's the 12-week ultrasound... that's when it all starts to seem real because I can actually see a little person moving around. At Colin's first ultrasound he kindly stayed perfectly motionless so they could take the images they needed, then he got super-wiggly and uncooperative when they tried to get a couple of pictures for us. (A brat from the start!) Little Number 2 was much nicer - he moved around enough that we knew he was awake and aware, held still enough that the tech got what she needed, and even sucked his thumb for us.
Things keep moving along, and the next thing you know I'm walking around looking like I swallowed a basketball. And instead of some "hypothetical" baby I can actually feel and see this little guy moving around. This is somewhat disconcerting at first, but amazing at the same time. Knowing that I can feel every poke, kick, twitch and somersault of another person is overwhelming if you really think about it. So I try not to think as much as possible and just enjoy the miracle.
Even more incredible is that I can already notice the difference between my two boys. Colin was very active, and very wiggly, and while LN2 is equally vigorous it isn't the same at all. LN2 is much more... I guess forceful is the word I'm looking for. Where Colin just squirmed around a lot, LN2 likes to take a hand/foot and P-U-U-U-SH, and he isn't always gentle. Sometimes it feels like he is scraping a very pointy elbow (or perhaps a knee? or a heel?) against the inner wall of my abdomen.
But last night takes the cake.
LN2 had been pretty active all day, perhaps a little more so than usual, but he's growing and running out of room so I have to expect that. Anyway, it was about 8:30PM, I was laying on my side reading to Colin and getting him settled down for the night, and I could feel LN2 moving around. Dragging his foot (?) from one side of my stomach to the other. Then suddenly there was this big push. I reached down and just below my ribs there was literally a protrusion the size of a robin's egg. I had turned the lights off so I couldn't see it but I could feel it. A giant lump. Then a big scrape from side to side, followed by another insistent push and the lump was back. It was amazing and seriously disconcerting, and I can only imagine what this kid is going to do in a few weeks as he starts really running out of room.
If you hear a news story about a woman with a foot sticking out of her stomach don't be surprised... it isn't a freak of nature. It is probably just me and my strident second son. You've been warned!
Eventually there's the 12-week ultrasound... that's when it all starts to seem real because I can actually see a little person moving around. At Colin's first ultrasound he kindly stayed perfectly motionless so they could take the images they needed, then he got super-wiggly and uncooperative when they tried to get a couple of pictures for us. (A brat from the start!) Little Number 2 was much nicer - he moved around enough that we knew he was awake and aware, held still enough that the tech got what she needed, and even sucked his thumb for us.
Things keep moving along, and the next thing you know I'm walking around looking like I swallowed a basketball. And instead of some "hypothetical" baby I can actually feel and see this little guy moving around. This is somewhat disconcerting at first, but amazing at the same time. Knowing that I can feel every poke, kick, twitch and somersault of another person is overwhelming if you really think about it. So I try not to think as much as possible and just enjoy the miracle.
Even more incredible is that I can already notice the difference between my two boys. Colin was very active, and very wiggly, and while LN2 is equally vigorous it isn't the same at all. LN2 is much more... I guess forceful is the word I'm looking for. Where Colin just squirmed around a lot, LN2 likes to take a hand/foot and P-U-U-U-SH, and he isn't always gentle. Sometimes it feels like he is scraping a very pointy elbow (or perhaps a knee? or a heel?) against the inner wall of my abdomen.
But last night takes the cake.
LN2 had been pretty active all day, perhaps a little more so than usual, but he's growing and running out of room so I have to expect that. Anyway, it was about 8:30PM, I was laying on my side reading to Colin and getting him settled down for the night, and I could feel LN2 moving around. Dragging his foot (?) from one side of my stomach to the other. Then suddenly there was this big push. I reached down and just below my ribs there was literally a protrusion the size of a robin's egg. I had turned the lights off so I couldn't see it but I could feel it. A giant lump. Then a big scrape from side to side, followed by another insistent push and the lump was back. It was amazing and seriously disconcerting, and I can only imagine what this kid is going to do in a few weeks as he starts really running out of room.
If you hear a news story about a woman with a foot sticking out of her stomach don't be surprised... it isn't a freak of nature. It is probably just me and my strident second son. You've been warned!
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