26 weeks

Here is the big fat tummy at 26 weeks!!! It is massive!!!

I am becoming a partial outie!!!!

All is progressing well on the baby front. I am feeling better than earlier days now but still mostly having a big sore stomach all the time. Little Walex has been very active over the last four weeks or so, which is really cool and you can even see my stomach move when he does a big kick! Kylie can feel him too which is really exciting.

We move into our new house this week and then we can set up the baby's room! It's just so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to see a lawyer on Wednesday to see where we stand legally in terms of a parenting order so Kylie is recognised as the other parent and a will so that Kylie and Walex are looked after in case of......well let's not think of that.

Next obst. appointment is New Year's Eve!!

21 Weeks

These pics are from the 19 week scan. One is normal ultrasound, other is 3D alien looking ultrasound!

Here's the tummy at 21 weeks:

Had dr appointment today. All is going well. He's active and has a good strong heart beat (the baby - not the doctor - well the doctor may as well, but i wouldn't really know - oh..you know!) and things are progressing as expected.
We had the chat about the birth and it is confirmed that i will have a caesarian at 39 weeks. Tthe dr was understanding of my concerns given my neuro condition and said that in the circumstances it was perfectly reasonable and he would make the arrangements. I really did feel a tremendous sense of relief not to have to worry about that aspect of things anymore and not to have to convince or argue in anyway. I had done a lot of reading and feel that my decision is an informed decision.
Strangely, following the appointment (just this morning) I have been feeling tremendously fat and think that Walex is growing at epic proportions and if he goes on at this rate i may just explode!

20 weeks

Had our 19 week scan last week and all was well. Definately a boy - we saw the crucial boy bits! He was about 15 cm or so from head to bum. All major organs appeared ok.

We've been playing about picking out names and have a big list of them on the whiteboard now, most have been contemplated, discussed and crossed off, until now we are left with four - Will, Patrick, Harrison and Daniel. Still plenty of time and i think we'll probably just leave it at a short list till we see him! Not too late to add other options though!

I'm still fat and sore. Amazing just how much weight i have stacked on in the last few weeks. My tummy is really a pregnant looking stomach now!! I sometimes catch a glimpse in the mirror and and think 'holy crap, look at that!'. I am not feeling as sick as much, which is wonderful, but still sore and just not feeling great alot of the time.

We bought a house, which is really, really exciting! A real family home! Can't wait to move, although feel a little bad as poor Kylie will have to do most of the work as i can't lift anything! We've been packing things up even though we've still got about 6 week so before we move, but at least it won't be a mad rush at the end! Just got to con some friends/family into helping out on the day now! I've attached a pic of the new house.

Got another appointment this week coming with Obstetrician. Gonna have to talk about the whole caesarian vs. vaginal birth thing again. I've been doing some research, but honestly, the more i read about the perineal consequences of normal birth, the more i want to go for a caesarian. Looking at the research and the stats, i'm surprised anyone wants to have a normal vaginal birth!! I swear, if men had to push babies out of their penises and were then told that their penisese were likely to not function properly for months, years or possibly ever again, all babies would be born by caesarian! What a lot of crap women have been brainwashed to believe, being told that having to bear the consequences of vaginal birth are just a part of life!

17 weeks

We're 17 weeks now and it's hard to believe those scans i put up last were only at 13 weeks! The baby is about 13 cm long now. We had an appointment yesterday with the Dr who had a little look on ultrasound, it was awesome. And.....he thinks.....it's a boy! But he wouldn't put his house on it (I asked him!!). So that's very exciting. The baby was moving around heaps and the Dr commented that he was an active little thing and growing well. So all is good.

I'm still feeling sick quite a lot and uncomfortable/sore, but the Dr seems to think my ovaries are getting smaller, so that's good. I do feel sick still but i think perhaps it's getting better....then again....i'm not sure, perhaps i'm just trying to think positive!

I'm a bit stressed out about the birth thing at the moment. Went to see the neurologist to discuss my neuropathy concerns and get her recommendation for caesarian vs vaginal delivery. We talked about it for quite some time and given the lack of research available, she pretty much said she doesn't know what could happen, but he are some possibilities....and told me about possible neuropathies that could result. Mostly, the concern for me is a pudendal nerve neuropathy, which could cause problems with urinary incontinence (or more seriously faecal incontinence...hmmm...that's not good). Also loss of sensation in the perineum affects sexual function too (hmmm...that's not good either!). Anyway, by the end of that visit i was definately leaning toward caesarian and pretty much thought she was too. When i went back to the obstetrician, however, it seems her letter to him sat on the fence, so he wants to do a normal vaginal delivery. I am confused now. I think the only way for me to feel good about it is to do some research into Vaginal delivery vs Caesarian, in terms of general pros and cons and also in terms of what sort of neuropathies can result from each option. I want to make an informed decision and am generally the sort of person who is not just happy to 'do what the dr recommends' unless i am convinced that it is the right course. After all, i'm the one wearing the consequences.

So I am now trying not to stress and instead will throw myself into some research in order to make my decision.

We have our 19 week scan in two weeks, can't wait! We get another DVD and pics and get to look at the baby moving around and all it's bits and pieces. They will probably be able to confirm whether it is in fact a boy as the Dr thinks, as it'll be a bit bigger, they'll have more time to look and probably better ultrasound gear. So that's all very exciting. Looks like we'll be able to start buying cool little blue clothes and throw out all the pink we've been given from hand me downs!!! Ah, the stereotypes!

Firefighter Lush

Just in case you were wondering how Kylie's recruit course was going - she's finished! We had her graduation a couple of weeks ago, which was really great. Here's a bit of a pic of my girl the Firefighter!

