About to Pop!

Another quick update...

First off, happy New Year to you! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and you're all set for 2012

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today. Our gender scan showed that we are expecting another baby girl, and we're so excited. This was a photo from our 4D scan:


And this was me on a day out at the beach a few days ago:


She's due on 10th January. I've been having lots of contractions, and have had many muscle pains along the way, so I'm beyond ready for her to arrive now. Apparently she has other ideas though, so at the moment it's more of a battle of wills!

Life Suddenly Got Serious

First of all; happy due date to me! It seems like only a couple of months since we found out we were expecting a baby, but time really has flown. I know I said I would update you on the pregnancy in my next post, but it turns out I'm here to announce the birth of my beautiful baby....

GIRL!

I went into labour on Tuesday 27th April, and Baby Girl was born on the same day; weighing 7lb 8oz, 48cm long and with lots of blonde hair. I know everyone says it, but I am so in love.

I woke at around 8am on Tuesday feeling cramps in my lower belly. Although not painful, I couldn't sleep through them, so chose to get up. When I got up they intensified, so hoping it was the real thing, I showered and waited as long as I could before waking Hubby. The poor guy had a migraine, so he was almost as useless as me as we tried to finish packing my hospital bags.

We had our 39 week appointment with the midwife at noon, and decided we would still try to go. As we were walking to the hospital, my mother-in-law passed and picked us up, taking us the rest of the way. The midwife took one look at me and realised I was probably in the early stages of labour, but too early to stay, so advised us to go home and wait it out there.

We headed back to spend the afternoon with my in-laws, but straight after lunch I went to bed, and then the contractions got stronger. You may know that my mother-in-law was a midwife until her retirement, so she spent an hour or so coaching me through my contractions and reminding me to breathe; something you're not normally coached on here until you get to the hospital.

When the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute each, we headed to hospital. Walking into the hospital was hard, because the contractions were coming every minute or so at that point, and I was having to stop and breathe through them before I could continue.

Arriving, my lovely midwife Tina booked me in, and I got straight into a warm bath, took some co-codamol and waited it out. Pretty soon I was on the gas and air (good stuff; I strongly recommend it). When my waters broke in the bath, I got the "sudden urge to push", which I promise you, you can't ignore.

They wheeled me through to the delivery to examine me, and smacked me into the door on the way in... whoops!

At this point I was inhaling the gas and air so much so that I was falling asleep with it in my mouth. I heard them saying I was fully dilated, and in my head I was laughing at the poor woman that had to deliver a baby without any more pain relief. Had I not been so high at the time I would have panicked, realising it was me that had to push this baby out with nothing more than Entonox in my system.

I spent about 40 minutes pushing, and towards the end I was getting lazy, telling them I couldn't possibly do it (I bet everyone says that). And when I thought I'd pushed out half the baby's head, they tried to motivate me further by saying "you're doing so well, we can see a coin-sized part of the baby's head!"

Then I started freaking out again. That much pain for a coin-sized amount of head?!

But Tina and my mother-in-law were incredible; they knew exactly what to say to spur me on, and I found the determination to get there when Tina told me she wanted the baby out in the next contraction. She only meant the head, but somehow (I still don't know how), I managed to have the entire baby born in the next contraction.

The midwives had to catch her because she came out so fast!

My labour was 6 hours, but only 2 hours were spent at the hospital. I spent three days in hospital, and came home yesterday. Hubby and his family have been so wonderful while I've been away; painting, cleaning and clearing the house for our return, and it's finally starting to look like a home fit for our little family.

But now for the photos; my beautiful baby daughter, Chloe:

10 Days and Counting

First of all, let me apologise for not having updated in weeks. The trip back up to get our things went... interestingly. You would think that after the events of the trip here, we would have a problem free time going back, but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

We broke down... again. It turns out there were a few problems with the borrowed van, the worst of which being a busted suspension, which we discovered on the second day. Luckily we found a garage that could fix it same day, so we were only delayed by 5 hours before we were back on our way. Other than that the trip was largely uneventful, and we made it back to Hubby's Homeland on the fifth day.

We have since unpacked a few things, although the majority of our things are still in boxes stacked up in the hallway:


We're having to ignore it for now though, because we have more things to deal with...

