22 Weeks!

Hello there again. This is week 22! (nearly 23 as I should have written this before now!)
We've had a great week with J's mum Meryl who came over to visit for a week (or just less because of dear British Airways and the non-existent strike!) It was a really relaxing time for us all and fab to see her again.
As you can see from the pics, the bump is taking good shape and looking more everyday like a huge growth growing in front of me! I'm finding it ever harder to bend over and even cycling on my bike has become quite comical - unless I ride in a certain way I bump my bump with my knees!
The baby is moving around amazingly! It definitely likes Church and the music there, it likes curry's and food in general and seems to be moving more when J talks directly into the bump.
I had my next midwife appointment on Monday, J unfortunately couldn't make it but it was a real pleasure to have Meryl (J's mum) there with me instead. It was fab hearing the strong heartbeat again and fab too for her to hear it as well. I have been very tired over the past few weeks so the midwife checked my iron levels (which are fine) just to make sure. We concluded that I really have to make sure that I eat properly and enough throughout the day and that I rest more. I'm getting at least 8 hours sleep each night but my energy levels have been scarily low. I get horribly emotional, miserable and grouchy. Even going to bed in the afternoon wasn't helping because then I wouldn't sleep that night and the cycle would get worse. I have been trying really hard to make sure that I eat more smaller more regular meals each day and drink enough too.... I have everyone nagging me now so hopefully it should improve (J, the midwife, the people at the gym, friends, family.......)

It's a short one this week. Here is the link to the Baby centre website again. I'll try and write earlier in the week next time!
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/fetaldevelopment/22weeks/

Happy 29th to Sam & 21st week to pj!

On a blustery ... no windy..... no stormy day in January I celebrated my 29th Birthday. It had a great start by school being closed because of the storm! Yay no lessons! J decided to finish work early so we could spend the afternoon together only to get stuck in the train mania! He managed to get the very last train that was running that day but it took him 4 hours to get home from The Hague! (it usually takes about an hour and a half). We had a really fab evening as J had planned a surprise meal out with some friends at a Chinese restaurant near by. Somehow he managed to keep it a surprise without me guessing! It's a challenge!

We are still trying to figure out all the housing stuff. We have heard from one bank that has said that they will agree to give us a mortgage (a huge answer to prayer). We just now need to find a house then they will finally agree to it. It could all still not happen but we're praying that the doors will open or close firmly.

The baby is fine. Moving around tonnes! J can feel it moving now which is fab and apparently it can hear our conversation now. Here's the new baby centre page: http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/fetaldevelopment/21weeks/

Oh and finally here's a picture I found on the BBC website on the stormy day on Thurs. I thought it was sooooo cute the poor little thing!

20 week scan!

AND ALL IS WELL!!!

Here are the pics (they may be in a slightly different order to what you see)...... we think that the first one (the baby's face) is a little creepy but also amazing at the same time. The pics don't show the skin on the baby only the skeleton so that's why it looks kind of funny. We were watching it drinking in the amniotic fluid - it was amazing! The 3 bright dots in front of it's face are the ends of the fingers (according to the midwife) and the 3 lines just above the chest is the umbilical cord!!
The second picture shows the baby's foot - it's the grayish shape in the middle of the pic with the toes pointing to the right.
The third picture is of the head and the spine! It showed up to clearly it was amazing!
The midwife said that it was very active inside so it was hard to get a fix on it sometimes. It really does seem to be having so much fun in there!.
Everything looks like it is where it should be, the heart is good and there is no evidence of Spina Bifida, clef palette or any other things that they can tell from this scan usually.
Apparently the head is at the top of my bump and the legs (obviously) at the bottom. The placenta is against my back which means that the baby is against the bump; which means that that is why I can feel it moving so much. It's kicking around tonnes; so much so that the other day I was beginning to feel a tad queasy from it! This morning J actually felt a kick which was awesome (although he wasn't quite awake at the time!).
The midwife took loads of measurements of the baby and when everything was tallied up at the end it was the job of the computer to figure out a new due date according to all the measurements. Unbelievably the due date we have (May 31st) was exact! So roll on May 31st! ........because of course it will be born on that specific day!!!????!!!
We found it sooooo amazing to see the baby inside of me. J was a tad spooked by the whole thing but in awe at the same time while I was laying there with tears trickling down my cheeks! ahhhhhhh! It was amazing to see how much the midwife knows. She was pointing things out to up on the pictures that we really couldn't make out. How can she tell that that's the baby's lips?? But the times we could make out the shapes was amazing (or have I used that word way too many times!!)

Here is the 20 week link to babycentre:
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/fetaldevelopment/20weeks/

19 weeks & it's Wigglin!!!

