Preggo Blog 1: The Quickening, aka "Ok baby, time to stop practicing karate and let mommy sleep nao"
Not an app for finances or tax filing. We're talking about the horror story where the knocking is coming from inside the womb! I stress that there is nothing quick about it. Honestly the only thing quick about this whole pregnancy, besides the amount of time it took me to GET pregnant after I stopped birth control (3 months -_- I blame Martin) is how fast I have to run to the restaurant toilet whenever "morning sickness" strikes.
So it started almost 2 weeks ago. It might have started even earlier, but I wasn't sure if it was just a random twitch or some kind of stomach churning issue. It wasn't anything regular. On June 3 the doctor asked if I felt any kicking yet, saying it might feel more like a flutter. I hadn't, then, but it was around the time the Nurture app on my phone is telling me even women on their first pregnancy start to notice movement. Ok, anytime, baby... still waiting...
So I pulled an abdominal muscle one night at work 2 weeks ago, and that's a bit of a story in and of itself, so it's under the cut below.
So I work at Half Price Books, and we buy back people's books for money, which sometimes doesn't work out the way anyone wants it to. We get some nasty boxes from garages that haven't been cleaned or touched in years, covered in roach poop or mold, smelling of cat pee, you name it. Well this particular evening, I was rushing because the lady had brought like 7 full boxes of kids and young adult books at 9:30pm expecting a substantial offer, and we close at 10. I wasn't even supposed to work the buy counter that night, but because I work the YA section and am familiar with what sells and what we have a ton of, I opted to switch with Kris and do the buy while he did any smaller buys and cleaning duties. We had to rush because 30 minutes is NOT enough time to sufficiently evaluate a large buy and try to get the store ready for closing when there are only 4 people working that night. So I'm standing there, big belly, trying to scoop handfuls of books from the boxes on the floor because I'm not supposed to lift heavy boxes anymore. Well, I found my limits. I had a box about 3/4 empty and decided it should be light enough now, so I picked it up from the floor. It wasn't till I lifted it about shoulder height to get it on the counter that I felt the pop--my abdominal muscle screamed and I recoiled. My manager was standing right there across from me and looked up at my cry of pain. He gave me this look that said 'You did not just hurt yourself you bitch.' I so did. I winced and took a few seconds to determine the level of injury. It didn't seem too bad, maybe I just pulled a muscle, but it was scary. I didn't have any time to spare, though, so I moved on.
The lady was watching and got rather upset when I told her I was pregnant, like omg why did you do that. Well I thought I could lift it ok? Geez. I made a mistake. So after close I finally finish her buy, and she has an absolute shitfit because it isn't anywhere near what she expected. It was nothing to sneeze at--over $50, but she was apparently expecting twice that. Lady, you crazy; you didn't even give me time to scan all your crap to see how much it sells for so I can make the most accurate offer possible. When I have to ballpark and GUESS because of time shortage, I estimate low--cause we lose money if I guess too high and we have a butt-ton of backstock right now. So I'm digressing but basically we got distracted trying to deal with her crap and when she refused the offer deciding she would rather give the books to Goodwill for free because we had insulted her so much she'd rather lose $50 than swallow her misplaced pride. Whatever, except that it's past 10 and the guys all had to load her shit back in her boxes and take them back to her car while listening to her bitch the whole bleeding time.
Obviously I couldn't help load her crap, so I spent that whole time cleaning up the store and counting down registers trying to help our poor shift leader who is still new to the position. I told my coworker Kris that my abdomen was still hurting, and he was like dude, you should file an accident report just in case. I cursed when I realized he was right and told the manager, who also cursed and promptly threatened to kill Kris for ever suggesting that to me. Reason being... it takes at least 15 minutes to do that, and we were already running very late. No one was going home on time. I even helped the boss type up my injury report, apologizing the whole way. I just figured, better safe than sorry. Most notable was the question asking, "Did the employee die? Check yes or no." So... no, I guess.
My coworkers were rightly worried about me that night, because my left abdominal muscle was still hurting when we finally left the store 15 minutes after we should have. However, the pain was gradually abating, I just wanted to make sure the baby was alright and it was only a pulled muscle. So when I got home I sat on the couch and held very still, putting my hands over my belly just kind of trying to determine if everything was ok in there. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I got... a little twitch, from the inside. I waited a bit, and felt another little twitch nearby, same kind of feeling. Then a 3rd, but not in a spasming or rhythmic way. BABY IS MOVING.
