Our baby at 12 weeks 3 days
Thursday, May 26, 2005
We got to see our baby!
Dan and I just went to our 12 week scan and we got to see our cute little baby! It's all formed, just tiny (about 6cm from its head to its bottom). We could see it on the screen jumping around and waving at us, and we could even see all its fingers!
We bought a CD of the whole series of scan images they took, and hopefully I can figure out how to post one here. The scan included a check of the nose, skull and brain, abdomen, stomach, and both hands and feet. Everything was normal! We were shown the stomach area and were told it was good the baby was swallowing.
At 12 weeks, they test for Down's Syndrome and some other genetic defects. My age-determined risk is a 1 in 881 chance of Down's, but after analysing the scan, my risk dropped dramatically to a 1 in 11,000 chance, so that is very reassuring.
Our due date is still in the first week of December. It's so exciting! Everything feels much more real now after seeing the baby on the screen. We got a cool picture as well of both hands up in the air, like reaching out for a hug.
We bought a CD of the whole series of scan images they took, and hopefully I can figure out how to post one here. The scan included a check of the nose, skull and brain, abdomen, stomach, and both hands and feet. Everything was normal! We were shown the stomach area and were told it was good the baby was swallowing.
At 12 weeks, they test for Down's Syndrome and some other genetic defects. My age-determined risk is a 1 in 881 chance of Down's, but after analysing the scan, my risk dropped dramatically to a 1 in 11,000 chance, so that is very reassuring.
Our due date is still in the first week of December. It's so exciting! Everything feels much more real now after seeing the baby on the screen. We got a cool picture as well of both hands up in the air, like reaching out for a hug.
Monday, May 23, 2005
First Midwife Appointment!
My midwife crisis is over - I finally found one! She is really lovely and I had my first appointment today. We didn't 'do' anything, just go over things and book in for an ultrasound on Thursday. Dan is coming with me and the baby will look all fully formed, just extra mini! (the size of a lime by that time!)
I have another midwife appointment just before we go to the US, then every month until 30 weeks, then every two weeks until 36 weeks, then every week until our baby is born.
Jan (our midwife) says she recommends the new Auckland Hospital fancy maternity suites over Birthcare (the place I was originally thinking of), so I think we'll go with the hospital.
In other developments, I now have interesting new back muscles! These have managed to form, not through any kind of exercise, but from my daily throwing up routine, where my back muscles help to lunge stomach acids from deep inside me to be vomited out. What a lovely story :)
More news after our scan!
I have another midwife appointment just before we go to the US, then every month until 30 weeks, then every two weeks until 36 weeks, then every week until our baby is born.
Jan (our midwife) says she recommends the new Auckland Hospital fancy maternity suites over Birthcare (the place I was originally thinking of), so I think we'll go with the hospital.
In other developments, I now have interesting new back muscles! These have managed to form, not through any kind of exercise, but from my daily throwing up routine, where my back muscles help to lunge stomach acids from deep inside me to be vomited out. What a lovely story :)
More news after our scan!
Saturday, May 21, 2005
It's a fig!
We now have a fig sized baby!
Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he's still so small, though, you won't feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.
Well not much to report this week. I still don't 'feel' pregnant, and am wondering if all this sickness is so routine now that its all in my head and I am just sick because I think I should be. But my tummy is getting a bit bigger and my tummy button is changing! It used to be long and deep, now its shallow and getting wider. Funny!
I went shopping last weekend for new clothes since not many of mine still fit comfortably, but the most important things I need which I didn't get is new knickers and new pyjamas. Anything elastic around my tummy is now really uncomfortable.
I've been feeling a bit guilty that I haven't been taking all my vitamins as much as I would like - because my gag reflex is so sensitive now, they keep making me throw up so I don't like taking them so much....hmmm...not good. But then I think of all the nutritionally impaired customers I get who take hardly anything during pregnancy and I feel better.
My first mid-wife appointment at LONG last is on Monday morning, so I will write an update after that.
Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he's still so small, though, you won't feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.
Well not much to report this week. I still don't 'feel' pregnant, and am wondering if all this sickness is so routine now that its all in my head and I am just sick because I think I should be. But my tummy is getting a bit bigger and my tummy button is changing! It used to be long and deep, now its shallow and getting wider. Funny!
I went shopping last weekend for new clothes since not many of mine still fit comfortably, but the most important things I need which I didn't get is new knickers and new pyjamas. Anything elastic around my tummy is now really uncomfortable.
I've been feeling a bit guilty that I haven't been taking all my vitamins as much as I would like - because my gag reflex is so sensitive now, they keep making me throw up so I don't like taking them so much....hmmm...not good. But then I think of all the nutritionally impaired customers I get who take hardly anything during pregnancy and I feel better.
My first mid-wife appointment at LONG last is on Monday morning, so I will write an update after that.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Development update
Your baby's started growing tiny fingernails and toenails and can now kick and swallow — pretty impressive for someone the size of a walnut. Your uterus is now the size of an orange. Within the next few weeks, your featherweight baby will more than double in size, from just over an inch to nearly 3 inches. At your next prenatal appointment, you may be able to hear her heart beating with a stethoscope-like instrument called a Doppler.
