Fright Night!

You've scared the life out of us in the last couple of days!

You stopped moving for over 24 hours. I was absolutely panicked, because you have been kicking regularly (and pretty hard) throughout the day, and you get very excited when I lie down to sleep. Then for 24 hours, absolutely nothing!

We were all set to rush off to the hospital this morning when you finally give a decent kick. I think you've been moving around a bit more, now you've got more room, so you are kicking a little higher now than you were before.

It was a horrible feeling, thinking something might be wrong. I'm so glad you seem to be ok now. Hopefully you'll keep kicking me so I know you are ok.

We've also changed the plan on your pram. We can't get the pink and grey pram before you are born, so we've bought it in red and orange instead. Here is a picture:

xx

All Present and Correct!

On the 22nd of April 2012 we had your 20 week scan at 20 weeks and 1 day.

At that stage you were the size of a Cantaloupe melon - which apparently is smaller than a banana, because that it the size you are today, at 21 weeks exactly.

Your 20 weeks scan is to check that all of your fingers and toes are in place and to check that you are growing as you are supposed to.

We were given about 50 pictures of you, but they are all of your limbs and organs, rather that of you as a whole baby, so we can't show you what you look like now. However, we can show you all of your fingers and toes, ribs and even your spine (if you can make them out on the scan pictures):

This, believe it or not, is the circumference of your head.

This is your thigh bone being measured. 

This is the monitor recording your heart rate. At 153 beats per minute you are supposed to be a girl, if you listen to all the old wives tales!

This is the inside of your head. You can see your brain developing in the right side. 

This is the inside of your abdomen. The two low black spots are your kidneys and the larger one above them is the bladder. 

This is the foot you were kicking me with during the scan. I've been feeling those a lot lately, especially when I'm trying to sleep! 

This is your chest, you can see the heart, it is the black square with the white line running through it. You can already see the four chambers of the heart. 

Both your feet, kicking away. 

This is the inside of your spine, you can see all the vertebrae down your back. 

Those bones which look like fingers, they are your rib cage. 

This is the side of your face (on the right side) and your hand. 

Here are your legs. The radiologist made sure to take this picture with your knees curled up, so we couldn't see whether you were a boy or girl.

Here you can see that you are lying with your head facing the scanner, the top of your head to the left of the screen. You can see your eyes, nose and mouth. 

So there you are, our gorgeous little baby, with all your organs present and correct and growing perfectly. Only 19 weeks to go until we can meet you!

xxx

On the move!

Yesterday I was 19 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

Yesterday was the first time your dad was able to feel you kick from the outside. It's been really difficult to catch you, as you kick only when you want, and even though I thought I could feel you from the outside, I think for a while it was just because I could feel you on the inside, as your dad couldn't feel you.

You gave a good few kicks in the same place, like you wanted us to know you were there, and then chilled out again!

I hope that you are kicking more in a few weeks time as we are going home to the UK to see everyone, and I'm sure they will all be keen to feel you kick, so you need to get those football boots on!

xx

Here are your cousins!

I'm a bit late in posting this but it's time for me to post pictures of your cousins!

Here is your cousin James. He's already 20 years old, so by the time you meet him, he will already be a grown up. Perhaps one day I'll be adding his children to this list as your new cousins! 

This is Sarah, one of James's sisters.

And here is Kerry, James's youngest sister. 

And finally, well at the moment anyway, here is your youngest cousin, George. He will be about 18 months old by the time you are born, so hopefully you'll have someone to play with! 

xxx

Spoilt already!

I am only 19 weeks pregnant with you, and already you are being spoilt rotten!

Absolutely everyone is so excited that you are coming, and they are becoming obsessed with cute baby clothes and toys.

Here is what you have received so far:

How gorgeous is this little baby grow from our friends Rachel and James - you are going to match me in my stripy tops when you are wearing it! 

Now this gift is extra special because it is the shawl that Nanny Angela handmade for me for my christening. I'm hoping that you will get to wear it at your christening too.

Here are the stunning cardigans and booties that Grandma Joyce has knitted for you! You are going to be the smartest baby ever wearing these! 

Grandma Joyce has also knitted this shawl for you, which is to wrap you in when we bring you home from hospital! 

