The weekend marks my half-week point each week, and because the weeks generally go by quickly and it's always weekend before I can believe it (and that's over in a blink as well!), I'm starting to be really astounded every time it's Saturday (like today) and I realise that I'm already halfway through another pregnancy week, even though I only just turned that many weeks pregnant the last time I looked up!
I am feeling the baby move and make tiny wiggles much more frequently now, probably enough times per day that I am not really counting. Not like a dozen or anything, but several times at least, each day. I LOVE this stage! :) On rare occasions I am starting to feel a proper kick, but it's still such a very tiny feeling, even though I can tell it's done with real gusto, bless Krispie's tiny heart! :) The "big" kicks feel like a firm but extremely brief poke with the tip of my little finger - makes my heart just melllllt away! :)
The boys (especially Arthur) have been absolutely longing to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, so this past week I got it out and let them listen. I lay on the living room rug for ease of access - they all wanted to sit around me. Elijah wouldn't stop clambering over my chest and patting my tummy as I was trying to find the heartbeat with the doppler, so Neil had to pick him up in the end, lol! The others all sat expectant and excited. They all gasped when they heard MY pulse as I picked up the placenta, thinking it was the baby's, but I explained what it was, and when we heard the much faster little galloping heartrate of our tiny baby, they were so excited! Arthur probably could have listened all evening if I had let him! He was very disappointed when I put it away after maybe 4 or 5 minutes, and has asked every evening since then if we could listen before bed. I don't want to use the doppler all the time (what a change from the days when I was listening in to Arthur's heart beating on a daily basis for weeks, hehe!) so I haven't obliged him yet, but I told him maybe once or twice a week - he made suitably horrified noises and isn't exactly happy about that, which I LOVE because of how much he enjoys me being pregnant and there being a new little baby on the way! :)
When we listened with the doppler, the baby was very active. The heartbeat was constantly disappearing and I would move the doppler an inch across and find it again, only to have a big SPLATCH-BOOMPFH sound and then have to find it all over again! ;) All the boys loved hearing the splatches and static "doof" sounds of the baby kicking about, and laughed every time, making comments about it being a very busy baby, or a cheeky baby, trying to hide from us already! ;)
I am starting to feel better! Over the past week I have still felt really sick most of the day, much worse when nearing mealtimes, and in the evening, but definitely nothing like the earlier weeks, and I am managing the days much more normally again now, not held back by nausea at all any more really. I do have to make sure I eat when I feel my nausea worsening, and - though it makes me feel guilty EVERY TIME, I have to make sure that I make my lunch and eat it first, before serving the boys theirs. Otherwise I never make it through the lunch-making process for the boys before feeling too dreadful to finish and serve, and then make my own. I also have still had to nibble throughout the day to try to keep the nausea from worsening.
BUT, the day before yesterday I realised I had had patches in the day where I didn't remember feeling nauseous as such at all, or maybe just mildly queasy. Otherwise it was pretty much the same. I only realised it in hindsight, the following day, when I realised I had not felt sick much outside of mealtimes, AND I didn't need to eat a thing during the evening! I didn't eat for 5+ hours after eating dinner with Neil and the boys much earlier, and did NOT feel sick!!!! That really gave me hope! :)
Today, I was ready to be more aware as the day went on. I woke without nausea, kept down a big glass of water to take my GERD meds, without nausea (drinking water is a BIG difficulty for me, even sips, when morning sick), ate breakfast, and then did not feel sick at all until just before lunch time!!!! So exciting!! I have felt sick pretty much most of the day since then, but milder - just queasiness really. I have felt pretty yucky at times and had to snack to keep it from getting worse, but I would still say even then that it's milder. I REALLY hope that it means mayyyybe the morning sickness might be on the way out! I am cautious about that because I remember last pregnancy I had two periods of about a week during my morning sickness (10-11 weeks, and 19-20 weeks, I think) where I had NO morning sickness, and was sure that must be it, but then it came back again both times. So we'll see! But I'll take milder morning sickness for sure - yay!
Today Neil and I talked about baby names. I feel so much more strongly all the time that this baby IS a girl, but I have a hard time believing that even so because - strong hunch or not - I have NEVER produced one, haha! I'm sure I've had girl hunches before with some of my earlier pregnancies and obviously those hunches were not correct! ;) So I hesitate to go there.... I don't want to set myself up for disappointment if it's a boy, because then I will be crushingly disappointed beyond comfort AT MYSELF, just annoyed and frustrated that I let myself go there, you know? I will be over the moon and completely in awe at God's blessings to me if I am having a SEVENTH son in a row, and that's the honest truth. So I don't want to mess that up with some unnecessary anticipation thing. So, I don't want to think about girl names. Neil was commenting on my shape (I am starting to show, wheeee!!!) and saying that it seems different this time - more up and down rather than round like a ball (very girly - that has been my own observation with friends who have carried girls and not found out the gender until birth, and I've theorised based on the "vertical watermelon" shape, or high bump, and mostly been right). Anyway, he commented about it seeming like a girl, and I agreed, and then told him I didn't want to set any more anticipation up than necessary, and I wanted to NOT think of girl names before the scan, but I did want to have a boy's name ready that I REALLY like, so that I can be full of joy to name him right away when (if?) we see the ever-present boy bits! ;) Then I have something wonderful to DO straight away, as a result of seeing those bits, you know? I can get straight into the joy of having another boy, and I WANT that so much.
So Neil asked me if there was a name I liked, and I told him the only name I have in my head for a boy is Toby, even though we've used it in a sense, for Elijah's twin lost very early on. I named that baby Toby David, because I love the name Toby, and it means "God is good", and David means "beloved". It seemed perfect. But I still love the name, and it feels like if we have another son then Toby is the perfect name, still, for the next boy. I love the way Toby sounds when I say all the boys' names in a row together. It goes well with our surname, the meaning is wonderful, and... I just love it. I would love to be able to physically SAY the name a hundred times a day to a little one, and hear his brothers say it too. I didn't want it just tucked away in my memory album, never mentioned, as it has been. Toby David is still Toby David, but it feels okay, somehow, to use Toby again for a living child.
Neil likes the name and asked me if I had thought of any middle names. I have! :) I wanted a 'J' name for some reason, and liked the meanings of the following: "Joseph" (may He add - as in, more children), "Judah" (praise), "Jonathan" (gift of God), and "Josiah" (the Lord saves). We discussed those for a while, and liked the two-syllable names for their "ring" better, and we chose Joseph. So, if we get to our scan on June 7th and find out that our baby IS a boy, he will immediately bear the name Toby Joseph (Neil secretly loves the idea of calling him TJ, but hmmm, that's not my thing, so it can be his special daddy-son thing, I guess, lol!). I love that the name means that God is good, and may He add more children to our family! Love that sooooooo much, and I know I will be joyful and excited to name him at the scan and be ready to tell people (well, the people we'll tell before the birth, not the general public or Facebook!) when we get home. I'm so grateful to Neil for being so understanding and so easy-going about the name I've chosen, just happy for it to be our baby's name if it's a boy. He knows it means a great deal to me, and I'm just so grateful! We will not be choosing a girl's name, because it will help me not get overly focused on the baby being a girl, or falling in love with a girl's name that we might never get to use, etc. And also we've got plenty of time to think about that once we know for sure, if it's even possible that I really and truly COULD be carrying a girl baby!!! :-O We did discuss middle names though, because we always planned to do like the boys' names, and use our mothers' names - one at a time, of course. I am not crazy about two middle names. I much prefer just one per child, but if we really do have a daughter, she could very likely be our only one, and we would not want to use one mother's name and never use the other one. My mum's name is Jane, and Neil's mum's name is Averil. Jane Averil would work fine for two middle names, but I really don't want two middle names! :S We originally planned for our first daughter to have Jane as her middle name, and the second daughter to have Averil. But hmmm... Anyway, we haven't really made much progress on that, but we've discussed it a bit anyway. If we have a girl, her middle name will definitely be one (or both!) of those names.
