The Bump

I really wish I had a "before" picture to put up. We have been taking a picture of me just about every day - one profile, one front view - to track the belly progress and make a neat-o stop-motion kind of movie once we become a threesome. But Jay has the early photos on his laptop and that's downtown in his studio and I want to post this stuff right now. I think you all pretty much know what I looked like before. I've looked the same for a few years now. So.

For a couple of weeks I've been feeling larger at night and thinner in the morning - a combination of bloating and gas at night would look like a baby bump, but it would be gone by morning. Which was good because it was not very comfortable - tight, even painful gas cramps. For the past few days, though, it hasn't gone away. I went to a conference in Washington, DC this past weekend and when I got back after three days away Jay thought I looked different. We both think I look different.

I'm just at ten weeks and either I have an unending bloated belly or I am beginning to show a little bumpage. I'm thinking it's the bump, especially since it's quite firm on the lower half and it doesn't feel as uncomfortable as it used to. Here is a picture we took this morning (not the most glamorous hair, but...). From the front, we don't think I look all that different.


















But then I turned to the side and I think we can all agree from these two photos that SOMETHING is definitely going on here:



Exciting stuff, right?

So tonight we're meeting one of our potential midwives for an interview. We're considering having the birth at home after working with both an OB and a midwife for dual prenatal care until June. We really like our OB, so we're fine with the noninterventionist hospital model of care, but a home birth would be really, really special if we can find someone with enough experience and with whom we click personally, ideologically, and emotionally. We have two interviews lined up this week, so I'll keep you posted.

For now, you can help out by reminding me that, while I might look like I am eating too many doughnuts, I am actually making a baby in there.