DIY

At almost 39 weeks pregnant, this is our sitting room:




You didn't think I would be that disorganised, did you? You see, unfortunately while the house we are living in is decent enough, the paint was peeling off in the lounge and bedroom, so we thought it more sensible to sort it out before the baby was born, opposed to having it breathing in the dust and paint fumes.

Well, that was the plan at least, but it's taking longer than we thought it would, because it's not simply a case of repainting, but removing the old plaster, replastering, sanding the walls to smooth them for painting, and finally repainting. We had hoped it would only be a small percentage of the room, but it seems to be around 60% of the room affected. We're halfway through sanding the walls, and I hope with all my might that it will be done by the time I bring the baby home.

The due date is 10 days away


It's lucky in some respects that Hubby still has no work, because he is making himself useful doing all of this DIY, so I can't complain much. In regards to his job; he had the maths and English tests, followed by the fitness and roleplay in March, and he finally had the interview yesterday. They have said it will be up to three weeks before we hear back, so for now we're stuck in limbo. The good news is that Hubby will have time at home with the baby once it's born; something many dads don't get, so I'm happy - even if our savings are dwindling.

I will update on the pregnancy in my next post, but for now, I just wanted to let you all know that we are doing well and manically trying to ready ourselves for parenthood.

4D Scan Success!

We have success!

Our beautiful baby was kicking around this week, however it seems he/she likes to play games, because despite being awake, it was reluctant to show us much of it's face. We did get these photos though:




It looks like we will have to wait until the birth to find out what he/she really looks like. But we did get to see him/her making licking motions, opening and closing his/her eyes and mouth, and even dancing at one point. I've added the video below, if you have the patience to watch it!

Closer to Getting Our Things Back!

We've heard back about our van in France, and they've quoted us 2000 euros (£1810 or $2730) to have the reconditioned engine fitted. The quote is in addition to the £750 ($1130) the engine will cost to buy and ship to France. We can't find that kind of money, so our only option now is to have the van scrapped and drive up to France with another van to retrieve our belongings.

Unfortunately it's caused a lot of frustration, because Hubby has replaced an engine single-handedly in the past, and, if he has the right equipment, it can take him 6 hours start to finish. The quote they've given us was based on 18 hours' labour, which we know is a con, but unfortunately they hold all the cards. It's illegal to tow a broken down vehicle through Spain, so we can't tow it to Hubby's Homeland. There isn't really any other way to get it here.

So we're making plans to travel back to France now. We've been offered a van by a friend, so we're just ensuring all the paperwork is sorted before we make our move. Parts of Europe are quite strict, so if we get pulled over, and it's registered in someone else's name, we could be in for more problems if they think it's stolen. So once that's all sorted, we will be on our way again. I estimate it to take around 4 days round trip, and hope to be leaving sometime this weekend.

In other news, I feel absolutely massive this week:


I'm surprised how much I've grown over the past week, but I'm definitely feeling it. The stretchmarks are taking over, and the aches and pains are coming. Hubby now needs to help me up off the sofa, and since we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor (our bed frame is on the van), I may as well be mountain climbing to get up out of it to go to the toilet during the night! But amongst it all, it's a good feeling. The baby is kicking lots. It will randomly stretch out, and make my belly a weird shape, which Hubby still finds alien-like!

4D Scan; Take Two

We went for our 4D scan today. It was originally booked for last Thursday (the doctor only visits the surgery once a week, on Thursdays), but when the doctor was sick, it had to be postponed to this Thursday.

During our 21 week scan the baby was VERY lazy, and he/she was like that again! I drank half a litre of lemonade beforehand too - It's official; sugar does nothing to this baby! Unfortunately while we got to see the baby, there was a problem with the equipment and the DVD they gave us was blank, so I don't have any photos or videos. I called them and they have told us to go back next week Thursday (for round three), where they will repeat the scan and give a new DVD.

The baby currently weighs around 2kg (4.5lbs), has Hubby's nose, big beautiful eyes, lots of hair (which I assume will be blonde because we were both blonde as children), and was sleeping resting on his/her hands the entire time. He/she did wink and yawn, but that's about it. The doctor checked the heartbeat, the heart itself and brain and all appear healthy.

