18 weeks

It always amazes me how something as simple as a new outfit or haircut can make such a change to how you feel about yourself! I finally got to buying my first pair of maternity jeans, meaning I am not just restricted to the two dresses and one pair of track pants I still fit into. And when I say I still fit into two dresses, one of them was starting to feel like something I see girls wearing to nightclubs- my skirt was hiking up and my boobs were about to jump out of my top and set off on a quest for world wide domination! I'm starting to feel more glowing and gorgeous and less fat and frumpy.

It's looking like a baby bump now!

I have really been feeling better the last couple of weeks. I'm still very aware of trying to get enough rest, but in between my naps and long nights, I'm a lot more awake and even occasionally productive. I've done three loads of washing AND baked cookies this morning!!

I had been wondering when I would start getting leaky breasts. That question was answered last week when Tim and I were messing around and he got a rather unpleasant surprise. So far just a bit of clear stuff every now and then that apparently doesn't taste very nice (I'll take his word for it). I found it funny, even if he didn't so much.

I haven't really had much change in the way of my bowel routine. (I use laxatives and suppositories to assist with my bowel routine). There have been a few days when nothing has happened when I've gone to the bathroom, but since a lot of pregnant women experience some constipation, and it's only the odd day here and there I'm not too worried.

Fluid retention in my feet is something I often get. It's usually worse over summer, so combine that with pregnancy and I've had some pretty impressive fat feet! Some days it's been bad enough that even having them elevated for 8 hours plus overnight doesn't give them time to go all the way down. It's strange, but being in a chair, I have no idea when my belly gets to the I-can't-see-my-feet-anymore stage! To be honest, I probably couldn't see them past my boobs anyway.

Last week I went to see my GP. He has a special interest in spinal cord injury and I think I'm the only female para or quad he has of childbearing age, so my pregnancy is of particular interest to him. I'm all for teaching people, so I'm trying to make sure he is informed of what's going on. You never know who he'll be treating in the future. So the visit was just as much for him as me. I've been seeing him for several years now, so I feel quite comfortable asking him the silly questions.

 I've woken up with headaches a couple of mornings lately. I'm not sure if this is a result of dehydration, or my body telling me I need to change my sleeping position. At this stage I'm still sleeping on my back in my pillow fort, but from what I've heard from other mums, I should almost be getting to the stage where I should be sleeping on my side. I want to put this off as long as I can,because while I fall asleep quickly on my side, I don't stay asleep for long. I find I have to roll over about every 3 hours, which leads to a very broken nights sleep. I can't roll over quietly anyway, but now with this belly in my way, it has become a bit of an operation. So the longer I can put it off, the better rested I will be. I have still been getting indegestion and heartburn, so staying off my side is going to help that too.

Over the last few weeks, I've had a lot of people contacting me who've read my blog. One of those was a para mum who was put on daily blood thinning injections (I think she said it was Clexane) from 12 weeks into her pregnancy. This was to prevent DVT. It's not something that anyone has spoken to me about, other than to say I'm at increased risk and watch out for them, but it's something I'll be asking about at my 20 week appointment with the obstetrician.

One of the things the midwife commented on at our last appointment was my belly piercing. She said that I would probably need to remove it as my belly stretched. Sure enough, a few days later it was suddenly looking infected, so that's gone!

There have been a few belly flutters that I think have been baby movements, but it's still kind of hard to know for sure. I'm starting to think about names. I'll be looking at setting a date for a baby shower soon- I love them, the getting together to prepare for the baby! I'm very much a family orientated person anyway, so any chance for a get together! And knowing my family, if I didn't organise it, someone else would anyway (like we did with my cousin last year). And by me organising the baby shower, I mean I'm setting a date and delegating!

Well I think that about covers it! I may have some exciting news to share over the next few weeks, so I will keep you posted...

16 weeks

It's been a busy month! With Christmas now out of the way, things are settling into more of the usual routine. I had been beginning to feel better  in the lead up to Christmas, but with everything going on I just didn't get enough rest, which left me feeling pretty rotten again for a couple of weeks. I am back to about where I was just before Christmas now, with some nausea and indigestion, but on the whole feeling much better.

The ABC interview aired on the morning before Christmas, with a huge response to the online article too. By huge I mean we have got messages from all over the world huge! In the first 24 hours the article had been seen by 16000 people already. A lot of people in our extended social circle found out via the article, which can be found here.

