¡Feliz Día Papá!

In honor of Father's Day (better late than never, right?), or Día del Padre aquí en Colombia, Peanut proffers praise photographically (why, oh why does that "p" have to sound like an "f"?)...

Pictures of Papi and Peanut: 

Presenting a panorama of precious parenting practically pouring with passion and pizazz. Please pause to partake of the picture parade para a particularly precious person, pastor and parent we call Papi.
 

¡Feliz Día Papá! from Richard Williams on Vimeo.

2 Kg in 2 Weeks...Do Not Try this at Home

I am officially no longer worried about Peanut's weight gain.  

For the first 7 1/2 months I had a pretty low-key belly.  Through at least 6 1/2 months it often depended on what I was wearing as to whether folks even thought I had anything going on around there or not.  This was not good news for bus rides, but otherwise I just took it as par for the course for me.  I was a little worried because all the books say that you should gain around 25 lbs over the course of your pregnancy (more or less, of course), and they spoke of 2 lbs a month (with extra toward the end).  

I recognize now that this was perhaps a mere mathematical trick, trying to make it seem like there was a logical progression to this whole pregnancy gig.  Still, I was nervous because having started out at about 62 kg, I was only at 68 kg even just two weeks ago.  I must say that until I was all preoccupied with my weight gain, kilograms had virtually no meaning to me.  All I knew is that everything sounds heavier in kilos, no matter what.  I now know that a kg is approximately 2.2 lbs, so having gained only 6 of them for a whopping 13 pounds in basically 8 months was a little unnerving.  After all, how was I going to be anywhere near 25 recommended pounds in just another month?

Well, Peanut has the last laugh. 

Yesterday I went to the OB's office basically two weeks after my last appointment.  I stepped on the scale, and BAM!  70 kilograms.  Holy cramoley.  I gained 2 whole kilos in just 2 weeks.  Given that it took me 8 months to gain 6...let's just say Peanut is not to be underestimated.  Onward and outward!

Battle of the Barrigas

A couple of weeks ago we documented our epic battle.

First we turned to the judges (okay the camera).

Then we "faced off."  May the best barriga win.

And while Peanut and I put up a good fight; he still won.

...but we are gaining on him. 

 (Nota importante: Richard is seriously puffing out his belly here people.  

Besides, biggest isn't always best, right fellas?) 

Barriga Benefits

In Colombia one's belly is called your "barriga" (bah-REE-gah).  Some days I get asked how the baby is doing (a question I rarely know how to answer), but other days I just get comments on how my barriga is growing.  There still isn't a lot to look at.  I continue to wait for the day in which it will "pop" because most folks do not believe that I am five and a half months pregnant right now.  I keep assuring them that the sonogram has clearly shown two arms, two legs, a head - generally all the right parts - but they still look at me a little sideways and wonder whether I really know how to count.

However, I definitely do have a slightly more noticeable belly than before (though one that many in the States would still fear to take note of on the off-chance I am not actually pregnant), and having that belly clearly has its benefits.  Here, with no trouble at all, I can skip metal detectors (at the airport for instance) with one word "embarazada" (em-bar-ah-SAH-dah - or pregnant).  Two days ago in Bogotá I needed to use the restroom in a bookstore that has staff-only bathrooms.  However after asking a clerk and motioning ever so slightly to the barriga, I got a quick nod as she scurried off for the key.  If I am tired, I get an automatic get-out-of-whatever-free card, and if there is an extra serving of just about anything then it is offered to me first (like it...or not...).

Though nothing to shout about, we will now offer you what you have been clambering for...belly shots. 

From Collages

Happy now?  :)

A Kick or Not a Kick, That is the Question

In theory I am at the point where I can feel Peanut start to move around and kick.  In reality, I'm not sure if I have yet or not.  The books and websites all say that the initial movements are sometimes hard to distinguish (especially in your first pregnancy), but that it can feel like butterflies in your tummy or popcorn popping or a goldfish swimming around.  I personally don't like thinking about Peanut the goldfish, but anyway...

