Big

My stomach is now distinctly round, like an overturned calabash, smooth and taut. I’m starting to lose some of the view of what lies below. And in the past couple of days, I’ve felt my movement impaired for the first time. It’s suddenly hard to slither into the corner to plug the cord into the outlet by the floor. It feels a little uncomfortable when getting into the car. There is now something in the way – and it’s noticeable.

This morning I woke up to the noise of animals running frantically through the walls of my bedroom. I didn’t see them, but they are most undoubtedly there. At the same time, the fetus jumped about after hours of inactivity – lacking the rocking motion to fall back asleep. It felt like I was part of a Russian nesting doll – the baby inside of me, the room around me, the animals around the room and the house surrounding us all.

Despite all this, people still appear surprised to hear I am pregnant. Perhaps they just think me heavyset, shapely, Rubenesque? I have little choice of clothing – stuck with what I packed last week. But when I get home, I think it will be time to ditch the shyness and start wearing clothing that fits – and that announces a reason for my inability to move quite right.