I love how everything is compared to the size of fruits and things!
Nothing much really to report at the moment - morning sickness is getting much better - only 1 small event daily now. Can't be too far from being finished! I've been feeling normal most of the time too, so that helps. Most of my clothes are too small now so I am wearing only a selection of items that were always too big for me. Might have to go shopping this weekend.
Still haven't found a midwife, so if my insurance covers it I will get a private obstetrician.
I love how everything is compared to the size of fruits and things!
Nothing much really to report at the moment - morning sickness is getting much better - only 1 small event daily now. Can't be too far from being finished! I've been feeling normal most of the time too, so that helps. Most of my clothes are too small now so I am wearing only a selection of items that were always too big for me. Might have to go shopping this weekend.
Still haven't found a midwife, so if my insurance covers it I will get a private obstetrician.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
My birthday and graduation
Tuesday was my birthday (yay!), and Wednesday was my graduation, so I had a busy fun week!
Morning sickness was still a problem on Monday, so I was concerned how I would cope on Wednesday at graduation, which was right during the times I would normally be sick. So on tuesday, I decided to see what would happen if I pretended it was wednesday and got up early and did all the things I would be doing to get ready for graduation.
It was a disaster. I was just sicker earlier in the day, and then for more hours than usual! Arrgghh! So I was getting more an more worried about how I would cope at graduation. I prepared myself an emergency morning sickness kit, which had a couple of those silver-lined bags you get at the supermarket for hot chickens - they were my sick bags, and I had licorice and a protein bar chopped up into mini pieces so i could eat them throughout the ceremony. I also had all my morning sickness medicines, and I was planning on alerting the supervisery people at graduation that i would need to sit near an exit so I can run away if necessary. My biggest fear was walking across the stage, reaching out to shake the chancellors hand, and vomiting all over him. Then I would be in the paper the next day as the girl who ruined graduation. (you can see how worked up I was getting with worry!)
But by some miraculous event, I ended up not being sick at all for the whole day! Probably all the stress and worry helped :) The people I was graduating with were postgraduate nurses, so I let them all know my problem in case I needed their help, and they were lovely. Luckily there were NO dramas and NO vomiting in public. PHEW!
Graduation was fun, and I got to dress up all funny - post grad diplomas get the best costumes - its bachelor outfit, plus you also get a big long fancy scarf that goes down the front of the gown.
Thursday was also a relatively sick-free day, and then friday was all bad again. Today hasn't been too bad, so maybe i'm almost at the end of this horrible morning sickness. Theoretically it is all meant to be over by 12 weeks (i'm almost 10 weeks now) so not long to go. I've lost 2kg from all this vomiting and not being able to eat properly, so its quite a worry.
In developmental news: this week marks the first time that your baby looks almost human. He's the size of a grape and has all the standard body parts in place now — though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning between now and your due date.
From now on, the baby pretty much grows 1cm a week. Exciting!
Morning sickness was still a problem on Monday, so I was concerned how I would cope on Wednesday at graduation, which was right during the times I would normally be sick. So on tuesday, I decided to see what would happen if I pretended it was wednesday and got up early and did all the things I would be doing to get ready for graduation.
It was a disaster. I was just sicker earlier in the day, and then for more hours than usual! Arrgghh! So I was getting more an more worried about how I would cope at graduation. I prepared myself an emergency morning sickness kit, which had a couple of those silver-lined bags you get at the supermarket for hot chickens - they were my sick bags, and I had licorice and a protein bar chopped up into mini pieces so i could eat them throughout the ceremony. I also had all my morning sickness medicines, and I was planning on alerting the supervisery people at graduation that i would need to sit near an exit so I can run away if necessary. My biggest fear was walking across the stage, reaching out to shake the chancellors hand, and vomiting all over him. Then I would be in the paper the next day as the girl who ruined graduation. (you can see how worked up I was getting with worry!)
But by some miraculous event, I ended up not being sick at all for the whole day! Probably all the stress and worry helped :) The people I was graduating with were postgraduate nurses, so I let them all know my problem in case I needed their help, and they were lovely. Luckily there were NO dramas and NO vomiting in public. PHEW!
Graduation was fun, and I got to dress up all funny - post grad diplomas get the best costumes - its bachelor outfit, plus you also get a big long fancy scarf that goes down the front of the gown.
Thursday was also a relatively sick-free day, and then friday was all bad again. Today hasn't been too bad, so maybe i'm almost at the end of this horrible morning sickness. Theoretically it is all meant to be over by 12 weeks (i'm almost 10 weeks now) so not long to go. I've lost 2kg from all this vomiting and not being able to eat properly, so its quite a worry.
In developmental news: this week marks the first time that your baby looks almost human. He's the size of a grape and has all the standard body parts in place now — though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning between now and your due date.
From now on, the baby pretty much grows 1cm a week. Exciting!
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