After a wash of relief baby is alright, I was thrilled to be able to say I can feel her kicking now. It wasn't common but it was still really cool. Next day, apparently everyone overheard the phone call from my shift leader to the store manager reporting the incident, so EVERYONE approached me when I came to work like "omg are you okay?" I was like how do you all know...? But suffice to say, I knew baby was fine because she's dancing inside me. Also, the pain faded in a matter of days, so I'm ok too.
As the last 2 weeks have passed, the sensations progressed from occasional twitches and reminders that she is still in there to frequent barrages of internal CQC warfare. Yes I'm exaggerating a little but NOT THAT MUCH. It's most noticeable now when I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep and Tanith is too busy practicing martial arts in the womb to hear my pleas to give it a rest, dammit. According to my doctor, who I saw again last week, walking and moving around at work can lull the baby to sleep while I'm active, so when I'm resting she gets bored and starts fiddling around. I'm told by friends who are mothers that it will only get worse, particularly when baby decides to firmly lodge foot into rib or bladder. I do not look forward to that day of reckoning, let me tell you--I will poke her back, I will declare martial law. I'm also told she can hear and recognize my voice and other sounds on the outside.
Just two or three days ago, while trying to sleep, I felt Tanith squirming around, and wondered if Martin would be able to feel it so he would know what I'm talking about. I put his hand on my belly where I felt her poking the most, but he just couldn't feel it. I asked if he had ever had the chance to feel his first child kicking in the mother's womb, but he hadn't (that lady was crazy, though, she went to the hospital every chance she got just for the attention). So after a few minutes we gave it up. The next morning, however, Tanith was really active, so we tried again. HE FELT IT. He felt her kicking lightly, moving around, it was so amazing. He smiled so big. It was the greatest feeling. My mom is thrilled, of course.
Tanith is dancing again even as I type this. I think of it as dancing, because I saw her move quite a bit in the last two ultrasounds, and she would NOT hold still, not even for a doppler--took a while to get her heartbeat. I had no idea babies moved that much in the womb, even at 16-17 weeks. I'm still in awe.
More to come.
~Infinity
So it started almost 2 weeks ago. It might have started even earlier, but I wasn't sure if it was just a random twitch or some kind of stomach churning issue. It wasn't anything regular. On June 3 the doctor asked if I felt any kicking yet, saying it might feel more like a flutter. I hadn't, then, but it was around the time the Nurture app on my phone is telling me even women on their first pregnancy start to notice movement. Ok, anytime, baby... still waiting...
So I pulled an abdominal muscle one night at work 2 weeks ago, and that's a bit of a story in and of itself, so it's under the cut below.
So I work at Half Price Books, and we buy back people's books for money, which sometimes doesn't work out the way anyone wants it to. We get some nasty boxes from garages that haven't been cleaned or touched in years, covered in roach poop or mold, smelling of cat pee, you name it. Well this particular evening, I was rushing because the lady had brought like 7 full boxes of kids and young adult books at 9:30pm expecting a substantial offer, and we close at 10. I wasn't even supposed to work the buy counter that night, but because I work the YA section and am familiar with what sells and what we have a ton of, I opted to switch with Kris and do the buy while he did any smaller buys and cleaning duties. We had to rush because 30 minutes is NOT enough time to sufficiently evaluate a large buy and try to get the store ready for closing when there are only 4 people working that night. So I'm standing there, big belly, trying to scoop handfuls of books from the boxes on the floor because I'm not supposed to lift heavy boxes anymore. Well, I found my limits. I had a box about 3/4 empty and decided it should be light enough now, so I picked it up from the floor. It wasn't till I lifted it about shoulder height to get it on the counter that I felt the pop--my abdominal muscle screamed and I recoiled. My manager was standing right there across from me and looked up at my cry of pain. He gave me this look that said 'You did not just hurt yourself you bitch.' I so did. I winced and took a few seconds to determine the level of injury. It didn't seem too bad, maybe I just pulled a muscle, but it was scary. I didn't have any time to spare, though, so I moved on.
