18+4 An update

Apologies I haven’t updated for so long. I just moved house and didn’t
have internet access for a while. I just updated my notes.

Today I am 18 + 4 and I really start feeling pregnant (I guess it’s
about time…) My belly is massive and as I am not used to carrying so
much stomach (I’ve only put on 3.5kg though…) I feel like something is
pulling me forward all the time. I need to make a very conscious
effort to sit and stand up straight. The skin in my stomach feels as
if it is about to be pulled into pieces (no sign of stretch marks yet
– cross fingers!). I am no longer as tired (I even stayed up a few
nights until 11 and didn’t sleep at all during the day on the last
weekend) and also stopped being quite as hungry (even though I still
eat a lot more than I used to).

I am not sure if I feel the baby yet moving. Sometimes I think there
was something, but it is so light that I really don’t know for sure. I
had a few sharp pains in my lower belly recently (quite a few today)
as if I am pinched from inside. Not sure if that is a very naughty
baby or my ligaments stretching and uterus growing. As long as
everything is okay (which it seems to be) that’s fine.

I don’t get out of breath so much any more neither and make an effort
to move about a bit more. I take the lift up at work most of the time
but usually walk down the stairs again. On the weekend my husband and
I went for a walk along the canal for at least 30 minutes and I was
fine. I couldn’t walk as quickly as normally, but I wasn’t exhausted.
Certain things like bending down to plug in a power cable below my
desk – or more accurately getting up again afterwards – are becoming
difficult. And for the past 2 weeks I had to wear my blazers open
because the buttons no longer are of any use.

Tesco (our main supermarket) has a loyalty program and we always get
vouchers which can be exchanged for gifts or used as money off
vouchers during shopping. They currently have an offer where these
vouchers are double value, e.g. £5 buy you products for £10 in certain
departments including the baby & toddler department. I was going to
wait with baby shopping until we had the week 22 scan, but the offer
expires before then, so I’ll probably do some shopping on the weekend.

Last Friday I also had a bit of a scare. Well, a massive scare really.
I knew I had a problem with my alternator and had it in the garage
early in the week. They didn’t test it until late afternoon only to
find out that the battery was too low for them to do any tests, so
they wanted to charge it over night. With my husband on a business
trip that would have left me stranded and they didn’t have a courtesy
car. So they had to put a new battery in and I drove home. The car was
booked in for 1 ½ weeks later when they had a courtesy car as they’d
need it for 2 days and I depend on having a car. Unfortunately the new
battery without working alternator didn’t last that long. I went out
for lunch on Friday with a friend and on the middle of a really busy
roundabout the car (it’s an automatic, so it wasn’t my driving style…)
stuttered and nearly stopped and all kind of alarm signs started
flashing. I panicked and went on full throttle. By some miracle it
started up and brought me the ½ mile down to the pub were I was
meeting my friend. After a hurried lunch – of which I spent more time
talking to the garage than my friend – I went to drive back to have
another conversation with the garage to get my car seen to earlier.
But my car didn’t start. In addition my mobile phone played up and
went from 3 bars battery life to 1 bar and then off. I normally charge
it in the car but the car charger obviously didn’t work neither with a
flat battery.

I stopped my friend just before she drove off and she brought me back
to the office were I spoke to the garage. It proved a worthwhile call
because I didn’t realise that I still had Mercedes breakdown cover
which was going to supply me with a courtesy car whilst my normal
breakdown cover wouldn’t. A few hours later a colleague drove me back
to where I had abandoned my car and I waited for the service engineer.
He charged up my battery and followed me to the garage were the car is
now being repaired. Then he drove me home and next day I was able to
pick up a courtesy car. It’s not going to be a cheap repair and it is
frustrating. But what really worried me is that they even let me drive
in the car. The breakdown service engineer said that a battery without
working alternator only lasts about 25 – 30 miles, so it is a miracle
it lasted as long as it did and that was only because I drove very
careful and avoided the unnecessary use of any battery power. He said
the car could have stopped in the middle of a motorway at any speed.
That’s always scary, but in particular if you are 4 ½ months pregnant.