Grandma Joyce and Grandad Ernie have also bought you these two gorgeous bedding sets! I love love love the dinosaurs, and the stars are just so cute! 

Another present from Rachel and James! I think I'll save this bib for special occasions so it doesn't get ruined! 

This is Mo the Mouse. He was a gift from our friends Heather and Dan, who have now travelled back to the USA from Manchester. Heather looked at each and every mouse in the shop to make sure that you got the one with the best face. 

Nanny Angela and Gramps bought you these cuddly bunnies. We haven't named them yet, but I'm sure you will do soon enough. They are so soft and cuddly I want to snuggle up in bed with them. 

I dread to think how many presents you will have received when you are finally born. I think we will have to get a bigger house just to fit them all in! 

xxx

17 Weeks pregnant - 23 weeks to go!

I cannot believe that we still have 23 weeks to go until we meet you!

All of your baby clothes and all of the things you will need for the first few months are currently at your Uncle Lee's, waiting to be packed into cases and brought out here with each and every visitor we will have for the next few months.

Your nursery is almost done, we are just waiting for the wall decorations to arrive from America, and then your woodland nursery will be complete. I can't wait to see if all finished, but it still seems really surreal that you will soon be here with us.

We're already stocking up on nappies and formula for you, plus a mountain of baby wipes. So it's almost like all we need now is you, but you are a long way for making your appearance.

Today you are 17 weeks and we had a scan today, and you still look perfect. You are now exactly the size you should be for your age, and so we're back to expecting you on the 8th of September 2012. I am keeping the 14th in mind though, as I'm most likely to have you after your due date, because you are my first.

This week you are the size of an onion and you are growing eyelashes, eyebrows and hair. I can't wait to see if you look more like your dad or me but hopefully you will be a nice mix of both of us.

We've had a blood test, called a triple test. It's a more accurate way of testing whether you are likely to have any chromosomal abnormalities like Downs Syndrome of Edwards Syndrome. We already knew that you had a nasal bone and your measurements were normal at your 13 week scan, so we were pretty confident you would not turn out to be high risk.

On the basis of my age, 27 years old, your risk was listed at 1:991. So only one in every 991 babies are born with disabilities if the mother is my age.

The blood test showed that your risk for Downs Syndrome was 1:4000, Trisomy 18 1:600 and Edwards Syndrome 1:9000. They are great results and put you in an extremely low risk category, and so we don't need to do anymore invasive tests.

Your dad and I are so relieved. Our main hope for you is that you grow up healthy and happy, and we'd hate for your life to be made more difficult or complicated by medical problems.

We will next see you at my 20 week scan, which is another major scan. Then we will finally be half way to meeting you, and hopefully from then on, time will fly until you get here.

xxx

PS: Here is a picture of your pram. Your dad thinks that "Raspberry" is red not pink, and is therefore unisex. So I hope, whether you are a girl or a boy, that you like pink, because I think it is definitely pink!

Lets get the ball rolling....

We are now in crazy, buying everything you could possibly need, mode!

Your dad bought the first item, the piece that started it all off, isn't is so cute:

So now we have been in major baby mode, and we think we have pretty much everything you are going to need on it's way to Nanny Angie and Gramps's house.

We also ordered your cot yesterday:

I love love love it! Hopefully you will too!

We had an appointment at the hospital yesterday, so we got to see you again. You looked as if you were standing up, although you looked a little like a duck, with your head bent! As soon as the scanner was working, you started dancing up and down and waving your arms around. We like to think you were waving at us, but you were probably trying to bat the scanner away!

The Consultant said that your official radiology report from your 13 week scan was perfect, which is exactly what we like to hear! I am off for a blood test to check for genetic abnormalities, and then we go back for the second anomaly scan at 20 weeks. So on the 22nd April we should get another full CD
of pictures of you.

It is still too soon to know whether you are a boy or girl, but we still think we'd rather wait until you arrive to be surprised. So we're going to have to make it clear at each scan that we don't want to know your gender, as it seems rather routine here to tell the patient the sex without asking whether they want to know!

I'm not sure we'll make it to your birth without someone slipping up, but we're going to try!

xxx