Okay it's suddenly really late and I must go to bed. I am a bit queasy. Oh! I forgot, I think my milk is drying up a bit. Earlier than the last time or two? I can't remember. It's still there, Elijah still sometimes has milk running down his chin when he pulls away suddenly, but I am still breastfeeding Samuel, and Benjamin (for very brief (seconds, sometimes) sessions, and usually just at bedtime and once in the day somewhere when he sees a younger brother nursing), who can tell me things like, "I didn't get any!" sadly, or "There's none left!" even after a few minutes. So I'm pretty sure that's a sign it's going. Also, Samuel and Elijah seem thirsty a lot more, and especially right after nursing, which would indicate that it's saltier than usual (weaning milk, a natural result of diminished supply when breast milk dries up). Elijah is such a petite little manny for his age, that I worry that he's not getting enough nourishment with my milk drying up. It was definitely his main source of nutrition, even though he's eating well now. He turned 11 months old today (!!!!!!!!!!!) and has a month to go before he starts drinking cows' milk (when I will rest much easier!). Right now I'm working cooked milk into his diet as much as possible. Thankfully he loves homemade macaroni cheese, porridge, rice pudding, etc, so it's not too hard. He seems hungry whenever offered food, so I'm just really increasing the offerings right now, and he's happy with that! He is drinking a LOT of water now as well, through a beaker with a lid (he has never had a bottle) independently, so that's reassuring too. He has started having a night drink by the bed at night for the first time this week, in case he is thirsty at night and my milk doesn't satisfy his thirst for whatever reason. I nurse him on demand day and night, and this has always included MANY times each night (minimum 3, ever) like all my other babies at this age, and when I'm pregnant and my milk supply is diminishing, it always does seem to flow more strongly at night, so I'm glad to keep nursing him multiple times at night while he's under a year old, and a bit beyond too really.
There's probably other stuff to write, but I MUST go to bed! Glad to get in an update though! Ooh, and I posted two entries right before this one - long overdue. One is my ultrasound gallery, with the pics from 8 weeks and 12 weeks (and will add the next scan too), and the other is my belly gallery (at last!!) with the only two belly pics I've taken so far, at 7 weeks and 12.5 weeks. Must try to keep up with them better this time around! I was pretty bad at it the last two pregnancies. :( Anyway, yay! Those pages are up for your viewing pleasure, lol!
Hopefully back soon! :)
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Ultrasound Gallery for Baby #7!
Here's the page where I'll record all the ultrasound pictures for my 7th precious baby! :)
The first scan was at 8 weeks, to check for a reason for some light bleeding. Here's my first glimpse of my sweetie!...
See the little leg extended in the second photo! I love every tiny stumpy detail. Completely in love x7! :)
Next came the first routine scan at 12 weeks (and one day):
The baby was very relaxed! One little hand up in front of the face/nose area - you can see the fingers in the pictures. The other arms was stretched casually up over the baby's head, which you can't really see in the pictures because of the cross-sectioning, but it was so sweet to see! If we're guessing on gender, based on the nub theory (or "angle of the dangle"), the very obvious nub in the pictures looks girly, but it's on the early side to be sure, so we will have to wait and see at the 21 week scan! We will be happy either way! :)
The first scan was at 8 weeks, to check for a reason for some light bleeding. Here's my first glimpse of my sweetie!...
See the little leg extended in the second photo! I love every tiny stumpy detail. Completely in love x7! :)
Next came the first routine scan at 12 weeks (and one day):
The baby was very relaxed! One little hand up in front of the face/nose area - you can see the fingers in the pictures. The other arms was stretched casually up over the baby's head, which you can't really see in the pictures because of the cross-sectioning, but it was so sweet to see! If we're guessing on gender, based on the nub theory (or "angle of the dangle"), the very obvious nub in the pictures looks girly, but it's on the early side to be sure, so we will have to wait and see at the 21 week scan! We will be happy either way! :)
Belly Gallery for Baby #7!
Here is my belly gallery for my 7th baby! :) I am totally missing the mark on my usual timings for belly pictures so far (14 weeks) but never mind! Here's the first one, taken at 7 weeks instead of the usual 5 weeks (the light was really poor and the camera was being weird, hence my attempt to rescue it by making it black and white!):
7 weeks pregnant
12 (and a half!) weeks pregnant
20 weeks and 6 days pregnant (and it's a GIRL!!!)
22 weeks (an on-time belly picture at last!)
28 weeks exactly, with my little ones all around me (an imitation of the 28 week belly pic from Elijah's pregnancy!)
32 weeks pregnant - it'll do as a belly pic as I'm sideways on, lol! Family photo taken by a random stranger on our holiday week in August. :)
38 weeks and 1 day! :)
7 weeks pregnant
12 (and a half!) weeks pregnant
20 weeks and 6 days pregnant (and it's a GIRL!!!)
22 weeks (an on-time belly picture at last!)
28 weeks exactly, with my little ones all around me (an imitation of the 28 week belly pic from Elijah's pregnancy!)
32 weeks pregnant - it'll do as a belly pic as I'm sideways on, lol! Family photo taken by a random stranger on our holiday week in August. :)
38 weeks and 1 day! :)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
12 weeks, 1 day - scan!
Soooo much to update on - I am slightly aghast (at myself) that it has been over 3 weeks!!! At this quickly-changing stage too! :( So sorry! I'm annoyed with myself too, because it means I haven't got records of how I found weeks 9, 10 and 11. I will try to remember and do a QUICK catch-up. So many milestones have been marked since I last updated.
I heard the baby's heart beating with my doppler at 9 weeks (I can't remember exact gestation - 9w3d?)!! Soooo lovely, and it never gets old to hear that sweet sweet sound for the first time all over again! :) I have only used the doppler once since, and that was a couple of evenings ago, where Neil heard it for the first time. This time, the little one was REALLY wiggly and active, and constantly moving in and out of doppler range! Lots of bumps and splatches on the audio as the baby kicked too! Wiggly little bean! :)
Over the past couple of weeks (maybe 3?) I have been having much more trouble with spots on my face than I remember in my other pregnancies. I have had some skin trouble like this in the past few pregnancies, but this time seems worse to me. I get a good few and they last a few days and then clear up, and I get a day or so free and then a few more start up at once. They're nearly always in the same places, but they're more persistant than I remember from any previous pregnancies anyway, so I'm noting it. Hormones probably!
Still feeling sick - week 9 was yucky, week 10 not so bad, and week 11 really grim again. I'm only 2 days into week 12 but feeling really bleurghy so far! I wonder how long my morning sickness will last this time? I just have to keep on top of eating, but I feel sick regardless. It's not too overwhelming though, like it was in the first couple of weeks. Not this week, at least! It does vary a little from week to week, rather unpredictably.