He took the measurements from the head (1 week behind), the abdomen (2 weeks ahead) and the femur (1 week ahead), and estimates a birth between 30th April and 5th May. Of course, the baby will come whenever it likes, so it doesn't necessarily mean anything. The doctor said he is 90% sure of the sex, but Hubby wouldn't let me find out... again. Go team yellow!

Latest Bump

Here's a shot of my 26 week bump:


After the advice of my midwife, I took off all my rings a couple of days ago, and yesterday I went out and bought a sterling silver band to wear instead. At least if I have to have it cut off because of my fingers swelling, then it's not my real wedding ring.

100th Post, and...

100 days until our baby is due!


And I didn't even plan these milestones to coincide. Weird.

In other news, my mum reminded me that when we were kids, we used to fall asleep to Dire Straits.


My parents put it down to having heard it while we were in the womb. It turns out Hubby also loves Dire Straits, and they are the only band we can agree on. I thought therefore that it would be fitting to get the baby accustomed to their music sooner rather than later, and who knows, if it works, we may have a quiet baby on our hands.

Hah! I should be so lucky.

But as it turns out, the baby kicked up a storm last night when I put the CD into my laptop. So I've concluded that it either loves it, or was desperately trying to swim away. Answers on a postcard...

In One Month Today...

We will be leaving the UK and moving abroad to start a new life in Hubby's Homeland. One month! I'm anxious, I'm scared... if I'm honest I don't really want to go, but I'm an adult and I'm about to be a parent. I have to get used to doing things I don't want to do.

Anyway, ignore me. I'm sure things will work out well in the end.

I've been back in the UK for 4 days already, but only just had an opportunity to update you all. The trip to Hubby's Homeland went well. We didn't manage to sort out all we had hoped, but we got the basics sorted.

First of all, it was great to see the in-laws. We hadn't seen them since the wedding in July, so we had a lot to catch up on, and I had a belly to show them. Hubby's Homeland is a place where everyone knows everyone, and good news travels fast, so it seems that wherever we went, someone was congratulating us.

The situation with the house is still not settled, but I don't think it will be for a while. We've probably got a temporary base in the one-bed flat, but it's so tiny it really isn't practical for 2 people with a baby. I think I measured the bedroom at 3m x 3.5m; it will fit a double bed if you have nothing else in the room. For that reason, we would need to swap the bedroom over with the lounge, which is slightly bigger, so we could get the cot into the room, and have a really small lounge. It will be okay for a few months, but certainly nothing long-term.

After that, we have the possiblity of Hubby's grandmother's house, which is a 2 bedroom flat near the town centre; but she would be living there too. That's not such a big problem until the baby needs its own room. Oh, and she doesn't speak English. And I only speak English.

Cue major awkwardness.

That's the only thing I'm worried about, but I know that it's the most likely eventuality, so I need to get used to the idea. Trouble is, while we would be buying the house from her, and paying the mortgage, I would feel like it wasn't our place, and would feel like I feel when I live with the in-laws - like I can't be myself. It's not ideal in that respect, so I'm not totally happy, but it's a house, and it's the baby that matters.

Hubby's Homeland is also a very hard place to get a house, so I am grateful we've been offered something. We know a couple who applied for housing when they got engaged. They've had 2 weddings, a long TTC journey, and their baby is now 5 months old, and they are still waiting for a house of their own. So I can't complain.

I've asked Hubby if we can stay in the tiny flat for at least a month after the baby's born. While it will be tight, I think it's important that we have time together as a family unit, without other relatives around. I know Hubby's grandmother would be really helpful to have around, but in the first month I will probably be going out of my mind with stress and exhaustion, so it's the worst time to have people around that you can't say goodbye to at the end of the day.

If we have a month alone with the baby, we can at least get to grips with being parents before thinking about living with someone else. I don't want her to have to walk around on eggshells for fear of upsetting me, and most of all, I don't want to unleash my hormones on her when she's only trying to help. I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly...

Hubby's heard of a few job opportunities. The one he's holding out for still haven't got around to releasing their applications yet, so he can't apply until February. We don't like that it's so uncertain, but it's a good opportunity, and because of Hubby's experience, he's very employable, so I'm sure he'll find something. The recession hasn't affected Hubby's Homeland, so there are no job shortages there, which makes things that little bit easier.

