16 weeks...

We're 16 weeks! The size of an avacado or about 12cm long, crown to rump. He can even make a fist and punch his way around my insides. It feels like time is going a lot faster now, though John disagrees and says it's taking too long to get to 20 weeks. I have my midwife appointment next week, the baby is moving around quite a lot though I don't always feel them. Only if I'm very still and lying down/sitting a certain way! And their heart is nice and strong. Averaging 153 bpm...yes, an old wives tale it seems but it could be a boy (doctors only claim they know if it's a boy or girl from the heartbeat much later on in the pregnancy). Time shall tell! December 5th is our 20 week appointment, when I shall actually be 21 weeks but apparently that doesn't matter. Other than that, all is fantastic so far except I am currently having some not very nice dreams about bleeding a lot, which I think is a subconcious worry as we're coming up to 18 weeks...anyway, we shall pray before sleep tonight and let God make it all better! My legs are quite painful after a long time of being active but rest helps it an awful lot so I'm thankful for that. Best book that physio I s'pose! 

15 weeks...

No, I have no idea what a navel orange is either? Attractive sounding as it is.

So, fifteen weeks! Time has suddenly sped up. My tummy has grown two inches in two weeks. There's a piece of trivia you always wanted to know. The past week has brought much joy but also some discomfort in that my legs/hips are extremely painful right now. It varies day to day though certain positions have me howling in pain. Like tonight, I lay on the sofa so we could hear Nuggets heartbeat (which lovely and strong! All the while they were trying to bat away the doppler with what I can only imagine was an actual cricket bat) and almost cried trying to get up. John is currently acting as carer, bless his heart. Still haven't booked physio, I will get there this week! Mrs Bloom tells me it's not my coccyx as previously thought but something that sounds a lot like sacrilegious. I don't remember. Still. So that will be sorted but an item for prayer as usual.

Funny moment at the cervical scan yesterday; on the report the sonographer had measured the baby's limbs etc and noted FL (fetal length): 14mm HC (head circumference): 104mm (or something to that effect). I grew ever concerned and rang him after my appointment. He laughed and claimed that after 13 weeks, they stop measuring the fetal length and instead measure the femur length. So I am not growing a teeny tiny baby with a freakishly large head but a well proportioned Nugget who is about 10cm long right now (crown to rump). Our tiny tenant frequently gets the hiccups, which babies learn to do before breathing. Babies don't make any sound because their windpipe (trachea) is filled with fluid rather than air. 

Growing very strong and sounding very happy, God is doing wondrous things in my tummy!

Brie...

Thanks to the lovely lady at Morrisons who ran around finding about their cheese, I had some brie today! I was SO excited. Pasteurised brie with French bread...it was pure delight. My one thing I'm really looking forward to having post pregnancy is pate. Pate and French bread. Or pate and bagels as my sister-in-law introduced me to. THAT is a good lunch.

A friend of ours is coming down for our god-daughters dedication this weekend and he runs a cheese shop in Chester. Sadly, he was lacking in pasteurised soft cheese but promised dairy goodness on his next return down south. This was before John, Ross, and Tom along with a bunch of others started a tirade of cheese based jokes. It was so funny I could barely brieth!

(Sorry for the plagiarism there Tom D).

I heart baby #3...

The excitement of this baby feels a lot like our first pregnancy. Admittedly, there is the occasionally blip where I let fear get in the way but that's to be expected. The majority of the time is filled with pure peace and joy. Especially today, when we had our consultant appointment, she decided to check the heartbeat as we couldn't get in for a scan. She warned us that it was still very early to try to listen in for one but it's not impossible, she hears. So out comes the doppler and the jelly and away we go. It took a few minutes to find it (my blood makes a very loud whooshing sound) but there it was, the unmistakable sound of our little babes heartbeat! I was so unbelievably excited, Josiah and John looked on in amazement and the doctor was as chuffed as we were to hear it. She announced proudly that it was the earliest heartbeat she'd ever heard (apart from her own baby, which she heard at 11 weeks by a very old doctor!). So we are now waiting for a phone call for a cervical scan (sorry for too much information there!) which has to be slotted in for this week. We have our next one at 18 weeks. This is just to check that the cervix isn't shortening in any way and to make sure that there's no contracting going on that shouldn't be.