I hit my second trimester (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!) yesterday!! I always start my second trimesters at 12 weeks because I use the developmental method of fetal development (and placental development, for that matter), rather than just getting the calculator out and diving 40 weeks by 3 (or the crazy ovulation method - dividing 38 weeks by 3 - that makes the first trimester over 14 weeks long!!). My little baby has all his/her organ systems in place as of 12 weeks, and is now "fine tuning" and growing! :) I am so happy to be in my second trimester - it's always nice to leave the first one behind, especially if I'm feeling sick!
I had my booking appointment with the midwife a couple of weeks ago which went really well. My blood pressure was 110/60, my urine was normal, and I had all the bloods taken, which have since come back normal.
I have been feeling the baby move from just before 10 weeks - just incredibly subtle tickly sensations under my pubic bone or just above it, so that I doubted myself at first. But during week 10 I was much more sure. I had the odd little "stroke" across or "flubble" feeling inside, in the right place. Sometimes there would be a little pressurey surge for a moment, and then it would give way again. So I knew I was feeling my baby! :) At 11 weeks, I had the first really serious baby movement. I was lying on my side breastfeeding Elijah at bedtime, and suddenly felt a quick "puh-doiiing" bounce inside. The "puh" was a sudden (very tiny and lightweight) tap to my cervix, followed within a second (very quick) by a rebound sensation on the top of my womb, about 2 inches above my pubic bone! My little teeny (5cm!) person had literally bounced off my cervix and rebounded off the other end of my womb! Boiiiing! :D I have felt lots of little teeny bumps, flicks and sweeps since then, and I'm LOVING it! I adore the stage of feeling movements, and look forward to hiccups and feeling little parts through my tummy, and so on!
I am showing a bit, though very high - maybe just pushed-up bloat?! I have taken a couple of belly pics so far (first one at 7 weeks) but haven't uploaded any yet - must get to that soon.
Today I went for my 12 week scan! I am only 12w1d, which is the earliest I have had this scan with my other pregnancies (Matthew was 12w2d) - they've otherwise been between 12w3d and 13w exactly. The baby measured 12w3d today though, same amount ahead as the last scan I had, so they've changed my due date to October 20th. I am still going with my original due date of the 22nd though, because well, I just am! It gives me 2 days longer to go into labour before they start harrassing me! ;)
Everything looked wonderful with the baby, and we declined the nuchal/combined test for Downs Syndrome as usual, because it wouldn't alter a thing for us re. the outcome of the pregnancy (ie. we would never. ever. ever. in a million years terminate a pregnancy) and we would joyfully embrace a child with Downs Syndrome anyway. So, no testing. They said that the baby measured 60mm from crown to rump (so weeny, and yet SO perfectly formed!) and all the various anatomy and other measurements were normal.
Because I'm only 12w1d, it's on the early side for the "angle of the dangle" nub theory to be accurate - the closer to 12 weeks, the less accurate, and the closer to 13 weeks, the more accurate. This is because before 12 weeks, all nubs look the same - flat and "girly", parallel to the spine. Boy nubs will start to angle upwards from the spine to varying degrees (Benjamin's was 90 degrees, lol! Samuel's was more like 30 degrees, and more subtle to be sure) somewhere between 12 and 13 weeks. Matthew, at 12w2d, had what looks to me from the picture to be quite a girly nub. It still looks parallel to the spine to me, though not quite flat.
I got dozens and dozens of "shots" of the nub this time. It was REALLY clear and easy to spot, and I saw it many times from lots of different angles during the scan, while the baby was moving, etc. It wasn't the wiggliest of babies at the scan, quite restful really, but got a bit annoyed and moved about quite a bit when they laid the bed flat and tilted my head down and my feet up (I felt yucky after a bit and asked to have it put back up again!) to get the baby in a better position. So I had a lot of chances to see the nub angle clearly. I also got 3 almost identical pictures, all of which clearly show the nub too! So clearly, that I am suddenly a bit shy of posting the pictures on Facebook yet, which is unusual of me.
If I was 3 or 4 days further along, I would ONE HUNDRED PERCENT be expecting to have a GIRL baby in October!! I honestly could not believe what I seeing at the scan. I kept seeing it flash into sight again, and in my head I was saying, "There it is again. It's flat. It's FLAT. There's no angle at ALL!" I have never seen a nub like this before on one of my own babies, but I still can't. believe that I will end up producing a baby girl. Seriously! I am totally unable to grasp that concept, so right now I am thinking, surely it's just too early and the nub is going to angle up? I double checked Nicola's latest 12 week scan pic when she was 11w6d (too early, but still only 2 days before my gestation) and her baby's nub was pretty much exactly like my baby's nub, except that she is having a boy! Soooo..... I don't dare think much more about it (which of course is like not daring to breathe any oxygen for the next couple of days) in case it's just too early. I will rejoice in another son, but I will set myself up for a hard time that is totally unnecessary if I am expecting to maybe see girly bits at the 20 week scan, if this nub is simply looking girly because of the slightly early gestation for calling this kind of thing. That said, here are the pictures - see what you think!
See? Girly nub! I have posted at in-gender about it with the pics (well, the 3rd wouldn't load) and people there are saying it looks girly but it's a bit on the early side to say for sure, like I thought. I will just somehow have to be patient and wait and see! ;) I really don't want to go telling people that it might be a girl, because I might be wrong, and having 6 boys already makes the whole world likely to be EXTREMELY sorrowful on my behalf if there was a smidge of a chance that this baby might be a girl and then it turns out not to be. And I don't want to go there, people! I seriously will be full of joy if it's a boy! Neil says the whole baby looks different to him, especially the head shape (?!), and the nub, obviously. We will probably plan a girl's name, because of the nub in this scan, but also plan for a boy as we always do. We haven't even looked at girl names in the past few pregnancies, lol!
Okay, it's really late and I MUST go to bed. I will TRY to update again soon, as I'm sure I have more to say if I wasn't so nauseated and late for bed! The weeks are whizzing by at a rather scary rate, so I'm sure I'll be 16 weeks or something the next time I blink! ;)
I heard the baby's heart beating with my doppler at 9 weeks (I can't remember exact gestation - 9w3d?)!! Soooo lovely, and it never gets old to hear that sweet sweet sound for the first time all over again! :) I have only used the doppler once since, and that was a couple of evenings ago, where Neil heard it for the first time. This time, the little one was REALLY wiggly and active, and constantly moving in and out of doppler range! Lots of bumps and splatches on the audio as the baby kicked too! Wiggly little bean! :)
Over the past couple of weeks (maybe 3?) I have been having much more trouble with spots on my face than I remember in my other pregnancies. I have had some skin trouble like this in the past few pregnancies, but this time seems worse to me. I get a good few and they last a few days and then clear up, and I get a day or so free and then a few more start up at once. They're nearly always in the same places, but they're more persistant than I remember from any previous pregnancies anyway, so I'm noting it. Hormones probably!
Still feeling sick - week 9 was yucky, week 10 not so bad, and week 11 really grim again. I'm only 2 days into week 12 but feeling really bleurghy so far! I wonder how long my morning sickness will last this time? I just have to keep on top of eating, but I feel sick regardless. It's not too overwhelming though, like it was in the first couple of weeks. Not this week, at least! It does vary a little from week to week, rather unpredictably.
I hit my second trimester (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!) yesterday!! I always start my second trimesters at 12 weeks because I use the developmental method of fetal development (and placental development, for that matter), rather than just getting the calculator out and diving 40 weeks by 3 (or the crazy ovulation method - dividing 38 weeks by 3 - that makes the first trimester over 14 weeks long!!). My little baby has all his/her organ systems in place as of 12 weeks, and is now "fine tuning" and growing! :) I am so happy to be in my second trimester - it's always nice to leave the first one behind, especially if I'm feeling sick!
