Good fluids and bad fluids...

There's no doubting the fact any longer... I am officially pregnant. I know, I know - I've actually been officially pregnant for some time. But to me, the hallmark of a 'pregnant woman' is fluid build up, and boy have I got that box ticked. In spades.

For example, until this point in life, I've always been rather pleased with my feet - they were the one part of my body that I couldn't really find any fault with. They were thin, on the small size, and with the right sized toe-to-foot ratio (if there is such a thing!).

Now I have hobbit feet.

Ok, so my feet aren't quite as hairy as a hobbit's, but there is clearly nothing human about these feet. They are fat, bloated and look unbalanced - the toes look way too small for the lumpy and blown up feet attached to them.

Bloated, swollen feet :-(

I should be thankful they don't yet hurt, although I'm told that may happen. But they do tingle and feel mildly uncomfortable - kind of like when you recover from an attack of pins and needles. And I only have one pair of shoes that fit me comfortably... and I can't walk around in thongs all the time!

My fingers are also swollen, although not to the same extent as my feet. I can no longer wear my wedding or engagement rings, which depresses me as I had hoped I wouldn't get to that stage. But when the skin underneath my rings started to flake away due to the stress of having the rings rub up against it... well, even I'm not THAT stubborn.

So, I'm having to face the harsh truth and come to terms with the fact that I'm a swollen and bloated pregnant woman. The next person who tells me pregnancy is a beautiful, moving experience to be savoured can come to my house and give me foot massages until their skin is rubbed raw - why should I be the only one to suffer?

But I called this post good AND bad fluids, so I guess I should talk about something a little more positive as well. Today B and I (and Mum and Dad) were able to see the work of all the good fluids that are currently circulating around my swollen, bloated pregnant body. That is, we had another scan :-) (the scan machine relies on fluid in the womb/gestational sac to give you a clear picture; the less fluid, the harder it is to get a good photo).

Oh boy - have things changed over the past 10 weeks! Our last scan, at 19 weeks, showed a much different picture to this one. This time, Sprout has grown and now weighs an estimated 3 pounds and 6 ounces. They couldn't give me a length, but she's on par with other sprouts her age according to the measurements. Her face is much more well-formed and even though the umbilical cord was in the way of a clear facial shot, you can certainly see her features...

These photos still look a little alien-like because of the way the ultrasound creates the image, but you can definitely see a little baby face there. Eyes closed (how freaky would it be if they were open!! - that can happen apparently). We saw little tiny feet pressing up against the outside of the womb and the sonographer felt her kick out to show her displeasure at having her slumber interrupted. It was way cool :-)

Even better was the fact that we received the news that my placenta was no longer low-lying. So this means I don't have to fear weeks of bed rest and an involuntary c-section under somewhat scary circumstances (i.e. the threat of placenta previa). At 19 weeks it was less than 1cm away from the opening of my cervix apparently but now it's well and truly high and not likely to cause any problems *sigh of relief*

So now we can get on with preparing for Sprout's arrival. The cot has arrived, the change table has been purchased and should be delivered in the next few days, and we're slowly amassing more hippopotamus toys ;-) There's still a LOT left to do, but Mum has come down to help me plough through the long list and hopefully the next post I put up will have me rejoicing the fact that the nursery is starting to take shape.

For now, I shall continue to mourn my lost feet and find creative ways to encourage my husband to massage them... ;-)