20 week scan… and the big reveal…

Baby no.3 is…. ANOTHER GIRL!!

We had our 20 week scan this week and were excited to find out whether our new family member was going to be pink or blue… after two previous girlies it was no big surprise to hear the sonographer say: “looks like a girl to me!”.

Most friends and family had guessed it would be a girl, and Tony and I also suspected that maybe the girlie genes would be at work yet again.

Now we are left with an issue as we think we have run out of girls names that we could possibly agree on… and will probably spend the next five months dismissing each other’s suggestions! (So far he has said no to my brilliant ideas which have included Jasmine, Daisy and Poppy – and an all time favourite, Lorna, and I wasn’t overly impressed with his suggestions of Tia or Leah).

Other than that the scan went fine, up until the point when little madame decided enough was enough and curled up into a tight ball – despite asking me to walk around and tipping me up one way and than another on the bed the baby would not be moved so the sonographer has asked us to come back in a few weeks so she can finish off with the measurements she didn’t manage to take.

It was just lovely, as always, to see this little person on the screen. We saw really clear hands and feet – at one point the baby was pointing with both hands, and we also saw a very clear shot of two little baby feet side by side. The sonographer also commented that she kept stroking herself on the head – her biggest sister is a big fan of stroking her face to help her get to sleep too.

After the scan it was time to share the good news with everyone and I had to give the news to a colleague in work, whose little girl is due in a couple of weeks, that she wouldn’t be getting a bumper back of baby girl clothes from me after all!

Lilly was very excited to find out if she was getting a brother or a sister – she had really wanted it to be a brother and to call it Daniel, after her best friend, but she was much more diplomatic than you’d expect from a three year old and, although she was slightly disappointed, she soon warmed to the idea. Now she has been saying: “I like girls the best, girls are the best, aren’t they mum?” And she wants to call the baby Olivia.

So, there we go – a third girl! Wow.

 

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The most amazing jellybaby…

Today we set eyes on our third baby for the very first time.

There he or she was, a 3cm long beginning of a person, looking like a Haribo gummibear and wriggling around with a teeny tiny heart blinking away determinedly.

I had guessed we might be around 7-8 weeks but in fact the sonographer dated us at 9wks 5days – making our due date 13th Feb! Allowing for two weeks lateness (as with the other two) that means definitely here before March… wow… it already feels so soon!

As with the other two, maybe more so, seeing that little life on the screen brought tears to my eyes instantly. I already know I love this baby with all my heart, and seeing him or her was just so amazing. Afterwards I felt like I wanted to sob big happy tears, but I had to try and compose myself as we were sitting back in the waiting room waiting for our pictures!

We haven’t told Lilly yet (Isla is way too little to understand!) and aren’t sure when will be the right time. Now that she has experienced what having a baby in the house means she might be a little less enthusiastic than she was last time!! Or, she might be thrilled… I had a hypothetical conversation the other day about it which went like this:

L: “Isla is getting to be a big girl, isn’t she mummy?”

Me: “Yes”

L: “Then she won’t be a baby anymore?”

Me: No, she’ll be a toddler. Do you think we should get another baby when she gets big?”

L: (as if that was the most ridiculous suggestion she’d ever heard) “Noooooo! Ha ha ha!”

Me: “Do you think it would be nice to have another baby brother or sister?”

L: “Erm…” (thinks about it then says, sounding slightly unconvinced) “I’d like a boy sister.”

So, a basis to work from there, then!

We set off on our holiday at the end of this week, and by the time we get back I’ll be 13 weeks and it’ll be time for the NHS scan – and then to tell work!! I’ll be heading back off on maternity leave just over a year since I returned from my last one… Ooops!

 

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A sneak preview of Littlest Miss

Well, with all the upset and drama of the stupid consultant visit last week, I never got around to blogging about our 3d scan the previous day!

As with Lilly, we went along to Take A Peek in St Helens, which is a private 3d/4d scanning place. I think when we went while pregnant with Lilly it had just open, as the prices seem to have gone up quite a lot since then – seem to remember paying about £80 for a superduper package – 20 minute scan, DVD, lots of printed out pics and a CD of all the images. This time we went for the most basic option – £65 for 10 minutes and two colour photos (although we paid an extra £5 for two more prints).