I had my booking appointment with the midwife a couple of weeks ago which went really well. My blood pressure was 110/60, my urine was normal, and I had all the bloods taken, which have since come back normal.
I have been feeling the baby move from just before 10 weeks - just incredibly subtle tickly sensations under my pubic bone or just above it, so that I doubted myself at first. But during week 10 I was much more sure. I had the odd little "stroke" across or "flubble" feeling inside, in the right place. Sometimes there would be a little pressurey surge for a moment, and then it would give way again. So I knew I was feeling my baby! :) At 11 weeks, I had the first really serious baby movement. I was lying on my side breastfeeding Elijah at bedtime, and suddenly felt a quick "puh-doiiing" bounce inside. The "puh" was a sudden (very tiny and lightweight) tap to my cervix, followed within a second (very quick) by a rebound sensation on the top of my womb, about 2 inches above my pubic bone! My little teeny (5cm!) person had literally bounced off my cervix and rebounded off the other end of my womb! Boiiiing! :D I have felt lots of little teeny bumps, flicks and sweeps since then, and I'm LOVING it! I adore the stage of feeling movements, and look forward to hiccups and feeling little parts through my tummy, and so on!
I am showing a bit, though very high - maybe just pushed-up bloat?! I have taken a couple of belly pics so far (first one at 7 weeks) but haven't uploaded any yet - must get to that soon.
Today I went for my 12 week scan! I am only 12w1d, which is the earliest I have had this scan with my other pregnancies (Matthew was 12w2d) - they've otherwise been between 12w3d and 13w exactly. The baby measured 12w3d today though, same amount ahead as the last scan I had, so they've changed my due date to October 20th. I am still going with my original due date of the 22nd though, because well, I just am! It gives me 2 days longer to go into labour before they start harrassing me! ;)
Everything looked wonderful with the baby, and we declined the nuchal/combined test for Downs Syndrome as usual, because it wouldn't alter a thing for us re. the outcome of the pregnancy (ie. we would never. ever. ever. in a million years terminate a pregnancy) and we would joyfully embrace a child with Downs Syndrome anyway. So, no testing. They said that the baby measured 60mm from crown to rump (so weeny, and yet SO perfectly formed!) and all the various anatomy and other measurements were normal.
Because I'm only 12w1d, it's on the early side for the "angle of the dangle" nub theory to be accurate - the closer to 12 weeks, the less accurate, and the closer to 13 weeks, the more accurate. This is because before 12 weeks, all nubs look the same - flat and "girly", parallel to the spine. Boy nubs will start to angle upwards from the spine to varying degrees (Benjamin's was 90 degrees, lol! Samuel's was more like 30 degrees, and more subtle to be sure) somewhere between 12 and 13 weeks. Matthew, at 12w2d, had what looks to me from the picture to be quite a girly nub. It still looks parallel to the spine to me, though not quite flat.
I got dozens and dozens of "shots" of the nub this time. It was REALLY clear and easy to spot, and I saw it many times from lots of different angles during the scan, while the baby was moving, etc. It wasn't the wiggliest of babies at the scan, quite restful really, but got a bit annoyed and moved about quite a bit when they laid the bed flat and tilted my head down and my feet up (I felt yucky after a bit and asked to have it put back up again!) to get the baby in a better position. So I had a lot of chances to see the nub angle clearly. I also got 3 almost identical pictures, all of which clearly show the nub too! So clearly, that I am suddenly a bit shy of posting the pictures on Facebook yet, which is unusual of me.
If I was 3 or 4 days further along, I would ONE HUNDRED PERCENT be expecting to have a GIRL baby in October!! I honestly could not believe what I seeing at the scan. I kept seeing it flash into sight again, and in my head I was saying, "There it is again. It's flat. It's FLAT. There's no angle at ALL!" I have never seen a nub like this before on one of my own babies, but I still can't. believe that I will end up producing a baby girl. Seriously! I am totally unable to grasp that concept, so right now I am thinking, surely it's just too early and the nub is going to angle up? I double checked Nicola's latest 12 week scan pic when she was 11w6d (too early, but still only 2 days before my gestation) and her baby's nub was pretty much exactly like my baby's nub, except that she is having a boy! Soooo..... I don't dare think much more about it (which of course is like not daring to breathe any oxygen for the next couple of days) in case it's just too early. I will rejoice in another son, but I will set myself up for a hard time that is totally unnecessary if I am expecting to maybe see girly bits at the 20 week scan, if this nub is simply looking girly because of the slightly early gestation for calling this kind of thing. That said, here are the pictures - see what you think!
See? Girly nub! I have posted at in-gender about it with the pics (well, the 3rd wouldn't load) and people there are saying it looks girly but it's a bit on the early side to say for sure, like I thought. I will just somehow have to be patient and wait and see! ;) I really don't want to go telling people that it might be a girl, because I might be wrong, and having 6 boys already makes the whole world likely to be EXTREMELY sorrowful on my behalf if there was a smidge of a chance that this baby might be a girl and then it turns out not to be. And I don't want to go there, people! I seriously will be full of joy if it's a boy! Neil says the whole baby looks different to him, especially the head shape (?!), and the nub, obviously. We will probably plan a girl's name, because of the nub in this scan, but also plan for a boy as we always do. We haven't even looked at girl names in the past few pregnancies, lol!
Okay, it's really late and I MUST go to bed. I will TRY to update again soon, as I'm sure I have more to say if I wasn't so nauseated and late for bed! The weeks are whizzing by at a rather scary rate, so I'm sure I'll be 16 weeks or something the next time I blink! ;)
Monday, March 18, 2013
8 weeks, 6 days - ultrasound!
Sorry to take a few days to update on the ultrasound! I went for my early scan at 8w3d, and everything looks wonderful! :) I'm so happy and thankful! There is one sweet stumpy little baby in there - as I watched the baby on the monitor, I had such an urge to change the nickname to "Stumpy"! It seemed so fitting - such darling stumps for little legs and arms, and such a short "stump" of a little person in general, hehe! But Matthew chose Crispy - actually I have written it wrongly all this time, because he meant it like a Rice Krispie, so the spelling should be "Krispie" (cute little piece of cereal, as opposed to dried out 'n' crunchy, as in "crispy duck"!), and I love that. So Krispie it is! Stumpy, in my heart, as well though! :)
The baby measured 2 days ahead, so they have dated my pregnancy as 8w5d and told me to wait until my 12 week scan for confirmation of dates. I'll go with my original dates for now in any case. I will be 9 weeks pregnant tomorrow! I am glad for the nausea part to be passing quickly. I have found that if I COMPLETELY avoid any trace of onion, I have actually quite manageable morning sickness. Nausea all the time, but bearable for sure. Onion? Even in tomato ketchup or stock or gravy? Three days of misery, where I can't function properly. I'm so grateful there's something simple I can do to help myself, but I really really feel silly when I eat something without thinking and then have the sinking feeling knowing that the next few DAYS will be hard to get through. Hopefully I'm learning! ;)
The technician was really nice and gave me two pictures! They're pretty much the same, but see?! My Krispie little stump stretched out a tiny leg! I don't know that it's meant to be possible to do that yet, but it certainly looked like that's what was happening. Those teeny leggies aren't even fully developed yet! The baby's length from crown to rump was 2.1cm - awww!
