My Pregnancy Diaries Week 20

pregnancy diary Jun 16, 2020

My Pregnancy Diaries Week 20

A few weeks ago I remember writing down to say I was slowing down.

Well I am, because I can't really go fast anymore, but I still didn’t leave enough time and had to rush!

Now I am in week 20 of my pregnancy.

You see we had our 20-week scan and my husband was coming from work and meeting me at the hospital.

It's a short walk from the train station, so really not hard for me to make my way there at all.

Unless that is, if I'm running late.

It's a 13-minute walk to the station. But that is from my front door to the platform, no interruptions.

To be honest, I think I need to add a minute (or more!) for every week of my pregnancy as it progresses, because it seems like my pace is slowing down.

Any who, 13 minutes is not a good idea for me to have in my head.

I need to allow 20 minutes.

And did I?

On this very special day where this was the ONE train I could catch otherwise I was going to be late for our 20 week scan!

No, of course not.

I allowed 15 minutes.

Which in my little pregnant head, was ample time.

So I clearly took my sweet arse time, and as I was coming towards the station I heard the TOOT TOOT sound of the train as it was approaching.

I muttered several swear words, and then - I started running.

A pregnancy-kind-of-run, certainly not my normal 'the train is here I must make it or the world will be over' kind of sprint I've done several times in my years.

But my run was close enough.

And as I was going, a young man was doing the same. He was coming from behind me, so in my mind I'd given up and thought we'd both missed it.

But no, he whooshed past me and as I approached the platform and the doors were closing, he was the one who held the door open for me so I could get in.

I thanked my new hero and sat down with a pain like sensation 'down there'.

It was weird, like nothing I'd ever felt before.

I hadn’t peed myself, and I feel good that it wasn't my pelvic floor, but something a little deeper. I couldn't quite work it out.

That was until we got to the scan and the lady said 'OK, look at that, your baby';s feet are right on your cervix'. I think little bub was jumping around as I was running and their little feet pressing down, down, down onto my cervix.

As soon as she said that I thought to myself 'that's exactly what it felt like!

The 20 Week Scan

Let's back track.

I made the train, and so I made the appointment with plenty of time. My husband arrived in perfect timing and a lady called out my name, greeted us and we went walking towards a room.

It was this moment I thought, 'I better say something'.

So, as we walked in, I said to her that we have one request 'we'd like to know the sex of the baby, but just not now, are you able to write it down for us?

As if she'd heard that a thousand times before (because let's be honest, she probably had - that week!), she simply said 'not a problem at all'.

So, in we went.

I laid down, lifted up my top and on went the gel and up on the screen was our baby!

Or part of our baby.

The last scan we had was the 12-week scan, where there in front of us was our whole baby - in one view. Here in the 20-week scan, our baby is too big to fit all in one screen.

Isn't technology just incredible?

We got to see our baby in so much detail! We saw their brain, their full skeleton, their little feet and hands, their face, their arms and legs. It was so cool.

I did have to keep asking 'ah, what is that?'

The kidneys looked like the brain, and sometimes it certainly wasn't clear until she said what it was.

So very unlike it's Mama, this little bub is camera shy.

Every time the scan went near their face, they'd put up a little hand across their face.

Oh, it makes me so excited to think what their little personality is going to be like. What features will they have of me and what will they have of their daddy?

I can't believe we made a baby! It's just so surreal!

Oh, what a journey!

About forty-five minutes later, they scan lady took off the machine, gave me a towel and started to pack up. I turned to her and said “are we done?” she said in one up-beat word 'yep!'

With a hundred questions racing in my head I said to her, hesitantly 'ah, did you work out the gender?'

As cool as anything, she said 'sure did! I'll go write it on a card for you now'.

As she left, we looked at each other.

My husband completely convinced it's a girl before for the split second that the scan went down in that 'area' he didn't see anything.

The lady came back with an envelope that had our little bub's gender written on it!

Just a few more weeks to our wedding anniversary and we plan to open it in the same place we got married.

Because it's such a special idea, I can easily hold on.

Slept in, Cramp and Blood Nose Blood Nose

I am enjoying this pregnancy just so much! When people ask, how's it all going, I love telling them the fun and how good I'm feeling. But let me tell you, it's not rainbows and unicorns ALL the time.

This same week that we got to see our little bundle of joy,

I also.. slept in, got a cramp and a blood nose, all in the space of about 30 seconds.

I was super tired, I'd had a massive day the day before.

I was wide awake between 3am and 5am and then when my normal alarm went off at 6.30am, it was an OFF rather than a SNOOZE that I hit.

So, what felt like five minutes later I woke up naturally, still tired, but figured I better check the time as I had a class to teach at 9.30am, but there's not way it's!;.

OH MY GOODNESS it's 8.58am!

As I go to jump out of bed I get the worlds worst CRAMP in my left calf. As I'm holding my leg and trying to catch my breath, my nose starts dripping out blood!

So foggy from over sleeping and still with a cramping leg I stumble out of bed into the bathroom to gather some tissues to relieve me of this blood nose.

In that exact moment, I thought to myself “is THIS what pregnancy is all about?

Given I can't teach a class with tissue stuffed up my nose, I sorted the blood nose out, brushed my teeth, got changed and made the quickest smoothie ever and raced out the door.

And this is what I love about teaching Mums and Bubs classes.

I rocked up just minutes before the class was due to start, my Mums had set the room up and were ready to go.

I dramatized my morning to them with a massive smile on my face.

Because I knew exactly what was about to come back at me when I (half joking / half not) said 'I've just had the worst nights sleep ever, I feel so tired and I got a cramp and a blood nose'.

They just laughed at me!

lt's 'Oh just you wait Kerryn - there's more to come.'

As they went through their 'awake every hour last night' and 'I got spewed and poo'ed on this morning' stories.

It's all part of it hey!