Right now in the evenings I sometimes think I feel some bumping around in my belly, but because I am trying so hard to figure out whether it is real or just gas (attractive, I know) I have trouble deciding if I am just making it all up.  I know that soon enough I will feel something that makes it very clear, but until then you can tell when I am trying to determine what is going on because this totally engrossed but confused look comes over my face.  Some of you will argue that expression is not so uncommon as to be helpful, but whatever.

The reality is, for me at least, markers of progress are really important.  It is such a completely bizarre thing to imagine that there is something else living inside of you (sounds too much like Sigourney Weaver and Aliens...) that sometimes it is just too hard to believe.  Your first sign, of course, is that your period stops.  After that though, it is amazing how quickly you can doubt whether the little stick you tinkled on told you the truth or not.  You don't look different, you don't feel different, and the whole thing really does seem a little science fiction, come down to it.

So to some degree I was relieved to have a little morning sickness.  It was another marker - a way to know things are on track.  Let's be clear that the relief one feels at the next step taken is quickly triumphed by the prayer that the nausea end, and fast, but (for me) there was at least a moment of comfort in the midst of the uneasy queasies.

But now that has passed (thanks be to God), and my belly is not really a full-on "I'm pregnant, get out of my way" belly as of yet.  It can still be confused for my own gordita (little fattiness, see previous post), so again you start to wonder...is there really something in there?  It sounds silly, I know, but it is amazing how fast your brain can deny all the ultrasounds and doctor's appointments and wonder if this can all possibly be true.  Which means, I look forward to the kicks.  At least for the first few days - until I want to get some sleep and Peanut is up for jazzercise.  My enthusiasm may dampen a little then, but hey, it can't be worse than worshiping the porcelain god was...right?  (Right?)

¡Hola Bebé!

I always heard about pregnant women in the United States who had folks they did not even know come up to them asking (or not asking) to pat their stomachs.  I always thought, "How can someone think that is okay?" and "Don't people have any  boundaries?  I mean geesh...."  According to a friend of mine in the States, when men come up to her and touch her belly, she just reaches out and touches theirs in the same way and that pretty much ends that.

Well...wouldn't work here.

At 18 weeks I don't really even look all that pregnant most days, and I am still wearing my regular clothes (which were a little bit big after I lost some weight in my first few months), but that doesn't stop folks here from patting my belly and greeting Peanut with a rousing "¡Hola Bebé!".  Because I do not really show yet, so far these are all people I know, but I don't know whether it will stay that way or not.  I doubt I will cotton to having an ear to my belly (which I get now), but I may have to answer more questions like the one I got today - "That's the baby, right?  Or is that just your belly fat?"  Nice...

Surprisingly all this has not really bothered me.  Taken me off guard?  Yes.  But I think it is probably helping keep all this real for me.  Since the nausea has passed (thanks be to God) and the kicking hasn't really begun, sometimes I wonder myself if the pooch on my belly is really a baby or if it is just my belly fat.  The greetings are kind of nice in a way, and it is just what happens here.  I walk in a room and I get greeted twice.  I get a kiss on my cheek (regular greeting) with a simultaneous rub on my belly (special for Peanut).  And everyone asks how we are doing.

Funniest perhaps is Señor Antonio, the head of the organization ANDESCOL (Association of Displaced People of Colombia) in the Department of Atlántico (the state in which Barranquilla is located).  Every time he sees me he asks how Peanut and I are doing, but every time he says Richard he says, "Uh huh, and Richard, are you taking care of them?"  And God forbid if Richard isn't around when he comes by because that means the next time he is going to get it from Antonio - wanting to know where he was and why he was not helping out with Mamie and the bebé.

At any rate, we are blessed to have so many people concerned for us, and I am grateful that Peanut is bound to have a village and a half to take care of him/her.  In fact, I think I am clearer here than I would be anywhere that I am merely a steward of the Peanut, because he/she will belong to everyone here and just hang out in our house I think.  And actually, I'm good with that.