Random Pregnancy News

Aidan's 19 weeks today!  (according to my calculations anyway - the doctors always put him a few days to a week older, hmph - probably because they all use those little pregnancy charts of theirs that most likely state that baby's age is determined by the fact that you ovulate 2 weeks after your last period, but I always tell them I ovulated a week later because I have longer cycle . . . by ANYWAY).

Last night he was being really active for a while there just after we got into bed, the most active that I've noticed so far. :D Even Noob Dad had a chance to feel it this time, 'cause usually he'd only kick (or punch?!) once and then you'd wait AGES for another one, so Noob Dad would always miss them, but not this time!

According to this size chart, he's more or less 15.3cm big now, and I can definitely see that I'm now pregnant.  And I'm finding it hard to find some nice loose-fitting tops!  It looks like I MAY have to visit a maternity store now . . .

And on a sadder note, I've gone and picked me up some stretchmarks on my boobs. :(  And it's itchy!!!  And you're not allowed to scratch because it aggravates the stretchmarks more and could make them worse.  But luckily the worst seems to be over now . . . I started using this cream about a week ago, twice a day - hopefully it helps with the marks! :

But it's a hard butter and so it's a schlepp to apply.
And I'm gonna get me some bio-oil this week too, it sounds to be pretty good:

Now onto some more "fun" pregnancy things.  From about the 14th week I started noticing that I was getting heart palpitations - it feels like a skipped heart beat and heavy pounding heart beats - it's REALLY annoying especially since it tends to become worse (ie more noticeable) when you lie down and are trying to take a nap or snooze (or at least that's when you notice it more because you're being peaceful and still)  - it's distracting and difficult to doze off while this is going on.  This last week or so it seems to have eased up a bit, thank goodness, and I don't notice it that much anymore.

It seems to be quite a normal thing during pregnancy - they say it's caused by your crazy hormones and the extra blood flowing around in your body now.

And I've been getting something like heart burn a little more regularly at times these days too - they say this is caused by the diaphragm that's a bit more relaxed during pregnancy and so acids move on up your digestive tract more freely - I'm not sure if it's real heartburn because I've heard it's quite uncomfy or painful?  I dunno, but mine is more sort of ticklish as it moves up the pipe and that makes me need to cough and that in turn sometimes gives me a stomach muscle cramp (also another common thing during pregnancy because of your muscles stretching and adjusting etc to accommodate the pregnancy) . . . aaahhh . . .  fun times.

And now onto the fun stuff.  :D  Mostly to do with baby-stuff shopping.  :D  We've collected a few items of clothes and socks and his first pair of teeny shoes, and later this week we're going to get his cot and a chest of drawers / compactum for his room. :D  I've also knitted him 2 blankies, and I got a cute baby food preparation thingy last week - so far I've tested out the steamer and it works good, and the milk bottle warmer function and that works well too!  Cooool.

I've also been googling and inquiring about milk pumps and Medela seems to be the best - the Medela Pump in Style Advanced being the best (but it goes for R5000) and the Medela Swing Pump which costs half that but it only pumps one boob at a time where the expensive one pumps both.  So since I haven't won the lottery yet, I'm looking into the Swing pump.

Let's see . . . what else was there . . . Oh yes, we still haven't quite figured out where Noob Dad's office is moving to (so that we can use the office as the nursery) - what a schlepp, I really wish we had another bedroom - but we shall make a plan!  He's reluctant to move and I don't blame him, 'cause it's the coziest and warmest room in winter. :)  All I can say is that hopefully we get to set up the nursery soon after we get the furniture. :D 

And oh! I still haven't gained any weight, in fact I'm still about 1-2kg less than what I was before I got pregnant - weird.  It must be because of my decreased appetite and often my meal portions (especially dinner) are smaller than what they used to be since I can't always eat so much anymore.  Oh well, hopefully I'm losing some much needed "extras" around the belly region, hehehe.

And finally, some general stuff - I actually can't wait for summer to come back!  And this isn't something I say all the time since I tend to not like the warmer months because they can get TOO hot at times and then I'm in heat hell.  But winters are brutal in this house and I think I've just had enough winter this year.  I think winter started early this year, so hopefully that means it'll end early too.  :)

Babymoov Bebedelice Food Processor

I think I've found a food steamer / blender and bottle and food warmer-in-one!

This will replace THIS (going for R1 700) and something like THIS (going for about R200), but the Babymoov one only costs R900! 
This goodie heats milk bottles and small jars of baby food, it cooks and blends fresh food, it defrosts food and it says it sterilizes bottles too (and electric sterilizers themselves are usually priced from about R600 upwards)!  Wow - for this price I have to wonder though whether it's good quality . . . hmmm . . . but I've found some good reviews online and so far everyone seems really happy with it.

I think I'm gonna get one!  Before they run out of stock or something . . . ya never know!

