ONE DAY TO GO!!!

day to go until we're officially Noob Mum & Noob Dad!  :O

Can't believe the time has come already!  :) 

Things to look forward to - besides the obvious of finally having baby here:

• no more HUGE belly getting in the way!
• no more acid reflux, double yay!!
• I can snooze on my back again (which incidentally means I don't have to have achy hips most of the night anymore)!
• no more braxton hicks!
• hopefully no more trips to the loo just before sunrise

These should hopefully be all the IMMEDIATE improvements.

I'll be back . . . sometime soon!

ONE WEEK TO GO!!

days to go!

And we're ready . . . I think . . . well at least his room is ready! :)  And I'm still not looking forward to the op, so can't wait until THAT'S over and done with. 
And I discovered a small stretch mark on my belly the other day!  :O  Just about an inch or so, but still.  Hopefully none more come during this last week.
I hope I'll finally be rid of this reflux next week - so there's another thing to look forward to hopefully.  :D

Anyway, this is going to be a relatively "busy" week for me, since I want to get all my work done so that I can take the next 2 weeks off completely.  :)

35 Weeks 4 Days

This was taken yesterday.  From the last pic I took about 5 weeks ago, he's really packed on some extra weight or size during this time. :) 

days to go!!!  :O

I have no idea what his estimated weight is now because we haven't had a scan done at our last 2 doc visits, but according to the baby size chart he could be about 2 1/2 kg's.

He's no longer in breach though, but I'm now having a c-section done because of hypertension.  I'm now really getting more nervous about the op!  :S  Send some good and positive vibes my way that the op will go GOOOOOOOD and perfect and without any problems, will ya??  :)

2 Weeks to Go!

Days to go! :D

And I'm sure these 2 weeks are gonna fly by . . . as usual!  Noob Dad says he's a little nervous about Aidan's arrival, but I'm ok!  If there's anything I'm nervous about then it's the c-section.  :S  Not looking forward to that, but it beats the whole labour thing IMO. :)

I think we have EVERYTHING we need now for baby, and our hospital bags are packed (ie 2 big gym bags and a nappy changing bag full of stuff - nappies take up a lot of space! And had to make sure Aidan's got enough clothes for warm and cold weather just in case, hehe). 

I've picked up some weight during this last month or so, more than I've picked up throughout the whole rest of the pregnancy!  I think it's all Aidan though, not fat haha.  From the way he's really pushing out against my belly all the time now, I think he's got no space to stretch out anymore, hehe.  I can feel I've become bigger judging from the mission it is to get up from the floor or out of bed, it must look somewhat comical, because that's what it feels like hehehe. I must say I'm not really uncomfy in bed at all, so I'm glad about that because many seem to complain that they don't snooze well.

We've been having a heat wave here these last few days so of course I've been complaining my ass off because I hate the heat and have never been able to tolerate it well at all - especially not when I have to do stuff . . . anything at all really, lol . . . but ESPECIALLY blow wave my hair with a hot hairdrier  :S.  But thank goodness I haven't been getting extra hot due to the pregnancy - everyone thinks I'm complaining about the heat just because I'm pregnant, but ummmmm, we're in a heat wave, THAT'S why I'm hot lol.  Ish.  I complain EVERY year that I'm hot anyway.  Speaking of which, I hope my hospital room is gonna have a GOOD aircon!

I'm still having braxton hicks contractions regularly and it's a tad uncomfy to walk while having one of those, but nothing serious.  They have become stronger during this last week especially and I now get a weird tightness in my chest everytime I get them, but after googling it, it seems I'm not the only one so I suppose it's normal.

Anyhoo, I have my last doc appointment on the 26th for our final check up - can't believe that time has come!  Which reminds me that I must still take another belly pic or 2 before Aidan comes!

