Energy levels up?

Wow, don't know what's happening, but for the first time in 16 weeks I stayed up till after 10pm!

On Friday I had a fashion party at someone's house. I told DH to expect me back within the hour as it started at 7pm. Well, 3.5 hours later (and a cotton-silk top richer) I was home again. DH thought I had ended up in a creek or so.

Then on Saturday we had dinner with friends at their place. Okay, I cheated a bit as I actually had a little nap in the afternoon, but still...

And then yesterday I played a round of golf and somehow managed to get to bed after NCIS. We'll see if this is just a temporary glitch or not. A bit more energy would be very nice!


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Healthy grocery shopping this week

We've reached the four month milestone - 16 weeks! And baby is as big as a turnip (knolraap), a vegetable common here in NZ but not so much in holland, where it is one of those old and forgotten vegetables.

Avocado anyone?

Baby grows and grows, and this is the week of avocado shopping! Ten to 12 cm's is the current size.

Luckily for me my expandable trousers are all washed, dried and clean, and I'm soooo comfy now! No paperclips anymore to hold it all together :-)


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15 weeks!

Reached the 15 weeks milestone today! No other news, besides the fact that my maternity clothes keep coming in now. The first item, a pair of trousers didn't fit at all, very strange model, but I could exchange it for a (hopefully) nice top. The other items, 2 tshirts, long shorts and a shirt with long sleeves are all quite okay.

A pity that it's still a bit too cold for the shorts (they reach over the knee), as the under belly band was very comfy, although a bit roomy. Am holding my current trousers together with a paperclip at the moment - it's working but only just. Also because when going to the loo the paperclip has to come off and Ziva has discovered this nice new toy, which she can let disappear magically.

Then my mum has been shopping till she dropped for me, taking advantage of the European summer sale. Can't wait till I get the box with all those new and colourful clothes. They looked much nicer than what you can get here :-))


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Belly staring

Now that a lot of people know about my pregnancy you get those who don't look you in the eyes anymore, but can only just stare at my belly!! Maybe because there's not much to see yet? Or they are trying to find out if it's fat or a baby??

I find it hugely annoying actually and wouldn't be surprised if this will cause me to snap at someone. Let alone when people are going to start touching my belly; then I'll snap and slap!


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More clothes

... And I also won two more auctions - don't you love it: 'won' - one with about seven singlets (I'll be very pregnant in the middle of summer and spring arrives in a week or so with higher temperatures around the corner), and another auction with three pairs of trousers, a skirt, and two tops. O and another one with a pair of dressy shorts.

Then I'd like a few dresses and a cardi or two for when it's not that warm. And a tankini or bathing suit. And ....


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Need new pants

Of course I don't have time for shopping when in Wellington for work, what was I thinking??? Well, that I would find some time obviously. Seemed a good opportunity with way more choice than here at home, but it wasn't.

On a previous Wellington visit I'd already checked one maternity shop out, and was quite disappointed with what I saw, also with the price. So what I've been doing instead is shopping online on trademe, for new and preloved goods. It's addictive!!

I found women who do away with all their maternity wear for about $50, but also some nice new clothes. I'm currently busy with keeping track of my (slightly enormous) watchlist, bidding, and buying, and the first items - a very necessary pair of trousers, two t-shirts, and a shirt with long sleeves, will be couriered on Monday. I love parcels on my doorstep.


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A navel orange!

It's time for some grocery shopping again; navel oranges are in season now! Pick the big ones, measuring almost 12 cm :-)

Freaky enough DH (= dear husband, for all those people who keep asking who this new man is in my life. And yes I know, we're not married, but hey...) bought a couple of HUGE navels yesterday, before we even knew of the fruit of the week. At least we get a real feel for baby's size.


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NT results back: good, but...

Got the results back from the NT scan last Friday, where they measured the nuchal fold of the baby to find out what the chance is of a baby with chromosomal abnormalities - combined with the outcomes of a bloodtest.

We have a very low risk of a baby with chromosomal abnormalities, and the chance of a baby with Down Syndrome is 1:1800, which is also very low according to the midwife. If this chance would have been 1:250 or lower then there would have been reason for concern.

But... there is a catch.
Not in the area of chromosomal abnormalities, but in terms of certain hormone levels in my blood. They found some placental hormone levels to be very low. And this means that they want to monitor me very closely, well actually not me, but the baby and especially baby's growth. According to the midwife this means that I'll be getting lots of attention, starting with an appointment with an obstetrician (gynaecoloog) in a couple of weeks time, where she will accompany us. What that and all the attention involves? I don't know, but probably a lot of extra scans!

Reason for concern? Not yet I think, as baby measured exactly the correct size and was even a bit bigger as our due date was put forward with a couple of days.

Changed due date

According to the measurements at the scan yesterday, our due date has changed from 14 feb to 11 feb.

This means I've suddenly jumped from week 12 to week 13, and we can say goodbye to peach and hello to lemon. Lemon is 7.6cm and 42 grams.

Woohoooo, we have a lemon!!!!

A baby!!!!

I saw the baby this morning!!!! There really is one!!!! Jumping up and down, moving arms and legs. A feisty heartbeat of 160-170.

And already very stubborn, taking a rest when the technician wanted to measure the nuchal fold. He ordered me to cough, hold my breath and expand my belly, but nothing helped to get baby moving again. Anyway, the measurements seemed encouraging and combined with the bloodtests they'll give us an idea of the likelyhood of a child with chromosomal abnormalities. Those results are expected next week.

All in all wonderful. Just a pity that DH couldn't be there as he came down from Wellington with a nasty foodpoisoning or flu, and spent yesterday and last night on the toilet. Hopefully that'll be over soon.


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And we have a peach!

The fruit of week 12 (woohoooo!!) is peach. Happy grocery shopping everyone!

Midwife visit

I peed on a stick, all was fine. No blood or proteines or whatever. Bloodpressure was good, nearly same as last time: 130/76.

Results of bloodwork were all very good, especially everything related to iron. I wondered about that, as I always had very high levels when I was a rower. I am actually O positive, not A positive as I always thought :-)

Because midwife goes on holiday this friday she asked if I would want her to find the heartbeat, although she usually only does this from wk 14 and I'm in wk 12. So no panic if there's nothing, but it would be a nice treat.
Well, mandarin decided to hide as we couldn't hear a thing :-(

Then I got a new form for our scan on Friday, as I accidentally used my previous form with the bloodwork. And we now have a form too for the 19wk scan!

Midwife said I looked really good and thinks all is going very well.


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Tomorrow 2nd appointment

Tomorrow I'll have my 2nd appointment with my midwife, just before she goes on holiday for a couple of weeks to the UK. It's interesting, but almost all 26 midwifes in the region are from the UK!

I expect the visit to be fairly routine, but maybe I've got to pee on a stick? Or perhaps she'll try to find a heartbeat this time?

By the way, did you know that the midwifes visit you at home? You can choose to come to the clinic if that's more convenient, bu I find the house visits quite nice!


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