Well, it's the Easter holidays (and as I write this I'm dreading going back to school tomorrow) and Scott and I have been to Brussels for the Easter weekend. It was lovely, and we spent far too much, ate more pasta than we did even in Italy, and had a few quiet beers sat in the sunshine. I only had a half each day, and had the only non-alcoholic beer sold in most establishments - a Tourtel. Nice!
In addition to all of that, I had a midwife check up, and got to hear the baby's heartbeat - a really amazing experience. I had my mum with me as Scott was in Palma for work, and I think she enjoyed being back in Hythe Hospital :D The baby gave a few good kicks or stretches while we were listening, which came out as loud bangs on the listening device. Sooooo cool!
I've had to start wearing maternity clothes, as Chimmy is growing rather rapidly at the moment. It's really nice though - I actually look pregnant, rather than just fat for a change.
I went to Aquanatal swimming on the Monday before Easter, and that was a really surreal experience - the water makes everything weightless, and I was able to have a bit of a swim too. I'll be going every Monday to Romsey Rapids, so I should be so fit by September!
I've discovered a few other school friends who are also pregnant - one of whom is meeting up with me for a bit of shopping in May, so it'll be great to meet someone else due in the autumn. We're both big girls too, so I won't feel like a complete frump.
A couple of key purchases this week - a travel system and high chair (not combined, that would be silly!). The travel system is by Graco and is a 3-wheeler. The high chair on the other hand is about as non-modern as I could find - it's a proper vintage 1950s style bucket seat in red vinyl and cream painted tubework. It's amazing what you can find on Ebay! It'll go perfectly with our 1950s diner-style kitchen.
Enough rambling - I've got 3 more days of maths planning to do, so I'll sign off now and look forward to hearing from you all.
Jeanie, Scott and Chimmy.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Week 16 - telling my class
This week has been a bit weird - work has been ridiculously busy and stressful, with data tracking and getting ahead with planning. But on Wednesday I decided to tell my class my news...
They were awesome about it, and asked some good questions, about whether I want a boy or a girl, what food I can eat ("Can you have sugar?") and what the baby's room is going to look like. They swore an oath of secrecy, only telling parents, so even by Friday only a handful of the rest of the school knew. After Easter it will be impossible to hide, as my other excitement for this week is - I have a definite bump! I have even worn maternity clothes and bump covers (basically a band of fabric to make your tops meet your trousers).
I was told that once I relaxed my bump would start growing quicker, and this is meant to be a time for rapid growth anyways, so mum was definitely right! I bought a couple of extremely cute baby tops yesterday with rock and guitar imagery, but I think they're suitably unisex to get away with.
I have an appointment with my midwife Monday, and then I start Aquanatal classes at Romsey Rapids Monday evening - I'll be fitter than before at this rate! What with yoga in the summer too, you won't recognise me!
I caught up with my lovely colleagues at Romsey Primary on Friday, and showed my scan photo... "You haven't seen it? Wow!" Now I think everyone and their dog has seen the scan.
We're off to Brussels, Belgium on Friday for Easter weekend, so I'll be even more Easter-egg shaped by the time we come back after eating loads of Belgian chocolates, and Scott will probably have a beer belly to match.
Loads of love to you all,
Jeanie, Scottie and Chimmy.
They were awesome about it, and asked some good questions, about whether I want a boy or a girl, what food I can eat ("Can you have sugar?") and what the baby's room is going to look like. They swore an oath of secrecy, only telling parents, so even by Friday only a handful of the rest of the school knew. After Easter it will be impossible to hide, as my other excitement for this week is - I have a definite bump! I have even worn maternity clothes and bump covers (basically a band of fabric to make your tops meet your trousers).
I was told that once I relaxed my bump would start growing quicker, and this is meant to be a time for rapid growth anyways, so mum was definitely right! I bought a couple of extremely cute baby tops yesterday with rock and guitar imagery, but I think they're suitably unisex to get away with.
I have an appointment with my midwife Monday, and then I start Aquanatal classes at Romsey Rapids Monday evening - I'll be fitter than before at this rate! What with yoga in the summer too, you won't recognise me!
I caught up with my lovely colleagues at Romsey Primary on Friday, and showed my scan photo... "You haven't seen it? Wow!" Now I think everyone and their dog has seen the scan.
We're off to Brussels, Belgium on Friday for Easter weekend, so I'll be even more Easter-egg shaped by the time we come back after eating loads of Belgian chocolates, and Scott will probably have a beer belly to match.
Loads of love to you all,
Jeanie, Scottie and Chimmy.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Week 15: movement and emotional wreckage
This week has been one of the most hectic since doing the Christmas production in terms of school - I am up to my neck in work and not feeling terribly inclined to do any of it! Hence emotional wreckage - I resent having to work such long hours with so little free time. I can't keep on top of everything at home, and Scott has tons of photography work to do so he can't do as much as he might like. Still, come July I should get the nesting instinct and everything will be clean and spick and span.
