Plodding On

Well, I'm just waiting for next Thursday now, as I get a 13 weeks scan. I hope everything is still going ok inside. Izzy jumped on me again yesterday, not hard, but she's just bony. I do try to keep her down, but she sometimes just wants to play. She definitly not as rough with me as with Steve though. She leapt on him from the arm of the sofa, so fast he couldn't have done anything about it, it was pretty funny. With me, she just poked me to indicate I should throw her ball, so I guess it wasn't too bad. Plus at the moment, although my tummy is sticking out, the baby's pretty low and protected in my pelvis. You can't help but worry though.

Cousin Nicola emailed me to say she's had a 12 week scan and it's all looking good. I just hope mine does too next Thursday. Her due dates now been moved to the 9th April too, so there's a bit of extra pressure that all goes well with me too :(

I'm in maternity clothes now, jeans are ace, I love them, and I've been using bio-oil on my tummy to help with potential stretch marks. I'm also getting back ache every day. Can't get comfy on my chair at work!

Ante-Natal Classes

I'm all booked in for some classes next year in February and March.

Courtesy of the NHS I get:

2nd February – 6.30pm – Tour of the Maternity suite at Stafford Hospital
9th February – 2.00pm – A class on labour and delivery at the Children’s Centre, Faraday Road
16th February – 2.00pm – A class on parenthood at the Central Clinic, Stafford
1st March – 11.00am – Breastfeeding class – no men allowed!!
2nd March – 2.00pm – Relaxation in labour techniques – North Walls clinic

So much to learn in a short space of time.

Nice People

A girl at work brought two huge bags of maternity clothes in for me yesterday to borrow!! It's so nice of her, and on getting home, I tried on a pair of jeans! And I'm still a size 12! Hurray! I shouldn't have wasted my money buying 14's really that fall down really. These fit round my legs and bum, and are a little large round the middle section, but at least I'm in size 12 jeans.

I'm still not sure that I have a baby bump, rather than podge and bloating, but as long as my own jeans don't do up, I'm happy to get by in maternity ones!

Another girl has also offered me her clothes too and I've bought a few items of my own, so hopefully, that'll do for now.

Hormonal Fatness

I'm having a bad time of it this week! Izzy chewed up my shoes, I've been diagnosed with bronchitis (again) and I'm getting really down over having nothing that fits. The size 14 trousers I bought are too big! They fall down and look too baggy all over, which I guess means I'm not fat all over, it is just my stomach.

But then most folk don't seem to show until about 15-17 weeks, and I'm only 12, so shouldn't be showing which makes me think it is fat.

Anyway, I spent an hour this morning sobbing that I was fat and had nothing to wear and as a result I was late to work and teary all morning.

Then I had an email from Nicola asking how I was, which was very nice of her, but made me feel more dreadful as she's so chirpy about it all saying how well it's all going, and I'm such a moaner and grumbler and am still waiting for something to click in still!

Oh, and to top it all off, Steve has now said he won't make the second scan as he's away working. And this is the appointment we scheduled around him. I'm cross, but guess there's no point. I just wish he felt worse about it! At least then I'd feel he was more bothered about missing it!

Well Travelled Foetus

It's ironic that travelling is what's making me feel nauseous at the moment and I've had to do an awful lot these past few weeks. Down to Devon twice, up to Leeds, to Oman and back! This is a well travelled little foetus. But I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend putting my feet up and doing some housework as that has been sorely neglected and it's not good enough.

I've told folk at work now that I'm expecting, and they're all majorly chuffed and hold doors open and carry boxes for me! It's quite nice really. I'm getting lots of advice of folk and some reckon 12 weeks is when you feel better and others say 14 weeks. I have to say, I'm not feeling too bad at the moment in myself, I've just got a stinking cold and cough and it's even come on before Fresher's week! So goodness knows whether I'll be immune to more diseases or if my system is compromised by the foetus sucking all my nutrients away from me and leaving me exposed to the perils of students coming together. Urgh.

