banana in my belly*

I can hear you from here:

As much as we love your cats, we want the GOODS! Tell us about being PREGNANT! You are surely keeping the real cat in the bag by not writing about that!

Welp, we had another midwife visit with Judy and her apprentice, Janelle, last Thursday.

They listened to my belly with the fetoscope, and. .. we got to hear that little person's heartbeat for the first time! Little but steady, it ka-thunk-ka-thunked from deep within.

Judy and Janelle. 

Be very very quiet.

Laughing as I hear my baby for the first time. 

I feel all kinds of movement these days inside my belly.  Fluttering and flopping, all pretty much from that left side.  Sometimes it reminds me of what it feels like when you first start down the big hill on a rollercoaster, only in a very isolated location in my belly.  We're about 21 weeks along by now (when you're pregnant, your time is measured in weeks) ~ more than half-way, and according to BabyCenter.com, if we took a look in there, we'd see a creature that is longer than a banana*, and looks like a tiny infant (as opposed to all its earlier manifestations).  Now it's time to grow.  

I have had strangers make reference to my condition (like the server at Chez Panisse asking if he could get me a non-alcoholic alternative to the aperitif), and I'm pretty sure I'm getting a warmer brand of smile from people on the streets very recently.  This bulky fuzzy sweater that I'm still wearing despite it being early June (fine weather we're having!) does a great job of adding size to my steadily-growing pot of a belly.  (Hunny pot.)  But mostly all the food I'm eating is what does that trick.  ;-)

Feeling pretty good right now, out of the first queasy phase, but not yet into the aches-and-pains-and-can-barely-walk phase.

Me and my first baby, just a coupla days ago.  

 

Mr. Sealion is a steady support for my ever-faceted emotionality, and a blessed worshipper-o-the-curves.  He deserves a medal.         

my hero.