23 Day to Go!

days to go until we're Noob Mum & Noob Dad! :D

Dunno where the time went, this pregnancy went soooo fast.  Aidan's hiccuping everyday now.  My belly is also feeling quite weighty when I lay on my side, so I've started putting a small pillow under my belly and it's more comfy now because it doesn't feel like it's "pulling" down anymore.  And the acid reflux hasn't improved yet but I don't expect it to during these last few weeks I suppose - boo - can't wait to be rid of that!  Otherwise no other new discomforts. :)

We had what I think was a little false alarm on Friday when I went for a normal check up - he had to check the cervix and of course I hate those exams haha. But before he did the exam he checked my blood pressure and it was about 160 / 110 and I told him it could be because of the exam he's about to do, but he wasn't convinced (just for safety's sake) that that's all it was, so he ended up admitting me to hospital immediately after the exam and said he's going to give me cortisone injections to develop baby's lungs just in case I had to have an emergency c-section done.

So I ended up staying in hospital over night where they monitored my blood pressure - which had already dropped by then and was close to normal the whole time I was admitted - and they monitored baby's heart beat a few times and gave me cortisone and put me on a low dose blood pressure pill for a few days.  The doc was satisfied that it did seem to be a false alarm so I was released the next morning. :)  The tests didn't show anything wrong and I didn't have pre-eclampsia or anything else and baby was doing perfectly too.  So that was the end of that. :)

While they were monitoring baby's heart beat, the machine also picked up that I was having braxton hicks contractions, and I was like HUH?  I had no idea I'd been having them.  Sometimes I'd feel my belly go hard, but I always assumed it was just because of baby moving around putting pressure around there, but the nurse said nope, it's BH, so it turns out I've been having them for a few weeks already but I didn't realize it - I thought I'd feel muscles contracting or something, but it's nothing like that at all.  Oh well, it's all normal for BH to begin long before baby's due, it's just the body "practicing" for labour.

The baby shower was also held the afternoon I was released, so I'm glad I was released earlier so that we didn't have to cancel the party! :)  Aidan got soooo many things that we have just about nothing left that we need to get for him, so that helped out a lot. :D  Will post some pics next time after I've got the photos ready. :D

Well I still have lots of baby clothes and blankies and stuff to wash, so let me get back to that!

31 Week 4D Scan

Had this done yesterday.  We got a few good pics before he decided to turn around and only give us the back of his head. :P

This one looks so cute with the puffy cheeks:  :D

And this one looks like a little smile. :)

The scans put him at around 32 weeks on average and a natural due date of 15 Dec, with a weight of about 1 850 grams, so he picked up about 400 grams since our last scan about 2 weeks ago.  And so far his head, abdomen and femur measurements are still all good. :D

At our last scan he was upside down but yesterday he's turned around again which means my bladder is no longer being punched but kicked - lovely. :P  Because he's now in breech the doc is recommending a c-section (which is what I wanted anyway), so now I have to update the info with the medical aid.  So his b'day is going to be 4 December. :)  At least it's a decent while before Xmas. :D

My mum and sis are arranging a baby shower for 10 Nov so I can't wait to see if Aidan's gonna get something cute (I know my mum's apparently got a bunch of clothes which are no doubt cute, hehe).  He loves getting gifts.  :D  And THEN we'll probably have our last baby-stuff shopping spree if we still need anything.  I hope his nursery curtains and bed stuff is gonna be ready in time!  Although we want to keep him in our room in the beginning which means I'd like to get him a smaller portable bed of some sort because his cot is too big to stand next to our bed because it's gonna feel really cramped in the room and that's gonna bug me. :O  So not sure what to get yet that's not gonna work out too expensive.  I wanted this, but at R2 200 it's a bit too pricey for a temporary second bed:

It's cool because it has a little bed that you attach to the top of the campcot and so you can see baby while you're in bed.  So we'll see what's second best!

29 Weeks

So we had another GP visit on Friday the 5th and according to the scan everything is still good.  The little goober was upside down though and facing backward so we couldn't see his face this time, boo.  But it looks like he's plumped up so he's getting all squishy now. :D

We've booked the delivery with the hospital and got the authorization number from the medical aid, so everything's just about set! This hospital is giving us a free 4D scan which we have to do on 22 Oct, so we're looking forward to that - I hope he's turned a bit so that we can see his face this time! Hehe.

I'm confused though, because according to the scans, since the first scan at 9 weeks even, the baby's age has always been set at about a week or 2 older than he really is (according to my date of ovulation), so apparently he's now at about 31 1/2 weeks or so and expected date of (normal) delivery is 16 Dec instead of 24 Dec that my online pregnancy tracker gives me.  But oh well, I hope the 16 Dec one is accurate, because I wasn't too chuffed about the prospect of having a baby the day before Xmas. :P

Either way, I've opted for a c-section so at the mo, expected date of delivery is 4 Dec. :D

Me and Noob Dad have thought that I should get my hospital bag ready already, so I think I'll get that done soon too.