The other great news was this: while I do still have a heart shaped womb, the septum is only very minor and as I have already carried a baby full-term (and over!) and he was a (very!) good size, they aren't as worried as they would be if this was my first. If the septum was quite deep, they would have picked it up on my previous scans.

When we got home, I brought out our doppler that we hired to see if I could find Nugget. And low and behold, there he was!

So all in all, a great morning!

Names...

We have chosen our names! The name we were initially going to go for, should we have a little boy, is now up for grabs again. We decided that even though the meaning of Elijah was beautiful, we would have called them Eli for short and the connotations aren't great to be honest. Most people choose names because they sound nice, and I originally did too. But since having Josiah, I've realised the importance that your name has in your life. You are who your name is essentially. Josiah means 'fire of the Lord' which we thought was pretty awesome. And he came out with red hair. And he loves to worship. His whole demeanour changes when he does. And he loves being around prayer. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm not going to announce the names on here until the baby is actually born, obviously. But you can have the meanings and try and work it out yourself. Our girls first name means 'from the house of God' and their second name means 'mother of all nations'. The boys first name means 'God has remembered' and their second name is a short variation of a name which means 'let God be praised'.

Happy researching. Ha ha ha.

14 weeks...

I am 14 weeks pregnant! Yay. Ignore the ticker above. It doesn't know what it's talking about. Though apparently neither do I. I read the scan doobrywotsit wrong when I text our mums' and I was actually 12 weeks 2 days not 12 weeks 1 day. But what is a day between family.

We are now in our second trimester! Nuggets' crown to rump length is about 3.2 to 4.5 inches long and he weighs approximately 1 ounce now, about the size of the average fist. When I read up on my week by week, it says I might start wearing maternity clothes now. HA! That amused me.

Cool things of the week: the baby has eyebrows but no eyelashes and fine, light hair is beginning to grow. The hairs grow in whirled patterns that follow the grain of his skin. These patterns later give way to our baby's fingerprints. Nuggets' thyroid gland has matured and starts to produce hormones. If our baby is a boy, the prostate will appear and the ovaries descend from the abdomen into the pelvis in baby girls. 

I am most definately looking pregnant now, not just pudgy. I never lost my tummy from the previous pregnancies anyway, but thankfully, I now have a bump! All of a sudden. 

Lovely!

Results day...

We just got the results from our combined nuchal scan on Monday. I had bloods taken for a more accurate result which had to be sent to St Barts Hospital for testing as they don't have that facility at Sidcup like they do at Kings'. So there was an advised wait for up to three weeks. And we got it within the same week! So that was a lovely surprise.

And the results, drum roll if you please:... a 1 in 6,600 chance of Downs/any Trisomies (sp?)! So we thank God for this wonderful result.

And I have also gained 3lbs which I know for a fact is not me, but baby. My appetite has decreased dramatically and I have all of a sudden become repulsed by certain foods. And I don't know what they are until they are right in front of me. I find it helps a lot if I don't cook it. Ha! I'm not joking either.

Between 12 and 13 weeks...

...Nugget grows 4.5 centimetres! How awesome is that? No wonder my tummy is feeling stretched beyond all reason. I initially thought it was the infection, which is probably was, but now that is clearing up nicely I feel all nice and pregnant. 

It's such a peaceful pregnancy, this scary infection aside, we're so thankful - and for now, I shall stop gushing.

Introducing Nugget...

This is a picture of our cute as a button baby. As soon as the doppler hit my tummy, they threw their bottom in the air followed by their legs! This picture shows their teeny tiny fingers right by their eye.

How precious!