| December/January Entries |
| Friday, December 14, 2001 - 10 weeks Well as you can tell, I have finished my 10th week and have now started the 11th week. There hasn't been any changes to report on. The nausea has seemed to subsided and I am able to start cooking again. My taste buds are a bit off yet with some things - sour cream, carrots, broccoli; just to name a few. My other pregnancy sypmtoms seem to be subsiding as well. I have noticed some weight gain just within the last couple of weeks, things just don't fit. I partly think my gain has to do with not eating well since finding out I was pregnant due to the nausea. I had just been eating what I wanted and not what I should. And not everything was healthy! We have some appointments coming up this month as well. We have our next midwife appointment on December 20. We have also scheduled our first scan (ultrasound/sonogram) for December 28th. This will also kinda be a birthday present for Hugh too since his is on the 29th. So keep checking back and I promise to update more frequently even if there isn't much to report on. Everyone can be informed through here. Also, check back for the baby's first pic when we get the baby scan photo. FYI: the baby is the size of a lipstick tube! |
| Thursday, December 20, 2001 - 11 weeks Our second midwife appointment was today with Jo at Mairangi Bay instead of at home this time. All went well and not much to report on again since I'm still early in the pregnancy and not much to look for just yet. My blood pressure was taken again and was a bit low but good - it is usually a bit low or normal, never high. She also checked for protein and glucose and it was negative. She also said she would have tired to let us listen to the heartbeat but when it's this early in the pregnancy she isn't ever for sure if she can get it so she didn't want to disappoint us but promised we would be able to hear it on the next visit. Other than that we had some questions to ask her and that was it. Also seems that I can't satisfy my Subway craving either because for the entire length of my pregnancy I am never out of danger of getting listeria that will harm the baby. So better safe than sorry. Our next midwife appointment will be January 17 and then we will hopefully be able to hear the heartbeat. Until then the next exciting thing for us will be the ultrasound scan next week. We can also take a video tape and they will record what we see on the monitor. So we definitely can't wait!! Some more little interesting facts about "peanut" that I have learned. He/she is now 2 1/2 inches long and has all of it's parts. Fingers and toes have fully separated also. From here on out he/she will just grow larger and stronger. It's amazing how much "peanut" will actually grow over the next 4 weeks doubling in size. |
| Friday, December 28, 2001 - 12 weeks Well today was it!!! We have finally gotten to see the baby! What a wee thing it is! The appointment didn't go as well as planned but we managed it and nothing is wrong with the baby. The place we went to does not require you to have a full bladder when they do the test but my midwife suggested that I have some fluid in there otherwise they may do the test vaginally. Yep, you heard right. So I made sure I had some fluid in me. Well when I hopped up onto the table and turned on the monitor she seen right away that I had a full bladder. So I went pee and came back and we started the test all over again. This time we could see the baby moving around and she was trying to get "him" to lie a certain way so she could measure the fluid in the skin for Downs. Well needless to say our child was not cooperating at all! So after countless times of trying to get the baby to lie properly she told me what I was dreading......she needed to do the scan vaginally. So that is what she did. It wasn't exactly comfortable but she finally got the measurement she was looking for. We got to see everything. Everything is there and there is only one baby in there too. "He" kept putting his hand up by his face and on the video you can see clearly that "he" was opening his mouth. It was so cute! It was great to finally see the baby but it didn't seem as real as I thought it would. I guess because you can't feel it yet but I'm looking forward to feeling it. We also got to hear the heartbeat too but not for very long. We should have our next scan around February 22 and she said then we may know the sex if we want to. Now for all the technical things we found out today. Like I mentioned in a previous entry, this test was only to let you know what a persons odds are of having a baby with Downs and only an amnio can totally eliminate Downs. So here is what we were told: -----When you walk through the door, they assess your odds based on your age and I was given a 1 in 997 based on age. -----When the test is finished, the odds change. Afterwards I was given 1 in 7298. Which she said was one of the lowest she has seen. -----The heartbeat was also 150 beats per minute which is in the normal healthy range. So I'm not in a high risk category so there won't be any need to risk miscarriage by having an amnio. We also learned that the baby is 70.8 mm, just over 3 3/4 inches, long from head to bottom. So there ya have it! Also have a look at the scan photos I have put up too. |
| Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 15 weeks We had our midwife appointment today. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again and this time longer. It was beating between 145 - 160 which Jo said was really good. I also told her about my headaches again and that I had one last for 4 days about 2 weeks ago and nothing would get rid of it. She said if they last that long again she wants to know and maybe I need to see a chiropractor for a spinal check if it keeps up. We also told her that our decision of a home birth was probably out of the question because I want the option of a water birth. Since we don't have a tub and it costs $200NZ for a birthing pool rental, we figured we better check out other places where I have the water birth option. Jo mentioned 2 places to us, one in Auckland in Parnell and the other being North Shore Hospital. We are going to look at the one in Parnell on Saturday and it seems like what I would like. I will attach the link below for anyone who wants to have a look as well. I'll post when we have decided where to have the baby. I will have another ultrasound scan on February 22 and our next midwife appointment is the same day. www.birthcare.co.nz |
| Friday, January 18, 2002 Major news to report! Just after midnight, I felt the baby move! It kicked my hand once and only once. However I do have to confess that I thought I felt the baby kick me about a week and a half ago. I hadn't mentioned it cause you are told that you probably won't feel anything until around the 18th week so I didn't say anything and didn't even mention it to Hugh until a day later. Over a week ago, I was lying on my stomach trying to get comfortably to sleep and I felt this little light tap on the left side of my stomach. It kicked twice but it also felt like my belly was going to rumble like it was hungry or something. But after the 2 kicks it didn't happen again. So I didn't say anything cause I really wasn't sure what to expect. Well tonight, I read in one of my newsletters that you might be able to get the baby to move using a flashlight cause they are sensitive to light. So when I went to bed, I tried and I held the flashlight close to my stomach. After a few seconds the baby kicked my left hand. Just one little kick but I guess enough to let me know that I was bothering it. So I immediately put Hugh's hand to my stomach and tried to get the baby to kick again but it would not. Hugh said it probably rolled over away from the light. So tomorrow I will try again and let Hugh feel first. It was so neat to know that is what I was feeling. I mean I can't be for sure but I haven't been having belly rumblings or anything and I can sure tell the difference between being hungry and something unusual. Of course if I hadn't gone poking and proding on my belly then I probably wouldn't have felt the baby for a while again. I also think maybe I felt the baby earlier than what most people have told me I would because the baby is off the scale in length right now so I think it's longer than most babies at this stage. It was definitely cool and can't wait to feel more movements without my help!!! |
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