16 weeks - First Movements!

16 weeks - X marks the spot of the ninja kick

Monday 28th May was my best friend's birthday. As I was awake before 7am, I sent her a birthday SMS, eager to be the first well-wisher for the day. As we exchanged messages, I felt something almost pop out my left side. I had heard that it should feel like bubbles or a fluttery feeling. So, I had kind of expected a delightful fizzy feeling, like champagne bubbles...but this felt like someone had popped a champagne cork in there. It was very distinctive.

I haven't felt any other movements since then, but it was very exciting to feel that. Sometimes I feel a rolling feeling inside my stomach, but I don't know if that's baby because it feels a bit high in my abdomen.

I've booked my 20 week scan in on Friday 22 June. It'll be so cool to see the little one again...and find out if it's a boy or a girl! it's only 3 weeks away now, it'll be here before I know it.

163 days to go.

15 weeks

Body Changes
15 weeks and everything seems to be going well. Baby seems to be growing, as I'm forming a nice little bump. I notice it more when I wake up in the morning, I can feel a little lump in my lower abdomen. But throughout the day my bump just becomes a fat belly filled with gas and an abundance of food that moves sluggishly through my digestive system...(shudder). So far I've only gained 2kg, surely most of that was from last week alone...sooo many Tim Tams!

My boobs have gotten bigger and my nipples are massive! My areolas have pretty much taken over my whole boob. They've also gotten darker, and apparently your clitoris gets darker too (but I haven't checked that out).

I have also started to get a snail trail, which I'm strangely proud of. I'm not a very hairy person, so it's hardly impressive. But there are definitely a few extra hairs there. It's like an extra stripe I've earnt.

Linea Negra
Ooh! My mother-in-law bought me a pregnancy magazine and I noticed in some of the photos of pregnant bellies, they had a dark line running down from their belly buttons. I noticed last week there was the faintest line down my belly. Another stripe earnt.

Your moving uterus
This week I've been feeling some sharp pains right inside my hip bones, which I was a bit worried about. But apparently it's only because my uterus has packed up, headed north and is now moving up towards my navel. This has caused my ligaments to stretch, causing sharp twanging pains. Phew! No need to call the doctor yet.

Mood changes
Something strange has been happening over the last couple of weeks. I've noticed my levels of rage have steadily increased and my level of patience has gone in the opposite direction. I called a young lad "a little shit" at the movies the other week, because he didn't put his empty popcorn cup in the bin. I have since been reassured that getting a bit "shirty" during pregnancy is to be expected.

Pregnancy. It's a magical time.

171 days to go.

13 weeks

13weeks 4days - no more jelly bean!

Well I got my appointment with my OB this week. They were really great to fit me in on such short notice. My OB seemed really friendly and informative and the nurse was great too! I had a whole list of questions to ask them, but of course they just went straight out the window when I got there. Thankfully, they pretty much answered everything I was wondering about anyway.

So onto the scan. This one was done on the belly (no internal scan, thank goodness!) I was worried that I hadn't drunk enough water and if I could go to the toilet beforehand, but turns out it wasn't an issue at all. Once the doctor put the scanning thingo on my belly,  I could actually recognise features of a little baby.  It wasn't a jelly bean anymore. We could see the face, arms and legs and a little round belly. And  I cannot describe how amazing it is to our little one moving around in there. It just didn't want to keep still at all, it was twisting and tumbling around! But the doctor was able to get a few good shots. It's hard to believe that all of that is going on inside, and I can't feel any of it at all.

You can also get the baby checked for their risk of developing Down Syndrome. The Nuchal Fold Test measures a fluid sac on the back of the neck for any chromosomal abnormality. While the doctor was able to measure it, he said that because the scan was left a bit late, the test wouldn't be as accurate.  He told us that the baby was within the safe range (less than 300? - not sure what that meant). We could have gone ahead for further testing, but he didn't see any reason for it. So we were happy with that.

The appointment went well. Baby was 79mm, which was the expected length at that time. The doctor explained a few of the horrors of childbirth and the expected procedures. He prefers to go with a natural childbirth, unless certain complications prevented it. He also said that because this was an IVF pregnancy, he would prefer to only let me go 1 week past the due date. This was because for some unknown reason, IVF pregnancies seem to present unexpected labour complications. OK, that's fair enough.

So, we were happy overall. Baby is coming along nicely. Phew! 27(ish) weeks to go.

12 weeks

Just a quick post.

I'm coming to the end of my 12th week. Life has been super crazy organising our move to Canberra and finishing work. I've just driven to Canberra from Perth for 5 days. I've never felt so wasted in my life! I've found a GP down the road from my new house and I have my referral to see an Obstetrician. Now, I just need to get an appointment to see him. 

It was a bit of a pain moving when I was 12 weeks, but there wasn't really much I could do about finding a hospital or an OB from Perth. My Perth GP just told me to wait until I got here. 

