24 weeks and waiting for a baby to arrive!

And no, not mine. She can happily stay put in there until term!

My sister in law is in labour! She has been quite sick with meningitis this past week, and finally got the all clear yesterday! And today she is in early labour! Hopefully I will be an aunty again before too long :)

and yes, I am 24 weeks today! WOOP! Bubs kicks are getting a lot stronger, I even had a couple yesterday that I went "ooh!" at because they took me by surprise at how strong they were. She is spending quite a bit of her day wriggling around in her little home (maybe she's doing housework?!) It is the nicest and most reassuring feeling when she moves. It has been slightly annoying at times when she just won't stop wriggling, but I know that is only likely to get worse so I can't complain too much. Getting a little bit uncomfy at work sitting down all day, yesterday I had a sore back and my bump was all hard and sore too. A lie down after work and a good walk helped though.

So bump is growing quite rapidly. And so is the pile of clothes I can no longer fit!! It is becoming quite a task to actually find something to wear now. Thank goodness for the maternity skirt I bought from Kmart a couple of weeks ago, I just wish I had bought a couple of them! Saw some jeans at the warehouse the other day that I might have to get because pretty much NONE of my pants fit me anymore! At least it is still summer (for now) but won't be too much longer before I will want to start wearing pants again, so that may be a bit of a problem. I just hope I fit my clothes again afterward or it will be a very expensive affair to get me a new wardrobe!

I bought a Touchwood change table off Trademe last week and we picked it up on the weekend. It's the same model as my cot which is cool, I now have a matching set. So bubs' room is starting to take shape. Need to get some more coat hangers so I can hang up the rest of the clothes we have bought. Or else, find a set of drawers to put them all in.

Anyway, I think that's all the main news for now....until my nephew gets here that is!

Holidays, work and BABY NEWS!

2011 here we are! Even though we are halfway through the first month already (gasp!)....

Back at work again (sigh) and things are slowly returning to normal.... My 2 weeks off were awesome, and totally not long enough, but will make do with that for now. Christmas day was spent at my parents and we ate far too much. I totally surprised my mum with how much I ate!! She didn't think I would make it through the huge plateful of roast turkey, potatoes, kumara, pumpkin and beans that I did. But it was soooo goooooood!! And I surprised myself with being able to eat it all and not getting that horrible "oh I just ate too much" feeling. By the time it was dinnertime, everyone else was still full and I was hungry again hehe. So mum had some yummy christmas ham which I had two nice big ham steaks from that I fried up. nom nom nom.  Saw my grandparents too which was nice as they aren't doing so well, old age and all that..

The rest of the holiday was spent going to the beach (oh the swimming was lovely), going to Auckland shopping and mini-putting with my cousins, and just general relaxing and getting a bit of stuff done around the house.

Had my 20 week scan on the 29th, and bubs was very cooperative - its a GIRL!!!



My lil girl at the 20 week scan :) Isn't she cute?!

I am so excited :) We have thought of a possible name now too, but will go in with a couple and decide on the actual day. Everything is looking awesome so far, fluid levels around her are great, she's pretty much the right size for her date and her brain and heart are looking super. At my previous midwife visit she asked me if I had felt any movement and all I could say was I'm not sure, possibly. Well about 2 days after that (at 19 weeks) I got booted. and every single day since then she has been kicking and rolling around. It is the weirdest (but nicest) feeling! She has been lying transverse with her head on my left side, but as of yesterday she actually turned around and I think she is now with her head on my right as I am getting kicks on my left side now. So possible gymnast or highland dancer in the making perhaps? The midwife at my last appointment on tuesday was very pleased to hear I had been getting such awesome movements, especially seeing as I have a front (anterior) placenta! Must say it's pretty reassuring for me to have her kicking me all the time too. If I haven't felt her all day she will usually give me a couple of strong kicks that night just as I have gotten into bed and relaxing for the night. Although yesterday she had a VERY active day, and was moving around quite uncomfortably the whole time I was cooking and eating dinner. So she's certainly getting her groove on in there! 