Update - 5 minutes later . . . ok, it's ordered! Hehe.

18 Weeks - Aidan Moves

I think (I THINK) I felt him move today :D  I was laying in bed with my hand resting on my belly and felt something.  It definitely wasn't gas (lol) and I doubt it was a muscle twitch either, so it must have been Aidan! :D

Today he's 18 weeks old and is 46% complete, with 154 days to go!

It's Gonna be an Aidan!

2 days ago we found out it's gonna be a baby Aidan. :)  First we thought we weren't going to see anything because he wasn't in the right position, and the doc said it sort of looked like it could be a baby Danielle, but then he squiggled around and gave us a good view, hehehe . . .

At 17 weeks & 3 days and baby's 12.8cm big with a heart beat of 153 bpm.  And apparently he weighs about 237 grams - I dunno how the machine can tell that, but anyway!  He did some measurements of the head, the midsection and the femur and everything is perfect he says. :D

So now that we know the gender, we could finally start buying some clothes! :D  We found some cute stuff but some of them's going to have to lay around for a while because they're suitable for 3-6 months old and some from 6-12 months :O.  Hehe.  It's going to be a summer baby, and it's winter at the moment, so it's not easy finding summer clothes - we managed to find a few, but the rest will have to be bought later.

And in about 2 weeks' time we're going to get the cot and compactum / chest of drawers for his bedroom, yippeeee!

And on another good note, the nauseousness has mostly disappeared, but there are still some foods that I don't even wanna get a faint whiff of.  :S

Sleigh Cot / Bed / Bench

Nevermind the campcot anymore, I think we've decided to go with a sleigh cot instead - it's about twice the price if not more depending on where you get it, BUT it can be converted into a little bed when the cot is no longer necessary (or you can turn it into a cute couch), so we think it will be more value for money in the long run.  It'll also fit into my nursery decor idea better - the white one (campcots come in all weird colours and I haven't yet found "the perfect" one) :

You can adjust the base of course - there are 3 levels, and later you just remove one or both of the side things with the bars and you have a little bed (or couch):

 

Something like that.  I think it can work!

How the Family Found Out

They all found out during week 12, and here are the fun ways we "told" them :D

I made little mini banana breads and added some cute tags:

Hehe.  I found this pic and thought it was so cute and funny.

And then for Noob Dad's mum and gran I decorated some tea cups (because they're HUGE tea drinkers and I knew this would be a good way to tell them, hehe) and wrote the message inside the cup so that they'd have to drink their tea and see what the message says:

And there was a "great-grammy" one for the granny. :)
But now I first have to explain how this "great reveal" went down - Noob Dad's bro and wife were expecting a baby too, he was actually due a few days after our news . . .  sooooo, grammy and great-grammy first thought that the message was in relation to their already-known-about grandson on the way, and that I'd just made some cute cups to remind them of that, lol.  So when me and Noob Dad realized that they didn't realize what the message was about, I told them "but this one's due in December!" and then they clicked - so that was amuzing, hehe.

Ok, on to the next ones!  For MY mum and gran I wrapped up our first sonogram pics like this:

And I told them to open these at the same time.  I don't think my gran knew what that picture was, haha. . . so she may not have clicked what's going on, so my mum had to explain what it is, hehe.  My dad was watching them unwrap so he got the news at the same time (and just before they were done unwrapping I gave my sis one of those banana breads above, so that everyone would find out at exactly the same time!)

However . . . I actually intended to tell my family with this little bowl:

We went there for dinner and I was going to serve snacks in this bowl (which I decorated too, duh) and wait for someone to find the message at the bottom inside the bowl . . . but things ran a little late and by the time we got to their house we went straight into dinner, so no time for snacks . . . and that's when I decided to just tell them with the gift boxes above.  I was going to give it to them after THE NEWS anyway just for fun.

I wrapped up a scan as well for Noob Dad's mum and gran:

And we used the same idea to tell Noob Dad's aunt the news too, but with a little mini gift box I made instead:

We also used the banana breads to give the news to Noob Dad's dad and wife - when he gave them the breads they just thought it was a little gift, nothing more.  So I had to tell them "but now read the tags!", so the wife does so but she doesn't click AT ALLLLL, I dunno what she was thinking but it looked as if she just thought it was a cute bread with a message that didn't really seem to mean anything to her, lol.  Then I told her "look at the pic!" 'cause maybe THAT would get the message over . . . but NO, haha.  Ish.  By this time dad has actually looked and read at it and has clicked - I just got the unbelieving STARE, lol - it was too funny.  So I told him "Ok, I suppose YOU get it!" and he said yes he does, but he doesn't believe it, and THEN his wife suddenly clicks from I dunno what.  That was really amuzing too!

So ya, we had some fun. :D

Needless to say everyone was excited and happy and shocked and surprised and all that, hehehe.

(HERE are some more fun ideas to make the announcement)