Weeks 23 & 24: Getting to V-Day

After a couple of months of taking it easy because my body refused to push itself, I'd forgotten what I was capable of. But now, my energy's back with a vengeance... long may it last.

I've been freelancing for about four clients at a time. I have to say, it's addictive. I didn't realize I missed work until I started doing it again. How weird is that? I'm the only person I know who goes off leave when I should be taking it. My contracts last until the end of the year, so we'll see how I feel then.

Additionally, I've been walking hard - enough to lose a bit of weight over the last month, despite eating so much over the festival season. This week, we took my mother in law to the clinic with us. I was due for a tetanus shot, and my parents + in-laws were oddly apprehensive. Even the nurse said, "This may hurt for a minute." 

I just looked at them incredulously, because, hello, labour pains coming up! I'm still not sure what the fuss was about, because the injection didn't hurt any more than usual (ie: not at all). As a bonus, I got it on my bum rather than on my arm, which is plentifully padded at the moment!

The best thing about my appointment was hearing that I most likely don't need to monitor my diet so carefully. We'll check again next month, but if my weight gain continues to be moderate with no sudden rushes, it seems unlikely that I'll be a candidate for gestational diabetes, despite the genetic disadvantage of my mum having Type II. 

The baby's kicking harder than ever - or maybe it's just bigger than ever. It adapted surprisingly well to Diwali - that's the festival in India with loud firecrackers going off pretty much non-stop for two to three days. I was expecting a lot of frenzied movement, but the baby serenely moved as much or as little as ever. I suppose it helps that we've been here since time its ear drums started to develop!

And somewhere in between all that, we got to Viability Week. People on the same due-date forums as me have started having babies already! While I certainly wouldn't want that for myself, it feels great to know that all of their babies are fighting hard, and looking good. Which just reinforces that technically, this baby's already as good as here. 

Despite that, my husband asked if I wanted to hang out over some beers last week, before realizing why that couldn't happen. So clearly this impending parenthood thing isn't really real yet :)