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23 weeks + 4 days

I'm into my 4th day of antibiotics now and I can't say that I feel much better.  A bit better, yes.  I'm not as weepy and pathetic as I was a few days ago.  But I'm still congested in my chest and I'm still wheezing and coughing.  As was the case a few days ago, my head still throbs whenever I cough.  It's not pleasant really; coughing, holding my head and groaning.  Over and over again.  I just hope that it's over by Monday when I'm due back at work!

Baby boy is doing well, as far as I can tell.  He wriggles about sometimes, mostly in the evening.  His movements aren't very strong yet, so I haven't had to put up with any almighty kicks and jabs yet.  Just the occasional wriggle or squirm.  It kind of feels like he's rolling over in my stomach.  It's more of a general rumble in there than it is an exact jab.

Jabs, I'm sure, will come soon enough and I'll be begging him to calm down.  Please don't beat your mother up!

So, we've told my parents, step-parents, in-laws, siblings, friends, etc that we're having a boy and everyone seems thrilled with the idea.  I'm sure they would have been thrilled with a girl too, mind you.  A boy just has such a special significance in our family and it was mostly for that reason that I was really rooting for a boy. 

God, can you imagine if the sonographer was wrong?!  I'm mean, I've seen what he claimed was "undeniable proof" that we were having a boy, but stranger things have happened.  Although, usually in the other direction, I'm sure.  You know, the absense-of-a-penis-equals-girl theory.  And from what the sonographer pointed out, it sure looked like male anatomy!

Anyway, Stephen's gone out to help Ruth do her paper round and I think I'll make him an omelette for lunch when he gets back.  I'll do the girls some fried egg sandwiches too.  They like that.  And me, well I simply cannot resist last night's leftover lasagne!  It usually doesn't last past breakfast for me.  I've done well to wait until lunchtime!

To the kitchen!

3 Kommentare 2.1.04 13:43, Comment

Good job? Bad job?

I've just been offered some more maternity clothes, which is good as 1) maternity clothes are so expensive, 2) pregnant women never get much wear out of them and 3) my previous offer of maternity clothes from a female colleague who'd recently had a baby never fell through.  It was one of those strange situation where the offer was made on numerous occasions and was graciously accepted by me on those very same occasions, but nothing ever materialized.  And I've certainly decided that I won't be reminding this colleague of the offer she made.

So David, another colleague (who's in his fifties, I might add) became a Dad again in the middle of last year.  (They had a son called Harrison... although David still insists that the child's name is Alien!  How strange.)  He came to me this morning and said that his girlfriend knew of my pregnancy and would like to offer some maternity clothing.  I thanked him and we got to talking about the fact that Stephen and I had been for the scan on Christmas Eve and that we were having a boy.

Interestingly, he and his girlfriend went for their scan on Christmas Eve of 2002 and were told that they were having a boy.  Popular date for scans!  Which is just as well really as there was no one waiting in the waiting room when we arrived and we didn't have to wait at all!

And disappointingly, I don't get any more scans in this pregnancy.  Unless something is of concern, of course.  This means that I won't get to see my little boy again until he is born.  I would have liked to have another scan... hell, I'd have a scan every day just to see him wriggle around.  But, on the up side, my next appointment with the midwife is on Wednesday and I'll get to hear his heart again.  And, being the pathetic techy that I am, I'll record it on my PDA for posterity.  The midwife will give me another grumpy look, like she did last time, but who cares.  She always looks grumpy.

Actually, I was just thinking the other day that being a midwife must be a great job.  You know, as far as health care professionals go.  The midwife I'm referring to is a community midwife.  She sees and monitors pregnant women, but, as far as I'm aware, does not deliver babies.  She must see a lot of happy and cheerful women and the job strikes me as a good one.  Then Stephen was telling me just this morning that he'd heard on the radio that studies show that midwives are among the most abused professionals.  Thinking about how I envision labor, I can't say that that fact is terribly surprising.  But we must keep this fact in perspective, right?  A woman is going through a long and painful labor. She's bound to shout some obscenities at her midwife, right?  Or will that just be me?