My latest bump pictures - 20, 21 and 22 weeks!


So now that we know that she's a girl I haven't been able to resist some of the great sales in the baby shops lately, even though I have heaps of clothes coming from my sister in law, I just wanted to buy her some cute things myself. So now we have a little range of clothes for her, all different sizes - some newborn right up until 1 year. and we got some pretty damn good bargains on some of them too! So now I just have to get them all clean and then hang them up, or else find some drawers to put them in.

Baby room is a shambles at the moment, I've been sorting through my bookshelf and putting up all my children's books that I had packed away, and removing some of the other ones I had. Of course this is a work in progress as I started but ran out of steam. So there are books scattered all over the floor. Our bedroom is somewhat resembling a bomb site too as I have been going through my wardrobe and finding out what still fits me (this list is shrinking by the day...including a new pair of pants this morning that fit me ok last week!) and things that I no longer want that I will donate. This is a work in progress also. The spare room has had a tornado through it too as it contains all the things that used to be in the baby's room but haven't been or aren't going to be taken downstairs but have yet to find a new home....among lots of blankets and pillows etc that were on our spare bed....this is hopefully soon to be my sewing room as well as being the guest bedroom. Just got to ressurect hubby's old computer desk and see if it is suitable.

Right, well I think that's enough waffle from me for now... catch you later.

Christmas eve

Well it's christmas eve, and I'm still at work...sigh....hopefully will get out of here soon! I have a million and one things to do this afternoon, and most require me to be slaving away in the kitchen finishing presents! Hope I get it all done in time!

So this will most likely be the last post of the year, unless I manage to make it on after our scan next week to reveal what flavour we are having, so MERRY CHRISTMAS!! and have a happy and safe holiday!

See you in 2011

xxxx
Heather & bump

Christmas countdown...

4 days to go until Christmas!! It's so hard to believe this year has gone so fast...this time last year I was frantically rushing around making and baking christmas goodies, and looks like I will be doing the same this week! This time last year I was dreaming about the wedding, this year I'm dreaming about the little body inside me that just last night gave me what I think was its first big kick.

19 weeks today. One more week until our scan when we get to find out whether it's a girl or a boy, pink or blue, fairies or trucks hehe. I'm actually starting to feel like maybe it's a girl....but I guess we will have to wait and see if I'm right or not!

Had our annual work christmas dinner last night, lots of food....was good.

Met up with a good friend over the weekend and that was awesome.

Aside from that, just hanging out for the holidays!

November christmas

So today we enter week 16! 4 more weeks until our anatomy scan! Also 4 weeks until christmas! Except this weekend just gone we had one of our family christmases...hubby's family one. So it was a busy weekend with my niece's 3rd birthday party on the saturday, and then christmas on the sunday. Lots of good food was eaten! And the weather was super hot, hate to think what the rest of the summer is going to turn out like if its that hot in November!

I got super spoilt with presents. The inlaws gave me a Brother sewing machine! So thats awesome, I've been wanting one for awhile to try and make stuff on...might give making some bibs a go! (once I have money to buy material and thread and all that). Steve's nana gave me some sewing stuff too - bobbins, measuring tape, tailors chalk and pins etc, and some socks. I also got some baby stuff - the attachment for the capsule that SIL and I are sharing to go on the pram, and an attachment for the doubles kit to turn it into a bouncer, and Steve got a baby bath full of all sorts of yummy goodies. Steve bought me a nice climber too with pink flowers (cant remember the name of it), and then last night he surprised me with some more goodies - a CD, neck pillow thing, a book and photo frame and other bits and pieces so that was cool. He said he will get me something for our actual christmas with mum and dad too, so yeah, very spoilt! I feel a bit stink though because I didn't have anything for him!

So now my task is learning how to sew! (among all the other things I want to get done haha) Going well on my cross stitch that I'm working on, so hopefully will have that finished soon and I can get onto my Winnie the Pooh one that I want to get done for when the baby gets here (although I don't see that happening as it is a rather large one!) Still, better off to have a goal to work towards!