We had our first appointment at the hospital last week. This one was with one of the midwives, filling in our medical histories. Apparently I must be complicated, since it took us 2 hours!! At the end though, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat- it's always nice to have the conformation I'm going through this for something, that the baby is still ok. We came out of our appointment with a couple of referrals. One for the lactation consultant, since my research has suggested some paras above T6 (I think) have trouble with their milk supply after about 6 weeks. So we are going to try and find out a bit more about that and what we might do to try and prevent that happening.
The other re feral was for the social worker, to see how we go about applying for a carers payment for Tim, since in all likely hood, he is going to need to be home for the last couple of months and the first few afterwards. Since he is self employed, paternity leave isn't an option. We really don't know how I'm going to go yet, but it's likely that my recovery won't be as quick as normal, especially if I end up needing a C-section. So many potential scenarios to consider!
We have booked in for our 19 week scan and appointment and for our education classes, although they won't be until April.

We finally got around to finding out my weight before I left the hospital. My usual weight would be around 55kg, at a guess. Fully dressed I'm now up to 63kg. I know my boots are a good kilo or two and I know I've put a fair bit on my boobs, but that's still more than I would have liked. Or maybe it's about right, I don't know. I think most of us have some sort of issues around weight at some stage of our lives. For now, I'm just trying to keep as active as I can, to eat as well as I can (and really, I don't eat very much) and know that I will have a bit more work than I had hoped once baby arrives. I'm now getting to the stage that I really do need those pant expander/belly belt things. I can still get my jeans done up, but judging by the marks on my belly at the end of the day, they really aren't comfortable anymore. And half my dresses don't fit because my boobs keep trying to escape!

My massive boob growth has made bra shopping even more of a pain than usual! I went into one of the bra shops in town I don't normally visit, in the hope of finding something that would fit. Well she came up with three, but the whole experience left me feeling pretty pissed to be honest. Apart from the fact that the 'pretty' bra she had to offer me looked like something my grandmother would wear (no offence Nanna), she told me that I shouldn't be wearing an under wire bra and that they wouldn't be responsible if I got mastitis from wearing one! Well, no, who blames a retail assistant if they get an infection?? And I'm only 4 months in, I'm not even producing milk yet! She did end up selling me a maternity bra, but once I'd left and had a chance to think over the situation (and call my now and recently pregnant friends and ask them when they stopped wearing under wires) I just felt like I'd been bullied into buying it. In all likely hood I will be able to use it when I do have the baby, but if not, well I learnt an $80 lesson in standing up for myself! My next stop was to BNT for the under wire bra I'd been eyeing off earlier in the day! Still no luck in finding any maternity swimwear though!

Tim's sister is currently back in the state, so we have been having some good chats about all things baby. She is mum to four, so she has some idea of what she's talking about! I've also got both my sisters home, so it's been really good to spend some time with them.

Ellie and I went to check out the baby shops in Devonport this week and made a start on the huge job that is pram shopping. I think choosing a car is easier! I think I'm going to end up getting a capsule that fits into both the car and pram. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being safety. We all like to think we would never drop our babies, but realistically, it is easy to do. I think that trying to get the baby into the car is one of the areas I'm more likely to do this. A capsule provides a lot of protection if I drop the baby. Also, if I hit the doorway of the car, it's going to be a lot nicer to baby if I whack the capsule that baby's head. The other thing I really like is that you can take baby asleep from the car and bring them inside without really disturbing them.
I have so far eliminated Mountain Buggy and the city something pram. Both of these I found the capsule sits a long way up in the air, meaning you have to lift it high to get get it out. The capsules themselves all weigh about 3-4kg, so once you get a baby in it, you really don't want all that weight up around your head! I also found the release buttons on those capsules sat at the bottom of the handles, so I couldn't actually reach both sides to release them together. So far the Steelcraft pram and capsule are the best I've looked at, with the release buttons accessible and the capsule sitting a good couple of inches lower than either of the others. But the hunt shall continue!  

In the end we didn't do the downs syndrome testing. I need to go do my first gestational diabetes test next week- I really hate that glucose drink! But the good news is this go round they only need one blood sample, unlike the test I had to do last year, that took 5 hours and 8 blood samples! But that's a whole nother story! Until next time!