#33 Another Week

I never had time to write yesterday as Greg and I decided to go out. We slept in late and then Greg finished putting up this nice bookshelf he had made. It looks quite nice, but we haven’t put any books on the bottom shelf because Jay is at the perfect height to pull them off and tear out the pages when he is in his walker.

It was a really hot day again and we took a walk in the park, down past the Art Museum and even further where all these beautiful European style restaurants are. It was past 3pm when we left home and we hadn’t had lunch so we found this really nice restaurant and had a dinner there. The waiter must have thought Jay was much older than he is because he brought him his own plastic bowl, fork, spoon and even a little cup full of water. Jay likes drinking from our cups, but he would spill everywhere if we let him drink on his own. He’s only now learning how to use a sippy cup. The waiter even brought him his own creme’ brulee dessert at the end of the meal and actually put it down in front of him on the high chair. I had to take it away quickly before it ended up on the floor. I did let him try a little, but he is way too young to handle a whole lot. Actually, a lot of people think Jay is older than he is. Maybe it’s because he is quite tall and has a lot of hair. I’ve seen some other babies and judged them to be way younger only to find out that they’re actually older.

Anyway, after we got home Greg had some other things to do so I watched Jay. He is so active now that you can hardly leave him alone for a minute (unless he is in the jumperoo). Even in the walker he looks for trouble! He goes for all the things we don’t want him to touch and the only way to divert his attention is to hand him a broom, a dustpan, a mop or a feather duster (my little cleaner!). Then he is happy until he drops it and goes in search of mischief again. He is so fast in that thing, too, and charges up and down the passage and races after the dogs who scramble to get out of the way.

He “crawls” super fast, too, and although it’s still low down I have noticed him get up on his hands and knees a few times. He can also go from lying down to sitting and as I mentioned last time, pulls himself up on everything. If one side of the crib is down, he’ll grab on, pull himself up and then actually climb up off the floor so his feet are on the bar. I need to watch him like a hawk. Today after lunch with Annie we took a walk to Baskin Robins and sat outside on the patio. Jay enjoyed climbing up the bars and Greg let go for a few seconds (but with his arms right there) just to show us how he can hold on and how much he loves climbing.

Now at night when he is on the bed with me playing with his toys, there comes a point when he gets tired and then he’ll crawl to me and climb up onto my lap so I can hold him and rock him back and forth. Then he goes right to sleep. When he wakes up he is full of beans. Usually when he wakes up in the morning, Greg is already at work so Saturday mornings are novel to him and Daddy’s hair gets pulled, his cheeks get pinched, his ears get pulled and fingers get stuffed into his mouth and up his nose.

Oh, the other day Luca came to visit the baby room. Jay was studying her paws and nails. The next minute, quick as lightning, before I could stop it, he’d put her paw in his mouth! Gross! And how do you rinse a baby’s mouth out when they don’t know how to spit when you say so? Not easily, I tell you.

At the moment he loves, loves, loves the sound of his own voice and he shouts in this booming voice “Aaa yaaa yaaa da da da ba ba ba ya…” Greg says that sometimes when he walks the dogs at night he can hear Jay shouting from downstairs.

So, as I mentioned in my last email, I went to the doctor on Thursday and although the baby is fine and growing normally (still about a week big), I have a new worry the doctor said there was oedemous change in the placenta (which I guess is like some swelling due to fluid retention). He couldn’t give me a cause, but put me on progesterone again and said we’d keep an eye on it. I just wish everything would be simple. I’ve been much better this week in terms of morning sickness, although I do still puke now and then and find the nights particularly hard. It’s so random though – one day will be really good and the very next I’ll feel nauseas all day and end up puking a few times that night. I’ve also woken up during the night a couple of times this week to puke which I hate! But on the whole it does seem to be improving and we have moved forward from when I was puking between 5 and 10 times a day. I’m sure the HG has actually been worse this time around.

I must say that despite hearing that everything wasn’t 100% with me, I was so, so relieved when I saw the baby’s heart beat after the fall I took last week Sunday. I never fell on my belly – I landed on my hands and hip, but it still managed to worry me all week. I asked the doctor if the fall could have caused the oedema, but he said no. We were crossing the road and while we were crossing, the light changed form green to orange and this car was waiting and started inching forward. I guess I hurried and tripped and then fell. It was quite sore, but I was more embarrassed and worried that I may have hurt the baby somehow.

It’s still a bit too early to feel regular movement, but I do feel something now and then and have felt a few strong kicks at times, especially when I’m bending over or sitting down and reaching for something. Suddenly I’ll get this really sharp kick that almost hurts! I think the baby is saying, “Hey, you’re cramping my style in here. Take that!” When I went to the doctor on Thursday he tried really hard to see if it’s a boy or girl, but the legs were tightly shut and the baby was in breech position which made it even more difficult. I really hope I find out this week because I want to know!

Lots of love

Em x

(snippets from March 2010)