The Pram

Well, we did it, we bought a pram. I've found this to be probably the hardest baby item to research and decide on. There are just so many options out there and it seems very important to get the right one. We went to a couple of different large baby stores to look at the many prams on offer, as well as reading the very large section on prams of the Choice Guide to Baby Products and ended up making our purchase yesterday.

Introducing the Swallow Beema Q:
We are very happy with our decision and just love our new pram! It has every feature we wanted and was the top rating pram in the Choice guide. We also managed to pick it up at a great price, and even got a free Swallow nappy bag to match!

I am absolutely loving buying baby products, it makes the whole thing seem so much more real. The more things we buy, the more I just can't wait until the time when we meet our little one. I know that once the pregnancy part is over I will probably miss it terribly, but for now I am so excited about the day that we get to meet our baby.

Christmas

For some reason it didn't really feel as much like Christmas this year. Not that I am complaining, it was certainly so much better than last year, when we were about to start our IVF journey. The unfortunate thing about Christmas is that it can be a painful reminder of what you have not been able to acheive that year, especially when it is to do with families. I am just so grateful that although our child has not yet joined us in the outside world, that it is at least a part of our lives now.

Maybe it was the anticipation of celebrating next year's Christmas with our child that kept us from the usual excitement of the holiday this year. Either way, it has still been a great week, just missing some of that 'magic' that I hope will return for us through our child's eyes in future years.

Our baby also recieved a first gift - a Christmas present from the future grandparents:

How surreal and wonderful to be opening a present for our child. I am just so excited about the day that we get to finally meet our little one.

One other very exciting thing that happened during the break was that I think I may have felt our baby move for the first time! On Christmas Eve, I was sitting at the shops looking at the baby monitor I had just bought when I noticed what felt like a large bubble popping inside my belly where I was leaning the packet of the monitor. I don't know for sure if it was the baby moving as I don't know what I am feeling for, but I had never felt anything like it. I felt a similar sensation later that night, then twice throughout the day on Christmas Day. One of the times I pressed down gently where I felt the movement, and I felt it again, faintly against my hand. I guess I wont know for sure if it was the baby until the movements become more obvious, but if it was then how wonderful for it to happen at such a special time of the year.

Other than that, I managed to survive the Christmas period quite well. I did miss the usual glasses of wine and Christmas ham, but it is a sacrifice well worth it for the health & safety of our baby. I even managed to get a couple of nights of sleeping through for 5 hours or more! Very unusual for me considering the trouble I have been having sleeping, as well as the middle of the night bathroom stops that still haven't eased up at all.

20 weeks

Halfway today!! Here is my 20 week belly pic:


Thought I'd start to do a few different shots to start to see my belly from different angles as it grows. I've also done one for a comparison - here it is with the last couple of shots:

Looks to me like it is getting more rounded and coming out more from the top. It seems to have gotten a bit bigger in the last two weeks, but I don't really know how much - I haven't gotten that feeling like I'm really popping out more again yet.

Today also marks the day when I am officially on holidays from work for Christmas - two whole weeks off! It's been a year since I have had any time off work so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm all set to get off to a great start this morning with a facial, pedicure and manicure at my favourite beauty salon, courtesy of my darling husband.

20 week OB Appointment

I had my appointment at the OB yesterday afternoon as a follow up to the scan last week. I think I was in there all of 5 minutes. I wasn't expecting it to be a highly exciting appointment though, considering that everything went so well with the scan last week, there's not really much that had to be said. So far my pregnancy has been going so smoothly so I have no concerns that I needed to bring up with him either.

One thing that did come out of the appointment was he told me that my placenta is positioned at the front of my belly, explaining why I have still not felt any movements. With being nearly 20 weeks and having other people and books telling me I should be feeling the baby move, it was starting to get a bit disheartening that I still hadn't felt anything. Apparently it could still be another month before I really start to feel movements. While it's a bit sad that it will probably be a while before I will get to have that bonding experience, I feel so much better knowing that there is a good reason why it is taking longer for me to feel the baby's movements.

Other than that, it was the usual blood pressure & fetal heart rate check, opportunity for questions and a thanks very much, see you in 4 weeks.

19 week morphology scan

Finally, the 19 week scan was today!! I have been just so stressed about this scan. Particularly the last week I have been really worried about something being wrong. It's been keeping me up at night and I've been in a panic a few times about what might happen at the scan. I've always gotten really nervous before a scan, but the further along in the pregnancy it is, the more worried I seem to get. Doesn't make any logical sense considering that so far the pregnancy has been very smooth and the further along we get the less risk there is. But I think from an emotional perspective, the further along I get, the harder I think it would be to recover if something went wrong.