I love the beautifully round amniotic sac around the baby (the fine white line) in the larger gestational sac (the black part). Such a perfect bubble! I am SO completely in love with this little baby all over again, and yet again sitting here marvelling at the fact that one can fall in love so deeply, equally for multiple multiple children. It never runs out, it just multplies, and it's a wonderful thing to experience.
I had some quite heavy spotting (not flow as such though) later after the scan, and the next day, but it has pretty much faded off now. I asked about the source, but she couldn't see any evidence of a bleed in there. Perhaps I'd had a small bleed and it had pretty much finished bleeding out, I don't know. Anyway she saw nothing to worry about, so that's reassuring. I asked what I should do if I continue to have bleeding or spotting and she said to call the Early Pregnancy Unit and ask the advice of the doctors there. They may check my scan and advise me over the phone, or they may ask me to come back for a re-scan. I hope I just don't have any further bleeding. That would be nice! :)
Well I have now been up and down to Elijah three times since starting this post, and it's getting really late now. I don't know if it's the fact that he had beans for lunch today for the first time, and thus has some wind, or the fact that he cut his 5th tooth yesterday... Anyway he's wakeful! So I had better go and snuggle up next to him and try to get some sleep! Just had to update, because I really should have days ago - sorry!
Will try to update soon! :)
The baby measured 2 days ahead, so they have dated my pregnancy as 8w5d and told me to wait until my 12 week scan for confirmation of dates. I'll go with my original dates for now in any case. I will be 9 weeks pregnant tomorrow! I am glad for the nausea part to be passing quickly. I have found that if I COMPLETELY avoid any trace of onion, I have actually quite manageable morning sickness. Nausea all the time, but bearable for sure. Onion? Even in tomato ketchup or stock or gravy? Three days of misery, where I can't function properly. I'm so grateful there's something simple I can do to help myself, but I really really feel silly when I eat something without thinking and then have the sinking feeling knowing that the next few DAYS will be hard to get through. Hopefully I'm learning! ;)
The technician was really nice and gave me two pictures! They're pretty much the same, but see?! My Krispie little stump stretched out a tiny leg! I don't know that it's meant to be possible to do that yet, but it certainly looked like that's what was happening. Those teeny leggies aren't even fully developed yet! The baby's length from crown to rump was 2.1cm - awww!
I love the beautifully round amniotic sac around the baby (the fine white line) in the larger gestational sac (the black part). Such a perfect bubble! I am SO completely in love with this little baby all over again, and yet again sitting here marvelling at the fact that one can fall in love so deeply, equally for multiple multiple children. It never runs out, it just multplies, and it's a wonderful thing to experience.
I had some quite heavy spotting (not flow as such though) later after the scan, and the next day, but it has pretty much faded off now. I asked about the source, but she couldn't see any evidence of a bleed in there. Perhaps I'd had a small bleed and it had pretty much finished bleeding out, I don't know. Anyway she saw nothing to worry about, so that's reassuring. I asked what I should do if I continue to have bleeding or spotting and she said to call the Early Pregnancy Unit and ask the advice of the doctors there. They may check my scan and advise me over the phone, or they may ask me to come back for a re-scan. I hope I just don't have any further bleeding. That would be nice! :)
Well I have now been up and down to Elijah three times since starting this post, and it's getting really late now. I don't know if it's the fact that he had beans for lunch today for the first time, and thus has some wind, or the fact that he cut his 5th tooth yesterday... Anyway he's wakeful! So I had better go and snuggle up next to him and try to get some sleep! Just had to update, because I really should have days ago - sorry!
Will try to update soon! :)
Sunday, March 10, 2013
7 weeks, 5 days
Too late to even start a post, but it's Monday in the morning and I know that'll be it for a while, before I'm able to update again! The weeks are so busy! There's stuff I MUST write about, so I will try to be quick. Elijah is due to wake for a feed pretty soon, so we'll see.
My nausea is easing. At first I wasn't concerned about that, I mean, I'm still nauseous. But this is the 4th or 5th day that it's definitely not "bowl-worthy". At first I thought I was just doing a really good job "managing" it more efficiently, having learnt my strengths and weaknesses for this particular pregnancy (which happens around a couple of weeks after it kicks in, usually) - what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, what subtle signals to recognise and IMMEDIATELY respond to, and in what way, etc. Those things help a bit, either in somewhat easing the symptoms, or at least if that doesn't work they might help the symptoms not continue spiralling any worse.
But hmmm. The evenings are okay. I can eat, and it doesn't take me all evening to pick through a plateful of a quarter of a portion of food that I can barely look at, with endless pauses to pace about hoping I keep what I just ate down. I am forgetting I felt like that - that's how much better it is, and now that I'm noticing the difference it's starting to unnerve me just a little. I would expect this, HOPE for this around the 12 week mark, but at 7 weeks? Hmmm.
The spotting continues, without any days in between now, and yesterday was the heaviest day of spotting so far. It's still only brown, which is old blood, and that is a VERY reassuring sign, I know. But... I am feeling uncomfortable and crampy pretty much all the time. I feel heavy and achy low in the pit of my abdomen, and am aware of "leaky" sensations a lot through the day, and as much as I strive to ignore it and feel confident that it's nothing to worry about (probably), it still does start to just nag at the back of my mind a little, especially with the nausea easing up so much. I am reassured that when I don't eat for a couple of hours, the queasiness that's always present ramps up to really yucky nausea and I can't think of any food to eat because it all makes me feel too horrible. So that's good, then.
Heather reminded me of the contact I had (through her) last pregnancy - the head of community midwifery at the hospital (her title now is Clinical Midwifery Manager, which is a very high-up position at our large local hospital), who - if you remember - made all the consultants go away and ended up coming out to my house and delivering Elijah in the end! :) She's lovely, and a very good friend of Heather's. I contacted her to self-refer this time around, and Heather suggested I call her again since I was getting nowhere with trying to get an early scan without having a GP referral. I had her extension number and also her bleep number, and felt really awkward bleeping her incase she was in the middle of an important meeting (!!) but Heather said she knew she wouldn't mind. And she didn't! :) She said, "Leave it with me, honey, I'll see what I can do!" And voila, a lady who I don't know called me the next day apologising for the delay, and telling me a scan has been arranged for me on Friday this week!! Wow. I am so grateful for wonderful contacts. Such a blessing! :)
So at least I have that to look forward to. I hope everything will be fine. I hope it's just another subchorionic haemmorrhage, like all the other bleeds have been over the years. That would make sense, and if so I am just grateful that I haven't had a heavy red bleed, since that's the usual symptom of one. Sometimes I've had a big bleed that has just "sat" in there and reabsorbed, and I've lost a little of it as brown bleeding or spotting over weeks and weeks. I think I prefer that to suddenly having loads of red bleeding - that's so scary. I hope it's just that, and not that I've lost a twin or something, and that's the reason for the drop in severity of nausea. If I have, I hope that I will see evidence at the scan. I would prefer that than to never know.
Heather is still wanting the scan to confirm either the presence of twins or a singleton. My womb is really palpable, even when I'm sitting up, and I'm wondering perhaps if the achy discomfort might be to do with it being a bit squashed where it is, like I usually have around the 10-12 week mark. But it could just be because my womb is irritated by the bleeding - I have had plenty of experience of that too. It could easily just be that. Friday is less than a week away now, but it feels like a while to wait, even so. I'm nervous, but not scared. I will be going on my own, as usual, because Neil has to stay home to look after the boys. He will take the morning off work for it, though I am not sure his boss will be thrilled. We don't have anyone else who can watch them for us. Heather was going to come with me to my scan but she is being a doula for someone who is having to have a planned caesarean on Thursday, so she'll be away on Friday too.