As my screening blood tests had already been done for IVF, I will just get tested for diabetes on a fasting blood test on Monday. And hopefully I can get an appointment with my OB next week! They have to do a bit of squeezing to fit in a time to see me, as I should really have booked my appointment 2 or 3 weeks ago. But there wasn't much else I could do!

Otherwise, my belly is slowly growing. I had to buy my first pair of maternity jeans the other week. It was an emergency purchase during my lunch break as the jeans I was wearing were getting uncomfortably tight. It still just feels like a fat belly at the moment though. My husband was a little disappointed it wasn't bigger when he saw me for the first time in 3 weeks. I may have been going on a bit about how huge I was getting. Well, it's reassuring that I'm still a modest size for now.

There'll be more to write soon. Stay tuned.

A letter from my past self

A few years ago, I found a website where you can write an email and send it to yourself in the future. I only do it occasionally and I usually send them for special occasions. Well, today is my 5th wedding anniversary and I received a delightful letter from my past self (see below).

The following is an e-mail from the past, composed 11 months and 29 days ago, on April 09, 2011. It is being delivered from the past through FutureMe.org

Dear Future Me,

I just received a letter from myself this morning, and I've sent a future letter to our husband. Hopefully you two are still awesome together, maybe with a baby on the way. He'll be getting his letter tomorrow.

I've been at our new job for almost 9 months now. I'm starting to really get to know everyone now. K has just started with the team. There's still the smallest part of me that feels left out because I don't know anything about cars. I don't get to travel anywhere, and you know I'd LOVE to do that! But overall, I'm quite happy there. The work isn't challenging, it's easy and it fits into my routine.

I've just applied to work with ASIO, which will mean moving back over east...woo hoo! And B has tempted me into applying for City of Perth. Gotta update that portfolio!

I've just told our husband that something good will come out of April. You already know if it did or not (I'm terribly jealous). 

I'm not that worried about getting pregnant anymore, but I do sometimes think when will it be too late? When do I give up? When will I finish trying everything? I might have to go back down the path of IVF this year. I'll have to get my hormones tested again in June. 

I'll try and stay positive for you. I know you'll still be going along being your awesome self, so just keep going. Give your husband a rub on his belly and tell him that you love him.

Love past me.

The following is my response to the letter from my past self.

 Dear Past Me,

Our Husband was very confused when I rubbed his belly smiling and told him I loved him. He thought I was up to something. You know he gets suspicious when you're overly nice to him.

Your letter made me smile. While you didn't get that job with ASIO or City of Perth, you are moving back East, and we are very excited about it. And YES! there is a little baby on the way! And yes, we did go down that IVF path and it wasn't as scary as you thought it might be.

I can't remember what you wrote to our husband, but I hope it makes him smile tomorrow because he'll be flying to Canberra to find us a new home. But don't worry, I'll be joining him soon.

Thank you for staying so positive for me.

Love Future (Present) Me.

8 week scan

My 2nd pregnancy scan - 8w2d

I have been extremely busy lately with our move to Canberra. I've been looking for rental properties that will accept my two big furr-babies (my gorgeous pups). And I've been trying to get our house ready to rent out to new tenants...it has it's stressful moments!

But of course, we still make time to go in for our next ultrasound (which you can see above). It measured 1.86cm. The doctor even pointed out it's head, but I couldn't tell at all what I was looking at. But otherwise, everything is going really well. 

Now my next step is to find an obstetrician, which you would normally do before you get to 10 weeks. However, finding one in Canberra when you still live in Perth is making things a little more difficult. I should be about 12 weeks when I arrive in Canberra, I'd hate to leave it too late! Eeek!

7 weeks

OK, so it has been 3 days since my last Crinone prod. I have started to feel a bit better in general. Yesterday I was ready to spring out of bed again, I even surprised myself with this unexpected energy. Unfortunately, it kept me up until 11.30pm and I paid for it this morning. I narrowly missed a car parked in the emergency lane on the way to work...Aaargh! The driver's seat is no place for resting your eyes. Soo tired today. Cannot focus.

I'm also struggling to get a control over my new digestive habits. Sometimes I get the queezies (not to the point of throwing up yet though). So I eat some crackers, or salty chips. Then I'm absolutely starving and I can't stop eating the chips...

I now know the difference between starving and hungry.  When you're hungry, you can stave off the hunger pains with a little nibble here and there. And when you're starving...it changes your personality. I become pre-historic, I can't form sentences and I can only reply with shrugs and grunts. But as soon as I get some food into my stomach, my face softens and I feel human again.

I've switched my diet from high protein/low carbs to high carbs so that I can increase my fibre intake, hoping to help with the constipation. Only problem is the high carbs makes me a bit bloated. When I'm bloated, I struggle to take deep breaths and it feels as though a tight band is squeezing me around the chest. So I huff and I sigh a lot. I know that has started to annoy my husband. Especially when my dog starts copying me and huffs around the house with me! Ha ha ha!

Looks like I'm going to be in for a fun ride!