Week 19 started at a low ebb feeling very icky and ill. 3 days into week 19 however I woke feeling a lot better than I had in months. This lasted Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Although I wasnt anywhere near 100% and hadnt tried to push myself to do anything, it was fantastic to not feel just about ready to barf all the time.
I dropped a line to some girls at work saying I hoped to be back when my sicknote expired on 26th of this month. The next day I decided I needed to slowly work my way up to getting back to work, so I sat upright on the laptop for about 3 hours in the afternoon as its much harder for me to sit up than lie down. That night the sickness returned in earnest and Ive been sick as a pig ever since. The effort of sitting up and trying to concentrate for too long a period of time was obviously too much too soon. So far I dont spend that long online as I know if I do, it'll come back to bite me on the backside. Im not out of bed until about 1:30pm every day as I dont sleep all night but doze all through the morning. I dread to think how bad it could be if I didn't rest as much as I've been doing. So back to lots of bed rest and sofa lounging. I've never been so bored in my life!!! Its looking ever more doubtful I'll get back to work as I decided to take my maternity leave as soon as possible and with a few days holiday im owed, that means I can go on maternity leave from the start of December. Given that its just over a month away, my liklihood of seeing work before the baby is born is very low. I found out yesterday on doing some research that I wont be entitled to statutory maternity pay either as the period they calculate it over is when Ive been off ill. I dont meet the 'Lower Earning Limit' of £97 a week where you pay NI so my workplace dont have to pay me a penny. This means I miss out on the 90% of my earnings for the first 6 weeks of maternity leave and I have to apply to the government for something called Maternity Allowance. In short my workplace dont have to pay me a penny. I bet they'll be delighted.
I went for my 20 week scan this week. I thought I was 19 weeks and 6 days but turns out Im 20 weeks and 1 day,so 2 days further on than I thought. It doesnt seem much but every day countdown to an end to this is something.
The scan was nerve racking. They didnt say anything while everything was measured. Lots of things were written down. I couldnt see the screen at this stage but Darren could see everything from where he was sitting and saw some really good pictures that I missed. He also could see very clearly it was a boy long before I found out. I think they should turn the screen either fully away so neither of us can see as it would've been nice to find that bit out together. There was lots of deep digging with the scan thingy which hurt like hell. I found myself wondering if it was hurting the baby as I wasnt having fun! They tried turning me onto my side to see the heart valves better but had no luck. She finally said they would need to brng me back for another scan as they couldnt see the heart valves due to the babys position.
When they finally turned the screen around to me he had turned his back and wouldnt budge. All the leg thrashing had stopped, typical! He moved his arm once when I was looking at the screen but all in all I couldnt help but feel I missed out a bit from the images I missed when the screen was turned away from me. I know the important thing is that all is ok, but after feeling this way for so long, I kind of needed the visual for a bit of a lift. I'm just hoping next time I get to see some movement or a side profile of his face.
They didnt give us any information or tell us anything at the scan which I found a bit wierd, other than to say they werent bringing me back as they had seen something to worry about but just because they couldnt see something. She said there wasnt anything wrong that she wasnt telling us about. I assumed from that all that she could see looked fine.
Then there was the scan photo.... Only our child. I think that made Darrens day as he giggled from the minute he saw it and all the way home.
So Im now 2 days into week 20 and feeling better than I had a couple of months ago but still got a long way to go. Im over halfway now though. The end is in sight where we can meet our little man. We've decided to wait until he's born to confirm a name as he may not suit names that we chose up to then, we have our favourite name though, which is Isaac James. :o)
Now I am starting on getting the little bits and pieces we're going to need. Ebay do brilliant bargains on cots and prams and other bits, so I'll be on there buying soon. Thankfully my mum sent us some money to get some of the bigger bits for the baby and shes already bought some things for us, without which I dont know what we'd have done. Its her only grandchild though with me being an only child so I think shes dead excited. No doubt he'll be all sorted for the essentials by christmas.
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