I was 28+4 at the scan – around the same gestation as I was when we went with Lilly. And, just like Lilly, our new baby is also pretty camera shy and uncooperative – she spent the vast majority of the scan looking like this:

As you can see – she had her arm firmly over her face and was firmly curled up into a ball! (Apologies for the picture quality too – it’s a photo of the photo!)

Lilly came with us and we tried to explain to her what we were going to see – i.e. her new baby sister with a special camera. She was very well behaved even though we had to wait a little while, and although she only took a passing interest in what we were seeing on the screen she seemed to understand a little bit and quite enjoyed it.

Eventually, baby moved a little bit (helped by Lilly shouting: “Wake Up Baby!” and running up to my tummy saying: “Boo!”) and we managed to get some other shots of her face – again, not brilliantly clear, but something!

The highlight for Lilly was when the sonographer printed her out her very own picture of her baby sister. Don’t suppose Lilly could make head nor tail of what she was looking at, but she was really chuffed with it and has been quite posessive over it ever since!

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Saw bubba!

Yay! 12 week scan today was all fine… saw little bubs kicking and waving away!

It was all over so quickly, and although we did get a short but clear look at baby, the picture isn’t very clear (nowhere near as clear as Lilly’s 12 week scan).

We saw the legs kicking and we clearly saw a whole hand… and baby seems to have a really round belly! Best thing of all though, was seeing that little heart beating away ten to the dozen!

They also confirmed my dates, which puts my due date one day later than just going from my LMP, which I’m glad about because that’s one extra day before they start trying to mess about persuading me to have an induction or planned section. It could make all the difference!

I must say though that the scan hurt ! the sonographer pressed so hard on my belly! I mean, I know the whole “having a baby” thing gets much more painful eventually !! but still!

Last night I had another nightmare about the birth – I’m hoping this isn’t going to become a big issue as time goes on. When pregnant with Lilly I don’t think I had a single dream about the birth, not a bad one at least, and I was never anxious about it. I just had faith that, if I was determined to do it and didn’t worry about it too much, then it would all happen to plan. But obviously, it didn’t. So I suppose this time around, the birth is now my main focus.

I have my first consultant appointment on December 29 and I need to try and get some reassurance then.

But, that aside, an amazing day and sooooooo great to see this little tyke wiggling away! June the 17th, here we come…

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4d scan – and we’ve learnt that bubs is camera shy!

Well, it has been a while since I updated this, and I think the main thing to report is that we had our 4d scan… and discovered that Miss Bubs isn’t an exibitionist!!

We went for the first attempt on 22nd September – at 27 weeks 2 days. Me and her daddy were still impressed, even though she wouldn’t face the front, so we couldn’t get a full frontal of her face. BUT, we still did see a little chubby face and even watched her sucking her thumb very enthusiastically!

Here are a couple of pictures from that day…

Sucking her thumb!

Looks like she has her daddy’s cute nose!

The sonographer was determined to get better ‘face on’ shots, but after trying pacing up and down and having a cup of coffee, she still wasn’t playing ball, so they said we could come back the following Saturday for another try.

So, off we trooped on Saturday morning (29th Sep) for another attempt – but no, her ladyship is not interested in playing for the cameras!

We got some more pictures, but no better than last time. However, we did get to see bubs drinking and even saw her in a kind of hammock position with her legs up in the air which was quite funny. Oh, and at the very beginning we saw what looked very much like a smile!!

Here are some of the pictures from 28 weeks 2 days…

Rubbing her eyes, she’s not amused!

We also got a dvd from both visits and a cd of pics, as well as six colour pics.

Overall, it was a lovely experience, seeing our little princess on the screen. It’s a shame though, as they could have got such better pictures but she just wasn’t having any of it! It was very strange though, watching her kicking on screen and feeling it at the same time!

The other main development to note is that we had our first NCT class on Wednesday. It is quite far from us, actually – about 30 minutes drive! There were four other couples (supposed to be five but one didn’t turn up). They are all older than me and Tony – in their 30s, but i suppose we expected that. Three of them are all November mums, so about a month ahead of me, and one is 31st December, so a little bit later than me. It was quite funny really, talking to other pregnant ladies… and funny watching how they were all eyeing up each others bumps to see whose was bigger and smaller!!

The lady taking the course is a midewife, she seems really nice. We didn’t do much this first session, just introduced ourselves and then went through all the things we want to learn from the course. I was glad as all the others said that they wanted to know just as much about caring for the baby once it’s here as they did about the birth itself – which is exaclty what i was hoping for. She says next week we are going to learn all about “babies bums”!!