The lady was watching and got rather upset when I told her I was pregnant, like omg why did you do that. Well I thought I could lift it ok? Geez. I made a mistake. So after close I finally finish her buy, and she has an absolute shitfit because it isn't anywhere near what she expected. It was nothing to sneeze at--over $50, but she was apparently expecting twice that. Lady, you crazy; you didn't even give me time to scan all your crap to see how much it sells for so I can make the most accurate offer possible. When I have to ballpark and GUESS because of time shortage, I estimate low--cause we lose money if I guess too high and we have a butt-ton of backstock right now. So I'm digressing but basically we got distracted trying to deal with her crap and when she refused the offer deciding she would rather give the books to Goodwill for free because we had insulted her so much she'd rather lose $50 than swallow her misplaced pride. Whatever, except that it's past 10 and the guys all had to load her shit back in her boxes and take them back to her car while listening to her bitch the whole bleeding time.
Obviously I couldn't help load her crap, so I spent that whole time cleaning up the store and counting down registers trying to help our poor shift leader who is still new to the position. I told my coworker Kris that my abdomen was still hurting, and he was like dude, you should file an accident report just in case. I cursed when I realized he was right and told the manager, who also cursed and promptly threatened to kill Kris for ever suggesting that to me. Reason being... it takes at least 15 minutes to do that, and we were already running very late. No one was going home on time. I even helped the boss type up my injury report, apologizing the whole way. I just figured, better safe than sorry. Most notable was the question asking, "Did the employee die? Check yes or no." So... no, I guess.
My coworkers were rightly worried about me that night, because my left abdominal muscle was still hurting when we finally left the store 15 minutes after we should have. However, the pain was gradually abating, I just wanted to make sure the baby was alright and it was only a pulled muscle. So when I got home I sat on the couch and held very still, putting my hands over my belly just kind of trying to determine if everything was ok in there. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I got... a little twitch, from the inside. I waited a bit, and felt another little twitch nearby, same kind of feeling. Then a 3rd, but not in a spasming or rhythmic way. BABY IS MOVING.
After a wash of relief baby is alright, I was thrilled to be able to say I can feel her kicking now. It wasn't common but it was still really cool. Next day, apparently everyone overheard the phone call from my shift leader to the store manager reporting the incident, so EVERYONE approached me when I came to work like "omg are you okay?" I was like how do you all know...? But suffice to say, I knew baby was fine because she's dancing inside me. Also, the pain faded in a matter of days, so I'm ok too.
As the last 2 weeks have passed, the sensations progressed from occasional twitches and reminders that she is still in there to frequent barrages of internal CQC warfare. Yes I'm exaggerating a little but NOT THAT MUCH. It's most noticeable now when I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep and Tanith is too busy practicing martial arts in the womb to hear my pleas to give it a rest, dammit. According to my doctor, who I saw again last week, walking and moving around at work can lull the baby to sleep while I'm active, so when I'm resting she gets bored and starts fiddling around. I'm told by friends who are mothers that it will only get worse, particularly when baby decides to firmly lodge foot into rib or bladder. I do not look forward to that day of reckoning, let me tell you--I will poke her back, I will declare martial law. I'm also told she can hear and recognize my voice and other sounds on the outside.
Just two or three days ago, while trying to sleep, I felt Tanith squirming around, and wondered if Martin would be able to feel it so he would know what I'm talking about. I put his hand on my belly where I felt her poking the most, but he just couldn't feel it. I asked if he had ever had the chance to feel his first child kicking in the mother's womb, but he hadn't (that lady was crazy, though, she went to the hospital every chance she got just for the attention). So after a few minutes we gave it up. The next morning, however, Tanith was really active, so we tried again. HE FELT IT. He felt her kicking lightly, moving around, it was so amazing. He smiled so big. It was the greatest feeling. My mom is thrilled, of course.
Tanith is dancing again even as I type this. I think of it as dancing, because I saw her move quite a bit in the last two ultrasounds, and she would NOT hold still, not even for a doppler--took a while to get her heartbeat. I had no idea babies moved that much in the womb, even at 16-17 weeks. I'm still in awe.
More to come.
~Infinity