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. 

Here is my big tummy!!! 

It's 6 months today!

I'm 6 months pregnant today, so to celebrate, Dan and my big tummy and I went shopping to look at all the baby stuff we need to buy. YIKES! We need so much stuff! It's hard to tell if its all necessary or just the baby shops 'saying' we need it...

So we looked at millions of prams and this is the one we want: http://www.britax.com.au/scProductDetail.do?productId=40490 You can even see all the different states it can be in with all its 10,000 features and gadgets. Now that I've researched it a bit more online, I really really want to buy it, but I might just wait a while I guess. Maybe a sale will start soon or something.

We looked at some pretty rimu cots, but they are so expensive - surely one of those less chain-store type wooden shops would have something better and cheaper.

We also found other essentials like a crazy array of carseats, so we might have to think on that later, and a cool thing that you strap onto your front and it holds the baby so you don't have to. We want one of those.

And as for accessories - I got a list of all the 'essentials' and it's really really long!! Blankets, sheets, towels, cloths, assorted clothes etc... There are some really cute things available to buy and some really dumb things too. I want to be picky and say "No dumb old fashioned cute stuff, only actual modern cute stuff, and nothing with patterns! I like plain solid colours with a cute feature applique or something." I guess it doesn't matter anyway because we will not be having a baby shower (no friends in Auckland) so I will just go out and buy all the cool stuff that I want :)

We start our antenatal classes in about 2 weeks so I guess we will find out more about what we need to buy.

My pregnancy update

Well, everything is going really really great :) Mostly I forget that I am pregnant until someone says "Oh look at your enormous tummy!" or "How much longer have you got to go?" (and I reply 3 months, and they take another look and go "Ohhhh...." since comparitively I am bigger than other people at my stage, but only since I'm not overweight and taller and all that).

I've got heaps of nice maternity and larger sized non-maternity clothes now so I've been having fun being a glamorous pregnant lady. I have had so many comments from people about how good I've been looking and how 'nice it is to see a pregnant woman dressing so glamorously'. I decided I was not going to be in the trackies and large tshirt group.

Had my monthly meeting with my midwife this morning. She is very pleased with my progress and even said I make being pregnant look like a breeze. I guess I've been lucky, but I put it all down to sensible eating and lots of nutrients. Haven't had any adverse symptoms to being pregnant yet apart from the odd leg cramp. Our baby is super-active and I was kind of worried that might be bad, but she said that the more active the baby is, the better - it is a sign that it is getting enough quality nutrients and that the placenta is working optimally. I'm glad I did all my nutrient-placenta research last year because so far it seems to really be paying off! She also said that they get worried if there are less than 10 kicks in a 12 hour period...but I would have about 10 kicks in 5 or less minutes when the baby is in an awake cycle! It kind of goes through periods of asleep and awake every few hours - I suppose similar to how it will be when it's born.

I have to have some blood tests in a couple of weeks :( I don't like them, but I'll be interested to see the nutrient levels :)

That's it really for now. I'm going to have lunch then go to my pedicure appointment!

Here is me at 24 weeks getting ready to go out to a formal dinner. I really should have got a proper side on view for the full effect of how far my tummy sticks out! But you can kind of see that my hands are underneath my tummy, and you can see that my skirt is really skinny (my legs are still normal) in comparison to my tummy. 

Our baby's development 23-25 weeks

Yes I know I'm slack at updating my blog. My pregnancy is just going so well that nothing dramatic is happening!

But here are the updates for the development of our baby over the last few weeks:

23 weeks
Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. His skin is red and wrinkled. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing. He can swallow, but he normally won't pass his first stool (called meconium) until after birth. Loud noises heard often in utero — such as your dog barking or the roar of a vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze your baby when he hears them outside the womb.

24 weeks
Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when she was just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, that makes a pretty lean figure, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon put on more baby fat. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, her brain is growing rapidly, and her taste buds are developing. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

25 weeks
Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born.

Ok, well black is slimming, isn't it!! So of course you can't see much of my tummy here. I think this is my tummy at 20 weeks. You can see I have adopted a fashion tip I picked up in CosmoPregnancy - I can wear regular trousers (but not done up) as long as I use a stylish pashmina tied around the waist to cover the open trousers, and also to fill any tummy gap that pokes out from under my tshirt! I'll get another photo taken when I am not wearing black. Now at 22 weeks, my tummy looks like it is taking over my body! 

My tummy at about 18 weeks. You can't really see much, but it is round and my once extreme-innie is starting to reach the surface. 

Here is our fur-baby :) Hope she doesn't get jealous when we have our other baby... 

Our baby's development 20-22 weeks

20 weeks
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)

A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.) Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).

21 weeks
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. And you can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to your schedule, though, so don't be surprised if he starts working out just when you're settling down for the night.

Yes, I can certainly feel the baby moving! Pretty much anytime I eat, lie down, relax or sit - I get some punching from the inside! It is very exciting though, and now if I lie down with my tummy exposed, I can see my tummy shaking where I am being kicked.

22 weeks
Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound. Her skin will continue to appear wrinkled until she gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her head and body is now visible. Her lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath her gum line. Her eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and her pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily.

I'm enjoying being pregnant, but I also can't wait until we can meet our baby. I guess 4 months isn't too long to wait... My tummy is pretty big now so hardly any clothes fit. I went on a giant shopping spree today to buy new clothes so I actually have something to wear! And tonight I start aquarobics for pregnant people. I hope it's fun. I even bought a swimsuit especially (I doubt I would be able to squeeze into my old ones).

=

Yay we're half way!

I'm 20 weeks pregnant now - that is theoretically half way. My tummy is definitely pregnant looking now - the other day I wore a top to work that was designed to be sort of tight under my (now enormous) boobs, and then flares out over my tummy and it must have accentuated my pregnant state since about every second customer asked me when my baby was due! It was really fun :)

Still feeling fantastic, my skin is really great (the best its ever been I think), and of course I am enjoying having a larger bust for a change!!! I have even had several random guys give me the old wink and smile come-on thing which no-one has done to me in YEARS, so it's all very interesting.

I hope you like some of the pictures I have chosen from our scan to put up here. I have about 40 images, so one day if you come to visit I can show you.