I want to post the photos of the boys that I used to announce my pregnancy on Facebook, but I might have to do that another time. Everyone has been so nice so far! One lady from the church we used to go to only mentioned the fact that we need to move house, etc, but I asked her if that was code for 'congratulations' which I think got the point across! ;) She congratulated us then! I told a lady at church today that I'm expecting another baby, and she was thrilled and said she would pray that we find somewhere to move soon, so that was nice and positive, and I enjoyed it. :) It's a shame there has to be any caution in approaching people with such wonderous news, that they might not be 100% nice in response... But so far, so good! I haven't approached my grandparents yet, but I plan to do so with a cheerful photocard, congratulating them on their upcoming 10th great-grandchild! ;)
I still haven't taken a belly pic. Must do that soon!
What else, quickly? I have been feeling quite faint or dizzy sometimes, lately. This morning and church I felt so weak and exhausted and faint and weird. Things looked too white and I got worried for a while that I'd have a "moment" or something with a baby in my arms! :S But I didn't, and Elijah fell asleep on my tummy for basically the whole service, and I felt quite a lot better by the end. The children came in early from their groups and handed out potted flowering plants to all the ladies (it's Mothering Sunday (mother's day) today in the UK), and that was lovely! I am such a very very blessed mummy, and so thankful for all my blessings! :)
My nausea is easing. At first I wasn't concerned about that, I mean, I'm still nauseous. But this is the 4th or 5th day that it's definitely not "bowl-worthy". At first I thought I was just doing a really good job "managing" it more efficiently, having learnt my strengths and weaknesses for this particular pregnancy (which happens around a couple of weeks after it kicks in, usually) - what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, what subtle signals to recognise and IMMEDIATELY respond to, and in what way, etc. Those things help a bit, either in somewhat easing the symptoms, or at least if that doesn't work they might help the symptoms not continue spiralling any worse.
But hmmm. The evenings are okay. I can eat, and it doesn't take me all evening to pick through a plateful of a quarter of a portion of food that I can barely look at, with endless pauses to pace about hoping I keep what I just ate down. I am forgetting I felt like that - that's how much better it is, and now that I'm noticing the difference it's starting to unnerve me just a little. I would expect this, HOPE for this around the 12 week mark, but at 7 weeks? Hmmm.
The spotting continues, without any days in between now, and yesterday was the heaviest day of spotting so far. It's still only brown, which is old blood, and that is a VERY reassuring sign, I know. But... I am feeling uncomfortable and crampy pretty much all the time. I feel heavy and achy low in the pit of my abdomen, and am aware of "leaky" sensations a lot through the day, and as much as I strive to ignore it and feel confident that it's nothing to worry about (probably), it still does start to just nag at the back of my mind a little, especially with the nausea easing up so much. I am reassured that when I don't eat for a couple of hours, the queasiness that's always present ramps up to really yucky nausea and I can't think of any food to eat because it all makes me feel too horrible. So that's good, then.
Heather reminded me of the contact I had (through her) last pregnancy - the head of community midwifery at the hospital (her title now is Clinical Midwifery Manager, which is a very high-up position at our large local hospital), who - if you remember - made all the consultants go away and ended up coming out to my house and delivering Elijah in the end! :) She's lovely, and a very good friend of Heather's. I contacted her to self-refer this time around, and Heather suggested I call her again since I was getting nowhere with trying to get an early scan without having a GP referral. I had her extension number and also her bleep number, and felt really awkward bleeping her incase she was in the middle of an important meeting (!!) but Heather said she knew she wouldn't mind. And she didn't! :) She said, "Leave it with me, honey, I'll see what I can do!" And voila, a lady who I don't know called me the next day apologising for the delay, and telling me a scan has been arranged for me on Friday this week!! Wow. I am so grateful for wonderful contacts. Such a blessing! :)
So at least I have that to look forward to. I hope everything will be fine. I hope it's just another subchorionic haemmorrhage, like all the other bleeds have been over the years. That would make sense, and if so I am just grateful that I haven't had a heavy red bleed, since that's the usual symptom of one. Sometimes I've had a big bleed that has just "sat" in there and reabsorbed, and I've lost a little of it as brown bleeding or spotting over weeks and weeks. I think I prefer that to suddenly having loads of red bleeding - that's so scary. I hope it's just that, and not that I've lost a twin or something, and that's the reason for the drop in severity of nausea. If I have, I hope that I will see evidence at the scan. I would prefer that than to never know.
Heather is still wanting the scan to confirm either the presence of twins or a singleton. My womb is really palpable, even when I'm sitting up, and I'm wondering perhaps if the achy discomfort might be to do with it being a bit squashed where it is, like I usually have around the 10-12 week mark. But it could just be because my womb is irritated by the bleeding - I have had plenty of experience of that too. It could easily just be that. Friday is less than a week away now, but it feels like a while to wait, even so. I'm nervous, but not scared. I will be going on my own, as usual, because Neil has to stay home to look after the boys. He will take the morning off work for it, though I am not sure his boss will be thrilled. We don't have anyone else who can watch them for us. Heather was going to come with me to my scan but she is being a doula for someone who is having to have a planned caesarean on Thursday, so she'll be away on Friday too.
I want to post the photos of the boys that I used to announce my pregnancy on Facebook, but I might have to do that another time. Everyone has been so nice so far! One lady from the church we used to go to only mentioned the fact that we need to move house, etc, but I asked her if that was code for 'congratulations' which I think got the point across! ;) She congratulated us then! I told a lady at church today that I'm expecting another baby, and she was thrilled and said she would pray that we find somewhere to move soon, so that was nice and positive, and I enjoyed it. :) It's a shame there has to be any caution in approaching people with such wonderous news, that they might not be 100% nice in response... But so far, so good! I haven't approached my grandparents yet, but I plan to do so with a cheerful photocard, congratulating them on their upcoming 10th great-grandchild! ;)
I still haven't taken a belly pic. Must do that soon!
What else, quickly? I have been feeling quite faint or dizzy sometimes, lately. This morning and church I felt so weak and exhausted and faint and weird. Things looked too white and I got worried for a while that I'd have a "moment" or something with a baby in my arms! :S But I didn't, and Elijah fell asleep on my tummy for basically the whole service, and I felt quite a lot better by the end. The children came in early from their groups and handed out potted flowering plants to all the ladies (it's Mothering Sunday (mother's day) today in the UK), and that was lovely! I am such a very very blessed mummy, and so thankful for all my blessings! :)
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
7 weeks pregnant
I meant to update much earlier than this - it has been almost a week! Frustrating comments and nausea have left me without as much desire or ability to post as usual. And tonight I have to be quick, or as quick as I can be, anyway! ;) I feel really nauseated and just want to go to bed and shut it out.
This week has been a week of probably my worst nausea yet, amongst my previous pregnancies. I think times with Arthur's pregnancy and evenings with Matthew's pregnancy might be similar though. I am SO thankful not to be throwing up. Still keeping the bowls around though! ;)
Several things have happened that I need to make note of! Oh, I forgot to start a belly gallery! I can't believe I forgot! I always start those at 5 weeks, and here I am 7 weeks pregnant without having given it a moment's thought until now! :S I will try to sort that out soon.
