32 weeks

Your baby now weighs approximately 3.75 pounds/ 1.7 kilograms and is about 17 inches / 42 centimetres long from head to toe. Although his lungs won't be fully developed until just before birth, your little one is inhaling amniotic fluid to exercise his lungs and practise breathing.

(Giving credit where credit is due, all these bub images and the first bits of text are from babycenter.com.au - I also just downloaded the free pregnancy app from this site and it's pretty good!)

I am pretty much playing the waiting game for the next couple of weeks.
Settlement on our house doesn't happen until June, so I've really tried to pause all my spending/nursery plans until I can freely go in and out of the space.
The only 'big thing' left is the cot. This one (by Stokke) was the one we've been leaning towards, but it's been months since I've looked at Cots.

I remember I liked this one because I could reach every part of the mattress from anywhere, it's certainly not the prettiest cot, but from memory it looked like it would be the easiest one for me to be able to reach bubs in.
Speaking of bubs, we have another scan tomorrow! A position scan (is what I think they call it). They want to check out where the plecenta is (it was low lying last time).

Another thing I would like for the nursery (I think its more for me than bubs) is a big comfy chair. I found a really nice one last week, but it will take 10-12 weeks to order!
I really think I need it now! I have been a lot more uncomfortable in the last week. She moves around so much and sometimes finds herself up very high and I just cannot get my breath when she's up there! I find lying down on just the right angle helps, but it's hard to stay on that angle with only pillows! Oh well, better late than never!
On bubs kicks, this week I've noticed that this week she doesn't kick me much after I've eaten, instead she goes bananas when I get hungry, I like to think that she's already starting to help me out! I know last week there were a couple of days were I just forgot to eat (with all this house stuff, it's not as hard as you'd think)! And now I use her kicks as a reminder to go to the fridge.
I thought I would show you what medications I'm still on.

The one not in the photo is Enbrel (my once weekly injection - that I gave up from weeks 4-12, but I just had to start it again, or else we would have had a tin-man stuck in the woods like situation on our hands).

What you can see:

Iron - a midwife (who I refer to as that-midwife-who-couldn't -find- the-heart-beat-of-a-baby-who-was-kicking-her-with-a-doppler-or-an-ultrasound... because she couldn't, well it took her 10 minutes) suggested I take this, about 15 seconds after I said I was a vegetarian, DESPITE my iron levels being within normal limits.
Cranberry - prevents UTI

Calcium and vitamin D - I take this for my osteoporosis, the med team uped my vitamin D for the pregnancy.
Pro-biotic - I've found this helps my digestion.
Pregnancy Vitamin - speaks for itself.

Nexium - for reflux/medications given to me when I was 2-5 years old ruined my stomach lining.

Anti-biotics - I'm on a low dose daily preventitive dose, because the enbrel increased my infection rate, its just easier!

Steroids - Ah this one is my enemy, the one I thought I left behind me in highschool. I suddenly and irrationally stopped this when mum told me what the side-effects were when I was 15 (the side effect being the moon face) and I lost 7 kilos in one summer. (I had a bad habit of suddenly stopping my meds when I was a teen, I did the same thing with methotrexate, but in my defense I had just heard it was a chemotherapy drug! and it just didn't seem 'right' to me! I wanted children one day)

ANYWAY back to steroids. I'm on them because my arthritis has flared during pregnancy. Which, by the way, is completely backwards! Arthritis is suppose to IMPROVE during pregnancy. I have not heard of a single person saying it got worse. But that is me! I'm quietly hoping it will mean that I avoid the post-pregnancy nasty flare that everyone has been warning me of.

Anyway originally they had me taking three days of 25 mg for the flare. But I was flaring every 2 weeks, so they changed the plan to 3 days of 15mg, 3 of 10mg, 3 of 5mg, 3 of 4mg, 3 of 3mg...

It truly makes me feel generally unwell, but hey at least I can move!

I hate it, by the way. I really really hate needing medication. I feel guilty everyday.

