Happiness is....

....being 21 weeks pregnant after 2.5 years of TTC and IVF!

So in celebration, here is my latest meme update... :-)

Due date:  28 December 2012 - though I am fully prepared for bubs to come when he is ready.  I'm currently following the hypno.birthing books, cds and techniques and fully subscribe to the belief that due dates are just that - a date.  They actually mean very little in terms of when the baby will truly be ready to enter the world.  So I'm not holding any attachments to any dates at all and I've decided that I will try to avoid any induction as far as possible (unless there is a valid medical reason).

How far along?: 21 weeks and 3 days

Total weight loss/gain: 6,5kgs

What's going on with the baby?:  Our little boy seems to be growing well as my tummy is finally starting to pop!  I can now stop needlessly worrying about all the people who say 'Oh, you are so tiny for being half way!'... this made me worry unnecessarily - baby is just fine and is the right size for his gestation thank goodness.

What's going on with my body?:  I am feeling absolutely wonderful - full of energy and the joys of life after being so terribly ill for those 10 weeks (which ended at 17 weeks).  My stretch marks on my breasts have gotten worse and sadly, my once milky-white breasts are looking quite scary (lots of purple and brown lines!), but there is nothing I can do.  I continue to moisturise twice daily with bio.oil.  I just don't think my breasts could cope with the very sudden increase in size experienced around weeks 15 - 17. On the other hand, my tummy is blemish free as it seems to be growing nice and slowly.  Oh well - stretch marks are the mark of being a mum and so I'm very proud of them actually.

What does the belly look like?: Nice and rounded but still petite which is lovely.

Maternity clothes: I've been wearing my maternity wardrobe since 12 weeks and am still loving it -   Gosh, I still thank my lucky stars to have received an entire wardrobe for free from a friend!

Movement: Yes - finally!  At my 20 week scan, it was confirmed that my placenta is situated all down the front of my tummy which means that bubs would have been kicking straight into a 3 - 4cm layer for many weeks prior to this.  This was a big relief as it did seem weird that I'd hardly felt any movement at all.  But since Friday, I've felt lots of kicking in my lower right, most frequently in the early morning and just before I go to bed at night!  I'm just loving it and loving developing that connection between my son and I!

Sleep: Has been much better since I've started the hypno.birthing breathe practice and relaxation CDs.  I find I can use the techniques to get me into a really relaxed state so that I can easily fall back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night (with my mind racing!).

Cravings/aversions:   Nothing at all - I'm eating normally and am pleased to say that I'm not so terribly terribly starving all the time, anymore. 

Sex of the baby: It's a boy!!

What I miss: nothing at all.  I'm just so happy to be here finally.

What I am looking forward to:  Going on maternity leave so that I can do all my last minute 'nesting' and tidying and prepping of the nursery.  Also, I'm a bit over work now.  I feel like I'm so ready to start this new chapter in my life!

Mood: Excellent.

Milestones:  This morning, our little boy was having a full-on karate practice session and I said to B, 'why don't you put your hand on my tummy and see if you can feel the kicks?'.  He said that it was unlikely as they would be so soft, but that he'd try.  He did and he could actually feel the tiny kicks!!!  It was just wonderful - we lay there for 20 minutes feeling our baby kick.  It was heaven.

Medical concerns:  I am still taking my aspirin daily (for my genetic clotting disorder) and there were some concerns around this disorder increasing the chances of preeclampsia and placental abruption, but I have worked very hard to put thoughts about these things out of my mind.  The medical literature says that the majority of women who have a clotting  disorder, go on to have completely normal and uneventful pregnancies.  I'm just going to count myself in that majority until proven otherwise :-)  We will also have monthly scans with our doc to check on everything and another detailed growth scan at 26 weeks.  We are in good hands.

Best moment of the week: Starting on painting a canvas for the baby's nursery and feeling our little boy kicking inside me!

Hows Daddy?:  B is very well and connecting more and more with our baby every day (even though initially he was reluctant to get attached).  I think the more that time goes on and with each day that passes without anything bad happening, the more reassured we both are that this is all going to be OK and that our baby boy is just fine. 

Some funny/cute things Hubby has said:  B has renamed BD (baby dancing) to 'up-periscope'!  I thought this was just hilarious!

Nursery: We've moved the queen sized guest bed to the downstairs bedroom and the futon couch upstairs into our new nursery room (what used to be our main guest room).  We've bought some paint to start on a feature wall in the nursery this week - yay!  I've started working on painting a canvas for the nursery too - it's full of brightly coloured surf boards to go with our nursery theme: 'African surfari!' (given our history of being born in Africa and my hub's history of growing up surfing in South Africa, we decided that this would be an excellent nursery theme).  I've been madly working on budgets and shopping around for discounted change tables etc - we've got everything planned out once the items come up for sale.  The cot is coming from dear friends so will also be a bargain and I've been loaned a beautiful wooden rocking chair from another friend.  We have been very blessed!

So yes, that's my update.  As always, I am sending all my prayers and thoughts out to you all - have a great week!

B
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