36 weeks and counting down...

Peanut is much, much bigger.... and so am I. Looking and feeling very 3 dimensional at the moment and have reached the rather uncomfortable stage where it is hard to find a good position to sit, sleep or in fact do very much at all. She is also very active, so when I do finally get to sleep I am often woken up by what feels like some kind of funky dance movement. I am definitely more tired and hungry than I have been. But I'm told this is all normal! I can't really complain as I am still able to ride my bike, swim and do some yoga exercises - which are helping with the back ache and the sanity!

 

Just over 36 weeks....

So physically I am ready, mentally not even close... I still have some stuff to finish at work so I am continuing to work part time for as long as I can. However, I am aware that it could happen any time now so some of the work will probably just have to wait... We have finally packed a hospital bag and sorted through the piles of baby clothes and gear that we have been given. Everyone has been so generous - we have barely bought anything.

Wish us luck for the next few weeks....

Mini-Makeover

Preparing for the baby provided a bit of an excuse to do some tidying up of a few things around the house.

The study became the baby's room. All the desks and Lego moved out to make way for the cot, change table and nursing chair. I also removed all the bookshelves and repainted the room. The bassinet will start out in the bedroom with us.

Baby's room

I made the change table with bits and pieces left over from the closet.

Change table

At the end of last year I ordered some more kit-set shutters. Last month I put them together and installed them in the other two bedrooms. No more curtains in the house.

More shutters

We also ordered a new front door. The original had warped a bit and didn't seal properly any more. The new door is made of cedar so will hopefully fade with time to look more like the weather boards. I also replaced the balustrade capping with cedar boards as well. The existing cap was pine, painted blue. The paint had begun to chip and peel and wasn't looking so good. This should also silver with time and look more like the other cedar bits.

New front door

Peanut - 30 weeks

She didn't want to have her picture taken so it is a bit difficult to see what is going on.

Peanut - 19 Weeks

Today we had our 19 week anatomy scan to check how peanut is developing. Perhaps we need to stop calling it peanut as it is a little bit bigger now.... 

Everything was fine. A good strong heart beat and everything else was present and correct and normal size - so that is a relief. For a while she kept putting her hand in front of her face making it tricky for the ultrasound specialist to measure the nose, chin and jaw, but eventually she moved it away. I say "she" as they are 90% sure that it will be a girl as there was no evidence of any boy bits...

A few scan images below.... 

  

Peanut - 12 Weeks

We have made it to 12 weeks and I have had another scan and blood tests to check everything is okay with the baby. The baby now looks like a baby and is 7 cm from head to bum.. and reassuringly it seems to have 2 arms, 2 hands, 2 legs, 2 feet, a spine, a nose and a strong heart beat... Fortunately the blood tests also came back with good results. We are happy and relieved.... 

I have also stopped feeling nauseous, but I am still constantly hungry. I do have higher energy levels and am not so tired. We have certainly got over the shock and are getting more used to the idea of having a baby. We have started to tell our friends, which is nice not to keep it to ourselves anymore and share our excitement. 

Unexpected news!

In late August while I was up in Auckland for a conference I got a little surprise. After several years of trying to have kids and currently on the waiting list for IVF next year, we discovered that we were pregnant. Needless to say this was a big shock.... here is the rather amorphous blob from our 9 week scan - about the size of a peanut. Amazing how much extra such a small thing required me to eat... Although I can't really complain as I only had mild nausea and was never sick. I was just very, very tired. We are slowly getting over the shock... and getting used to the idea.