Monday 9 January 2012

A look through The Jelly Window.

After the Meatfest that was Christmas 2011, The Wig and I have decided to be Semi-Vegetarians. I don't think 'Semi-Vegatarian' is an actual dietary term but what it means, in our house at least, is meat maybe once a week rather than almost every day. Not only do we think this will be better for our health, it will also be a lot cheaper. So far we have eaten some really delicious food and not missed meat at all. However, we did succumb to a delicious roast dinner yesterday when we visited The Wig's parents in Sussex.





We took his folks to The Bolney Stage, a pub that serves food in the village of Bolney, Sussex. It was quite off the beaten track which made it a nice change from hectic Hackney. The building dates from the 1500's and is a chock full of old beams and period features such as a huge open fireplace that divides the bar from one of the dining rooms. It was absolutely packed for Sunday lunch (a great sign) so I would suggest booking ahead if you were thinking of going. The staff were very friendly although perhaps run a bit ragged by the amount of customers they had (we had to ask to order our mains and then again for desserts) but that would be my only criticism. And I always have to have at least one.

The pictures I took were so awful I have decided not to post them as I fear they may have put The Bolney Stage out of business, which it does not deserve. The food was delicious. I had the roast beef followed by the sticky toffee pudding then felt fit to burst all the way home. Not a particularly pleasant  feeling but well worth the pain. I would rate The Bolney Stage a respectable 8 Yorkshire Puddings out of a possible 10. Definitely worth a visit.

Then this morning we had our second scan at the hospital, or a look through the 'Jelly Window' as we like to call it. With the first scan 2 months ago, I was so happy/relieved/shocked that it was an actual baby and not just a blow off that I didn't really think too much about the consequences of what we were looking at, but today I think I was a bit more anxious. We've definitely got used to the idea of our new life now whereas at the start I think we were trying to be quite cautious and not get too carried away with the idea.

Today was the Anomaly Scan which checks in more detail that all the babies internal organs are ok and its measurements are as they should be at this stage. Thankfully, everything looks tickety boo which is super news. Because its a more detailed poke around we had 20 minutes with the Sonographer as opposed to the 5 minutes we had previously, and it was so interesting! Most of the things on the screen looked like blobs to me but the Sonographer pointed out exactly what everything was, "that's its kidney's and its heart valves, and that's its nostrils and its lips etc etc". Fascinating, although it does feel a bit mean spying on the poor thing without it knowing. I hope it will not be too annoyed when it grows up. What an invasion of privacy!

The baby was not in a great position for having it's picture taken so we tried (and failed) to move it into a better position. At first the Sonographer tried moving it around from the outside with the jelly prober, then I had to lay on my side to try and wiggle it to a better position. When neither of those things worked I had to jump up and down and attempt to touch my toes (impossible). I have a feeling this is just the start of a very long line of undignified/humiliating things I will be asked to do over the next few months.

It's at this point during the pregnancy that you can find out if you will be having a blue one or a pink one and despite being adamant that we didn't want to know we very nearly cracked this morning and asked to find out. For us, there isn't any need to know the sex particularly since we wont be painting a nursery yet, (it doesn't have a nursery yet poor little thing), so I think its just pure curiosity/nosiness.  As long as its healthy and happy and doesn't kill me on exit I don't mind what we have. My friend told me recently that she knew someone who freaked out when she found out she was having a boy. Apparently she had to have counselling until the baby was born to get over the trauma of discovering there was a tiny penis growing inside her. Its reassuring to know that whatever happens, I know I'm not that bonkers.

On that note, here is an amazing link that my older brother sent me about conception to birth. If a baby carried on growing until birth at the rate it does in the first few weeks of life, it would be born weighting 1.5 tonnes. OUCH. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the link:

Conception to Birth vizualization


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