Hubby's mum took me to see her old colleagues in the maternity department of the hospital, and arranged for me to have a look around the ward etc. She also got me in with the community midwife who took a look at my notes and took my blood so she can get me processed before we move back over in February. I'm glad we went over this week, because when we go back in February, I will be thrown straight into appointments and checkups, so I won't miss out on anything.

They've already booked me in with a specialist to discuss the heart condition my grandmother has, which they ignored in England. I'm glad they're looking into it. They've also booked me in for what they call "parent craft", which I think is where they coach you through the labour process. I also have a dentist appointment booked (which I'm not especially excited about) and my 4D scan booked for the first week in April! I can't wait for that one!

On the return flight I got fantastic treatment! The lady at the check-in desk noticed I was pregnant and gave us priority boarding, which meant we got to sit right at the front with extra legroom. And we had great luck with our luggage; the second we got to the luggage belt, our bags were there for the taking. And they say Easyjet is crap; I beg to differ!

And on the baby front, it's spent the week kicking up a storm, but now I'm back at work I'm hardly feeling anything. It's moved now though, because up until 24 weeks, I only ever felt kicks up to the level of my belly button, but now I feel them just under my ribs. It's moved so much in a week, and the kicks are harder now.

I had my first bout of heartburn on Monday. This is going to be too much information, but throughout my life I've had those moments when you have a little sick come up, but then you have a swig of a drink, and it's gone. I thought that was heartburn.

Nope; heartburn is worse.


I went to see the midwife for my 25 week appointment yesterday, and she seems happy with how everything's going. She advised me to start counting the baby's movements, and if I have below 10 per day, I should get it checked out. She also advised me to take off my rings in the next few weeks. I was deliberating yesterday, and I've taken them off for good now. My jewellery isn't insured, and there's no way I'm having them cut off me!

Baby Update

Since the Christmas period got away with me, it occurred to me that I haven't updated anyone about the baby since our 21 week scan. As you know, the baby was kicking since I was 19 weeks and 6 days, but since then the baby has been visibly kicking in my belly. If I time it just right, I can see my belly moving with the baby, which is a very weird experience.

Since the 21 week scan, I have realised I'm actually glad we didn't ask the baby's gender. While I was going crazy with curiosity at the time, the moment has passed and I'm actually quite looking forward to the birth, because that's the first time I will know whether we have a son or daughter.

One New Year's Day we hit the sales; not for the usual things (clothes etc), but for the baby's buggy. We have been shopping around over the last couple of months, and finally found this one in Toys R Us. And even better, it was in the sale, costing £150 ($240). It's the Graco Excursion travel system, in black and champagne. The buggy comes with a car seat, which can be attached to the buggy for when the baby is small, and a footmuff for the colder days (not that we will be having many of them in Hubby's Homeland).

This is the basic buggy, with footmuff:


The car seat:


And the car seat attached to the buggy (I couldn't find any photos of it online, so you have to bear with me while I show you my skanky flat!):



I turn 24 weeks tomorrow, which is an important stage in any pregnancy, because it marks the point where, should the worst happen and I go into early labour, doctors will do everything in their power to help the baby. In a way it's a weight off my mind, because although the chances of survival are still low, at least you can be sure that every possible effort will be made for the baby. This is also the last point a loss is classed as a miscarriage, and from now on it would be classed as a still birth. I believe this means the baby would have the birth recorded.

I won't be online until 16th January now, as we're off to Hubby's Homeland to sort out a few things before the big move in February. We're hoping to get Hubby's job prospects more secured, meet with the midwives at the hospital, book a few birthing classes, inform healthcare etc that we are moving back (because I need to have medical support as soon as we arrive), and sort out where we will be living. It's going to be a busy week, but it will be good to get it all sorted.

Our Lazy Baby

I had my 21 week scan on Monday, and we were so excited to be able to see the baby again. Since we had agreed not to find out the sex, we didn't ask (even though I wanted to).

The sonographer took measurements of the baby's bones etc, but because he/she was lying face down, she couldn't get to the heart or face to check them. She ended up jabbing my belly a fair bit, but the baby didn't respond - lazy baby!

