18 Weeks & The Fluctuating Belly

Song Lyric of the Day:


Have you heard the Mona Lisa / Have you heard who you are / You’re a new morning / You’re a new morning / You’re a new morning

Alpha Rev / “New Morning

Things have been a whirlwind since Rich and I
announced we were pregnant. In a good way, that is. He and I had fun keeping our little secret until we were ready to share the news with everyone. Other than our respective bosses, the only other person we told right off the bat was our friend Caren, who we visited in Colorado at the end of February, when I was 10 weeks along (I really need to recap that trip, by the way). After all, how else to explain why I couldn’t try downhill skiing?

Rich and I waited until the day of our 12-week ultrasound/checkup to make the announcement to everyone else. Why? Because we (particularly yours truly) are superstitious and wanted to get through the first trimester before telling anyone. Now that I’m halfway through week 18, I find it endlessly amusing that people — particularly my coworkers — say hi to my stomach first, then look up at my face. Kind of redefines that whole “my eyes are up here” thing.

Knock on wood, being pregnant has treated me pretty well. The only time I threw up was the day we told everyone; Rich swears it was just nerves. And now that I’m in the second trimester, I have more energy and can stay awake later than 8 o’clock. Most days, anyway. Rich says I hibernated all throughout the winter, which is a pretty accurate description: Home from work by 6:30PM, dozing on the couch under my Slanket for an hour or so, waking up and eating dinner, then going to bed. See? Hibernating.

The strangest thing I’ve dealt with so far is my fluctuating belly. Saturday morning I woke up with an almost-flat stomach. Today my stomach was noticeable, but it was smaller than it was yesterday. Tomorrow I might look a lot bigger. Bundle is only about 5 1/2 inches long at this point, so I have no idea what he or she is pulling. We suspect the kid is hiding somewhere around my kidneys most days and then stretches out throughout the day until my stomach looks bigger. At this point, Rich and I think this is normal for me — I’m 5’8″ and have always been pretty slender, but we’re just guessing. Anyone else out there have a weird fluctuating belly thing going on?

Oh, before I forget — why the hell didn’t any of my friends who have had kids warn me about the itchy belly thing? I swear, it’s like someone rubbed poison ivy all over my stomach. The only thing keeping me sane throughout the nonstop itching is knowing that it means Bundle is growing and doing well. Although that doesn’t keep me from scratching grooves in my stomach throughout the day. Seriously — red nail marks all across. And that’s scratching through my clothes.

And now back to the belly size thing. Rich and I had 10th anniversary portraits (something else to blog about — sheesh!) taken on the big day, April 8, and this is one of my favorite shots from that day. It’s just me and Bundle, and he or she made a rare appearance in that I actually looked pregnant that day*. I can’t wait to show him or her this photo when they’re older so they can see that they were around for Mommy and Daddy’s big anniversary, because we waited so long to meet them.*My stomach was flatter today. Go figure.

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1 Comment

Filed under mommyblogging, personal, pregnancy, second trimester

One Response to 18 Weeks & The Fluctuating Belly

  1. Tallspice

    When I was pregnant with Wyatt, I led a weight watchers meeting each week. Isn't that amusing in itself, but the members would tell me that I looked smaller than last week often. I thought it had to do with more or less form fitting clothing, but probably had to do with babies position as well. And lotion will help the itching a bit, especially foot lotion with herbs like mint and eucalyptus, but you should probably make sure any herbs are safe for pregnancy before using. I know mint is but not sure about Eucalyptus.

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