Hot baby bump news - I can now feel Chimmy moving. On Wednesday there was a definite bubbling feeling, and today there were two definite thumps that felt like a strong heartbeat. I'm assuming that was the baby, not wind!!
I ordered a few bits of maternity wear at the weekend and they have now arrived, so I can start showing my bump off with pride - Newlook for some baby bump covers and a t-shirt, plus a gorgeous wrap-around cotton cardigan from JoJo Maman Bebe. Plus, because I bought them through the Kidstart website, a percentage of the purchase price has been put aside for our baby's Child Savings Account. Check it out if you get a chance - most online versions of high street shops put a percentage of any online purchase into a kidstart for a child of your choice (or it can be split between several children). As our baby hasn't been born yet, they will hold the money for us until the birth and will then transfer it across when we open an account. All sounds pretty good. I love free stuff!
It sounds like lots of people are reading the blog now, which I'm really pleased about. Thanks all, and we'll see you all soon no doubt :D
Much love,
Jeanie, Scott and Chimmy.
Hot baby bump news - I can now feel Chimmy moving. On Wednesday there was a definite bubbling feeling, and today there were two definite thumps that felt like a strong heartbeat. I'm assuming that was the baby, not wind!!
I ordered a few bits of maternity wear at the weekend and they have now arrived, so I can start showing my bump off with pride - Newlook for some baby bump covers and a t-shirt, plus a gorgeous wrap-around cotton cardigan from JoJo Maman Bebe. Plus, because I bought them through the Kidstart website, a percentage of the purchase price has been put aside for our baby's Child Savings Account. Check it out if you get a chance - most online versions of high street shops put a percentage of any online purchase into a kidstart for a child of your choice (or it can be split between several children). As our baby hasn't been born yet, they will hold the money for us until the birth and will then transfer it across when we open an account. All sounds pretty good. I love free stuff!
It sounds like lots of people are reading the blog now, which I'm really pleased about. Thanks all, and we'll see you all soon no doubt :D
Much love,
Jeanie, Scott and Chimmy.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Week 14 - test results
Ok, I'm a bad person for not blogging last week, but we were having a massive clear-out. We've emptied (sort of) our small spare room to be the nursery, so I was Freecycling our old furniture and other shizzle.
Big news this week - I'm finally out of the first trimester! I got the results of the 12 week nuchal fold scan and various bloodtests - it turns out I'm low risk for having a Down's Syndrome baby - a chance of 1 in 17,000 - not bad. I've been showing anyone who stands near me the scan picture, still trying to convince myself it's true. I'm still lighter than I've been in 5 years, so I'm finding it hard to believe there is a new life forming inside me. Chimmy (that's what I'm calling him/her at the moment) is starting to make his/her presence known, though - there is a definite bump starting to appear, though only Scott and I really notice it.
I went to my first NCT nearly new sale today, and really enjoyed it - they have loads of furniture, toys, baby clothes, maternity wear and other random bits like baby baths and cot toys, all being sold by the NCT for mums. I picked up a brand new maternity top from Mothercare for £3 and 3 vests for a fiver, plus some cute new baby grows and vest tops for the baby. Oh, and I got a "Sign with your baby" book, and have learnt about 10 signs already. Woop woop!
Work is getting really hard already, as I'm generally too tired to do much in the evening still, and we've had parent consultations this week. Next week there's a big concert for all my musical kiddies at Central Hall, Southampton, and I'm up to my eyeballs organising tickets and transport for that. I've still not told the children about the baby, as there's really nothing for them to see yet. I'm hoping to last till after Easter before I tell them.
Scott and I have booked a long weekend in Brussels, Belgium - home of beer... what's the old saying, "water, water, everywhere, but ne'er a drop to drink!" - just how I'm feeling. I could murder a pint of Hoegaarden!
Anyhoo, love to all, and please let me know how you're all doing - I love to get emails back :D
Jeanie, Scottie and Chimmy!
Big news this week - I'm finally out of the first trimester! I got the results of the 12 week nuchal fold scan and various bloodtests - it turns out I'm low risk for having a Down's Syndrome baby - a chance of 1 in 17,000 - not bad. I've been showing anyone who stands near me the scan picture, still trying to convince myself it's true. I'm still lighter than I've been in 5 years, so I'm finding it hard to believe there is a new life forming inside me. Chimmy (that's what I'm calling him/her at the moment) is starting to make his/her presence known, though - there is a definite bump starting to appear, though only Scott and I really notice it.