Nothing much else happening on the baby front, getting slightly bigger, the only new development is the occasional leg cramp (which had me hopping out of bed at stupid o'clock the other day in agony!) Little bit of indigestion again last night but nothing major. Let's hope it stays that way!

Cots, nappies and the wicked witch of the west

No I'm not talking about the Wizard of Oz either. It seems I have turned into an emotional raving lunatic some days.....not so fun! One minute I'm either crying because I didn't get hot chips for dinner, or the next I'm screaming at my poor confused husband because he forgot to close the toilet door behind him, or something equally as stupid.....*rolls eyes* I must say I feel very sorry for him at the moment, he is trying very hard to be nice to me. As long as you don't count punching me in the nose on friday night while sleeping....maybe thats his way of getting back at me for being such a grumpy cow at him! Needless to say that didn't go down very well and I had a rather crappy sleep because of it, and then there was the cat who has decided that my feet make a very good pillow. sigh.

In other news, we have a cot! Won an auction off Trademe on a Touchwood cot that came with a free ezee rocker basinette. Yay! So picked that up the weekend before last.

So we have hubby's sister over from Aussie at the moment with her little girl who will be 3 on friday (where on earth did that time go??) and it has been great having her here. She is having another baby too - a boy. She's 30 weeks today while I am 15. We went down to Auckland a couple of weekends ago and went to Babycity and bought a whole lot of stuff - a capsule that will fit both of our phil & ted's prams, and the attachments that go with it and an attachment to turn my doubles kit into a bouncer, and some other miscellaneous bits and pieces of breast pads etc. Then we both went down again to pick up the cot and some cloth nappies that she won off trademe too. We are both going to do prefolds & covers, and it works out well because of the age difference between our bubs because she will be out of the newborns by the time mine is born (most likely) so she will send me over the ones that she grows out of for me to use! yay!

Oh and I finally got around to putting my bump pictures up on the computer, so here's my 5 week, 11 week and 14 week bump pics.

Not much to see yet but its definately getting bigger! Will have to take another one tonight seeing as I'm 15 weeks. Man the time really seems to be flying now! Not long until my next scan which will be the anatomy one, I've booked that in for 29th December. I wanted to get it done before Christmas but the silly scan place wouldn't let me! oh well. Next midwife appointment is the 16th December. I had one last week and it was really cool because was the first time she listened for the heartbeat. She found mine first going woosh      woosh     woosh then she found bubs one and that was like wooshwooshwooshwoosh haha. She pointed out that it was moving around too, was making funny noises. and then it started kicking the doppler. Was so cute to hear! Can't wait til the next appointment.

So yeah, I think thats all from me for now....although theres more than likely stuff I have forgotten, my brain has taken a leave of absence...

The Secret is OUT!

Well well well, long time no post.....to be perfectly honest I couldn't think of anything to write without giving away my big news, which is that I'm HAVING A BABY!!!! yippee! Had my second scan on friday and I wanted to wait until we knew things were ok and we were out of the whole 12 week period to announce the news. So things are looking great. I'm due the 17th of May, which also happens to be my grandad's birthday, so seems its a special date! (not that the baby is likely to actually arrive on its due date, but I guess you never know!)

Ok, so now I can fill you in on everything that has happened over the past 13 weeks (13 weeks today woop!)

So I found out that I was pregnant on the morning of thursday the 9th September. We had just come back from a long weekend down in Tauranga staying with Steve's aunt and uncle (that was the weekend we missioned it up Mt Maunganui!) I hadn't been feeling the best all weekend, just had a queasy tummy that kept me running to the loo (and not to throw up either if you catch my drift..lol) and I was really hot all the time. So the day I was due to get my period, I decided to do a test....lo and behold about a minute into the testing time a second line came up! By the time the 5 minutes was up the line was really dark. I started alternating between grinning and shaking lol. Steve was still asleep so I had to wake him up and tell him. Don't think he really believed me at first haha. I didn't really believe it either! Spent that whole day at work in a bit of a daze...Tested again the next morning and another bright pink line.