I am spotting. I have been spotting for most of the past week, on and off. I will spot for a couple of days and then nothing the next day, and then new spotting again for a couple of days, etc. Right now it's fading off after 2 days. I tried to get an early scan but they insist I have to have a GP referral, and I have good reasons not to approach my GP re. my pregnancy at the moment. I am reassured that it's brown spotting, and not red, and that I've been here and done that with all my other pregnancies (except Samuel's) to some degree or other. Also I feel reeeaaally sick, so that's definitely a good sign! :) So I am planning to hang in there for now. I should get a letter this week from social services to say they have closed the case (at last! It should never have happened!), but I feel better if I wait for that first, to be sure. After that maybe I will go see a doctor that I haven't seen before at the surgery and ask for the referral for a scan. I will feel better seeing what the source of the bleeding is, as always, and also to know for sure what is going on with my little one. Right now I am trusting that all is well, and praying that I do not have any red bleeding, because that would worry me more. I am generally uncomfy and somewhat crampy whenever I spot or bleed during pregnancy - it seems to make my womb irritable - so that isn't the most comforting feeling either.
We told the boys at the weekend! :) They were, predictably, absolutely ecstatic! :) I made a treasure hunt with rhyming clues and wrapped the items that the clues led to, all of which were clues themselves. There were only 4 - a toy with the number 7 on it, a piece of paper saying "October", a framed photo of all 6 boys that we have in our living room, and a Willow Tree figurine of a couple having a cuddle with both of them laying their hands on the pregnant tummy of the woman. :) I videoed the whole process, but it took several minutes and I decided to video it on the smart phone, without realising that it would be a MASSIVE file that would never upload or transfer anywhere due to its size! :( I have managed to get it on my laptop at last, but can't seem to do anything else with it! It's great quality, so maybe I'm going to end up having to do something really lame like video the laptop playing it with my camera, which is much poorer in quality (which is why I didn't use it in the first place! Tsk!). I definitely will share it one way or the other, but it's taking me a while to try and figure it out.
Anyway, they were screaming and jumping up and down, and Matthew went a bit berserk! I was behind the camera, but when they realised and started jumping up and down, I was so overwhelmed (totally didn't expect it!) that I had to blink tears away for quite a while to see through the viewfinder properly! I found it really moving and got very emotional that my children were beside themselves with joy that we were going to have another baby :) Nathan remained the calmest so I asked him afterwards if it was happy news or if it might take a bit of time to get used to, and he looked at me like I was CRAZY and said, "No, it's NICE news! I'm just thinking of ideas for what to call the baby!" :) The boys have chosen the nickname "Crispy" for while the baby is in my tummy and we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and thus has no name yet. Matthew wanted that when I was pregnant with Samuel, but Arthur had already chosen Cornflake for him, and then when I was pregnant with Elijah, Matthew was thrilled that he would get to use Crispy at last, but after we okayed it, Nathan suddenly said, "What about Sausage?!" and Matthew graciously told him what a great name that was, and said we'd use that instead! :) So I'm really pleased that he gets to use his Crispy at last! Arthur told me that he was so happy that he could barely finish reading the last bit of the poem I wrote that put the clues together and announced the news to them, bless him!
I told Arthur this morning about my morning sickness. I haven't mentioned it to the children otherwise. He said, "Ohhhh, THAT'S why you keep sneaking off to have a snack! And why we haven't been doing school much lately! I hope it carries on for a few more months!" Cheeky! He isn't too cooperative with spelling and maths lessons lately. Sadly for him, later that very morning I pulled out the spelling books and we did a lesson! ;) He did otherwise teach himself the month-by-month climate and natural habitat of the Gobi Desert, along with general knowledge of all the creatures that live there, this morning, so I'd say he's doing fine despite my lack of ability this past week! ;)
So my little Crispy is now about 7mm long! Like a little baked bean! :) At exactly today's gestation, I saw my first baby for the first time. I was bleeding during Arthur's pregnancy, and being new to it, I was sure I was losing my baby. We couldn't see him at all at the first scan, and my follow-up was at 7 weeks exactly. There he was, a beautiful little baked bean with a bright flickering heart! :) Very fitting to call him "Bean" during my pregnancy - that's just who he was! So I know that's what Crispy looks like on ultrasound today. Crispy is busy forming an oesophagus, developing kidneys from the ureteric buds, and growing outer ears! Amazing. He/she already has limb buds which are developing sections (forearm, upper arm, shoulder, hand plate), and his/her brain has already tripled in size in the last couple of days.
I have been able to feel my womb since I first thought to check at 6 weeks and 3 days. I thought I must be crazy at first, and was surely palpating a stool (!) or something instead, haha! ;) But 3 days later I most certainly could feel a proper womb-feeling shape (just the smooth solidness - I can't explain, but I know the feeling of uterus from anything else. It feels muscular), about 3 inches across, just pushing forwards. It doesn't stick out as such, but is easy to find. It's sitting way above my pubic bone - probably comes up just about halfway between my pubic bone and my tummy button, which is reeeeeeeeeeally high for before 7 weeks pregnant! :S Of course immediately everyone's thoughts go to twins, and I guess that's a possibility, but I also wonder if it's normal to be able to feel your womb much sooner and much higher when you have had lots of babies, especially lots of babies close together. Everything is much looser and flopping around in there, lol! ;) So while I am drawn to gently feeling the top of my womb each day, I am slightly baffled while I do so, wondering what (if anything) it means! I'm nervous about twins... I think, "How will I manage?!?!" but I know that God is the only one who can give the gift of twins, and so if He is pleased to do so, He must mean to enable me. Otherwise, I am trying not to jump to conclusions and dwell on that really. I will wait and see if I can get a scan next week. I still haven't heard back from the midwives with my booking appointment and 12-week scan appointment, and I should have heard from them a week ago, so I might chase them up soon. Just in case the self-referral form didn't go through or something awful like that! At 7 weeks, if they haven't received my referral, my hospital will be fully booked and I will be forced to go to a different one. I absolutely can not do that (for many reasons), so I am getting nervous that it didn't go through or something! :S
What else? I told my brother on the phone that we're expecting another baby. He is always pleased for us, and he was this time, but then confided that he was anxious that I would be at greater risk with each baby of "snuffing it" in childbirth like women used to do in the old days when they had lots of babies - bless his sweet heart! He was asking me to consider not having "many more", and then explained his worries. I reassured him with the latest research! :)
I am still dropping hints at Facebook, and enjoying myself very much, hehe! So far, after the ones I mentioned last entry, I have referred to Matthew's 7th birthday, posted a link to an article titled, "7 ways to praise your children for 7 days", talked about Arthur having lost 7 teeth so far, and this photo of my sweet little Samuel - slightly blurred in the background is the framed photo of the boys and the figurine! :)
Today I dropped two hints - the first referred to my school-age children playing upstairs, while the 4 little ones were downstairs with me. Well, I now have 3 school-age children! ;) And the second was just spur-of-the-moment - it's such a beautiful spring day today, the first one this year, and I posted about how lovely it was, and that there were signs of new life everywhere! :)
I am supposed to have the photo that I planned to take, to announce my pregnancy, by now, but I haven't sorted it out yet, so I guess I'll keep dropping little hints! ;) It's fun anyway!
Okay, I feel too sick to carry on, and I need to sleep anyway, but I will update again soon!
This week has been a week of probably my worst nausea yet, amongst my previous pregnancies. I think times with Arthur's pregnancy and evenings with Matthew's pregnancy might be similar though. I am SO thankful not to be throwing up. Still keeping the bowls around though! ;)
Several things have happened that I need to make note of! Oh, I forgot to start a belly gallery! I can't believe I forgot! I always start those at 5 weeks, and here I am 7 weeks pregnant without having given it a moment's thought until now! :S I will try to sort that out soon.
