Time Flies ..
… when you are pregnant!
So I am now 29 weeks, I am experiencing a lot of movement, mainly in the morning or at night (or that is when i notice). Mat can see & feel the movements which is great!
I was starting to feel better, morning sickness subsided but flu & cold season took over & with not being able to take much at all it just seems to stick around. It has hit me again last week but with the long weekend & a day home from work today I am starting to feel better.
According to http://www.pregnancyguideonline.com/wk29.htm my blob’s head size is now in proportion to his body and is rapidly gaining fat.
With only 11 weeks to go I feel that time will be fleeting & I am very excited, of course a lot nervous about the actual giving birth process but hoping the antenatal classes will help me out.
I start antenatal classes next Tuesday, they go for 2 hours & it’s a 6 week course covering such subjects as;
Signs of labour
When to come to hospital
What happens during labour
Pelvic floor awareness and exercise
Making choices and decisions about your labour
Dealing with pain of labour, self-help techniques and medical ways
Dealing with unexpected events related to pregnancy, labour, birth, baby etc
How husband/partner/support can help
Tour of delivery suite, birth centre and postnatal ward
First few days after birth for mother
Postnatal depression
Feeding your baby
Care of baby in first few days and weeks
Recognising a tired baby and helping baby sleep in early weeks
Recognising your baby’s cues, needs and responding appropriately
Understanding normal newborn behaviour, having realistic expectations
Immunisation, safety issues for baby
Dealing with changes in partner and family relationships
Dealing with lifestyle changes with a new baby
Resources available in the community to help you
SOoOOoOOoo looks like a lot to take in but I am looking forward to learning about it all. Mat is in Germany for work and missing out on the first class so my mum is going to be my support person for that class.
Moving & Grooving..
It has been nearly 4 weeks since my last doctors appointment & when I had the ultra sound & ever since I have felt Master blob moving about.
He is most active just before I go to bed & when I wake up. It is such a nice feeling when I am at work and suddenly I feel a little flutter in my belly.
Before he started moving (that I could feel) people would tell me it feels that of butterflies, but I disagree - for me it is kind of like bubbles being blown & popped in my belly. Some are more like ‘jabs’ which I swear I can see my belly move however Mat is yet to be able to feel or see the movements, which must be annoying for him as we will sit there with his hand on my belly with me looking at Mat now & then ‘Did you feel that?”, “What about that?”, “C’mon, you must of felt that?” but alas, nothing.
I have another doctors appointment on Wednesday & I am looking forward to hearing his little heart beat..
It’s a …
… BOY!!!
Yes, after 6 days of delay I attended my morphology scan & found out that I am having a baby BOY! Awww, at first I was confused, as I really thought I had a little girl in my tummy, surprised but happy none the less with a little man!
The actual results of the morphology scan were all fine, the next day I had a check up with my GP & she just tested my blood pressure which was great & then we listened to Master Blob’s heart beat which was nice and strong!
That weekend I did some shopping with Mat’s mum Sue & we bought some little boy outfits & some other baby things.
On the Monday Mat & I went to Baby Co and ordered a cot, change table & port-a-cot, so looking forward to putting the baby room together - we should get the furniture in about May!!
So yes back to the drawing board with baby names, as I had really only been thinking about girl names, but Mat does have alot of input on boys names so shouldn’t be too hard a task.
OoOoOOh very exciting times ahead!
Tomorrow… Tomorrow
So I am now at 19 weeks & tomorrow I am having the ‘morphology’ scan, where I should also be able to find out the sex of the Blob!
I am very excited to see some more of her/him, as I don’t think my belly is growing much, but Mat is telling me otherwise, well I think I look fatter but really all I want to see is a big baby bump!
I have picked out an outfit (for a girl & a boy) that I will be purchasing from my favourite online shop babysgotstyle.com.au;
I have also found a cool website that sell stickers for the baby’s room, I was thinking a cherry blossom tree for a girl & a for a boy would maybe be a space invaders (arcade game) feel.
I am definitely feeling the change of hormones, lately I have been feeling very angry/irritable and really have to calm myself down otherwise I am sure I would get myself in trouble, oh well - I AM PREGNANT haha, best excuse ever!
I still have been a little sick, but only in the mornings & if I have slept in, Blob must be hungry. Although this morning I was feeling very achey & stuffy so I decided to stay home from work - which I think was a great choice, especially when the weather is so wet & cold.
Waiting… waiting … waiting…
Well I am now 17 weeks along, and on the 2nd April I am going for a 19-20 week scan & also hoping to find out if we are having a boy or a girl…
For some reason I have a feeling it’s a girl or maybe just a strong want so I can buy loads of cute stuff, but if it’s a boy that’s fine as well, as long as it’s a healthy baby.