Apart from that, I am still feeling good. i can feel my belly is getting bigger and bigger now, and i am a little more tired, but apart from that i’m feeling fine!

Ooh yes, and we bought our cot yesterday. We have gone for one from Mothercare, and a cot rather than a cotbed. We decided a cotbed would probably swamp the baby’s room. Anyway, i’m hoping that by the time she grows out of it (about 2 years), we may have a baby brother or sister to pass it on to!!!

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It’s a girl!!

We had our 20 week scan this afternoon and the sonographer told us she’s pretty confident we are having a baby girl!!

All was well with the scan, everything appeared as it should. Little girlie wasn’t very cooperative despite a pep talk (and a Mars bar for energy) beforehand – she was curled up tight in a little ball and didn’t move much!

It was so much harder to make out what we were looking at as she has grown so much since the 12 week scan. Tony was much better at understanding what he was looking at than me – he said he knew it was a girl even before the sonographer told us!!!

So, a little baby daughter for us! We went afterwards to Mothercare and bought our little girl a pink snowsuit and a little cuddly lion toy!

Took it round to Tony’s mum and dads and made them guess (they were wrong!) then held them up the pink outfit to show them it was a girl!

Spoke to my mum on the phone as well, she was delighted!

However, now the questions have started about what the name will be. Well, we have decided, but we are NOT telling! We don’t want everyone’s opinions on the pros and cons of the names for the next four months! So, we decided that we stick with what we like and once she is born people will be too excited to see her to comment on her name!

Anyway, we think the name we have chosen is lovely.

So…. a little pink one…. wow!

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First scan today – nervous!

Well, it has finally come around… today we have our first scan on what i estimate to be exactly 13 weeks.

I am feeling excited and nervous in equal parts. Excited because to see our little bubs kicking around on the screen will probably be the most amazing experience of my life. Nervous in case it doesn’t happen like that!

I still have no symptoms to speak of… or at least nothing i can confidently put down to pregnancy. I feel absolutely fine… normal. I have no cravings, no aversions to any types of foods. I don’t feel sick or nauseas, and i’m not even particularly tired. In fact, i must confess that i did another pregnancy test last night (i know, i know!). To my relief, it came up a strong positive straight away. It’s scary though because now that i’m past 12 weeks EVERYONE knows… (with the exception of work)… all the relatives on both sides have been given the news by the two grannies to be. I suppsoe that just adds to my worries as although i have got to 12 weeks without any sign that anything is wrong, we don’t have any evidence that everything is fine, either. I suppose i do feel that my tummy has grown a little bit… clothes feel a bit tighter, but i have lost 3lbs since my bfp. I don’t think it is noticeable yet to the untrained eye… i hope not ayway as i’m still having to keep it a secret from work.

We got back yesterday from our holiday in Lagos, Portugal. It was a nice relaxing week, and we did plenty of sunbathing and swimming as well as a little bit of driving around seeing the sights. We weren’t as impressed with the Algarve as we were with Cyprus last year… but then again Cyprus does take a lot of beating! It was sad too, as every shop, bar, restaurant etc has posters with photos of Maddie McCann, who was abducted from Praia De Luz about 38 days ago now. We even saw some in Lagos which were handmade with real photos stuck to them, and, written in biro, “Missing 10pm last night Praia De Luz”. Very sad. I really really hope with all my heart that she is returned safe and well. Thinking about what her family must be going through makes you feel sick. I just do not know how they cope… it is unimaginably horific for them.

Anyway. Yes. We had a nice holiday and have returned feeling refreshed although i am not looking forward to finding out the latest “developments” at work. Apparently we will find out whether we have been ring fenced for any of the new posts on the 20th June… so hopefully we will know more then. I just hope to goodness that i still have a job, i feel furious at the prospect of losing what i am entitled to for the sake of this ridiculous example of bad management!

But for today, the main thing is the scan. Please please let it show us a healthy bubs waving away! There is nothing in the world more important than that right now!

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Six weeks, four days

Well, it’s almost two weeks since we found out i was pregnant and already so much has happened! Our darling baby now looks much like this…. hard to believe!

I’m still feeling very well, almost ‘normal’! My breasts are still a bit tender, and over the last couple of days i’ve begun to feel a teeny bit queasy if i go too long without eating. I wouldn’t really go so far as calling it nausea though. I’m having to try not to make any sudden movements – getting out of the car too quick and sneezing lying down are no-nos, as they cause a sharp pain down there!

