OB 31 weeks update

All is well with the little bundle of joy! Growing steadily (though not a huge baby and as always a week or so behind when checking AC), excellent fluids levels, placenta very good looking and Phoenix managed a few kicks while under the scanner! S/he is head down and with the shins on my right side, not very pleasant! Next appointment in two weeks and it will be interesting to see how Phoenix performs as we approach 34 weeks as it was at that stage that Oliver growth arrested.

In other news I have decided to start a course in mindfulness, any of you has experience in this? I will start this Thursday and see how it goes, I love the idea of a meditation technique which will have me focussed on the present and help me not to worry about the future. I will let you know how it goes! I am not doing antenatal classes or yoga, you might remember the crazy antenatal yoga teacher I found the last time...but I need something to keep me grounded.

Still on pregnancy news, I have this CONSTANT blocked/stuffed nose which I don't remember from the first time around. I read up on this and it happens in the 30% of pregnancies...I swear I have a toilet paper roll in my office as it's cheaper than buying a ton of Kleenex. Anyone has suggestions as to what could help clearing this disgusting phlegm that has now been awarded citizenship in my throat/nose?

Oh and here's a belly pix from right now!

Big boy's bedroom

And so here are the pics on the new bedroom! Oliver loves it though he has not slept there yet, we still need a few things before we transition him.
This is what it will be like in its final composition, with the beds at 90 degrees, but for now we have the lower bed underneath the upper one to have one side blocked (minimize falls!). We have also removed the bottom 3 steps as Oliver is well able to climb onto the upper bunk and it makes me nervous. I really like the roman blinds and the fact that some of the birds are the same lime green.

These then are the two wall stickers I got from a place in Australia who sells worldwide for very very affordable prices and they stickers are removable and made of cloth! Love them!

We then bought a carpet in Ikea, I worried it was a bit too dark, but the lighter colours weren't as nice or as thick, so this one will have to do!

See? Oliver climbs very well and even if he cannot reach the upper bed from that side, we decide to remove them from the room altogether.

With the bed underneath the upper one we had to relocate the drawers! Nice that everything has wheels! We also got Oliver the sure comfy Ikea chair children size and he loves it!

As for the sleeping, we made huge progress last week. He is now happy to stay in the bed even if he can come down and occasionally it happens that we have to go back up and put him back in the bed if he's wandering around the corridor, but all in all it's great. Last night we heard him opening the sliding door of his room and then closing it up again...we normally leave it near and not fully closed, obviously he preferred fully closed! He didn't come out of the room at all. My big boy!

Another major major thing is that since yesterday he started saying when he needs to use the toilet!!! Twice we were a bit too late, he was peeing as we took the nappy off, but this morning he said he had to poo and he did!! i think we are not far off from toilet training and I'm delighted I didn't start this too soon (we have been doing EC since he was about 4 months old though, so he knows what the toilet is for).

Two upper canine are through! We have a total of 14 teeth for now. The little mister is well able to throw tantrums, though for now that has happened in the house and so quite much easier to manage. If he's tired we are almost guaranteed a tantrum at bath time, but I really can't complain. He's speech is progressing amazingly well and he can almost have a conversation with you.

And while my big boy is growing in front of my very eyes, the little Phoenix in the belly is 31 weeks too! I'll update on the pregnancy after the OB visit tomorrow.

30 weeks

Flying by, just flying by!

All is well, I put on a bit of weight in the last two weeks, so I'm plus 11kg bohooo but I noticed my hands are a bit more swollen so that will definitely contribute. I also checked the heartbeat a couple of days ago (just because I can! ehehe) and it was 136 bpm so totally normal. Not sure you remembered that I was worried it would have steadily decreased as they baby got bigger, but it's just his average it seems!

Movements are very regular, Phoenix has been transverse till yesterday so I could feel movements mostly low down and very funnily on my sides with a distinct tickling feeling. I have the occasional BH specially if I walk a bit or do the stairs, but nothing out of the ordinary. For the last couple of days Oliver has been really attracted by the belly and spontaneously would give it kisses! So sweet! Or if we both sitting on the couch he would keep his han on my belly. Bless him. We went visiting neighbours who have just had their third baby boy and Oliver was very gentle with him even if I was holding him. Hopefully he'll be happy when this one arrives and will be in the house.

Oliver's room has arrived, I will have a post dedicated to it shortly. He loves it!! But we still need to get a bed guard so for the moment Oliver thinks it's the best play ground ever and has not slept there yet (maybe tomorrow, I'm thinking to let him fall asleep in the usual bed and carry him in the new one then...). We also had the electrician in doing some prep work for the kitchen which is great and Mike is chasing the kitchen people to make sure they are working on our order.