On a brighter note, Steve and I have agreed on two girls names we like. Still working on the boys, and I know what I like and he's said he doesn't, but I'll probably get my way. Hmm. Ponder ponder. I think we'll keep them as a surprise though. Or maybe reveal them once we know the sex of the baby.

11 Weeks Today

I guess the title says it all really!!!

Baby is 11 weeks old today and still a little dot.

Feeling a bit rough with a cough and wheezy chest, probably my bronchitis again knowing me.  We've been down in Devon for the wedding of Nick and Louise and we were staying in Chris and Wendy's caravan which was near the reception venue.  Very cosy, but mighty chilly at nights.

Sarah's blue dress was a tight fit but I would have worn it I think had I not ripped it!  Eek, caught it on a sharp shelf so luckily had the spare turquoise one from last week with me which covers the bump better.  If it is a bump.

Felt most tired by 9.00pm and Steve dropped me off to get an early night before heading back to perform more best man duties.  Travelling  has made me feel more sick than normal, and being on my feet a lot of the day has really worn me out.  Baby is sapping my energy!!

The First Pictures

Here's the pictures from our scan today! This one is the clearest and you can see it waving an arm at us. I'm glad it has an arm.

This one's a bit more blurry...

And this one even more so!

But still, we have dates! I am approximatley 10 weeks and 4 days, and the due date they've given me is April 10th 2011. An Easter baby will be lovely, right at the start of Spring. Steve liked being there, even if he kept looking at all the pictures of breast feeding mothers and admiring the monitor used to show the scan rather than the baby on the scan!

It has made it feel more real. And the best bit is I didn't have to give blood today, I have to go back on the 7th October for another scan and blood tests then. And counting backwards, I reckon conception could have been Steve's birthday and am looking forward to telling him that! Ha ha!!

Ooh, and even more ironic is the fact cousins Steve and Nicola have also been for a scan today and their due date is April 11th! They've posted it on Facebook already. I'm going to wait for an email to go round the family I think and let friends at work know first.

Dawn Porter

Steve and I enjoy these programs, she's quite a funny reporter looking into funny things, so I was pleased to turn on the TV and find a show on her getting a baby! Sheseems to be one of these women who can't imagine having a baby due to the effects it has on your body and said how you ask a woman about the birth afterwards and they all get hazy about it. So she decided she wanted to see one for herself!

I was intrigued, and made Steve watch it with me (he didn't make it through the whole thing) but I really felt it was helpful. There is a lot of mysterious stuff that you don't know to expect. I didn't realise about the nausea and tiredness to start with for the first three months. And it only seems to get worse as you go along! One women interviewed had seriously terrible piles and was just bleeding into the toilet when she went :( (piles are one of my worst nightmares). Another couple said that everything 'down there' got stretched' and you could see it was bigger afterwards (that may have been when Steve left!) and these are things that have worried me.

Anyway, she found a women willing to be filmed for the birth and we had all the run up to the labour and then Dawn missed it! She was out of the country although the camera man was in there and my oh my, the very animalistic noises were unlike anything. There was a lot of screaming. I find myself wondering if this is a modern thing? In the olden days I doubt that women would have felt they could yell as much as they wanted to, but I wonder if we've gone a bit soft these days? I guess I'll find out at some point. Will I be a screaming, yelling, desperate for pain relief woman or be calm and natural?! And how will Steve cope at all if he can't watch a TV show of a baby coming out?!

One of the blogs I follow - Heather Drive has just described in lovely detail the birth of her baby! It's quite detailed which I like, and hers was completely natural (not completely by choice) but reading these sorts of things make me feel more positive! And take a look at the little baby girl, Nora. She's adorable. Maybe it's all worth it and going to be ok.

Scan you believe it!

Hurray, I have a date for the scan on Thursday at 2.30pm. It's sooner than I thought and we'll finally know some dates :)

I don't know whether I feel excited yet though, or still a bit dazed. I know that's a terrible thing to think, but am now feeling a bit confused by it all.