In the end I had to get up, jump up and down and shake my belly, poor thing. But it worked. When I lay back on the table the baby was wriggling around, head up. She looked at the heart and the face, and all looks well. The baby is measuring well for 21 weeks; no "whopper" baby for me! The baby even yawned a few minutes later; a result of all the poking I'm thinking... I realise that this might not be big news for you, but at the moment, everything the baby does is beyond amazing to me.

They're only supposed to give us three photos in total, and she gave us three identical photos of the profile, but accidentally slipped the others in my notes so I took them home. I think they're supposed to keep them for their files. Oops. I've taken advantage and scanned them all, and will let my midwife know I have them when I see her in January. But for now...

Baby's Profile:

Baby's Hand:

Baby's Foot:

Annoyingly, as Hubby was driving me back to work, he said "I want to know the sex". I could have killed him at that moment, because I've been telling him for weeks that I want to know, but he always said he didn't, and so we didn't ask. Now we have to wait until the birth, which is still okay, but I'm not the most patient of people.

He did say that he now thinks it's a girl, because he "didn't see nuts or a willy". I replied saying she didn't go down there during the scan, and he said she did. He said that means we have to find a "really good girl's name"... haven't we been trying to do that all along?

We'll see; perhaps Hubby is right about it being a girl...

Wintery Week

As I logged into my Blogger account this afternoon I thought, “I’ll check in and see what’s going on, but I don’t think I have anything interesting to post about”. But as I was reading my favourite blogs, it suddenly occurred to me that I’ve had one crazy busy week. How did I forget that?

So I’ll take you through, starting from Monday (you’ll have to bear with me here)…

MONDAY 14th DECEMBER: The baby decided to play games with me and reverted back to flutters on Sunday and Monday. I may have been disappointed, but I have only had one flutter through the entire pregnancy, so being able to experience them throughout an entire day was great. However, this baby doesn’t seem to “flutter” like most babies. I got none of those feelings of butterflies or a feather on the inside of my belly, but just crazy vibrations instead. Like someone’s setting off a Bumble Ball in my belly…


It was interesting trying to find a picture of that on Google (using the phrase “vibrating ball toy”), I can tell you!

TUESDAY 15th DECEMBER: Tuesday was a great day, if you ignore the obstacles… Getting ready for work was pretty average, but as I got to work, Hubby texted me to tell me our boiler was stone cold. Here in the UK we’re in the middle of a cold snap, and it seems the house was already losing heat. I got on the phone to our letting agent and asked them to arrange a gas man to visit.

He explained to me that everyone was on a training course, and there was nobody around to help. He didn’t even offer to call the gas man himself. I called back in the afternoon, but nobody was answering.

But back to the good stuff… We had our work Christmas meal. As ever, we weren’t very productive in the morning, and headed out at 1pm to the restaurant across the street (the perks of working in the city centre). I treated myself to a glass of Champagne, and savoured the red pepper soup, squash and mushroom risotto and apple tart, before opening our Secret Santa presents.

It seems my powers of telepathy worked, since I got a massive bar of Toblerone (possibly the naughtiest chocolate in the world). Since we’re moving abroad, we’ve cancelled gifting this year amongst family. Anything we’re given we would have to find additional space for in the van, or end up parting with it within a matter of months. I was in two minds about my Secret Santa present, but I’m thrilled someone spotted my chocolate craving, because I have no doubt it will be gone by Christmas!

Granted, it wasn’t that big, since our budget was £5 ($8), but you get the idea. Besides, I don’t think you’d come out looking as slim as her after you’d polished off that bar!

When the meal was over we headed to the pub. Unfortunately the turnout wasn’t great, but it was a good laugh. Being pregnant, I was the sober one in the group, but my colleague made the most of it by getting completely sloshed and asking if I could walk her home at the end of the night. We only live about 200 metres apart, so it wasn’t a big deal. In fact it was actually quite funny as I directed her down the street, having to stop occasionally to let her write obscenities on people’s windscreens.


I’m not going to tell you what she wrote, but she was pretty embarrassed the next morning!

After I got home, I put my feet up (this is becoming a regular pattern, which is why I have stopped inviting people round to see our scummy home). Our house was now barely 14C (57F), and nothing had been done to fix our boiler. I covered myself in all the winter wear I could find that fit me, and covered each leg with a hot water bottle, since I’m not allowed to put them on my belly because of the risk of cooking the baby.

