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!