Hello!
I decided that I'd written o much about Christmas and New Year that I wouldn't put you through any more and write about PJ. But now seems like a good time.
These 2 pics are from last week (18 weeks). Over Christmas I seemed to explode! I went with all my normal clothes and within 2 days was feeling very uncomfortable and had to borrow some gym trousers from Christianne. We decided to go maternity clothes shopping in Croydon on the Thurs after Christmas but it wasn't particularly successful! But I've now got some clothes so I feel a little less restricted and a little more fat!
I have now started to feel PJ moving!!! It's such an awesome feeling. He(?) really moves around a lot now that I recognise the feeling. So much so that I've felt a little queasy from the feeling at times! I can't explain the feeling in a good enough way as to make someone say 'ahh I understand' so far all my analogies have brought funny looks from people...... it's a bubbly feeling, it feels like the bubblyness before diarea (if you know what I mean), it's the same feeling as if someone was tapping you with their finger - but from the inside!. Not explanation seems to be good enough. I'm sure every mum says the same thing. I can't wait til J can feel it too.
J has decided that the fathers do have an advantage over the mothers. PJ's hearing is improving and J is able to put his face right up to the bump and talk to it in a way that I can't! his low frequencies are easily heard by the baby apparently!!!
We had another midwife appointment on Monday and my blood pressure is still low (which is good). She did have a little trouble finding the heartbeat which made J and I hold our breath for a bit! But it was there and strong as ever! We are having our 20 week scan on Thursday afternoon which I'm so excited about. I really want to see how it's grown.
We are still trying to figure out about the mortgage thing. One bank has asked us for more information on J's previous employment. So we're still no closer to knowing whether we can buy or if we'll have to carry on renting. It's a scary time really, J's contract will officially end at the end of February but he's convinced that there is a lot of work to do still after that point. It's all a leap of faith really. If God wants us here he will sort it out and we'll be in the right place in the right time! It is getting close to try and buy but it's still possible. Please pray that we get answers soon and can start planning.
So here is the next development picture. I missed out the 18th week but you can get to it from this link too.
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/fetaldevelopment/19weeks/
Til next week!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Helloey! It feels like ages ago that I wrote on here. We've left 2006 & breezed into 2007! Can you believe it!
I thought I'd tell you about our fab Christmas before I tell you all about the growing bump so here goes:

We didn't have too much trouble flying into Gatwick on the 23rd Dec. after the huge palava at Heathrow on the Thurs and Fri before. We were only 2 hours delayed which is fine & I'd prefer a safe flight rather than fighting fog!
We had a really really restful Christmas with J's family. It was fab to be able to get to Oakhall on Christmas Eve and see so many friends there (there were others we missed but it's that time of year I spose). We then went to Meryls church on the Christmas day morning and over to Chris and Marks (J's sis and Bro-in-law) for a very yummy lunch (best sprouts ever!). THEN Father Christmas arrived (he's eaten his mince pie and milk the night before!).... it was so exciting and Josh and Amy were in awe! We were blessed with fab prezzies, lots of laughing and playing games and generally a good time! We had great time playing with Josh's Lego, J's Lego (yes you read that right!) & a mini remote control helicopter Mark had.
Boxing Day was more mellow but still lots of fun. We relaxed so much and ate way too much!
By Wednesday I was beginning to flake - especially after a very unproductive maternity shopping trip to Croydon (don't shop for maternity clothes in January sales!) I was a zombie for the rest of that day and then unfortunately spent the entire day on Thursday throwing up and zoned out! Either something I ate, eating too much or something, but everyone else had a fun afternoon at a kids park near by. On Friday Tim & Beth (J's bro and sis-in-law) came over and we had more relaxing and then a great family meal out in the evening. I was better by then but still tired (as usual!!)

Saturday was packing and going home day. It was really sad to say goodbye again I felt pretty emotional about it all.
Our flight home was the most......interesting.....no..... adventurous... no......frightening experience ever. The weather was awful and wind really strong. At landing time it kept dipping all over the place and the pilot even had to go up again just as we were about to land. Lots of worried faces and gasps as the wind caught the plane again but we prayed and believe the angels protected us and brought us in safely eventually.... to big cheers from everyone. Unfortunately pj didn't like it much and i was really sick again that night!

So that was our Christmas week off... hope it wasn't too boring for you to read!

We wanted to be back to experience New Year with friends. So we went over to Leon and Maryka's for a wine and cheese evening (don't worry I didn't have any!) There were lots of people we knew there too and it was great fun (even though I still wasn't all that well) Maryka had told me about New Year in Amersfoort and how amazing it was to watch the fire works from her roof. I was expecting a spectacle but when 12 o'clock arrived it was like standing in a war zone!!! I have never seen so many fireworks in every direction!! I didn't know which direction to look in AND it went on for about 2 hours!!!!!!!!! Constantly! In Holland you can set off fireworks anywhere you want - in the street, your garden, your roof etc..... crackers going off everywhere. I've never seen anything like it! People seal up their letter boxes, postboxes are sealed - people go mad with fireworks! Amazingly enough though not that many people get hurt! Apparently Amsterdam is even more mad with fireworks but there is so many people there it can get quite dangerous! I can't find any photographs of it yet but if I do I'll post them on here as soon as I can.

Well enough from me on this blog.... I have tonnes more to tell you about our growing pj, but I reckon your eyes will have gone funny by now so I'll leave it to another day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!