I also finally gave in and got some Gaviscon for in case I get heartburn at night again - what horrid stuff, all thick and icky.  :(

Also, lately I can say that now I actually FEEL pregnant, in the sense that this belly is big enough to now really make simple tasks more difficult (eg getting up off soft couch or off the floor, painting my toes etc, hehe), and I can feel my belly is heavy and sometimes it feels like my stomach muscles are being strained from the weight or size and almost feel bruised . . . weird . . . and I can feel some pressure in my belly too when he moves a certain way.   Maybe I should get me one of those belly bands . . . I wonder if that'll help, 'cause if I left up my belly a bit it seems to feel a bit better I think.  All in all I think I had a good (mostly) symptom-free pregnancy stint up until now. :)

28 Weeks 4 Days

I think I felt the little goober hiccup for the first time last night - or was it really early this morning . . . I dunno!  :)  I just happened to read about it the other day and wondered when I'll start noticing it.  Well it feels sort of like a heart beat, rhythmic and evenly paced and it's really slight so it's easy to distinguish from kicking or squirming.  So I assume those were hiccups. :D

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say!  We have another dr appointment today, so we'll see if there's any new developments, and I have to register my delivery with the hospital today so hopefully that all goes smoothly.

28 Weeks 2 Days & Nursery Update

Definitely bigger than last week!
Aidan's 71% complete and he's also getting much more active. :D  Besides the usual kicks and squirming, last night it felt like he was jumping up and down, hehe.  We really can't wait until he gets here already. :D

I saw a cute growth chart sticker and of course I had to get it.  We stuck it on the cupboard door - it came with some extra animals so I just stuck them on the other door.  Cute! :D

 

You can only start measuring once he's at least 60cm tall though, so in the mean time it just has to make the nursery look cute! :D

Me and my mum went fabric shopping for the curtains and bedding and FINALLY found something cute and affordable and in the colour scheme and animal theme that I wanted - this is what the curtains and duvet cover are going to be made from:

On Friday I'm going to give my mum-in-law the measurements, so hopefully I can get the end products SOOOOOON - I'm gonna be really impatient, hehe.  Once the curtains and bedding is up and on, it's really going to look much more like a real nursery. :D

And I also knitted a blankie.  I can't knit but I bought a loom knitter 'cause it looked like fun to use (and it is!) and so I had to make something with it, so why not a fluffy blankie?!  You can only make things of limited size though, so I had to knit 4 squares and then "sew" them together, so you can see one of the joins going through the blankie, but oh well:

It's REALLY soft though, and it's quite big for a little baby so when you fold it in half you won't even notice the join. :)

We still have to wash the carpet of the nursery because a certain yoghurt-eating DeeDee . . .

. . . has been using it as her bedroom for the last 2 years, so not looking forward to that, because a) we've never washed a carpet before and we've borrowed an oooold carpet washer (looks sort of like a vacuum cleaner thingy) from one of our parents, so hopefully it actually works properly, b) we have to empty out the nursery furniture which also means we have to take the cot apart again because it can't fit through the door whole, and c) well it's a schleppy job and we probably have to wait a few days for the carpet to dry thoroughly before we move everything back in again.

At the mo I'm working on a (hopefully cute) mobile for either above the cot or above the changing station, we'll see.  So I'll post that when it's done! :D

27 Weeks 1 Day

Took another belly pic today and when I compare it to the one taken around 22 weeks I can definitely see it's bigger, hehe.

While I'm still blessed with the absence of any frequent trips to the loo, I've noticed that it's beginning to feel full now even when it's not, so Aidan's definitely beginning to compete with my other organs for space now.  :P

I was more easily getting leg cramps in bed recently for a little while (which is apparently a common pregnancy thing), but they seem to have gone away now already, so at least that didn't last long . . . maybe 2 or 3 weeks at most? - whew.