But yes, I can’t wait to find out either way so I can do some shopping, this should coincide with the ’stimulus’ bonus from the government, so yes I will be giving back to the economy.
I think my first shopping will be done online, I have a few things in the ’shopping cart’ on www.babysgotstyle.com.au they have a great range of clothes for both boys & girls for all ages, not to mention other accessories. I will probably next head to Target & DJs to see what I can find - probably with my mum!
I have been lazy and yet to take any ‘growth’ shots, however I now can see that yes, I am getting baby belly & can’t wait for it to poke out some more!
Not only will I find out the sex on the 2nd, I will also get to see more photos of ‘the blob’ … can’t wait!
Photos of … The Blob
Here are a couple of pictures from my second ultra sounds at 10 weeks & third ultra sound at 13 weeks. It is really quite amazing how the Blob can develop in such a short amount of time.
At my first ultra sound, to see how far along I was, I hadn’t ever had a ultra sound on my belly. I was told to empty my bladder 2 hours before the appointment and to drink a litre of water in the next hour. As I was fighting morning sickness this was a little hard and when I got to the appointment the lady said I had not drank much but they could still see.
My second ultra sound I was feeling up to the challenge and drank about 1.2 litres of water, I seriously thought I was going to wet my pants. When I was getting the ultra sound the Sonographer had to have me go to the toilet as I had drank ‘way too much’ he showed me the size of my bladder and couldn’t believe that I was able to hold it. He tried again, but he told me to go back to the toilet & count to ten… oh the relief!
It was so amazing & even more relieving seeing the little Blob’s heart beat, they were looking at other areas before getting to the Blob which made me a little nervy as all I was looking for was a heart beat!
Early Days …
I first thought I was pregnant after my period was late and I had been falling asleep around 7:30pm most nights. In mid(ish) December I did a home pregnancy test, it was positive, I did another test, still positive.
I let Mat know of this discovery, we were both kind of surprised (in a good way) but we went & bought another packet of pregnancy tests, 2 + tests later I decided to book an appointment with a doctor.
I had actually never had a steady doctor since I left home, I never really got sick and if needed I just waited in line at the local medical centre. I decided since I could very well be pregnant that I should investigate into getting a ‘proper’ doctor for myself as the thought of waiting up to 4 hours in a medical centre surrounded by sick people didn’t really appeal to me.
I rang around and luckily got in to a practice near my work. My doctor was lovely, she was very informative and sent me off to get in the next 2 weeks a blood test & an ultrasound to see how far I was, by dates she thought I was approximately 5 weeks along.
The doctor appointment was just before Christmas, and as I knew it was only early days I didn’t want to let the family in on our little ’secret’ just yet, however, I did spill the beans to my mum (me, not drinking was going to set off a few alarm bells, however I knew she could help out the situation).
I remember my first morning sickness experience was mid morning on Boxing day, mum & I were out shopping in the sales and she decides to ask me if I had been experiencing any morning sickness and no I hadn’t however not long after this conversation I had to jump out the car & vomit in a garden in the car park - and so it began.
Just before New Years I had my blood test & the following week I had my first ultra sound which basically showed a ‘blob’ with a heart beat, which was very exciting to see. We were also given a due date of 20th August 2009, which is also the birthday of my nephew who was born last year.
The ultrasound technician must of saw something not quite right & my doctor sent me back the next week for another scan, which I must say was quite a scary feeling.
That was a pretty long week, but both Mat & I were both quite relieved to get the all clear & also in that time the ‘blob’ had formed into a ‘jelly bean’, quite cute & once again the relief of that strong heart beat brought a tear to my eye. From the blob’s size about 3.5 cm they gave me an updated due date of 26th August 2009.
At about 12 weeks I went for a NT scan which can screen for disabilities, we had great results & got a couple 3D photos of the blob as well, the footage was pretty amazing, it had even doubled in size since the last scan and we could see arms, hands, legs, feet, facial features, it was pretty crazy.. although I think the blob hissed at me … however it was not playing along when it was photo time and layed face down. The technician told me to cough and started poking my belly to get it moving but alas nothing - oh well, great results so I didn’t mind at all & we got a couple of ‘peek-a-boo’ shots.
Back to the morning sickness; I mostly found that I was sick (by way of vomiting bile) first thing in the morning, mid morning, afternoon & just before going to bed. It took me a couple of weeks to realise, that I got sick when I was hungry (or when my body thought I was hungry) so i started eating smaller meals more frequently which most of the time did the trick.
It also took me until just last week to start keeping Arrowroot biscuits beside my bed for when i woke up, to eat them first thing in the morning.
I am now 14 weeks & fingers crossed the ‘morning’ sickness is all but gone!!
I don’t think I am showing but Mat tells me that there is a slight bump, I am going to start tracking via photos & measurements so that way I can see the blob growing, I will start on the 11/3/09 my 16th week..