16 weeks and counting!

It's been a while since either of us has written but that is because TalkTalk have been really lame and not set us up on Broadband yet. In the meantime, we are so excited - it's finally dawned on us that we're actually having a baby of our own!

It's been fantastic reading up on what the baby is doing each week and even more fun watching my tummy grow, especially over the last two weeks. The only tragedy is, my tummy button is begin to rise to the top!! 'Outies' totally freak me out so this should be a laugh. John winds me up by occasionally poking it and speaking to Flump through it. As if our child finds that funny. (I actually do find it quite amusing).

The other very super thing is that I have been feeling 'movements' the past few days. Initially, the baby was sitting, it seemed, perfectly comfortably on my bladder last week and wouldn't move for anything, which made for an interesting few days at work. So the baby finally moved and we've been prodding and poking my tummy, just imagining our little one doing back flips and suchlike! But the past few days, I have definately felt bubble-like movement...almost like teeny little 'thuds'! We can't feel it from the outside yet but there's definately some movement inside. So thrilled about that. It was even more exciting because I thought we had a good few weeks left before any of that - I suppose it really is true that no pregnancy is the same! I thought that was just what people said if you were miserable you didn't yet have a bump at 38 weeks or something!

Anyway. We are finally getting the flat in place and when the nursery is clear, we can start the decorating - woo.

We had a lovely weekend this weekend, albeit very special as it was Flump's great-aunt & uncle's 25th wedding anniversary so we celebrated by going out for a lovely meal with all the family that came down, on Saturday evening at LaNotte. Unfortunately, John got food poisoning from his starter of mussels, which was a shame because he really enjoyed them. We think it was just one mussel that wasn't quite open was the culprit. So Flump heard praise without drums for the first time on Sunday morning! Thankfully, Daddy is back in perfect health now.

24 weeks left 'til we meet our precious bundle of joy - yay!

Leg cramps - THE REASON...

It was bugging me so I researched it for you:

From Babycentre - "it's possible that your leg muscles are tired from carrying around all of your extra weight. Or they may be aggravated by the pressure your expanding uterus puts on the blood vessels that return blood from your legs to your heart and the nerves that lead from your trunk to your legs"

From India Parenting - "It is also widely speculated in medical circles that an excess of phosphorous could cause leg cramps. This is because phosphorous hampers the body's ability to absorb calcium. You do need to increase your calcium intake in any case when you are pregnant - just make sure you don't increase your phosphorous intake as well."

But

From Your Health - "experts no longer believe calcium deficiency is the culprit"

So to summarize, nobody has a clue why pregnant women get leg cramps, it just has to be put down to one of those experiences. Oh well!

In Memory...

Sadly, John's grandad died on Monday so we are all rallying round each other, supporting and loving right now. The great thing is, that Dad & MumS were able to go and see him on Sunday and spend some time just sitting and talking with him. Grandad was unwell for a while so we thank God that he was taken at the right time and is no longer in any discomfort.

On Tuesday night, Mums, John & I went over to Steve & Sarah's just to spend time together to remember Grandad and also look through some old photographs of bad fashion sense and much hilarity. It does remind you how important family is and we are thankful for our closeness. We also bless God for the fond memories that John & Sarah hold of their time with Grandad, growing up and remembering the kindness he showered on them in the ways he did.

Still, even though our little one didn't meet their great-grandad, Flump's daddy certainly has plenty to fill him/her in on!

Leg cramps..

I woke in the early hours this morning to some surprising leg cramps! I didn't think you got these 'til much later in pregnancy but apparently you can get them as soon as your uterus starts getting bigger - I'm not entirely sure of the reasoning behind this so don't ask.

They didn't last long at all and disappeared when I stretched my leg out. It was just startling to be woken by a leg cramp at 3am! And again at 3:30am...and again at 4am...you get the picture.

Now if it was the baby waking us up, that would be perfectly fine! But it is still exciting to be experiencing all these new things and we're both enjoying every minute.

14 weeks pregnant...

And away we go into the second trimester.

We are so excited now and get butterflies everytime we think of our baby! My butterflies currently are due to the fear of childbirth, but pain is gain in this instance and the waiting is getting tough!

MumS (aka John's Mum) gave me a gift of a CD for babies in the womb; it has brilliant classical pieces on so while John is doing man-stuff around the house (building wardrobes and bookcases) I think we'll stick that on for some calm, slow baby-grooving.

Here's what Flump is doing this week: crown to rump, he is around 3.5ins/9cm long and weighs 1.5oz - basically, baby is the size of an average fist! The body is now growing faster than the head so Flump is looking a little less like all his organs are growing inside his head rather than the rest of his body!

Her parchment-thin skin covers itself with lanugo(ultra-fine, downy hair that usually disappears before birth), though eyebrows are beginning to grow and the hair on top of the head is sprouting. She can grasp, squint, frown, and grimace and may even be able to suck her thumb.

I am starting to wonder what I have left to wear bottoms wise - I have some great stretchy skirts that aren't maternity but do the job anyway, and two pairs of jeans and work trousers so that will do for the rest of the year. I've been blessed with many tops which is marvellous as I think I will start to wear some soon; we've been taking photos of my tummy, lying down each weekend and it's brilliant watching it grow. It's suddenly sprouted loads which we're thrilled about!

