So I’ll take you through, starting from Monday (you’ll have to bear with me here)…
MONDAY 14th DECEMBER: The baby decided to play games with me and reverted back to flutters on Sunday and Monday. I may have been disappointed, but I have only had one flutter through the entire pregnancy, so being able to experience them throughout an entire day was great. However, this baby doesn’t seem to “flutter” like most babies. I got none of those feelings of butterflies or a feather on the inside of my belly, but just crazy vibrations instead. Like someone’s setting off a Bumble Ball in my belly…
It was interesting trying to find a picture of that on Google (using the phrase “vibrating ball toy”), I can tell you!
TUESDAY 15th DECEMBER: Tuesday was a great day, if you ignore the obstacles… Getting ready for work was pretty average, but as I got to work, Hubby texted me to tell me our boiler was stone cold. Here in the UK we’re in the middle of a cold snap, and it seems the house was already losing heat. I got on the phone to our letting agent and asked them to arrange a gas man to visit.
He explained to me that everyone was on a training course, and there was nobody around to help. He didn’t even offer to call the gas man himself. I called back in the afternoon, but nobody was answering.
But back to the good stuff… We had our work Christmas meal. As ever, we weren’t very productive in the morning, and headed out at 1pm to the restaurant across the street (the perks of working in the city centre). I treated myself to a glass of Champagne, and savoured the red pepper soup, squash and mushroom risotto and apple tart, before opening our Secret Santa presents.
It seems my powers of telepathy worked, since I got a massive bar of Toblerone (possibly the naughtiest chocolate in the world). Since we’re moving abroad, we’ve cancelled gifting this year amongst family. Anything we’re given we would have to find additional space for in the van, or end up parting with it within a matter of months. I was in two minds about my Secret Santa present, but I’m thrilled someone spotted my chocolate craving, because I have no doubt it will be gone by Christmas!
Granted, it wasn’t that big, since our budget was £5 ($8), but you get the idea. Besides, I don’t think you’d come out looking as slim as her after you’d polished off that bar!
When the meal was over we headed to the pub. Unfortunately the turnout wasn’t great, but it was a good laugh. Being pregnant, I was the sober one in the group, but my colleague made the most of it by getting completely sloshed and asking if I could walk her home at the end of the night. We only live about 200 metres apart, so it wasn’t a big deal. In fact it was actually quite funny as I directed her down the street, having to stop occasionally to let her write obscenities on people’s windscreens.
I’m not going to tell you what she wrote, but she was pretty embarrassed the next morning!
After I got home, I put my feet up (this is becoming a regular pattern, which is why I have stopped inviting people round to see our scummy home). Our house was now barely 14C (57F), and nothing had been done to fix our boiler. I covered myself in all the winter wear I could find that fit me, and covered each leg with a hot water bottle, since I’m not allowed to put them on my belly because of the risk of cooking the baby.
It was about 11pm when I felt the baby kicking again. I sat back, pressed my hand to my belly, and the baby kicked back on it! I never expected to feel it against my hand so soon after feeling the first kicks, and now I was suitably impressed by my little one’s abilities to throw two milestones into a period of four days. I was now aching for Hubby to get home and hoping the baby would put on a show for him too, but I felt nothing more for the rest of the night… or for the following day in fact.
WEDNESDAY 16th DECEMBER: We spent the night sleeping in 10C (50F), and I took it upon myself to go and kick some ass in person at the letting agent’s office. Turning up at 9am I have them a piece of my mind, flashing my puffed-out belly (because you have to exaggerate these things, don’t you) and showing them that I was “six months pregnant”. They offered no form of apology, and said I was 4th in line to have an engineer sent out. Apparently you don’t get any special treatment for being pregnant.
I spent all day hounding them on the phone, and eventually told them I’d booked my own engineer and would be charging them. Within the hour they called me back to say they were sending a rep to the house to “assess the problem”. When he turned up, Hubby realised he was simply one of the guys from the office, who proceeded to tap the boiler a few times and conclude “yeah, it’s not working, is it.”
Genius.
He then laughed and said off-hand to Hubby, “so your wife’s pregnant, is she?” I love Hubby for what he did then; he just gestured to our scan photos, which are tacked onto the fridge and simply replied, “yeah, she is actually.”
Serves him right for not believing me.
Miraculously, an engineer was with us within four hours, and our home was toasty once more. Good thing really, because I don’t think I could have managed another night in the cold.
FRIDAY 18th DECEMBER: I woke up this morning to a fine blanket of snow. How’s that for getting in the festive spirit. They say it could last until Christmas, and it would be our first white Christmas since the 1970s. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for more snow tonight, because Hubby and I both have a day off tomorrow, which means we can go outside and make snow angels!
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