33.5 weeks

My "blessed state” (not sure if you say this in English, but it’s for sure a synonym to pregnancy in Swedish - ett välsignat tillstånd - a very apt name for it, once experienced!) has been going very well, all along, albeit with some side effects that are rather common... Today, I am very very tired. Hot flashes and out of breath. Since I wrote last time, the kicks and moving around has become more pronounced (and mostly I LOVE it, except for occasional movements to nerves which hurt... but it’s not often!). I’m supposed to keep count in 2 hr intervals, once per day, to make sure there’s more than 6 movements within that time range. That hasn’t been necessary...

So, anyway, I thought I’d write down some fun observations along the way, so that I don’t forget it.
Trimester 1: Nausea (not bad, just in the afternoons, and evenings if not eating at exact times) and no throwing up - at all! I think I was very lucky, having conversed with others. The interesting sensation of being happy when nauseous, since it meant that all was going well, and being all worried when feeling well, in case something was wrong. Tiredness galore. Wow. Our walks became slower and slower, with lots of stops.
Appetite: Only mediterranean food seemed to make me interested, as well as cheese, loads of fruit and veggies and generally healthy stuff. I didn’t mind.
Craving: Orange juice. And apples.
Strangest thing: The chocaholic (well, moderately so, and only for very high quality stuff) completely lost all interest in chocolate. Weirdest feeling in the world. I even forced myself to try some, and my senses weren’t impressed at all! Liquorice (the real, black, salty Dutch and Swedish stuff) was however incredibly awesome (even more than usual), and seemed to help with nausea.

Trimester 2: Oh, this was nice. Energy back, things almost normal, except the appetites and cravings, which remained. And the acid reflux (heartburn), which I’ve always “enjoyed” to some extent, came back with a vengeance, and just got worse and worse. Luckily there’s medication. Most wonderful thing of all: movements starting in week 17 (first time that I was sure was real, was in the celestial room of the temple - that was incredible...), and could be felt from the outside from week 20.

And Trimester 3: Not much change really, more than always thinking that the belly "can’t possibly get bigger than it already is???”, and a subtle increase in tiredness, together with a much less subtle increase in acid reflux... So far no swellings of ankles or anything like that. More appetite, which is treacherous, since too big portions bring the heartburn. So instead one has to eat often... Chocolate is yummy again btw. The rest is about the same. Orange juice is still divine. And apples! Not to mention kiwis... A little known fact is that they help with constipation. I’ve never had so many kiwis in my life...
A beautiful feeling of connectedness with this little person inside. Before, it was unreal. Now it’s very real, and even though the entire process still feels like incredible science fiction, it feels REAL! I don’t worry as much as I did in the beginning, and I just love it. I also love the fact that I’ve reached the state where I’m not (very) worried about the delivery anymore. It seems to be directly correlated with the amount of discomfort one experiences, which is rather practical, I suppose...

What an incredible adventure! It really is the biggest adventure of my life. Anything can still happen, but being the direct observer of this process, experiencing the body changing so much, and how it all works, it’s just fantastic.

Unexpectedly strong kicks

Ooooh, I have so much to write, to tell, to describe... But no time, so here’s a little peak into current events:
Today I got a HUGE kick to my stomach... (and a lot of smaller ones). From the inside... I held my hand over the stomach at the time, and I could feel it strongly from the outside as well! What a little kicker (kicker = frog in Dutch btw), I’m so happy that he seems so strong! :) What an incredible feeling that is... The first months, I was wondering so much how it would feel, and now I know. And it feels like communication, from this little soul I’m carrying, and I just cannot for my life put into words how incredible that feels. It’s sci-fi. Miraculous. Fantastic.

David is currently flying home from Las Vegas in his B767. He emailed and said they were grounded for a while, even though they were ready to take off, because Obama had just landed at the airport...

I’m not done my paper... I’m working on it, but I wouldn’t call it full time. It better be done before Christmas.

And it was cold today. -8 most of the day. But it’s going up to +14 on Monday. Would be nice, not particularly fond of the snow and ice lying around (even though the layer is about 100 times less than what Buffalo and area are experiencing!)

Spring!!!??

The snow is finally melting away!!!!!! I’m celebrating this with a bout of bronchitis...

Chopin prelude #20 + Kung Fu Panda

Jag bara älskar den här:

Speciellt när jag upptäckte att den klassiska biten de har kombinerat musiken med är samma musik som fick mig att rysa så mkt när jag var liten och blev överfallen av mumier och onda fåglar i Ghosts ’n Goblins på C64:an :)

anonymitetens frihet...

I decided to change back to not have my blogger connected to my google+. Not that I’m writing about any state secrets, but for some reason it’s so much easier to write as Lunicrax than as myself. Anyone who reads this likely knows me anyway and who I am. 

While waiting for my diary to arrive in the mail (I ordered an amazing one from amazon) for the new year, I decided to revive this place a bit. As I mentioned in one of the two entries from last year, I don’t lack things to write about. I just never do it. 

Tidbits:

- My PR card renewal arrived today! Normal processing time: 3 months. My processing time: 8 months. Not because of my dubious background or anything like that, but because the first card got lost in the mail. Following protocal, I had to sign a “solemn declaration” of not having received it, and wait for another 3 months until my solemn declaration wormed its way from the bottom of the pile to the top. Previous wait notwithstanding. Sigh. But today, finally, I’m free to return to this country if I go abroad again. Rumour (friends with contacts at border crossings) has it I would have been let in eventually anyway, but likely not in a short time. 

- The sand I spread out on our massively iced over parking at the side of the house mysteriously disappeared, and I slipped and fell for the 2nd day in a row. Impressive feat, considering I was already very carefully crawling along on all four. Getting tired of the ice. But, happy as long as there is no snow. Meanwhile in sweden, I saw some extremely happy words from someone inland who saw snow flakes for the first time this (and last) year. They are enjoying an incredibly warm, wet and dark winter. Not sure what I prefer. Probably this. 

If anyone still has this in their feed, please kick on me to get some photos ready.