We are still astounded at the power of God, especially since we found out our baby now has fingerprints. It's all so intricate and incredible - you just can't argue that we 'just happened'...we thank God for His awesomeness and for creating a little one for us to love and adore!

It's not easy being queasy...

The sickness is worse than the first 8 weeks and I feel as if something like the picture above should be invented. I really wish it would be, I'm bored of this now and I'm bored of complaining!

I am currently refusing to eat nice things (like Carte D'or ice-cream) or eat all of my food because there is just no point as it doesn't stay down long enough - it's a big fat waste. Last night, I had finished what I was going to eat and not 25 minutes later was I saying hello to our toilet. The worst thing is the paint smell in our house which tends to start it off so we're busy cooking and cleaning to try and get rid of it.

The funny thing is, when you're ill with a temperature or similar, and you're sick you go back to bed feeling miserable. With pregnancy sickness, you can just get up, walk out and carry on with what you were doing. It's the most bizarre thing but helpful really.

Roll on the next 5 and a half months!

A Father Writes ... about the scan

What a glorious experience it was to see Flump in greater detail. Last time we might have been looking at a Haribo, this time it was definitely a tiny person, with such visible bones and its little crossed legs. We were also able to see the moving arms and hear Flump's heatbeat! It was a really touching moment to experience together; this has been a great blessing to our relationship.

Avoid Camberwell Nando's though; the chicken was rather dry.

At 13 weeks...

Flump is about the size of half a banana and already has unique fingerprints. Apparently, when we poke my stomach gently - she feels it! Fingers and toes are separated now and have the beginnings of nails. Ankles and wrists are formed and some hair may be growing too. We also found out yesterday Flump is 69mms exactly.

We are so thrilled it's unbelievable - we can't wait to meet our little one!

Sickness has cleared now but tiredness has overtaken and my appetite really has shrunk. My tummy has started to harden but there's still a pudgy bit, especially later in the day! Other than that, I'm feeling great and looking forward to the rest of the second trimester!

The Scan

Here are the two photos of our little one - (click to enlarge) the scanned in copies aren't as clear as the originals so if you want to see them, just ask us! We think he looks a little bit like a seahorse with his visible spine!

All about our NT Scan and being camera shy...(photos to follow)

Yesterday we saw our little Flump again at our nuchal scan!

Well, sort of.

We arrived at 11:30am at Kings College London ready to see our baby wriggling around like a big wriggly thing. When we were called in, I'd only realised minutes before that another blood test was needed - not great with needles at the best of times! So, after about five minutes of trying to get a vein in my right arm, she just about found one then decided that there wasn't enough blood coming out of that vein so "we'll try the other arm, except you'll get a nice big bruise on your right one now". She sounded very proud of herself! She eventually got what she needed after much trauma. Ugh. John was sitting next to me holding my hand and painting pretty pictures in my mind for distractions sake!!

So, now comes the part we were really waiting for; out comes the freezing jelly, out comes the doppler thing and away we go!

John saw the baby straight away and was sitting there brimming with pride, but I really freaked out because I couldn't see a thing. The baby was a tad camera shy and was having quite a laugh playing hide and seek so it was really difficult for the sonographer to take the measurements she needed. She pressed harder and harder and honestly, I walked in with an empty bladder - I came out running!

After about 15 minutes of baby not biting, she suggested that she needed to scan internally. So after a visit to the ladies, something to eat and a bit of moving around, we came back for the scan. John found the whole procedure highly amusing and we can laugh now, but I can say it was so uncomfortable! It lasted a suprisingly long time and even though he was upside down and back to front, we managed to see loads of the baby and his anatomy - including his spine in intricate detail; it was absolutely fantastic and we couldn't believe that he was growing so fast and strong! The sweetest thing was that he had his legs crossed and his arms and hands were covering his face. What a cutiepie! The photos aren't very clear but you can see his spine in amazing detail as well as his teeny-tiny little stomach.

The great news is, the fluid on the neck is the perfect amount for his age, the baby is growing wonderfully strong and healthy and all tests came back absolutely fine! So bless the Lord for his amazing goodness.

We can't believe how blessed we have been so far...

We ended the afternoon with lunch out at Nando's - our favourite and a brilliant time!

Duh!

So today, I went for a meeting with HR at Kings Hospital to hand in my CRB forms and Occ Health forms. All fine, except I did the five documents thing rather than the three documents. I had ever so carefully hand picked my marriage certificate, NI card, Council Tax exemption (as we weren't living at Glanville Road) and three bills, suitable for the ID-ing bit of the clearance. We got to three, and the HR Manager asked me to pass the utility bills with my name on it. So I did. And she said, 'I'm afraid I can't take this' - I looked at her blankly and she drew my attention to the fact that the rest of the bills all had John's name on them. She knew I was pregnant and laughed, which made me feel a bit better!! I should blame it on the heat...I wonder what the second and third trimester will do!!

They thought it was all over...

It's not, it seems. Morning sickness has reared it's ugly head again! It started on the Friday we were due to come back from Devon, with nausea. Today it wasn't just nausea and it's a rotten feeling! Although John seems very proud that I've been sick...anyway. It should be over soon!