13 weeks

Gosh, how time flies when you're feeling nauseous!

It's 13 weeks today. The nausea continues and i still have a sore stomach, but when you see pictures like those we saw today at our scan....well....surely it's worth it....!

We went and had our 13 week scan which was mainly for Nuchal Translucency (looking for signs of down syndrome) as well as generally looking for all the important bits - you know, a heart, some eyes, ears, arms, legs, kidneys, stomach...all those essential items you hope the baby has! Walex is 6.8cm long and we heard his (?) little heart beat. It was quite amazing to see little it leaping about and using my uterus as a trampoline! We still don't know if Walex is a boy or girl, but it sure was awesome just to see it and know that it's alive and moving and growing and everything is looking good. We got to keep some pics as well as a DVD of it all! My ovaries are still massive and full of follicles, a result of the IVF treatment exacerbated by the pregnancy - that explains my stomach tenderness, hopefully this will go down over the next couple of months...

It was really great that Kylie could come to this one, it's so much more wonderful to share something like this. How lucky i am. Still feel sick, but happy and sick!

When i got home Kylie had been to her brother's house and brought back a pram, a baby carrier, some bottle bags, a cot and mattress. We added this to the pram we had already bought (an ebay disaster - but that's another story!), the portacot and baby monitors we'd already bought! Gosh, it sure is become a reality now!

9 weeks

Ok, so i didn't get around to posting my questions after all, so sue me!

My appointment with Dr Pregs went well. I like him, he was nice and friendly and easy going and make you feel comfortable easily. He seems approachable and open to questions, so it's all good.

I got to have another scan, so i've got another little pic, which is ace. Little Walex looking like a bigger smudge than before.

I asked him some stuff about the birth, which was on my mind, stuff about pain relief and when he would be seeing me at the birth - you know, just to catch it as it came out, or before. He made me feel pretty good about the birth and pain relief thing. Just'go with the flow' is his feeling, see how you're coping and ask for something if you're not. I'm so all for analgesia, unlike lots of mothers-to-be it seems who are keen on 'no intervention, drug free labour'....yeah, bugger that!

I raised the question of my bizarro hereditary neuropathy with pressure palsies and whether the baby pushing it's head on my vagina for hours would result in a neuropathy....that one threw him! Seems that lots of women get neuropathies from child birth anyway, let alone freaks like me with a chromosomal deficiency leaving me way prone to it already.......i think i can see a Caesarian coming on......

I'm going to see my neurologist to ask her opinion and try to get some sort of recommendation as Dr Pregs certainly admitted, it's the first time he's had this one! I got the feeling he was already leaning toward the c-section. And hey, i'm not arguing, a numb perineum for a year or so afterward is not what i'm after either!!

Hospital Shopping

We looked at two hospitals on the weekend. I have managed to get myself an appointment with two different obstetricians, one delivers at Frances Perry House and the other at Jessie MacPherson. These are my hospital preferences as they both are associated and co-located within major public hospitals with intensive care units, both Neonatal and Adult. I can't help but think like that, seeing that i used to be an ICU nurse - always hope for the best but prepare for the worst!

Anyways, so we visited both FPH and JM on the weekend. We looked at the patient rooms at JM - but not the delivery suite and we looked at the delivery suite at FPH but not the patient rooms! Not quite sure how we are supposed to compare now! I'm not sure what i was expecting really, but i wasn't overly impressed by anything....for some reason i was expecting plush and hotel like surroundings, when what we saw, in both instances were just hospital rooms - of which i've seen many before. These rooms were just like that really.....hospital rooms......!

I have my first obstetrician appointment tomorrow morning with Dr Pregs (I know, funny!) - he is the guy who works at FPH - which i think is my preference at this point. So unless we clash terribly and i think he's a twat, i'll ring after the appointment and cancel the other obstetrician.

Looking forward to the appointment tomorrow and have written up a big list of questions, which i'll post later today. We also get to have another scan tomorrow - that's exciting too! 9 week scan.

I hate ginger

I hate the smell of ginger and I hate the taste of ginger. I find it somewhat ironic that the the smell and taste of ginger make me want to be sick and yet ginger seems to be standard natural remedy to nausea and vomitting.
I have been taking ginger and vitB6 tablets every morning in the hope that they will make my nausea go away. They haven't yet.... I have to try my best to swallow them down before i cop a whiff or a taste of it in my mouth and it makes me want to puke!
This nausea thing is unpleasant. I am so looking to forward to the wonderful 12 week mark when it's supposed to go away...well, that's the hope anyway, all the books say it should be going away by then. I'm 9 weeks tomorrow. Trying to stay positive...i read this morning (on the wonderfully informative internet of course) that having nausea means that you actually have a decreased risk of miscarriage.....well, that's good then..... :)

Public knowledge

We made an announcement on Saturday to the boat crew. Didn't really plan to announce it to everyone, just wanted to let Noel and Nev know as i wouldn't be sailing anymore. Noel decided we should tell the whole crew, so before we knew it we were making an announcement to th whole crew. It was kind of nice to tell everyone and they were all happy for us. On the other hand, it's still so early and i'm still scared something may go wrong.

I'm still feeling sick alot, but it's manageable and i'm able to stilll function ok. Though speaking of function....my bowel function has become somewhat bizarre and not pleasant! It seems to be living a life of its own and producing things that don't really resemble anything like what it used to!! I have other body changes too, weird little things on my breasts, little lumps and stuff. This pregnancy thing does such weird things to your body. It takes over completey and is now running the show!