Two lines!


So the next step was to find a midwife, not as easy as you would think! Rang around a couple of places until I found one that could take me. Got an appointment with her for two weeks later. So now all I had to do was wait....

Midwife appointment went well, she seemed pretty nice and gave me a blood test form and dating scan form (as I wasn't completely sure when I was due, because of a long cycle). Couldn't get a scan until another 2 weeks after that at 8 weeks! That was a loooong wait as I just wanted to see something and make sure it was actually a baby in there and that I wasn't just imagining things haha.

Had a bit of a scare at about 6 weeks, had a day of cramping and a bit of spotting, so I freaked out...rang the midwife who said that these things can occur at this time and if it gets any worse then ring back and we will send you to hospital for an emergency scan and to take it easy! So Steve had to sort me out some dinner that night as I lay on the couch and did nothing. The cramping eased off by the next morning and all seemed to be ok again.

So we finally made it to the scan and it was incredible. There was a little blob in there with its heart fluttering wildly. Such an amazing thing to actually see (and proved I wasn't nuts hehehe).

8 week scan, our little blobby

The scan put me at pretty much the same dates as what I already had, so baby was measuring well. And it was such a relief that everything seemed to be perfect!

Next midwife appointment went well too, Steve came with me to meet her. My blood tests were all awesome. She gave me my next scan form for 12 weeks and another blood test form (these were for testing for downs syndrome).

And that was the scan we went to on Friday. Again baby looked perfect, heart beating madly at around 160bpm and measuring what it should. Nuchal results look great at this stage, just got to wait until my next midwife appointment to get the combined results from the blood test. When we got there bub was doing handstands with its feet kicking up in the air, was so cute. Then I had to go and let some out of my bladder because baby wasn't sitting right for measurements. That didn't help much so the sonographer told us to go for a 10 minute walk to hopefully shift baby into a better position. The walk helped and she was able to get all the measurements she needed. So now just have to wait until the 20 week anatomy scan! The sonographer also said that I have a placenta at the front, which means its anterior. Usually with anterior placentas you don't feel movement until a bit later, around 20-22 weeks or so. Which is a bit of a bummer because I'm pretty keen to feel something! But the good news is that apparently the kicks don't hurt as much later on as the placenta provides some cushioning, yay.



12 week scan

 I have been extremely lucky as I have not had any morning sickness or anything!! No throwing up YAY!!! I must say I was very nervous about that thanks to my throwing up phobia lol, but seems I have escaped it (although I guess I shouldn't speak so soon). The only time I have felt sick is when I havent eaten for awhile or eaten enough. and boy can I eat!!! I seem to be constantly grazing, and when I'm not, I'm thinking about the next meal! Has been quite a challenge to find things that I actually feel like eating though, or that I am allowed to eat - no rare meat (boo there goes my nice steak fantasies of summer bbq's this year!), no soft cheeses (although turns out you can eat them if you eat them fresh - maybe i should just buy some and eat the whole thing at once!), no sushi, no salami or deli stuff (missing ham!), no KFC etc etc. Have been eating a lot of soup, tonnes of cheese (by itself, on crackers, cheese toasted sandwiches every couple of days), lots of fruit (strawberries anyone?), lollies, pies, and lots of chips (both packets and hot chips). Totally went off anything chocolate for a few weeks, couldn't even stand the smell of it. Luckily that didn't last long!! And the only other thing I've had is a couple of almost fainting episodes - one in the shower when it got too steamy because I forgot to put the fan on oops, and one at the warehouse! That was rather embarassing...luckily Steve was there to guide me to a bench and get me some water!! Boobs haven't been too sore except at the start, and just starting to get a bit of a bump, although some days it looks bigger than others. Still looks like ive eaten a few too many pies though hehe. Will post up a bump pic in a few days if I can.

So yeah, thats my big news! And I apologise in advance if you get bored easily by baby/pregnancy talk as it is rather hard for me to focus on anything else right now, so a lot of my posts will probably be about this! :)