I'm hoping I'll be excited at seeing it on a screen and it being more real. If it all went wrong, I think I'd be upset, but seriously, I've felt so rough for the past three months, it's hard to be happy about something making you sick.

Feeling Sick Sick Sick

This pregnancy lark is all a bit yukky at the moment to be honest. I'm feeling so nauseous all day, every day, although afternoons and evenings are worse. My boobs have gone crazy sore and swollen and I've had to buy bigger round the back bras, and not being willing to buy expensive ones, I've just got cheap ones which look horrid and don't do much for my self esteem at the moment. I've also had to buy bigger jeans as my 12's won't do up anymore :( That's depressed me. I know it's only water and bloating, but still, I've not had to buy 14's for ages. And I was proud of the fact. And they're too big everywhere else but they do zip up. Mind you, I can still wear the 12's with a long top over to hide the big gap.

I'm still burping lots, and needing to wee lots, and I'm still waiting on a scan date. Lots of waiting.

Meeting The Midwife

I had my appointment yesterday and it all seemed to go ok. Tracy came to the house at 10.00am and I was allowed to leave work for as long as it took which was good, and I made a pot of tea and bought some iced buns.

Tracy didn't want tea or iced buns so I sat and listened to her talking about stuff (very overwhelming btw) and after about 20 minutes asked if she'd mind if I got a cup of tea as I was hungry and thirsty!!

So, the talk. So much information. Pretty much, all I need to retain at this moment in time is the fact as my last period was the end of May they'll get me a scan asap which will come in the post. I then have to take all my forms and information to the appointment (and Steve) and have the scan which will date the baby. If it's earlier than 12 weeks, they'll book me in for another at the right time, or if it's later, they won't. That's good. I really want to know where I'm at.

Then straight after the scan I have to go off and get blood tests. One needle, many bottles :( I struggle with blood tests at the best of times, so will need Steve there, especially if its more than the normal sort of test I've had to have done at the Dr's which made me faint. It's not that I can't deal with needles, it's the thought of things being sucked out of me. Injections going in I'm fine with!!

Then at 16 weeks all being well, I need to make an appointment with Tracy at the surgery and then we go on from there.

Then I got asked the hugest list of questions about my health, my families health going back four generations (ie mental health, social services being called, inherited diseases) which a lot of it I didn't know, and some questions about Steve's families health which I certainly didn't know!! Some of the questions, I felt that even if the answer were yes (which none were) you wouldn't admit to it anyway! Such as was I a drug user, smoker, had social services called out to the family and all sorts.

The funniest question was when Tracy mumbled is baby Steve's dad? and I really didn't understand the words?! She was actually asking whether Steve was the father of the baby and after I'd spent five minutes trying to deduce whether she was asking a health question of Steve's dad Chris, I sort of exclaimed 'of course! We've only been married 4 months' to which she replied 'well, you'd be surprised'!! Hmmm.

So it all took over an hour to get through, and I got to ask questions at the end about the crampy pains I've been experiencing (normal) and the excess gripiness of my stomach (normal) and the pulling pains if I turn over too quickly at night (normal). I know she's seen it before and I'm not the first girl to have a baby but it's my first and I just don't know anything about anything really, so she was a bit brusque about it all.

The Midwife Called....

It's been ages actually and I had rung the hospital myself to ask if I could book myself in for a scan to be told no.

So I was most pleased to have a call just. Although I felt a bit told off. She's the one who's been on holiday and when she asked when my last period was and I said the end of May, there was silence on the end of the phone. Then she said, that would make you 14 weeks. And sounded a bit panicked.

I said, I don't think I can be 14 weeks, but as I've not had a period since coming off the pill, that's why I have no idea where I am, and really want a scan!

So it's going to be soon. Thank goodness. I just want to know somethings there, and I'm not making it up and feeling this rotten for no reason.