I am spotting. I have been spotting for most of the past week, on and off. I will spot for a couple of days and then nothing the next day, and then new spotting again for a couple of days, etc. Right now it's fading off after 2 days. I tried to get an early scan but they insist I have to have a GP referral, and I have good reasons not to approach my GP re. my pregnancy at the moment. I am reassured that it's brown spotting, and not red, and that I've been here and done that with all my other pregnancies (except Samuel's) to some degree or other. Also I feel reeeaaally sick, so that's definitely a good sign! :) So I am planning to hang in there for now. I should get a letter this week from social services to say they have closed the case (at last! It should never have happened!), but I feel better if I wait for that first, to be sure. After that maybe I will go see a doctor that I haven't seen before at the surgery and ask for the referral for a scan. I will feel better seeing what the source of the bleeding is, as always, and also to know for sure what is going on with my little one. Right now I am trusting that all is well, and praying that I do not have any red bleeding, because that would worry me more. I am generally uncomfy and somewhat crampy whenever I spot or bleed during pregnancy - it seems to make my womb irritable - so that isn't the most comforting feeling either.
We told the boys at the weekend! :) They were, predictably, absolutely ecstatic! :) I made a treasure hunt with rhyming clues and wrapped the items that the clues led to, all of which were clues themselves. There were only 4 - a toy with the number 7 on it, a piece of paper saying "October", a framed photo of all 6 boys that we have in our living room, and a Willow Tree figurine of a couple having a cuddle with both of them laying their hands on the pregnant tummy of the woman. :) I videoed the whole process, but it took several minutes and I decided to video it on the smart phone, without realising that it would be a MASSIVE file that would never upload or transfer anywhere due to its size! :( I have managed to get it on my laptop at last, but can't seem to do anything else with it! It's great quality, so maybe I'm going to end up having to do something really lame like video the laptop playing it with my camera, which is much poorer in quality (which is why I didn't use it in the first place! Tsk!). I definitely will share it one way or the other, but it's taking me a while to try and figure it out.
Anyway, they were screaming and jumping up and down, and Matthew went a bit berserk! I was behind the camera, but when they realised and started jumping up and down, I was so overwhelmed (totally didn't expect it!) that I had to blink tears away for quite a while to see through the viewfinder properly! I found it really moving and got very emotional that my children were beside themselves with joy that we were going to have another baby :) Nathan remained the calmest so I asked him afterwards if it was happy news or if it might take a bit of time to get used to, and he looked at me like I was CRAZY and said, "No, it's NICE news! I'm just thinking of ideas for what to call the baby!" :) The boys have chosen the nickname "Crispy" for while the baby is in my tummy and we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and thus has no name yet. Matthew wanted that when I was pregnant with Samuel, but Arthur had already chosen Cornflake for him, and then when I was pregnant with Elijah, Matthew was thrilled that he would get to use Crispy at last, but after we okayed it, Nathan suddenly said, "What about Sausage?!" and Matthew graciously told him what a great name that was, and said we'd use that instead! :) So I'm really pleased that he gets to use his Crispy at last! Arthur told me that he was so happy that he could barely finish reading the last bit of the poem I wrote that put the clues together and announced the news to them, bless him!
I told Arthur this morning about my morning sickness. I haven't mentioned it to the children otherwise. He said, "Ohhhh, THAT'S why you keep sneaking off to have a snack! And why we haven't been doing school much lately! I hope it carries on for a few more months!" Cheeky! He isn't too cooperative with spelling and maths lessons lately. Sadly for him, later that very morning I pulled out the spelling books and we did a lesson! ;) He did otherwise teach himself the month-by-month climate and natural habitat of the Gobi Desert, along with general knowledge of all the creatures that live there, this morning, so I'd say he's doing fine despite my lack of ability this past week! ;)
So my little Crispy is now about 7mm long! Like a little baked bean! :) At exactly today's gestation, I saw my first baby for the first time. I was bleeding during Arthur's pregnancy, and being new to it, I was sure I was losing my baby. We couldn't see him at all at the first scan, and my follow-up was at 7 weeks exactly. There he was, a beautiful little baked bean with a bright flickering heart! :) Very fitting to call him "Bean" during my pregnancy - that's just who he was! So I know that's what Crispy looks like on ultrasound today. Crispy is busy forming an oesophagus, developing kidneys from the ureteric buds, and growing outer ears! Amazing. He/she already has limb buds which are developing sections (forearm, upper arm, shoulder, hand plate), and his/her brain has already tripled in size in the last couple of days.
I have been able to feel my womb since I first thought to check at 6 weeks and 3 days. I thought I must be crazy at first, and was surely palpating a stool (!) or something instead, haha! ;) But 3 days later I most certainly could feel a proper womb-feeling shape (just the smooth solidness - I can't explain, but I know the feeling of uterus from anything else. It feels muscular), about 3 inches across, just pushing forwards. It doesn't stick out as such, but is easy to find. It's sitting way above my pubic bone - probably comes up just about halfway between my pubic bone and my tummy button, which is reeeeeeeeeeally high for before 7 weeks pregnant! :S Of course immediately everyone's thoughts go to twins, and I guess that's a possibility, but I also wonder if it's normal to be able to feel your womb much sooner and much higher when you have had lots of babies, especially lots of babies close together. Everything is much looser and flopping around in there, lol! ;) So while I am drawn to gently feeling the top of my womb each day, I am slightly baffled while I do so, wondering what (if anything) it means! I'm nervous about twins... I think, "How will I manage?!?!" but I know that God is the only one who can give the gift of twins, and so if He is pleased to do so, He must mean to enable me. Otherwise, I am trying not to jump to conclusions and dwell on that really. I will wait and see if I can get a scan next week. I still haven't heard back from the midwives with my booking appointment and 12-week scan appointment, and I should have heard from them a week ago, so I might chase them up soon. Just in case the self-referral form didn't go through or something awful like that! At 7 weeks, if they haven't received my referral, my hospital will be fully booked and I will be forced to go to a different one. I absolutely can not do that (for many reasons), so I am getting nervous that it didn't go through or something! :S
What else? I told my brother on the phone that we're expecting another baby. He is always pleased for us, and he was this time, but then confided that he was anxious that I would be at greater risk with each baby of "snuffing it" in childbirth like women used to do in the old days when they had lots of babies - bless his sweet heart! He was asking me to consider not having "many more", and then explained his worries. I reassured him with the latest research! :)
I am still dropping hints at Facebook, and enjoying myself very much, hehe! So far, after the ones I mentioned last entry, I have referred to Matthew's 7th birthday, posted a link to an article titled, "7 ways to praise your children for 7 days", talked about Arthur having lost 7 teeth so far, and this photo of my sweet little Samuel - slightly blurred in the background is the framed photo of the boys and the figurine! :)
Today I dropped two hints - the first referred to my school-age children playing upstairs, while the 4 little ones were downstairs with me. Well, I now have 3 school-age children! ;) And the second was just spur-of-the-moment - it's such a beautiful spring day today, the first one this year, and I posted about how lovely it was, and that there were signs of new life everywhere! :)
I am supposed to have the photo that I planned to take, to announce my pregnancy, by now, but I haven't sorted it out yet, so I guess I'll keep dropping little hints! ;) It's fun anyway!
Okay, I feel too sick to carry on, and I need to sleep anyway, but I will update again soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)