1 Kommentar 5.1.04 15:39, Comment

24 weeks + 2 days

My midwife was actually cheerful this morning.  She smiled at me.  It was a momentous occasion indeed!

My little guy's heart is beating strong at 130 beats a minutes.  I questioned her about it though as it was up at about 140 last time, if I remember correctly.  She just said that it depends what the baby's up to when she's listening.  If he's wriggling around, his heartrate will go up.  If he's sleeping, it'll be lower.  Duh, I thought, that makes perfect sense.  It's just my over-imaginative pregnant mind worrying as usual.  Anyway, she said that she'd expect anything between 110 and 160 beats a minute.

I asked her about when the baby's heartrate would likely drop to a more 'normal' pace, like an adult.  I truly had no idea when that happened.  I assumed that the baby's heartrate dropped at birth and that all baby's shared a similar heartrate to adults.  I was wrong.  She said that baby's do indeed have a higher heartrate than adults.  Mind you, I'm still not sure when that levels off.  It must just drop as they get a bit older.  Interesting...

The midwife reminded me that I'd need more blood taken at 28 weeks (in 4 weeks time) and that I'd need my anti-D injection at the same time.  That's because I'm Rhesus Negative.  So I should have a hospital appointment coming my way in a couple of weeks.  I hate injections.

As I was leaving, the midwife asked me to make another appointment with her for 4 weeks from today.  Then she smiled and said, "Oops!  It'll have to be with your GP.  I'll be on holiday!"  Ah... so that's why she was cheerful.

3 Kommentare 7.1.04 12:12, Comment

Free stuff!

Kellie came in with baby Christian again today.  It was the first time I'd seen her since I had the scan on Christmas Eve.  I told her that we were having a boy and she was very pleased about that.  She said that she had "loads" of boy things to pass on to me.  She said that most of it had hardly been warn, as Christian grew out of it so quickly.

She even advised me not to buy other baby stuff like a baby bath and lots of other 'big' things because she wanted to give me those as well.

I'm very pleased with the idea of taking all that off of her hands and I'm even more pleased with the idea of not having to spend an arm and a leg, but, if you remember correctly, Kellie's the one who offered me maternity clothing.  And I have yet to see any of that!  We'll see...

But, speaking of maternity clothing, David brought in a bag of clothes for me today from his girlfriend, Lisa.  There are 2 pairs of maternity jeans and 2 blouses/shirts.  I've decided to get them a thank you card and perhaps a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine to show my appreciation.

9.1.04 16:19, Comment

Sharing the excitement

You may think I'm weird, but I get into bed as early as possible, just so that I can feel the most movements and the strongest movements from my unborn son.  I find that he's the most active in the evenings and when I'm lying down.  (Having said that though, he's certainly boogying around right now!  10:30am)

So I was in bed by about 9pm or so last night.  I like to lie there on my back with my PDA in my hand, playing some mundane card game or something, and I marvel at his vigorous movements inside me.  It's such a strange and alien feeling, but it's also very comforting to know that he's there, alive and strong.

Having actually seen my tummy move with his kicks the other night, I called Ruth, my youngest stepdaughter, in to have a look.  I exposed my bare stomach and we waited.  She seemed a bit shy at first, as she isn't normally subjected to a view of my bare mid-section, but she soon got into it.  Luckily, it didn't take to long for her to see a slight movement.

Then Sarah came in and sat on the other side of me.  Soon, Stephen came over with his digital video camera!  You know how I said that it's a strange and alien feeling to have a living being squirming inside you?  Well, it's even weirder to have your family staring intently at your stomach!  And even pointing a video camera at it!

Stephen says that he did indeed see movement but, having watched the footage he recorded, it unfortunately didn't show up very well.  Obviously, these kicks will continue to get stronger and stronger as this baby grows and we'll have plenty of other opportunities to get a few good kicks on film. 

But it certainly was amazing to share the excitement of this baby's movements with my family.  I think his father and his sisters are already very proud of him.

12.1.04 11:43, Comment