It was about 11pm when I felt the baby kicking again. I sat back, pressed my hand to my belly, and the baby kicked back on it! I never expected to feel it against my hand so soon after feeling the first kicks, and now I was suitably impressed by my little one’s abilities to throw two milestones into a period of four days. I was now aching for Hubby to get home and hoping the baby would put on a show for him too, but I felt nothing more for the rest of the night… or for the following day in fact.

WEDNESDAY 16th DECEMBER: We spent the night sleeping in 10C (50F), and I took it upon myself to go and kick some ass in person at the letting agent’s office. Turning up at 9am I have them a piece of my mind, flashing my puffed-out belly (because you have to exaggerate these things, don’t you) and showing them that I was “six months pregnant”. They offered no form of apology, and said I was 4th in line to have an engineer sent out. Apparently you don’t get any special treatment for being pregnant.

I spent all day hounding them on the phone, and eventually told them I’d booked my own engineer and would be charging them. Within the hour they called me back to say they were sending a rep to the house to “assess the problem”. When he turned up, Hubby realised he was simply one of the guys from the office, who proceeded to tap the boiler a few times and conclude “yeah, it’s not working, is it.”

Genius.

He then laughed and said off-hand to Hubby, “so your wife’s pregnant, is she?” I love Hubby for what he did then; he just gestured to our scan photos, which are tacked onto the fridge and simply replied, “yeah, she is actually.”

Serves him right for not believing me.

Miraculously, an engineer was with us within four hours, and our home was toasty once more. Good thing really, because I don’t think I could have managed another night in the cold.

FRIDAY 18th DECEMBER: I woke up this morning to a fine blanket of snow. How’s that for getting in the festive spirit. They say it could last until Christmas, and it would be our first white Christmas since the 1970s. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for more snow tonight, because Hubby and I both have a day off tomorrow, which means we can go outside and make snow angels!

The Halfway Point

Baby and I have officially reached the halfway mark: 20 weeks!


People warned me the pregnancy would go quickly, but I never believed them. I don't know if it's the run-up to Christmas, but right now time is passing in the blink of an eye. The baby will be here before I know it! Here is my latest belly pic:



I seem to have ballooned in the past couple of weeks, but I'm loving every second. I had to go through all my clothes and pack away the ones I can't fit into anymore. I've packed away a bin bag full already, and only have a small pile of pregnant clothes I can wear, haha!

Anyway, to mark the halfway point, I thought I'd post a collection of my belly pics to date:


But even more exciting than reaching this milestone, I felt the baby kicking last night!! You probably know I've been really impatient about feeling kicks, because aside from feeling what I think was a flutter at 15+4, I have felt nothing. But last night, I felt something. Like a little hand knocking away in my lower belly. I was so thrilled.

The feeling came and went within a second or two, but there it was ten minutes later, and again about an hour later. I tried pressing my belly to see if I could feel anything, but the movements stopped. I haven't felt anything since, and I guess it will be another couple of weeks before I can feel it with my hand. But for now, I'm happy just knowing the baby's doing well.

Baby Bump

I thought I'd post a photo of my bump, because, finally, it's here:


This was taken yesterday at 18 weeks 4 days. After a lot of ligament pains last week, it appears the baby is going through a growth spurt. Good, because I'm not feeling any more flutters, and I haven't felt any kicks yet, so half the time I forget the baby's in there!

Lots of Walking

I went to my third physio appointment this morning. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that yet, but when we got back from our honeymoon, I found I'd torn my hamstring. I'm still not sure how, because people say you know when you've torn it, but I only felt it when it ached in the days afterwards. In the UK you can get 5 physio appointments free of charge. After that, you pay around £30 ($55) per session.

The physio has been helping me with my hamstring, but is also taking the opportunity to give me some exercises for the pregnancy, which I know will be really useful in the coming months. But it's like being back at school! I have to do seven exercises three times a day, and at my next appointment on 11th December, she will check to see how I'm doing. It's a good thing she's given me the exercises printed out with photos, because my memory is atrocious!

At midday I headed to the doctor for my swine flu jab. Now, I know this may have people up in arms, but trust me, I've gone back and forth over this for months now, and I decided it was the best thing for me. My midwife also recommended it especially in my situation, seeing as I will be travelling across Europe for a week when we emigrate in February. Going into early labour in a foreign country is one thing, but being pregnant and falling ill with swine flu is another thing altogether. I just don't want to risk further complications.

