27 weeks

I was late publishing my 23 week post, it is hidden here

For every check/appointment/scan during work hours I put something in DP's office calendar.
However, for the 27 weeks appointment (one that would actually be with a real gynaecologist) DP declined, saying he had something important at work.
I stomped off to HB, needing to blow off some steam about this (and to avoid saying anything to DP I would regret later). Before I even finished my sentence HB  had already blocked his own calendar. I didn't even have to ask.
So Tuesday we were in the hospital. I'm always early, don't want to have to rush.
But typically doctors are always late. We were told that thanks to one no-show our wait would only be 15 minutes. Turned 25, then 35 minutes. I know it doesn't mean anything, but it still makes me nervous. So I forgot to introduce HB to the doctor.
Doctor was happy with my latest blood test results, my thyroid levels have stabilised and she thought it was nonsense to test every month or even two weeks. Every trimester was fine with her, but if I preferred 6 weeks that was OK too.
Blood pressure still normal (120/70)
Then she decided to do a belly exam, I think mostly for the trainee doctor (young lady, gentle, with the longest hair) Trainee couldn't find the head of the baby, but she did determine baby was vertical. Doctor did a quick feel too and said baby was bum down, back to my left side, curving the head to the right again. Leaving hand and feet to make fun at my right side.
Then came one of the quickest scans ever. Look, upper leg, wait it is too short, must be an arm, moving down, big bundle of lower and upper legs all folded over. 5,3 cm. Then belly and head circumference, I think she mumbled something of 243 which could very well be millimetres and would correspond roughly with 8cm across for a circle. Heartbeat was fine, and lovely to hear again. We could also see a little stomach, quite black, so I think the amniotic fluid must be tasty. And there was loads of it too.
After the scan she quickly went over the numbers with me, remarking that baby's legs are long, just like mine and HB's. I was quite embarrassed to admit that neither one of us has a genetic relationship to this baby. But later it dawned on me that I don't have to keep denying any resemblance. Because a resemblance is just that, no one even said there was a genetic reason for that.
So from Tuesday on I have been answering that baby is fine, growing well, long legs, big belly and small head, Just Like Me.
The only concern I have is the hard belly I've been getting, basically since returning from Riga. It comes and goes, especially when I get up from a chair or try to run up stairs. I know that bit is normal and usually fades (1 minute or so), but sometimes it lasts much longer (15 minutes?) and I can hardly stand up straight anymore.
Doctor advised to make an appointment with the Occupational Health Doctor of my company, and suggested that doctor could advise on working less hours per day. I'll see how that goes, Monday.
And straight after that I'll have to join 3 colleagues for a Tuesday in the Stockholm office. Crazy.

So many bellies

A few weeks ago I got a yoga book from the library, for exercises safe during pregnancy. I looked at the pictures for the first part and thought: haha, look at that model, she's got a little belly!
(duh, so do I.) I looked at the second and third part, with big bellies and baby bumps for the yoga models, and was impressed you can still do so much. Then I looked at part four: exercises with baby.
WHAAATTTT? how is that part of pregnancy?! And then it dawned on me again that IF changes our view of what is normal, what is to be expected.

Like a colleague asked me if I wasn't afraid of the pain of giving birth. No not really{if I get that far that is pretty much a given}, I'm afraid of embryos/foetus/baby not surviving...

Tuesday was my first belly-yoga class.
I signed up together with the DE-IVF friend from the party, so I knew I wouldn't be the only older one there. ( and knowing that in my country the average age for first time pregnancies is 31, I wasn't really worried we'd be surrounded by 16-year-olds, but still)

 What I hadn't realised is that the due dates of the other ladies were all earlier than mine. In other words: my belly was just that, a belly, and they all had real baby bumps. And suddenly I felt panicky, like I was an imposter who didn't belong....

Riga

 Quite unexpectedly I found myself on a business trip to Riga, with my boss, our russian-latvian colleague and Lily, who had lived there in 2006.
This is sunrise from my hotel room. Big halls? to park your Zeppelin of course!

 We had some time before heading to the office, and Lily gave me a quick tour of the old city center. Even the commercial mural was pretty.

 Guild houses.

 And pretty towers. Shame that someone ran into my elbow here, it made me drop my phone on the cobble stones. Glass is a bit broken now. But it still works.
No pictures in the office, but to my West-European eyes people there look different. Most women on stiletto heels, most guys the straightest short strange mouse coloured hair.
After work the russian and the boss wanted to go drinking, but I had other plans.

At 6:45 PM I asked the kind lady at the hotel reception if she could tell me something about the ballet. She typed a little, and told us that if we left immediately we could just make it to the National Ballet around the corner. Kopelija. Tickets unbelievably cheap, and even just the theatre itself was worth it:

 

It is impossible to take proper pictures in the dark, but this may give you an idea:

You can even see a glimpse of the live orchestra below the stage!
We had a lovely ladies night out.
(and I was thinking of the famous 'Bolshoi do not tremble'. They were not the Bolshoi, but they were real people who managed not to look ridiculous in their costumes, which I can't say of the Bolshoi in this video. And they didn't need fake moustaches to look Russian!

In the plane on the way back there were babies both the row in front of me, and behind me. The one behind was so small it slept the whole way. The one in front only made a sound when his next bite of mushed banana wasn't coming fast enough. He enjoyed the banana so much he was waving/flapping his little arms and legs. And I felt an answer coming from my belly. I'm ever so slowly starting to believe it might become a take home baby next year.
Another new (to me) thing my bump told me loud and clear is to make sure I get enough sleep. After the return flight I tried to work the rest of the day in the Amsterdam office, but I could hardly stand upright with the bump getting tight and hard. Sleeping 12 hours in my own bed did a world of good.
Better get to that now!

TMI on a pregnant body

maybe you read this over at Stirrup Queens.
This line struck me:

You fit into the You-sized space you always fit into.
The one only you can fill.

My own Me-sized space. Even though my size changes every week, sometimes faster than I can comprehend.
So time for me to take note (and probably time for you to stop reading and continue to my Riga post with pretty pictures)
My belly is growing. I know, kind of obvious and logical for everyone else, but it keeps surprising me. It is real. And sometimes it moves.
My areolae are darker now. In summer they were as tan as my arms. Now my arms are lighter again. But while my tan will keep changing with the seasons, my areola will forever mark me as someone who was more than 20 weeks pregnant.
Gingival recession. sounds prettier than receding gums but is the same non-pretty thing. Wiki doesn't mention hormones at all, but pregnancy hormones make the gums weaker, less tight around my teeth, more sensitive to 'agressive' brushing, giving room to plaque bacteria. Not good for foetus, not good for teeth. While I can stop the local infections with proper and gentle brushing, tooth picking plus flossing, I'm not sure the recession can be reversed. Booh.
Linea nigra. linea light for now. never mind, will fade somewhere next year.
Vulva bla bla bigger. I couldn't hear the proper word for it, and googling it is sort of gross. But will return to normal eventually.
And while I'm down there, no sneezing, because it's just not staying dry anymore.
oh, and I cry from reading sad stories. sleepless even from the violence in shawshank redemption (didn't even make it to the end).
And out of breath trying to run up four flights of stairs.

mhm, and if I drink a full glass after I've eaten I have to be careful it stays down. Find it hard to get used to. But not drinking enough might invite the cramps back in (although I've had them only twice)