The Bump

As my bump grows, so does its identity as a seperate individual. The Bump seems to have a life all of its own and it's rather bizarre walking around with it permanently attached to me. Firstly, it doesn't look like my belly anymore - it's all tight & round and even my belly button is this strange, oblong thing. People keep telling me I have a "lovely bump" and this last weekend a friend of mine couldn't keep her hands off it and kept rubbing it like it was Aladdin's lamp.

Don't get me wrong - I love my bump. I have looked forward to being pregnant for 34 years and I am fully enjoying every aspect of it, especially the bump. It just doesn't feel like it's a part of me anymore. If your backside grows, people don't suddenly start patting and rubbing it, but I am being touched on a daily basis since I started sprouting the bump. I do it myself too, I love stroking my bump, especially when the baby reacts to my touch. The bump has some kind of magnetic power.

On several occasions now, I have bumped into furniture with my rotund belly or tried to squeeze past something/someone and got stuck at tummy-height. It still amazes me that I have this enlarged body part, especially because it has grown relatively quickly. It's not often someone puts on that much weight in such a short space of time in one single area of their body.

Yesterday I went to see the midwife (everything was fine) and she tried to feel the size of the baby as I lay down. She couldn't get her hands around the baby because my belly was "too tight". I had to raise my knees, giving her more room to grope around the bump. She said afterwards that I have a very tight bump and very strong stomach muscles. I almost burst out laughing - my stomach? too tight?? It also pleased me inordinately and gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, I'll get some semblance of my old stomach back at some point. Not that I ever had a muscular, perfectly flat stomach, but I'm currently finding it hard to imagine I'll ever get my body back when I see the taught drum that is now my belly.

Time to rub my bump now...