And I'm almost sure he's becoming more active.  Yesterday especially he seemed more active than usual, so that's cute.  Except when he kicks or punches into my bladder - that's a tad uncomfortable but luckily it doesn't happen that often!  Sometimes I just laugh when I see my tum wobbling when he kicks. :D

Sometimes when he moves around or does summersaults then I can feel him through my belly like a hard bump, but only for a little while, then he moves again - I have no idea what body parts I'm feeling, but I'm sure last night it must have been a foot or something because it was small.  Usually it feels like a big area, like his head or back or bum.

Anyhoo, we can't wait for him to come already. :D

26 Weeks 1 Day

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, this heartburn / acid reflux thing has been getting worse so I now have to find something to do about it.  :/  Last night it felt like I had heartburn almost constantly coming and going for half the night.  So see my next post HERE on some possible heartburn solutions.  :)

And it feels like I'm starting to feel queezy again sometimes.  Boo. 

On a happier note, Aidan's still kicking and squirming around a lot, and lately it feels like he's kicking into my ribs too, hehe.  It's weird to see my stomach move when he does, it feels like I'm watching one of those alien movies where someone's got an alien inside them.

And on a sadder note again (well sorta sad) - we can't shop for baby stuff anymore until after the baby shower in November :O  But that's ok, at least we get to save a little money. :)  So all I have to do is stay OUT of shops that sell cute baby clothes.

And we got a really cute fabric for the nursery curtains and bed stuff, so I can't wait until they've been made already! :D

24 Weeks 3 Days & We Got the Pram

We had our first appointment last week with the Dr who will be delivering Aidan. :D  He delivered my sis-in-law's baby in Jun this year so I thought I'd give him a try too and so far he's nice. :)  Here's a scan he did:

That's his arm and hand there. :D  It was also really cute 'cause we could make out his nose and mouth too - I should have told him to capture that one!  Oh well.....maybe next time.  We could also see his spine this time and yet another confirmation that he's a boy, hehe.  Everything else is fine too says the doc.  He's been in breech for the last couple of scans but it seems that's normal this early in pregnancy and sometimes they only move into the right position within the last 2 weeks or so - not that this matters much to me since I'm planning a C-section anyway!

He said we could see a dark spot where the bladder is which means the kidneys are working and we could see a dark spot where the stomach is which means he can swallow. :)

Our next app is for beginning Oct and then we have to register the delivery and book a bed at the hospital.  I'm choosing to have a C-section so I'm beginning to get nervous. :O  Also hospitals make me nervous. :S  So I already can't wait for all that to be over and to be back home again.  Hopefully their food is good...you think one can request double serving of dessert with the meals?? :)

And we found a pram we like and Weed (aka me dad, hehe - he's been Weed since decades ago, dunno where the name came from) offered to pay for half of it, so we got a really cool pram for half price. :D

It's got brakes, shocks, a mosquito net and even a rain "jacket" to cover the whole pram.  Oh, and little tables for me and Aidan's snacks. :D  And the hippo is what my sis got for Aidan - it's seriously the cutest hippo on earth.  :)

22 Weeks 4 Days

Finally, my first official baby bump pic, hehe,

I went shopping today trying to find some nice tops that will be flattering to wear, but I couldn't find any. :(  But then I thought, summer has just begun and I have quite a few nice tops that could easily be worn by a mum-to-be, so even if I don't find anything nice I don't really have to worry about it, I think I have some tops that can last me all through this pregnancy.  It was more a case of that I didn't have much winter pregnancy-suitable clothes - but I think winter is over now.  Except I don't have some cute pg dresses!  Still need some of that. :D

Anyhoo, while shopping today I was naughty and bought more baby clothes than I did anything for myself.  :O  Which I shouldn't be doing because my mum says she's bought bags of clothes for baby and so I have NO idea what she's bought, so hopefully there won't be too many identical outfits, hehehe. 

I just got over a really nasty and annoying cold, but I'm still coughing my lungs out now and then, *sigh*.  I didn't take any meds for it (except some tissue salts which I only remembered to do on day 3 of said cold), but I didn't have a fever and so it wasn't a cause for concern as far as baby is concerned.