31 weeks

Your baby's arms, legs and body continue to fill out -- and they are finally proportional in size to her head. She weighs about 1.5 kilograms and looks more like a newborn. She measures about 41 centimetres from crown to toe.

You may notice your baby isn't moving around as much. Don't worry; she's just running out of space in your uterus. As long as you can feel her squirming, you'll know she's just fine. Believe it or not, she still has plenty of growing to do. You can expect her to gain at least 900 grams more before delivery.

I hope that this does not jinx us, but with everything signed and fiance unconditionally approved I feel semi-confident in saying that we did it. We bought a house! And with 3 weeks to spare (from moving day to possible birth date).

I am so excited. Just insanely pleased with myself and my husband for finding our perfect first home. Buying a home was something we really wanted to do this year, and its been such a journey without a baby in tow. I was beginning to think it would never happen and that mum was stuck with us.
This time last year buying a house was the last thing I cared about, it was only after finding out we were pregnant that I started thinking that we NEEDED a house NOW and in my mind it is our gift to our little girl.

It would not have been possible without the support from my mum. I get so overwhelmed by what mum has done for us that it is intimidating! How am I suppose to match that super-mum performance? The sacrifice and generosity?

I have no idea! First step is to get that mortgage paid off, I guess.

I'll be about 33-34 weeks when we move.

The second thing that happened this week was the baby shower! And it really was everything that I imagined. My beautiful friend flew up from Adelaide just for the day and that alone made it an amazing day.

It had everything I wanted, flowers, punch, cupcakes and tea.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was I wish I opened the gifts as people arrived and not at the end. By the end I was physically and mentally exhausted and I feel that I was not as enthusiastic about all the fantastic little gifts as I would have been a couple of hours earlier.

30 weeks!

Your baby's lungs and digestive tract are almost fully developed. While your baby may soon slow up growing in length, (he measures about 40 centimetres from crown to toe by now), he will continue to gain weight until he's born.
This week your baby continues to open and shut his eyes. He can probably see what's going on in utero, distinguish light from dark and even track a light source. If you shine a light on your stomach, your baby may move his head to follow the light or even reach out to touch the moving glow. Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. But don't expect 20/20 vision when your baby is born -- newborns can see a distance of only about 20 to 30 centimetres.

30 weeks! With only two months to go I am getting a bit nervous that first of all time is going too quickly and that also I may not have the time that I assume I have. On the weekend one of Ri's family friends had her little girl at 36 weeks. For me that is next month and I definitely do not want to be seeing our little girls face until 38 weeks (well I hope not to, but that is because I don't want her to need any extra medical attention). But I guess I have absolutely no say in that! If she is early she is early.

This week has been a big week in real estate and for the first time I am feeling hopeful that we may be able to bring her home to our very own home and not my mums house. Maybe she will even have her own nursery! Here at mum's I didn't want to completely take over a second room, so I've really missed the process of setting up a nursery.

If I do end up with a room just for baby I'm hoping for a lot of pink, white and a dash of red.

(The picture is from a Brisbane shops website, the shop is called my first room).

I saw the physio yesterday, who says I am doing very well with my exercises, my arms are a little bit bigger. And I'm also carrying a lot better than she was expecting. I think that is mostly due to luck, as my bump is small.

I have three my appointments this week, one with the medical team, one is a preadmission appointment with the anesthesiologist (booked before they 'decided' I was having a c-section, but I am pretty sure this type of appointment is only for people who are having a c-section) and an appointment with the midwives.

I am completely dreading the med-teams appointment because I've completely forgotten to do one of the tests they asked me to do (24 hr urine - meh, my kidney's have been fine lately) and I've been working with my GP re:steroids and I hope I've made the right decisions. I always feel weak when I admit that I need medication. And sick with guilt when they look at me and say 'well if you need it...'

I might pop back with a little bit of a summery in a couple of days.

The other thing I need to do this week is have an x-ray for the pre-admissions appointment. This makes me feel physically sick, but I'm told it needs to be done.

