The innie is still holding out

Thought I'd share this photo of my poor innie that is almost becoming an outie tummy button! Isn't it odd? I have come this far without getting stretch marks though and I hope my poor skin can hold out over the next few weeks. My old belly piercing scar looks pretty weird, but I can live with that! I reckon my tummy looks like a big moon from this angle. It certainly feels like a BIG something.

In the last few days I have gone from feeling relatively normal to suddenly very pregnant, heavy and clumsy. The baby's head is engaged already - although hopefully it's not ready for departure just yet - and it makes quite a difference. I now need to go to the loo even more often than before, and it is harder to get up off the sofa, put on or take off my shoes, turn over in bed, or just sleep for that matter. I also found out last night walking home from a spontaneous dinner out at a yummy noodle cafe (making the most of these small freedoms while we still can), that when I'm walking, and have a full tummy, and a full bladder, I can't laugh very hard or I'll be in trouble. I held it in, no pants wetting moments yet, but close! To add to that joy I also suspect that the pressure I now feel in my whole pelvic floor region ALL THE TIME is going to cause all sorts of problems, perhaps those pregnancy hemorrhoids I've heard so much about are just around the corner? I hope I'm wrong, but something's got to give! I can't imagine what the pressure must be like when the baby's head comes down into the birth canal - it really doesn't bear thinking about.

I missed pregnancy yoga today as I was too busy eating cake and drinking tea and chatting with my ante natal group (and if I'm honest I was still recovering from last week and wasn't sure I could hold in the giggles). We ended up talking about all the delights of pregnancy, and somehow got to the many creative ways we now have of picking things up off the floor. My favoured method is to use my toes like a monkey. Otherwise it sort of relies on determination, grunting noises and a big effort from the thigh muscles since the tummy muscles that once helped with that sort of movement can't do anything anymore! It also, if we're honest, usually requires a bench or something with which to help pull yourself back up once you get down. Or of course, getting someone else to pick things up for you, or pick you up when you really get stuck. Though we all noted that we would still go to quite some lengths to avoid getting other people to pick things up for us, sort of a last bit of 'no I can do it by myself thank you, I'm pregnant, not stupid/disabled/incapable/helpless'. However I suspect that in another few weeks (or even days) I will take any help offered no matter how patronising it might once have seemed.

Hmmm, just thinking that it is lucky I issued a warning when I started this blog, as it really is all about pregnancy. I do think about other things, honest....