I've also made an app with my newest doc (ob/gyn)early next month, the one who will be delivering baby.  I haven't met him yet but my sis-in-law was happy with him (he delivered her baby this July just past) and Noob Dad's female relatives have been going to him for YEARS so I thought I may as well use him too.  So hopefully he's likable!  :O  This will be the 4th doc I see relating to this pregnancy.  So I think once I get there we need to book a date for delivery and we need to register the pregnancy with our medical aid too, and apparently the medical aid sends us a hamper of baby goodies or vouchers or something when you do this!  Cool!  :)

Well I have some new baby clothes to hang up, let me get on with it. :)

Heart Palpitations & Pregnancy

This is one of those (apparently common enough) pregnancy "things" nobody really mentions in the "common pregnancy symptoms" lists that you find all over google!  I never saw it and I googled a lot.  So I'LL tell you about it. :P

This refers to rapid or skipped heart beats and apparently it's quite common in pregnancy.  Unless you have a pre-existing heart condition, heart palpitations are usually not really something to worry about, but just to be safe DO mention it to your doc and ask them to check it out if you're worried about it.

You'll know you're having heart palpitations when you get a feeling like your heart skips a beat and then gives a big thud and then carries on as normal.  Well chances are good that if you're pregnant and this is the first time you experience this not-at-all-frightening (pffft) heart experience, then you can possibly expect to get more of them soon.

Another way you can experience heart palpitations is when it feels like your heart is racing and pounding in your chest for no reason - in fact you usually notice it most easily when you've just become comfy on the couch or are just about ready to doze off - ie when you're being calm and peaceful and relaxed.  But it feels sorta like you've just done some sort of vigorous exercise before lying down.  And you'll probably find it hard or impossible to snooze or take a nap while this is going on.

Since I've experienced a couple of skipped heart beats here and there in my life before pregnancy, I didn't immediately think that I was dying because I knew what it was and that it was harmless in my case since I have no heart condition.  For me it started during the 14th week of pregnancy and carried on until somewhere around the 18th week, and it felt like it was often getting worse and more frequent as the weeks went by.  And that's when I started getting worried, because sometimes I'd have a pounding heart beat combined with frequent skipped beats continuously for hours at a time.  Then it started tapering off again and now, at just over 21 weeks, it mostly seems to have disappeared.

I had no idea it was a pregnancy thing, so I just googled irregular heart beats to see what I could find out about it, and that's when I by accident saw an article about heart palpitations during pregnancy.  It seems to be caused by your crazy pregnancy hormones and the fact that you have an increased amount of blood to pump around and so your heart is working a little harder.  I mentioned it to my doc anyway and he also confirmed it was normal and nothing to worry about.  But then he said it usually only happens when you lie down, and then I was worried all over again because MINE were there whether I was lying down or sitting up.  But I rode it out because I didn't have any other symptoms like dizziness or lightheadedness or pain etc, so I was hoping for the best, and slowly they started to get less and less and now I don't know when last I've actually noticed that I had one.

SO!  If they don't bother you and you have no other symptoms and your doc has cleared that you're healthy, don't worry about 'em!  They're just a temporary annoyance.  Bottom line is, they're not harmful to you or baby.  :)

21 Weeks 4 Days & More Nursery Decor

Yesterday we had our 21w3d scan and everything shows that all is good. :)

Heart beat's at 139bpm (the heart beat is that graph thingy at the bottom) and apparently he weighs about 512 grams.  I think that little blob at the top right is his left hand and the big blob in the middle is his chest viewed from the top (he's been bisected in half by the sonar, hehe).  So far the expected date for natural delivery is around 18 Dec, but I'm having a C-section so it will be about 2 weeks earlier.  The further away from Xmas the better, haha!

The other day he really started to squiggle around a LOT more, not just kicking like usual but something that feels like he's doing summersaults or something. :D  Feels weird.  I'm not sure when he snoozes, but it feels like he's awake most of the day and moving around, but I haven't noticed yet that he's moving around in the middle of the night when we're snoozing - or at least he's not kicking hard enough to wake me up. :)

I haven't really gained weight yet - I'm more or less now what I was before I became pregnant, so hopefully this is a good sign that I won't pick up unnecessary weight during the rest of the pregnancy!