Work is still very busy though this week at least there were no labs and a colleague of mine decided he had to do 3 weeks of lecturing now rather than later...so I'm only doing two courses instead than three which is definitely much better. The downside is that I would have had it all done within the next two weeks and now I have to do some more after that. But ah well, I'll do what I can.

Mike's aunt from Cali will be staying with us for a night or two early next week before flying back to much better weather. She did make the funeral and I mentioned before that Irish funerals are something else. The service was lovely, the priest grew up with Mike's cousin so every word was heartfelt. Oliver was also very well behaved and managed to stay quiet for most of the mass (then Mike took him outside to let him run around a bit).
And I think this is all for now, I know most of you posted on Valentine's day, but we don't celebrate that day much (me and Mike I mean) so I didn't have anything particularly interesting to say! We did enjoy a box of chocolate and a movie though, since the recession we say here that "staying in" is the new "going out" so we certainly did follow the trend for once.

Love to all.

29 weeks (-1!) OB appointment

Happy to report that Phoenix is growing nicely and all looks perfect! I quickly looked at the dates appearing as Dr. W. was taking the head circumference and the abdominal one and both were in around 28 weeks which is completely within error and more importantly much bigger than the last time.
Dr. W mentioned again VBAC to which I'm completely open and of course we will keep a close eye on growth, fluids and placenta (so far all perfect) just in case we have to intervene a bit sooner.
My next appointment is in 2 weeks time!

Major progress on the house front too: next thursday the big boy bedroom is going to be fitted, we have the room painted and curtains are up! We have not really worked at selling our two futons currently in the room but ah well, we'll move them in the attic for now. Then on the same day we are also having an electrician doing a few modifications in preparation of the counter-top extension in kitchen (and added units), and some other bits and pieces. The kitchen people are on the move to assemble our cabinets and Mike was fantastic at sourcing a granite top that is very very similar to the one we have. This should all be ready in 2-3 weeks! Will of course post pics of before and after.

Oliver is well, we have canines coming through at the top but he's been doing very well (no molars yet). Sleeping is good and when the new bedroom arrives we'll give another go at sleeping without sides.

I'm half way through my teaching and it feels great, I can see the end!

On a sad news, Mike's first cousin died suddenly and we have the funeral on saturday...I never met him (I think) but I know I'll be very very emotional at seeing the grief of his parents and family. Mike's aunt from the States flew in this morning, and she was so so close to them it's going to be heartbreaking. We don't quite know what happened yet, if it was a stroke or a heart attack or a true accident (he fell in the bathroom) but as he was only a few years older than Mike it is really shocking.

Ok, better leave it at that for now, thank you for your continuous support and gentle hugs!

28 weeks milestone

I didn't get to update last week, I've been a bit under the weather and really really overwhelmed with lecturing and lab supervision. By the time it was thursday I had nearly lost my voice altogether, nagging cold, a bit of cough, the works.

Thankfully the pregnancy seems to progress just fine, I have gained half a kilo since last week (after  a few weeks of no weight gain at all) and I'm at +9Kg which I'm very happy with. Plenty of movements throughout the day (and probably night too, but I can't tell) and I think my belly had a bit of growth since the last pic, so I'm posting the progress here.

I have 4 more weeks of very heavy teaching, I really hope I didn't take on more than I can handle...I actually took friday off (meaning I worked from home) to take it a bit easier. Friday is the only day I don't teach and I have no labs. Anyway, I know by the end of next week I'll be half way through and it will feel great!

Oliver is doing very well, chatting more and more, somehow he realised he can now push the bed from the wall and get down...this afternoon Mike was out and I was handling nap time....I totally lost my cool I have to admit, couldn't manage to properly block those damn wheels, after an hour of up and down etc and me physically blocking the door (it's a sliding door, can't do much to keep it close) finally Mike came back and fixed the bed. Thing is we are heading off to a birthday party in half an hour and he will have slept about 45 minutes, half than his usual time. Not good.

No sign of the bedroom arriving, it should have been 3 weeks since placing the order and that happened before Christmas. No update on where we are at either. Very frustrating. Similar thing with the kitchen slight modification we'd like to do, it's dragging on forever. I have the feeling it'll be like when Oliver was born and the attic project, everything done about a day before the arrival...

Anyway, better get ready to go to the party (it's a 2 year old!).