May 2003 Archives
...or indeed 22 week scan as we discovered today! So this was our 'big' and last scan before we see junior in the flesh. the midwife was lovely and must've spent about half an hour scanning, which is quite a contrast to the previous in and out in 5 minutes! But I suppose this was the serious one - to do all the checking and measuring to make sure everything was ok. You kind of forget thats what its for really in the excitement of seeing whats going on inside my belly! But everything looked fine and in fact we are a week ahead of schedule which means that our new due date is 29th September! Or even on my birthday on the 30th - what a present that would be! Its quite spooky that of all the days to have a baby its due on my birthday albeit a day. And Warrens dad was quite pleased to find this out as its his birthday on the 29th! So we will have to wait and see, whenever junior feels like popping out..
It was really exciting seeing the scan though, much more than before because we had more time to watch what was going on. And although the picture is not as clear below (because s/he is too big to fit in one pic now) the detail was amazing. You could see all the limbs, fingers and toes, its heart - beating away and even fluid in its belly (which is the black spot on the right if you can make it out) which means s/he is able to swallow properly. Junior wouldn't sit still and you could clearly make out the kicking and moving about and at one stage s/he even grabbed a foot! It was truely amazing...if I had one of those machines at home I would sit all day spying on my little baby :)
At last, I have discovered an advantage to NOT being the eldest sibling.
It comes in the form of having an older brother, who has 'been there, done that' in the children department. Having completed his set of two boys, my brother has a loft-full of devices and contraptions of which he has no further need.
That is to say, he HAD a loft-full. Now, we have a back-room full - Cot, Bath, High-Chair, Bouncy Seat Thing, Travel Cot, Moses Basket, Bottle Sterilizer, and more... Even a bag full of toys!
The reciept of such items adds another hefty dose of reality to the currently intangible (for me) situation. Just seeing these type of items in our house is a strange feeling.
Not to mention that you also suddenly realise that you need a bigger house.
I must admit, that I was in the 'nothing in the house til the baby is born' camp, in contrast to Maxine's 'Let's get everything NOW' stance. However, it does seem uncharacteristically superstitious for me, and we have already recieved an amazing amount of baby clothes (Thanks Sue & Nige, Rose and Jackie & Sean!), so I guess it's OK. I doubt that we will attempt to arrange anything to resemble a nursery until much closer to the date, but then with Max around.... :)
I'm aware of my 'list of things I would never do on becoming a parent' being depleted, so at this rate, I'm ready for the possibility I might end up sitting my six-month old down in front of Cartoon Network for 10 hours straight, with a MacDonalds Quarter-Pounder meal and 2 lb bag of Midget Gems....
Its really difficult to recognise when the baby is supposed to be moving around, but lots of people said its like butterflies, or a fluttering. Well I have been experiencing little flutters every now and then for a couple of weeks now. But last night was definately a lot more recognizable! It was more of a little prod than a flutter and it was so exciting. I know its not exactly the defined 'kick' but at least I know junior is in there moving around! It only seems to happen when I am in bed for some reason...I can't wait until Warren can feel this experience too, on the outside instead of the inside..
When you announce to the world that you are going to have a baby, you start getting all sorts of advice and information from friends, family and basically anyone who has been there and done that! Some of the advice you have take seriously and some you just have to let go in one ear and out the other.
But today I received the best piece of advice I have had yet. Its pure genius and opens the door to all sorts of possibilities. I have put it up as a seperate page so just click the link below...I promise that if you have kids you are going to wonder why you hadn't thought of this...
I couldn't remember if I had mentioned this already but a while ago, after hearing shuffling sounds while having a pee(!) we discovered that two starlings had nested under our bath. They had got in through a hole where the pipe goes out, and have no doubt made themselves a cosy pad. We decided to leave them for the time being as I couldn't bring myself to destroy their new house when they were obviously building a bed for their little babies. I think I got superstitious about ruining the house for their babies, maybe the maternal instinct in me is coming out in weirder ways than I imagined! Anyway we figured we could block the hole up when they have cleared out for the winter. I thought this was so lovely (weird that I am) that we were gonna have little babies in our house before October! Albeit chicks!
Well now they have hatched. What started off as a little tweeting noise every now again has grown into full blown chick noisiness!!! You can hear them all round the house, especially when the mom & dad birds pop in to feed them, they go mad! I can't help feeling that this is a sign of things to come...babies, crying for food, noisiness and mess!!
I still think its lovely!
We watched some baby programmes from Tivo tonight. I went through and made Season Passes for anything vaguely baby-related on the Discovery Health Channel.
Two days later, we have about 15 baby programmes on there.
We watched a few called 'A Baby Story', following a couple as they go through the final processes of the pregnancy.
It scared the bejesus out of me.
OK, so it wasn't that bad, but it did make me think that the birth is gonna be one tough day. Not that I thought it would be a walk in the park, but seeing the reality of it all makes you realise even more. Particularly being a helpless bloke in the middle of it all.
I think it was just the wierd stuff that was the worst. Like the fact that they are purple when they come out - one of them looked like a Ribena Berry!
At least I have a slightly better idea of what to expect.....
