Linus’s Maternity Notes

Below is a summary of my maternity notes from my pregnancy, birth, and early days with Bug. I’ve included some of the interesting facts and figures as recorded by my midwife, plus the notes that I intermittently made myself.

Facts and Figures

My Notes

2 December 2005

Claire felt Bug kick (after investing about 1/2 an hour with her hand on my tummy!).

3 December 2005

Andi tried the same thing, but no luck. Bug must be shy, but not too shy – kicks me constantly!

19 December 2005

“BUG”. We came up with this (in-utero) name for a few different reasons because we needed a gender-neutral name for our little mystery. “Bug” was a nickname that we picked for Bob while we were on holiday in Kos (a Greek island) in 2003. We were there with “UK Bob” – our Kentish friend whose name is also “Bob Brown” – and I needed something to say to let them know which “Bob” I was after. UK Bob saw Bob playing with a bug, and “Bug” was born. We used it intermittently since then, but I found it very handy whenever I was with two Bobs! The second reason for the name was that my first trimester was accompanied by constant morning sickness and heartburn, so it only seemed natural to blame it on my tummy “Bug” :) And the third reason is that “Bug” is a cute word – “cute as a bug’s ear” and “snug as a bug in a rug” get bandied about quite a lot now.

I wonder if the nickname will hang around after Bug has a real name?

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Bug is destined to be quite the dancer if the amount of tap-dancing done on my cervix is anything to go by!

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Calling a baby – even an unborn one – “it” felt awkward to me, and I didn’t want to get into the habit of calling Bug “he” or “she”, so our solution has been alternating based on the date – on even days she’s a “she”, and on odd days he’s a “he”. It might feel a bit funny when he comes out and half our little dual-identity baby is poofed out of existence permanently, but from what I’ve heard it’s quite common to feel a slight loss when a womb baby turns into a real, live, flesh and blood and crying baby anyway, so I’m sure we’ll cope.

12 January 2006

Bob can hear Bug’s heartbeat now when he puts his ear to my tummy, which is cool. He taps me on the leg in time to the beat. I wish I could hear it!

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The other night Bug was “kicking” in an odd way – very rhythmic and regular. Bob was the one who worked out what it probably was: hiccups! I’d heard of people feeling these, but hadn’t realised what they’d feel like.

24 January 2006

Last Tuesday was my “date night” with Mum and Claire, and we discovered some things. I discovered that they think “Bug” means “Baby of Unknown Gender”, and they discovered that Bob and I have never heard that explanation (they assumed we made it up). It’s great! But we still haven’t the foggiest idea which creative genius is responsible for it. What a mystery!