29 weeks

Your baby now weighs around 1.1 kilograms and measures about 38 centimetres from head to toe. In boys, testicles descend from near the kidneys through the groin en route to the scrotum. In girls, the clitoris is relatively prominent because it's not yet covered by the still-small labia. These will grow to cover it in the last few weeks before birth.

Your baby's head is getting bigger, and brain growth is very rapid at this time. Nearly all babies react to sound by 30 weeks.
This week we went and had a 4D scan.
It was fantastic. Here are some of the images we got from the experience.

My sookie lil girl (reminding me of her dad in this shot!)

She has my nose and my lips.

Her little foot, we think she has her dads toes.

We double checked her gender (just to be sure before the baby shower in a couple of weeks) and it was agreed she is a girl.

After we left the clinic Ri goes "PHEW! For a minute there I thought I saw BALLS! No penis, just balls." We decided that he must have been looking at the girl bits.

I thought we had decided on her full name, but I think it turns out that we agreed on 2 of her 3 given names (she is getting two middle names, like her dad). It was the second middle name that we had different ideas on. I think I'm likely to go with what Ri is thinking. I have her in my mind as a daddy's girl, so I'm very happy to let her daddy have the final say.

She is such a little mover! I think her favourite position is to lie transversely and up very high. I call her my little penthouse baby.

We have continued our house hunt and think that we have found another area in which we may be willing to buy, if only we can find the right house! I have high hopes for one we are looking at next weekend. Wish us luck.

Our First Year

It was our first wedding anniversary yesterday. So I thought I would upload more photos.
The one above is us at our university, which is where we started dating in 2005. We actually met and became friends in 2001, when we were both in grade 11 at Grace Lutheran. It makes it confusing and I find some people assume we were highschool sweethearts and others that we met at UQ.

In front of our wedding cars.

At our reception venue, Customs House.

On the balcony at Customs House.

Our first dance.

For our anniversary Ri took me on a drive around Brisbane, to all the places we went on our wedding day (to relive it) and also he took me on an international tour of Brisbane, to places around Brisbane that had features that reminded him of some of the places we went on our honeymoon. It was very sweet. He also cooked a four course meal. And he made me a paper crane. And we swapped gifts. I think we were very lucky with our first year. It's been all about travel and adventure (in 24 countries) and the promise of a little baby.

If someone had said on our wedding day that one year later I would be over six months pregnant, I would of called them a dirty liar.

28 weeks

You're in the home stretch. The third trimester typically starts at week 29 and lasts until you give birth, at around 40 weeks. Most women gain an average of five kilograms during this trimester.

By this week, your baby weighs a little over 1 kilogram and may measure 38 centimetres from top to toe. At about this time, your baby can open his eyes and turn his head in utero if he notices a continuous, bright light shining from the outside. His fat layers are forming and his fingernails appear.

I had a really busy week last week. The week I've labelled as 'My last week of work'.

And I'm so glad, as my back hurts.

I thought it would be my lower back that would provide me with all the problems but, if I use my belly belt, I haven't really noticed any change in my lower back pain level.

It's my t-spine that has been acting up. Towards the end of the day its quite painful if I breathe in deeply.
Plus baby brain makes work interesting! I think I had at least 3 copies of the same to do list, I had to write it out again and again as I kept misplacing it.
I cannot wait to get my mind back! Someone once told me it was about one year after the birth - when they started feeling normal again.

The other thing on my mind this week is the baby shower. I have a very vague idea of what I still need. I dragged Ri to IKEA to pick up some glassware and teapot.

I have it in my mind that it doesn't need to be complicated (the food or drink that we serve) it just has to be presented nicely. By serving drinks from jugs instead of straight from the plastic soda bottles, I think that'll make all the difference.

After my trip to IKEA I think we have at least 6 teapots to serve tea from and use as decorations.

Easter was good. I ate so many sweet things that I swear there was a 24 hour period where Pook's just did not sleep! It felt like she was moving and a grooving non-stop.