Anyway, the nurse said I may have a "dicky tummy" (nothing out of the ordinary for me), and in a day or so my arm may start to ache. Fun fun! I made a point of reminding her I was pregnant (in case she gave me the wrong vaccine by mistake), and she said she noticed by the size of my belly! She said the baby might be "a whopper" if I'm so big already.


Scared much?

On my way back to the office after my jab, I bumped into two people I know, and both asked me straight out if I was pregnant. What a great feeling to be able to say "yes". Last time someone asked me that, I actually wasn't - the shame - and I signed up for Weight Watchers the very same week!

I've walked three times my usual amount today; because after my lunch break I had to take my winter coat to the dry cleaners (after having found moth larvae under the lapel - guh!) I'm feeling all the exercise in my back and hamstring now though, so I guess this gives me an excuse to relax this evening!

In other news, I'm 4 months pregnant today; woohoo! I officially look great in all my stretchy dresses! I had been saving them because up until now I just looked like I'd eaten all the pies, and who wants to wear a figure-hugging dress to accentuate that? Not me. But I tried them on last night and I look great! Time to start jazzing myself up again...

Random Thoughts

* I'm beginning to think getting pregnant before emigrating was a bad idea. If we move abroad in mid-February as we intend to, we only have 11 weeks, or 77 days left to tie up all of our loose ends. That may sound a lot, but there's Christmas in the middle, and we're taking a trip to Hubby's Homeland in January, so in reality we have far less time to sort everything out. I was actually lying awake last night wondering how it's all going to slot together in time; we just have so much to do!

* I can't wait until we go for our 21 week scan. 21 days and counting...

* We've seen a buggy we want already. Scary, huh? Well, not totally scary, because my mother-in-law popped into a couple of shops in Hubby's Homeland to ask how quickly items would arrive into stock after ordering them, and the result is 12-16 weeks.

It means that even if we shop for things when we go over in January, it still might not be there when the baby is born in May! Because of this, we're looking into buying at least the buggy in the UK and taking it over with us. This is the one we've found, and we think it's a bargain at £199:

I know it's blue, and we won't know whether we're having a boy or a girl... but since when have I been traditional? And I'm bored of shopping for gender neutral colours.

* And finally, I paid a whopping £900 ($1,400) onto my credit cards today. I know, what was I thinking? I can't really afford to part with that kind of money, but I found a crazy balance of £1000 on a card I thought I'd cleared, so the debts I need to clear before we move have doubled. I would cut up the cards, but with a baby on the way I'm sensing it could be wise to keep hold of them...

Ouch!

I'm not liking today. Today hurts.

I woke up with a headache and a pain in my side, as if I'd slept wrong. Now, don't get me started on sleeping wrong, because I'm starting to believe there is no right way to sleep when you're pregnant. I don't think I've been able to sleep through since before I knew I was pregnant. If I'm not waking up to use the toilet, my belly's getting in the way, or I have a bed spring poking me in the rib, or Hubby is snoring in my face, or I just feel nauseus.

And they say it's a wonderful time...

I headed to work, all the time having to clutch my side to ease the discomfort, which got worse whenever I moved or walked. I spoke to my colleague and asked her what it might be, and she said it was probably my ligaments stretching to accommodate my ever-growing baby. That's cool, but I didn't expect it to feel so uncomfortable.

The feeling eventually wore off around lunchtime, but it seems the muscle cramp and my headache have struck a deal, and my headache has become steadily worse since noon. This is the first day since being back at work that I've had to deal with the pain without my trusty friend, Paracetamol. I don't like it.

17 Weeks and Counting

My hope of posting more often didn't really work out, but I hope now things will be different. At 12 weeks I was still in the throes of morning sickness, which I didn't really see an end to until I was 15 weeks. In early November I had a three week long bout of migraines which made my sickness worse, and resulted in me being signed off work for a week. The doctor gave me a course of an anti-nausea pill which worked wonders.

But the good news is that I am doing well. I have now given up on caffeine completely (and I mean completely - I haven't touched a drop in 2 weeks). I'm not really feeling any different, but my migraines haven't made an appearance so I like to think it's linked.