And I think I may have exhibited a few instances of what they call "pregnancy brain". :O  The other day I see that my bottle of water is standing in the TV room (when it's supposed to be in the fridge) and I ask Noob Dad if he put my bottle there and he said no.  I have NO memory of taking it out of the fridge and putting it in any other room!  And I know he wouldn't have put it there because HIS bottle of water always stands on the kitchen counter because in winter fridge water is too cold for him so he doesn't drink from my bottle.  How weird . . .  And in the nursery we bought a chest of drawers and Noob Dad opened the draws so that we could air them since they smell of new wood and stuff.  One day he mentions that he noticed I closed the drawers and I said "no I didn't!" and he said well neither did he.  So whether that one was me too I have no idea!  lol  I mean, I'm sure we all do stuff sometimes that we don't particularly remember doing, but nothing as weird as this water bottle incident.  Oh well. :D  Apparently this pregnancy brain thing is your hormones messing around with you and having a laugh at your expense again, combined with the fact that you may be a bit more tired than usual so your brain isn't always as "optimally functional" as it should be, hehe.

And I've made some more decor for Aidan's room. :D  I painted little wooden tray thingies and used them as frames.  Then I remembered that I had the cutest little animal keyrings (and I just happened to have 4, a zebra, leopard, lion and giraffe), so I made them sit in the frames and I think it looks too cute! :D

 

 

I have another wall to decorate so I have to think up something interesting and different again.  Weeeee! :D

Also, we have a HUGE-ass fabric shop that sells not only TONS of fabrics and curtains but just about EVERYTHING else related too . . . yet we couldn't find ANY nice fabrics for the nursery, booooo.  :(  In this post I have a pic of the colour scheme I want, but all the shop has is these nasty bright green fabrics or dark greens that aren't really nice for a baby's room.  *sniff*  So I'm hoping we can find something nice and cute in Pretoria.

RE the curtains, I thought of an idea just in case we don't find nice curtain fabric - we could use white curtains with green net curtain behind it, and on the right and left sides we put some more net curtain over the white curtain and keep them tied to the sides with curtain tie-backs so that it's only the white curtains that open and close - that could work, eh?  But ALL-white curtains, ish . . . can we keep the white, that's the question, haha.  But it's very dusty here so I think even without any help from ourselves, these curtains ain't gonna remain white.  *sigh*  What to do, what to do . . .

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.  :)

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

12 Week Scan

So the 12 week scan is finally over and now I can relax more. :D  Here's what we saw yesterday:

On the right you see the head and the 2 hands above it, the stomach in the middle and the legs on the left.

Baby's about 62.4mm big now and the heart beat's at 153 bmp.  And this time we could see the heart beating and the baby moving too. :D  She did some measurements and said the neural tube is 1.1mm and the nasal bone 3.1mm, which is supposedly all normal and good . . . which puts baby at a low risk of having down's syndrome.  She sent me for some more blood tests to make sure that the low risk is confirm even more . . . so now yet another test to wait (im)patiently for!

While doing the scan she also gave her guess as to what the gender of the baby is, but can't be 100% sure yet.  But I'm not gonna say anything yet . . .  hehe.  Since we wanna begin shopping for baby stuff already, we're gonna try to stick with green as the main colour - nice and neutral. :D

Anyhoo, at this point I'm still feeling queezy (some days way more than others :S ), the smell or thought of some foods really makes my stomach t-u-r-n, and some days I'm really tired and I think I'm noticing I wanna snooze more, so I'm not fighting that one, lol.  Apparently I'm to take advantage of that luxury while I still can, before baby arrives, hehe.  And aside from sore boobs, these are the only pregnancy-related things I'm feeling up to now.

11 Weeks 1 Day

Wow, can't believe the first trimester is almost done with!  I hope the queeziness and tiredness ends along with this trimester too, hehe.  Not much fun feeling so UGH every single day for the last month now. 

Now we're awaiting our 12 week scan on 11 June.  I can't wait to see what we're going to see then.  Baby should be about 5.4cm big by then. :D  I'm also a bit nervous, so I hope everything is still going good and baby is developing as it should be.

And once we know everything is fine so far, later that week we're gonna tell everyone, finally. :D  Can't wait to see some of the reactions, hehe.  I'll post my "telling the family ideas" a little later. :D

But first . . . waiting to see what the scan shows . . .