We went to see the chemo consultant on Wednesday, and told him our news. He was very pleased and said we had managed to get pregnant fairly quick, considering everything. It didn’t feel quick to us, though, that’s for sure.

On Thursday, I had my booking in appointment with the midwife, whose name was Mary. She was very nice, but as she works at a different hospital to the one i’m choosing to go to, she couldn’t give me too much information. However, I should get a letter through from Warrington (my chosen hospital) in a couple of weeks giving me a date for my scan, and they will go through everything then. The doctor has me down as a due date of 15th Dec, going off my LMP (start of last period), but I still think 18th Dec is more acurate, going off my ovulation date. So i’m sticking to that for now, but once we have the dating scan, we can be more sure. I read in one of the many magazines i’ve been reading over the past fortnight that babies conceived in the spring and summer are more likely to be overdue, as are first babies. Considering i was only born on my due date because i was induced thanks to my mum’s high blod pressure, and my little sister was 12 days overdue, it doesn’t look good for me!!!

We have had some early discussions about names, but we are a million miles away from making a decision yet. I know the middle names – they’ll be after my nan and grandad depending on whether it’s a boy or a girl, but the first names are still very much a work in progress. So far, we seem to like Joseph for a boy, or Lilly for a girl. Not sure whether it is naff to call a boy Joseph if he’s born at Christmas time, but that isn’t the reason we like the name. Anyway, i have ordered a book of baby names from ebay and am awaiting that eagerly!

Talking of ebay, i have finally embraced this particular revolution. I am now the proud owner of three items of maternity wear – a jumper, t shirt and a skirt – none of which were more than a fiver, incuding postage! It is definitely the way forward!!

On the other side of the coin, we visited Mothercare in Warrington whilst en route to the hospital on Wednesday! (I know, i know… but we needed somewhere to kill time before my appointment, honest!!) It’s funny, as you do feel a bit of a fraud, wandering round without either a) a small baby or b) a pregnant belly or c) both. Never mind, it was really exciting, seeing all the cute baby clothes and toys and books and prams and the cute little cots!!! Another milestone in the whole “making it seem real” thing!

And yesterday, when i got up for work, i found a lovely note which T had written for me when he left a couple of hours earlier. It said: “You two have a good day, I love you both!” Really made me smile. What a brilliant daddy he’s going to be!!

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I’m pregnant!!!!

Wow… i am still in shock… did a pg test this morning when i first woke up and, almost instantly, a line appeared! I ran back into the bedroom, waking up T waving the test!

Suffice to say we are both absolutely over the moon and cannot believe how lucky we are!!

The test i did this morning was a cheapo Asda-own, so we got up after the first bfp and went to get a clearblue digi. It was very nerve wracking waiting for the little timer to go off and for it to show us the word… but finally it did and there it was, “Pregnant”. We were both shaking and couldn’t stop hugging each other for pure joy!

So, according to fertilityfriend.com, my estimated due date is 18th December… so we are having a Christmas baby! This time next year we’ll have a four month old!!!!!!

Wow, i’m so excited and thrilled… there is so much to think about. We have already been round and given the news to T’s mum and dad, who were shocked and thrilled. We’ve worked out that i’m somwhere between 4-5 weeks, as it only counts from the first day of our last period, not the day you think you ov’d, or conceived.

We’ve had a few early chats about maybe having a private scan dones at 8 weeks or so, as we’re both so impatient and don’t think we can wait until 12 weeks. It also looks like our holiday will coincide with the 12 week mark, so in any case, doesn’t look like we’ll be able to have our proper first scan until 13 weeks.

Haven’t told anybody else yet – will probably tell my mum soon though. My main worry is hiding it in work… as soon as i knock back coffee more than once, they’ll be right on to me. Can’t decide whether it’s best to confide in one or two, who are good friends, so they can help me with the coverup!

Well, i’m off to immerse myself in baby magazines… i feel this huge need to read as much information as I can!

As for symptoms, i don’t really have a great many… i suppose, with hindsight, i have been a bit more tired than usual the last few nights, falling asleep on the sofa… and i did have very sore nipples over the last week too. I’ve also had a few twinges, like when I stand up too quick, but apart from that nothing amazing. I’m sure that will all change in a few weeks!!!

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