My energy levels are slowly creeping up, and I'm now able to wait up for Hubby to get home from work (most of the time at midnight) about 4 nights a week, which is an achievement in itself, because at one stage I was going to bed at 7pm every night!

The baby is doing well too. I can't be sure, but I think I felt my first 'flutters' on 11/11, at 15 weeks, though I don't know why they call them flutters because to me it just felt like a rush of bubbles popping. Very weird. I know they say many women mistake it for wind, but I've never had wind there! I've since mentioned it to my midwife, and Hubby's mum (a retired midwife) and they both said it probably was the baby. I haven't felt anything since, but it's not unusual to feel something and then have nothing for a few weeks.

A week ago we went to see the midwife (my Hubby and I, not the baby and I - I'm not that crazy yet!), and we heard the heartbeat again. It took her a while to find it, mind you, because the baby kept swimming around trying to avoid the doppler. It seems the baby thinks it's on a stealth mission...

Right now I'm 17 weeks. I'd like to say I have a big pregnant belly, but I don't. When I took my 16 week belly photo I was ecstatic to see the beginnings of a belly, but over the course of the week it deflated somewhat, and I'm back to looking as if I've been eating all the pies. I have, but that's not the point...


Now I'm over the chaos of the first trimester, I'm thinking forward to the coming months. We have pretty much decided that we're moving to Hubby's Homeland in mid February, so we have to give the notice on our flat lease, we have to get quotes for shipping companies to take our stuff over, we have to buy a van to drive down (and to have space for the things we need immediately, like clothes etc), we have to pack, I have to sort out my maternity leave, Hubby has to sell his cars (one of which has no engine), and we have to get rid of whatever we're not taking.

Anyone want a bed?

Introducing our Beautiful Baby

I'm starting to feel a little more human, which is a cause for celebration! I therefore hope that I will be back a little more regularly from now on, so I can keep you all filled in on how things are going.

We went for our 12 week scan yesterday, and I'm relieved to say all is looking good.

We had a bit of a chaotic time getting to the hospital, because unbeknownst to us they had closed the usual car park, meaning cars were at a stand still trying to find a parking space. I was worried I would totally miss the appointment, so I went ahead leaving Hubby to park the car.

He actually ended up missing the first half of the appointment, and I felt really guilty being able to see the baby kicking around; but thankfully the sonographer was happy to repeat the scan for him when he did arrive. She did all the measurements before he got there, so he was just able to see the baby moving about happily.

His face lit up as soon as he saw the baby, which was lovely to see. He was grinning from ear to ear afterwards!

It might sound strange, but when she put the scanner on my belly, it was weird to actually see a baby in there! Of course I know I'm pregnant, but I was sitting there thinking "what's that doing in there?!"

The baby was still at first but bouncing around happily afterwards. He/she had a strong heartbeat of 164bpm, which we hadn't been expecting to hear until 16 weeks.

The baby is currently measuring 5.5cm crown to rump, and the chances of Downs Syndrome are 1 in 221,817, which is very low. The estimated due date remains 2nd May 2010, and I'm currently 12 weeks and 2 days.

Up until now it was like a dream. Now I''ve seen him/her I'm overcome with love for this little baby. I can't explain it, and it feels like such a cliche, but my entire world has just got 5.5cm bigger!

Checking In...

Just a quick one today, to let you know that I am still around, and I'm doing well. I'm just exhausted, so what time I do have, I'm ploughing into work and housework at the moment. Sorry if it seems like I'm avoiding you; I'm simply diving for my bed each evening.

We went on our honeymoon and had a kind of okay time. I've told the story a thousand times now, and I don't want to bore you with the details, but basically we spent £5,000 on the most chaotic trip imaginable, and we were just glad to get home. Sad, eh?

Anyway, we've been back for two weeks now, and I'm over the jet lag, but not over my exhaustion. Nobody told me that even ten minutes of housework would make me feel as if I'd been hit by a truck and wanting my bed, but I've been told this is normal in the first trimester.

I was feeling pretty nauseus between weeks 6 and 10, but it seems to be subsiding now. FIngers crossed it stays that way! I'm now 10 weeks gone, have seen my midwife and am eagerly awaiting my first scan, which is booked for 19th October. I'll try to post again soon...