Week 22: Where Nothing Much Happens, So I Get All Poetic

I have an anterior placenta at the moment. They tell me it can shift, and often does, before the final trimester. But for now, it's like a thick cushion between my baby and my belly. No 'flutterings' or 'sucker-punches' for me. I feel other things instead.

Pacman-speed zip-zapping. Thunder-cloud rumbles. Fizz-bubbles dancing to the surface. A drumroll. The quick up & down swoop of planes taking off without warning. Thumps like my heart's shifted base to my stomach, and is beating at double-time (well, actually, that's exactly what pregnancy feels like in general). Muffled but persistent knocks as the baby rams against me. It wants out! 

I feel life already, and a personality. But maybe I'm reading too much into this. This week, A was able to feel the baby for the first time - but he's still not absolutely sure he didn't just imagine it. There's a heady glee at being the only one to feel the baby, and curiosity to see what it looks like on the other side.

I've known this baby for all its life, but I don't really know it at all. I'm eager to be introduced, to introduce it to the world, and to introduce my world to it. To find out if it's a boy or a girl, so I can stop calling it 'it,' and start doing some real shopping. For the baby and for me. 

Surely I can't stay this size forever? A couple of door-to-door people came over, and asked if I was a student, and if my parents were home. I've teetered on the edge of a recognizable bump for ages now. The shop assistant made my day when he gestured, 'S?' But only an 'L' fits over my stomach, not to mention my chest.  Even if I still need to tell people I'm pregnant because they don't notice, I feel slightly out of breath all the time, and much bigger than before. My belly itches constantly - do stretch marks lurk underneath? Like a blown-up balloon, I'll only be able to tell when I deflate.

We 'inaugurated' the new house with a traditional housewarming ritual this week, but won't actually move in till the end of the month. The Festival of Lights is coming up, so it won't make sense to shift before that. In the meanwhile, we've been furniture shopping, both offline and online, and it's all starting to come together. I'm excited to see how it all looks!