Here is me at 7 months. I'm a bit bigger than the last photo, although from side on you can't really see how much I'm spreading out to the sides now... Space is now at a premium for our little baby, and i'm starting to get frustrated by all the tickles and jiggles and squiggles I feel all day and night! 70 long days to go..... 

Not much to report really

Nothing much is really happening - my tummy is just getting bigger and bigger now. There is much less room inside for the baby to thrash around and play, so now I am getting less bashed, but more big stretches of arms and legs which results in a big protrusion on the surface. It's quite funny! I have been able to do little tiny foot massages when they poke out :)

My thighs have been hurting a bit, which turns out to be all my hormones getting ready for birth by starting to relax and dissolve away various ligaments and bits of cartilage (presumably so I can stretch enough to fit a whole person out of me! yikes!). If I've been sitting down for a while and then stand up quickly, it's a bit sore since the usual power isn't there.

I thought I'd managed to escape stretch marks, but yesterday I did a thorough check of my tummy - I had to use a mirror to see the underside of my big overhang, even! And I discovered a few minor ones at the base of my tummy which must normally covered by underwear when I rub in my stretchmark oil...oopsy! Oh well, I don't have any on visible parts of my tummy, so that's the main thing.

Last week I had to do a series of icky tests. I did a glucose test where I had to drink a 300ml bottle of carbonated sugar syrup in a few minutes - then they wait exactly an hour before suctioning off a whole lot of my precious blood. I can barely drink 300ml of anything in a short space of time, and supersweet carbonations are no easy task. And you're not allowed to eat anything, so I was sitting in the waiting room almost passing out from extreme sugaryness. Afterwards I compared the sugar content to Coke, and what I drank is about double the sugar content of a can of coke. It equated to about 18.5 spoonfuls of sugar (roughly). Anyway, the whole point of it was to check how I metabolise sugar so they can determine if I have developed gestational diabetes. Luckily all was perfect. But I'm not sure about the effects of extreme sugar exposure to the baby - I think it's a conspiracy from places like CocaCola who might realise that at 28 weeks the neurological development is such that extreme sugar exposure will prime the child for future taste preferences....... hehe, well who knows :)

We were meant to start our antenatal classes last week, but they got changed to next month since for some reason there is a giant overflow of pregnant people at the moment and it all booked out (we were on the waiting list, and got in due to a cancellation, then got kicked out after the overbooking error, doh). Oh well. Instead I have been entering competitions to win baby things and so far I have won a really cool Kapoochi baby bag (for carrying all the supplies you need on outings) - it is very nice and I have started to use it as my regular bag at the moment. I also won some toys and some Huggies stuff and some angora baby blankets. Not a bad haul considering we are yet to buy anything!

The Parent and Child Expo is coming up next month and we are saving all our purchases for that in the hope that all the exhibitors will be offering massive expo only specials and free things and discounts if we buy from there. Fingers crossed. We might need to take a trailer with us to bring it all back!

We nearly had a crisis last week when Britney Spears nearly used the name we are currently liking for her baby. Luckily she changed her mind, otherwise everyone would have thought we copied her! We are working through a list of names to try them out and see what we like, and will keep the name under wraps until the birth.

Yikes, the birth! It's so scary.

Oh well, I think that's it for now.

Our baby's development update 26-29 weeks

26 weeks
Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

27 weeks
Your baby is really starting to fill up your uterus. This week he weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

28 weeks
By this week, your baby weighs a little over 2 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can open her eyes — which now sport lashes — and she'll turn her head toward a continuous, bright light from the outside. Her fat layers are beginning to form, too, as she gets ready for life outside the womb.

29 weeks
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to accommodate his brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. To keep yourself and him well nourished, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium. (About 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in your baby's skeleton — which is now hardening — every day.)

Our big news!

Well our big news this week is that we are moving to a new house! We thought we might need a bigger house with our baby on the way, but were not really that serious about hunting for one. I hope you like the pictures. It's really close to my mall too - in a side street opposite the mall entrance, so really handy. We will probably move at the end of October.

This is our new house! Please enjoy the tour :) All the furniture shown is not ours - it is rented furniture from some expensive place to con people like us into thinking what a lovely place and to forget about how unmatching things we own are. 

This is our bedroom upstairs - we have a lovely little deck that opens out from our room and overlooks the city. Also, a giant walk-in wardrobe to attempt to contain my mess, and a beautiful ensuite. 

We have 3 fancy bathrooms like this. One downstairs (this one), and one upstairs plus our ensuite, which is almost as big as the others. 

A pretty kitchen with a GIANT sized oven - perfect for baking multiple cakes at a time even! And the tiled floor is HEATED! 

A fancy lounge with the famous indoor/outdoor flow to the patio. The lounge comes 'flatscreen ready' the agent tells us, with the ideal place to install your giant flatscreen tv on the wall. So now Dan is off to buy one... 

A pretty little outdoor area for our baby and friends to play! We have token grass as you can see.