Bump Watch

One of the things my mother-in-law like to chat about is celebrity gossip and tabloid news. We love to scoff at the celebrity "bump watching" in trashy magazines, where if Angelina Jolie so much as eats a meal she is put on pregnancy red alert. Where any famous belly that is not rock hard and flat is feverishly dubbed a baby bump.

Now, though, my mother-in-law has been on Bump Watch with me. Every time she has seen me she's been checking me out to see if I'm showing yet... finally yesterday she declared she could see a bump! Which was kind of amazing considering the loose top I was wearing. But I am usually a pretty skinny girl, so maybe I just don't realize how obvious the transformation has been.

So, when we were there yesterday I went to use the bathroom and as I was trying to rearrange my belly band, I got a look at my bare belly in the bathroom mirror, which was much better lit than the mirror in my bedroom. Suddenly I could see a clearly defined bump! The bloat has gone down, my hip bones have reappeared, and right between my hips is a little round baby bump. Amazing!

When I came out of the bathroom, my husband and his mom were chatting together but clammed up when I entered the room. I looked at them and said, "What?" Mr. Ibis stared at me and then said, "Do you think you have a bump yet?" I said yes I guess I did, and only then would he say, "I think you do too." I had to laugh inwardly, because for weeks he's been saying I was showing, only to hear me stubbornly protest that it was all bloat, it was my guts, just gas and intestines. I thought he believed me but maybe he thought I was just in denial, haha. It's definitely different-looking now, though. And exciting!

I'm not going to make a habit of this (bare belly shots), but I just have to post a pic of the bump... it would be better if I had a "before" picture, but here you go: