Thursday 29 March 2012

Truly Blessed – 20 Weeks, 1 Day

Today was our 20 week scan. The scan was booked for 2.15pm. We both had work in the morning so it went very quickly and was nice to keep busy. We then had the afternoon off work as we weren’t sure how long we’d be – last time we were waiting quite a while.

As it happened, we didn’t have to wait long, probably about half an hour max.

I lay down on the bed and get comfortable as the sonographer prepares me and I have my belly button panic. I told her I have a fear about my belly button and she thought I meant seeing it so said “don’t worry, its dark” – the thought ran through my head that surely that was worse then realised she didn’t know what I meant so told her NO, of her touching it. She said she would try not to but might have to we would have to see…eek! After that initial panic, then there is that anxious wait as she puts the probey thing on my tummy for those words “and there’s the heartbeat” and then I inwardly sigh and start to relax.

She was very thorough and spent quite a while going through the body pointing out various body parts and organs and all the measurements they look for, showing the lips to check for cleft pallet, the four chambers of the heart and the valves that take the blood out. I’m amazed, firstly at the wonder of technology and secondly that she can make sense of the fuzziness that is presented to her on the screen in such detail – to me, much of it looks like static! “There’s the stomach, kidneys are there”…er, yeah, of course there is Confused smile.

Thankfully, the head size was average \o/ and all measurements were good. She had no concerns which was a huge relief. She was very matter of fact going through everything we were looking at so I nearly missed it when she pointed out the stripy bit, which showed three white lines, which showed the three bones (my heart skips a beat) that tells us its a girl!

Wait a minute…she said a GIRL!

I look at Stuart and he reaches out for my hand and a tear flows down my cheek. I try my hardest not to crack up and I just about hold it together so hopefully the sonographer doesn’t notice.

She also said my placenta was good and Anterior which is good – I had heard that this may mean you don’t feel baby moving so strongly and she agreed because apparently the placenta acts like a cushion between baby and me. I regularly still feel baby wiggle (like now on my placenta) but I guess it may be a bit longer before Stuart feels the kicks on the outside.

Unfortunately, she was being a little pickle (the baby, not the sonographer) and wouldn’t, as the sonographer put it, pose for photos so I was sent to enter my bladder. She did wiggle around a bit as a result but still not enough to take any amazing photos but we got 6 OK ones.

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After all was done, notes updated and photos received, Stuart told me he’d asked her how certain she was we were having a girl. She said you could never be absolutely certain (which we knew) but that she was 98% sure. Up until this point, I was keeping a little bit of me prepared that there was still a real chance that we could still be having a boy. Of course, there is still a 2% chance and that is still a chance but 2% I’m liking the odds that we will, indeed, have a little girl.

Yay! Girly clothes shopping here I come!!! *Does a little dance*. To say I’m over the moon that it looks like we are having a healthy baby goes without saying – that we are having a healthy girl….that’s just the icing, cherry and sprinkles on the cake!

Finally – here are my most recent (19 Weeks, 6 Days) bump photos:

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Tuesday 27 March 2012

Still in Denial - 19 Weeks, 6 Days

The time is really starting to fly now, at last. However I’m still in an element of denial. Even with the baby now moving regularly – getting stronger but still not noticeable externally (i.e. Stuart can’t feel it) – I still don’t quite believe I’m pregnant. I guess more so now that I’ve finally got my energy back and I feel much more like me…apart from my inability to bend in the middle! Didn’t like that other body invader that brought with it the bouts of the blues…the sickness I could just about cope with but feeling down really isn’t me!

My bump is sprouting rapidly but I look in the mirror and don’t recognise myself. Sometimes my bump is hard and looks every bit the baby bump it is but other times (I guess when baby sits back a bit) it is soft again and I still look oddly fat – oddly as in I’m a weird shape for an overweight person with all the weight up front.

I was pleased though when someone took the plunge today and chanced saying “and I see another one is on he way”. Must have been looking more bumpy than a tubby odd ball!

Maybe after Thursday it will feel a bit more real! We have our 20 week scan. I’m a little nervous to tell you the truth – primarily, as always, about whether everything is ok but also because we hope to find out the sex. I don’t know why this makes me nervous.

Having just done my dowsing crystal to try to predict sex of the baby it started off saying boy to begin with with a gentle sway but then turned strongly to a girl. I guess we shall have to wait and see…

Callum is still being cute where the baby is concerned. Lots of “Hello Baby” and kisses and cuddles. He actually says “I want to cuddle the baby”. He has also started a cheeky way of trying to stretch out bedtime and get a repeat of his bedtime story. When calls of “again” aren’t successful he says “baby read it”. How can I refuse? It makes for a boring story, however, as you have to listen very very carefully to hear baby read it – I basically turn the pages in front of my bump without saying anything.

He he – cruel mummy!

Sunday 4 March 2012

Monkeymoo, Wigglywoo & Fattybumbum–16 Weeks, 4 Days

So, Monkeymoo is Callum. Just a quick update really as I’m pleased to say, there’s not much to report…which is good news where Callum’s concerned! After the strained times of not so long ago when he really was being a little monkey (can think of a few other words for his behaviour too but I’ll refrain), I can safely say he is back to his usual good self with just the occasional monkey behaviour.

He is still swimming and loving it. I’m noticing small improvements each week – not ground breaking but all going in the right direction. He is great underwater but still not very good at propelling himself forward.

We’ve had a couple of lovely days on the beach now that we are starting to get a few more sunny days. Even when it was only 4 degrees the other week we were on the beach enjoying the sunshine making sandcastles!

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Wigglywoo – that’d be the belly invader! I had my 16 week midwife appointment on Friday. I’m pleased to report my blood pressure was normal. So delighted about that as that was one of my ‘issues’ when pregnant with Callum and why I was induced rather than allow me to progress naturally when my waters broke at 36 weeks. Also, we got to hear the heartbeat – and it kept having a wiggle while listening. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean I’m feeling movements yet. The MW kept asking if I felt it as it wiggled but I didn’t feel a thing.

I had a list of questions to ask her but it was a mental list so some of them were forgot but I did get most of them in.

I asked if she knew of any antenatal refresher classes. We have enquired with the NCT as they have a refresher course on 21 July but being as it is only 3.5 weeks before my due date, which was when Callum arrived, I’m a bit nervous about booking it if we are unlikely to get our money back if it happens again and we don’t get to go.

She wasn’t confident but she gave me the details of a lady that runs the normal antenatal classes.

I think we’ll probably end up chancing the NCT course.

I then asked her about antenatal (or is it prenatal, I get confused) pilates and she wasn’t aware or any – just lots of exercise classes for post birth which I knew about.

Next was the birth plan stuff, I know its a bit early but its on my mind. Despite the circumstances of Callum’s birth, with waters breaking early and my BP being high resulting in me being induced, there were elements I would like to repeat if necessary this time round.

I was induced with the syntocin (?) drip rather than the pessary induction method. I’ve heard lots of bad stories of people being induced several times and it not ‘taking’ or them being in labour for days. Considering my labour was less than 9 hours from induction starting to birth, I was keen to go straight to that method and asked about the likelihood of that being possible but unfortunately it is down to the circumstances and how dilated I’d be.

I am aware that not all hospitals do mobile epidurals, which is what I had with Callum (not that I could move anywhere as I was hooked up to the heart-rate monitor) so asked if they did them at Poole. Answer was no, they do continuous epidurals which is a constant drip which is kept topped  up. You can wiggle but you are isolated to the bed and can’t pop to the loo. This would mean a catheter, which I didn’t need last time. This, for me, is really disappointing.

Finally, I enquired about whether they do tours of the maternity ward at the hospital or would there be an opportunity to see it – again a negative answer. They don’t do tours anymore because they were too busy. Another blow!

They really seem quite backward here in comparison to the Royal Surrey, and the services offered in Godalming/Guildford.

So that’s the wigglywoo knews and a bit of the me – the Fattybumbum. Not only for my mothers pleasant compliments about how I’m carrying this pregnancy around my bum/hips and how huge my bum is (not that I’m hung up about that or anything)…but also because, within the last couple of days I appear to have sprouted somewhat!

Here is a photo taken a couple of days ago and then one today…

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Obviously, there are factors like angle of photo, the second taken just after dinner, the top vs dress etc but even still – it certainly looks like it’s ‘popped’.

And finally, for my big news…I have a job! I’m about to start working 2 days a week working for  Stuart’s company writing training guides and other stuff. Whoop! The first steps to rediscovering me!