21 weeks and one day

For a Monday it's a mighty fine day to be at work. The sun isn't shining, it's freezing outside and here I sit inside with a comforting cup of tea. Then again I am working... alas, the people I work with keep me entertained :)

The baby is moving hell for leather today. I must say that this is the most that I have ever felt him move. This too makes for a pleasant working day :)

I love the fact that on an average work day that I don't have to communicate verbally with very many people :) I can escape totally into my own world, do my work thing and keep my thought processes to myself .. it's sweet.

Anyway, here's a picture of my belly. Looks a bit different, dosen't it ? :)

21 week update

It’s been too long between posts. Sooo much going on, hopefully things will start to calm down a little soon.

To summarise …. work, work, work, crazy work, crazy hours. Sleep <- what’s that? Weekend afternoon naps <- saviours. Doctors appointments … $$ ka-ching $$. Midwife advise … don’t eat nuts << what the!!!! Skin on stomach about to split open << no stretch marks yet!! Visiting friends << soothing. Visiting friends with newborn babies << priceless (lots more to say on this subject). Visiting friends in hospital << not very nice. Family in hospital .. << a valuable lesson learnt ( eating hospital food before discharge will have you back in hospital ) Public transport … does the average commuter know how to use a tissue? The Cat << decorated house with toilet paper ( definitely not as cute as when the dog did it in the advertisement) …. Anyway, that’s enough summarising, more details to follow and hopefully a post from Jo << she’s currently finishing up a jumper she’s been knitting me for a year now :) and just in time for the cold weather .. Yes!!! I know how lucky I am.

Now the reason for this post. We managed to transfer some ultrasound pictures from VHS to VCD to still pics … enjoy:

It's a BOY!!

It's official, our first born will be a boy. What can I say ... the image left no room for interpretation ... Too bad if you didn't want to know the sex during this routine ultrasound, the image stuck out like a sore thumb (literally). Jo and I couldn't be happier!!! Occasionally I'll look over at Jo and she has a little smirk on her face <<< soooo adorable.

This will be a short post as I have the day off today and am keen to cook a pumpkin tart :)

Bye for now
Tracer

(heheheheheheh - A BOY!!! All those kewl toys :) )

Countdown

In less then 24 hours time we find out whether we're having an Arthur or a Martha. It's all a bit exciting :) I hope the baby is amenable to the gender identification process. In the last ultra-sound the doctor was getting a little impatient that the thumb sucking little critter wouldn't lie still :) .. hmm, I wonder if this is an indication of things to come???

Speaking of movement, the baby seems particularly active during the "Foo Fighters" new song, "Best of You". It was the first most consistent movement I had felt, and it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. When the song's tunes subsided, so did the baby's movements. To weird to be true 1/2 way through the pregnancy? I hear you! But then it happened again the next day, and true to form, the movement only lasted the duration of the song. I don't know what to say .. I am hoping it means that he/she likes the song .... of course if it made such movement during a "Nikki Webster" song I would have to say that the poor little thing was trying to claw it's way out to turn off the music:) .. So possibly a little to early to tell :)

Once a week Jo and I make a point of sitting down together and reading about the baby's development in the coming week. This is a nice time where we sit and "oooh" and "ahhh" and "that's soooo cute" together. It is all very sweet ... or so I thought!!!! On reflection, I am wondering if it's such a good idea for someone like myself with a "HR Giger" type imagination to be exposed to such information!!!

For example ... did you know that from about week 18 the foetus starts to grow hair all over. They have a name for it, it's called "lanugo" and of course it serves a useful purpose. All good so far right?

Nooooooooo!

It's not good!! This hair falls out sometime just before birth and where do you think it goes? It doesn't! It just hangs around until you give birth and comes out with the baby. So in actual fact you give birth to a fur ball and a baby. You can imagine what my imagination does with this information ... Remind me to shave my legs in the first stages of labour so there is no chance that the midwife will confuse the fur ball with our offspring .. ok?

Monthly Doctors Visit

We're 4 1/2 months pregnant this week & looking it!! So far the pregnancy has gone reasonably well with very few of those pesky symptoms. Well, if you don't count those 3 months where I nearly passed out every time I exerted some energy, then everything has gone very well :) Then again you could ask Jo how she has perceived the last 4 1/2 months and get a different opinion ... so we won't ask her just yet :)

We had our monthly doctor’s appointment last week and got given the thumbs up. Apparently I have only put on 500g which was a surprise to both Jo and I as paras has a penchant for sweet things. I mean it's not usual for me to eat a chocolate eclair and a custard tart after a well balanced meal. For one that doesn’t like sweet foods at all I am enjoying the odd sugar rush :) Jo on the other is yet to be convinced, ice-cream and sharing rarely shared the same sentence in this house until recently ... still some convincing to go there me thinks :)

Another far more important perk of going to the doctors is that we get to hear the baby’s heartbeat. This is by far my favourite bit!!! I have to say that a month between visits early on in your pregnancy is a bit steep!!! What indication does a paranoid person have to rely on that everything is progressing in a text book fashion? How does one know for sure that that disappearing waistline is as a result of a growing baby and not a krispy kreme donut? You can imagine the state I had worked myself into by the time the doctor’s appointment came around :) Then there is Jo, I feel for her, as you should for having to put up with me over this last month :) I could see the weight lift off her shoulders as she saw my relief on hearing the babies heartbeat and intertwined with this relief is her own feelings about this child which I can't begin to articulate.

Next doctors (obs this time) visit is next Tuesday. At this time if the baby obliges we find out if paras is a boy or a girl. We are very excited about this, see -> WOOOHOOOO :) And yes Madeleine, you and Anne will be the first to know ... crikey!!

I should probably sign off for the evening. Jo is home from work and by the looks has had a hard day. A cup of tea is in order I think :)

p.s: upon popular request and depending on whether I have the nerve or not I may post a picture of my expanding girth in the near future.... hmmmm. Still some thinking to be done on this.

Quick Initial Posting

Whilst I sit and wait for my Solaris OS backup to finish I thought I would quickly start what will be Jo & I's blog.

Jo and I are expecting our first, (only ?, one of many? (geez, probably not) ) child in the first week of November 2005. We have created this blog to keep our family and friends updated.

Feel free to post any comments :)

Bye for now
Tracy