But, everything went absolutely perfectly!! Bub is doing so well, in fact is actually now measuring a week ahead of my original EDD. Bub's growth is at 75.5% where 50% is average and 90% is a really big baby so def developing well and looking like it may be a bit of a chubber!! Bub now weighs about 334g and the sonographer guessed the length at around 20cm. Everything else with bub was exactly what they wanted to see, the placenta is sitting beautifully up the top and my cervix is exactly as it should be.

Bub was a bit shy with the 4d face close ups, but we still managed to get some great pics! It is truly amazing what technology can do. I had seen heaps of 4d images before, but it was different again seeing OUR baby in the same sort of detail, just incredible!! They have to mail us out the pics and the report cause of a network problem, but we were able to take the DVD home with us and I've grabbed a couple of images off that. This one is probably my fav:

What a grumpy little pose!! So cute with the hand rubbing the eyes. Here's a couple more that I love:

Like I said, bub didn't really like those face shots, but I'm so happy with the images that we have. It was a fantastic place where we had the scan done too, could not be happier with it. Beautiful rooms, lovely staff, comfy bed with a plasma tv directly ahead of me on the wall to see the baby, hubby had a comfy couch to sit on as well. A bit more expensive for the pleasure, but well worth it. I'd go back there again in a second.

I'm going to make a real effort now to not worry as much about everything and just try to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. Now that I am nearly half way through, I am just starting to see how quickly it could go by looking back and I'd hate to feel like I missed it because I was worrying too much.

18 weeks

18 weeks today!! Still waiting for those first movements from bub. I keep trying to concentrate on my belly trying to feel something, but nothing yet. Hopefully won't be too far away. Only one more week until our morphology scan - starting to get nervous already. I'm excited about seeing bub again, but I can't help getting nervous before a scan.

Here's my 18 week belly shot:

and here is the comparison with the 16 week shot:

I think hubby is right with the opinion that my belly hasn't really grown a lot over the past fortnight, but it has changed shape.

The main pregnancy symptom I have been struggling with lately is back pain. I really didn't think that I would experience this so early in the pregnancy, but for the last week especially I am finding that by the end of the day my back is extremely painful. I am making an effort to try to have correct posture when sitting, and I now put a pillow into the small of my back when sitting on the couch which I am finding is helping. I ache a lot after sleeping as well, or what little sleep I get seeing as how this sleep problem is turning out to be an ongoing problem for me.

Good news is that I started my new job today. I asked my workplace for reduced duties so that I can be based in the office rather than on the road on my feet in the heat of summer. I have been placed in a wonderful office, very close to home with a fantastic group of people. I couldn't be happier with the way it worked out. I feel really good about my decision, knowing that the most important thing for me is to put my baby and my body first.

Maternity clothes - pics

As requested! :)

The red shirt says "Guess? Boy or Girl" and the black shirt says "Caution I Kick" Very cute :)

Maternity clothes

I finally went and did it on the weekend - I went shopping for maternity clothes. For some strange reason, this job has been something I have been very skitish about. I have no idea why, but I have been putting off even looking at maternity clothes for a while, and was really worried about my first experience in a maternity shop. I even asked my hubby to come with me for moral support.

But it all went really well! I went to a new maternity store in my local shopping centre - they had a great range and the salesperson was just fantastic. She pulled out heaps of clothes for me in my size (my pre-pregnancy size too!), co-ordinating different tops and pants and making sure that the fit was right, testing with a fake belly. The first thing I noticed as I was trying these clothes on was OMG, they are sooooo comfy!!!! They feel like I am wearing trackies!! But you would never know they weren't just like normal clothes cause they have a hidden elastic band inside the waist and they just sit really low at the front under my belly. I ended up with a whole wardrobe of pants, tops & a gorgeous new set of PJ's. I don't know how I am ever going to go back to wearing normal clothes again!

The best thing about getting the maternity clothes is my renewed appreciation of my body. When I have been wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes, it has been very hard not to just feel like I am getting fat in the first half of the pregnancy - as I get bigger, the clothes look less and less flattering. The maternity clothes do the opposite - they highlight my bump and make it look beautiful, and the bigger I get, the better they are going to look! This is the first time that I can really say that I am loving the look of my bump!