I went to my first NCT nearly new sale today, and really enjoyed it - they have loads of furniture, toys, baby clothes, maternity wear and other random bits like baby baths and cot toys, all being sold by the NCT for mums. I picked up a brand new maternity top from Mothercare for £3 and 3 vests for a fiver, plus some cute new baby grows and vest tops for the baby. Oh, and I got a "Sign with your baby" book, and have learnt about 10 signs already. Woop woop!
Work is getting really hard already, as I'm generally too tired to do much in the evening still, and we've had parent consultations this week. Next week there's a big concert for all my musical kiddies at Central Hall, Southampton, and I'm up to my eyeballs organising tickets and transport for that. I've still not told the children about the baby, as there's really nothing for them to see yet. I'm hoping to last till after Easter before I tell them.
Scott and I have booked a long weekend in Brussels, Belgium - home of beer... what's the old saying, "water, water, everywhere, but ne'er a drop to drink!" - just how I'm feeling. I could murder a pint of Hoegaarden!
Anyhoo, love to all, and please let me know how you're all doing - I love to get emails back :D
Jeanie, Scottie and Chimmy!
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Week 12
This week I had my first scan! My midwife had put my dates down wrong on my paperwork, so an appointment came through for April, by which time I would be 18 weeks pregnant, so I phoned the Ultrasound department and got an appointment for the following morning at 8am!
Scott and I arrived at the Princess Anne Hospital nice and early (me with a full bladder as per the rules - it pushes the uterus up so you get a clearer scan - and found the department easily. The sonographer showed us straight in and immediately put hot conducting gel on my tummy, and there it was - our baby, for real, with two legs, two arms and a head - yes, a head! I have to admit to shedding a tear or two - it's truly amazing to see that little life so perfectly formed already. The baby was asleep, so the sonographer 'woke' it up with a gentle prod. Seeing the tiny arms and legs bobbling about was awesome. I don't think I really believed I was pregnant until that moment. Scott held my hand throughout, transfixed by the images onscreen.
Chimmy Chalmers (no proper name yet) measured 58mm from top of head to bottom, and had a 5cm waistline and 7cm head diameter - what a bighead! The heartrate was about double mine, at 164 bpm. I've got five little photos of the little baby. Chimmy seems to have his/her hands up by the face, which is cool, because I reckon Chimmy's a little rocker throwing some devil horn shapes. Oh, and apparently at this stage the baby has sensation in the palms of its hands, so it can feel its face now. My new projected due date is 16th September, just a week after my birthday (and 8 days after Scott's). Apparently out of 6000 births in Southampton last year, only 30 were on the due date, though, so we could be looking at any time in September really. 09/09/09 has a nice ring to it!
I've been feeling really good this week, and have been on jury service (although it's all a sham really - I've not sat on a single trial yet - here's hoping something comes up next week!). I did have a bit of an emo day yesterday, with the whole "I want to go out, I don't want to go out, Why are you making me go out? Shall we go out?" thing going on. Scott must have the patience of a saint!
Shopping-wise, I bought my first baby related item - a Baba Sling. It was reduced in TKMaxx, so I figured, why not? I also bought a black and white spotty maternity dress (again reduced) from Mothercare. Oh, and I bought teething rails for a cot, as our friends have offered us their son's old cot. I love hand-me-downs and bargains!
I think that'll do for this week. Next week should be fairly quiet, so we'll see what happens...
Scott and I arrived at the Princess Anne Hospital nice and early (me with a full bladder as per the rules - it pushes the uterus up so you get a clearer scan - and found the department easily. The sonographer showed us straight in and immediately put hot conducting gel on my tummy, and there it was - our baby, for real, with two legs, two arms and a head - yes, a head! I have to admit to shedding a tear or two - it's truly amazing to see that little life so perfectly formed already. The baby was asleep, so the sonographer 'woke' it up with a gentle prod. Seeing the tiny arms and legs bobbling about was awesome. I don't think I really believed I was pregnant until that moment. Scott held my hand throughout, transfixed by the images onscreen.
Chimmy Chalmers (no proper name yet) measured 58mm from top of head to bottom, and had a 5cm waistline and 7cm head diameter - what a bighead! The heartrate was about double mine, at 164 bpm. I've got five little photos of the little baby. Chimmy seems to have his/her hands up by the face, which is cool, because I reckon Chimmy's a little rocker throwing some devil horn shapes. Oh, and apparently at this stage the baby has sensation in the palms of its hands, so it can feel its face now. My new projected due date is 16th September, just a week after my birthday (and 8 days after Scott's). Apparently out of 6000 births in Southampton last year, only 30 were on the due date, though, so we could be looking at any time in September really. 09/09/09 has a nice ring to it!
I've been feeling really good this week, and have been on jury service (although it's all a sham really - I've not sat on a single trial yet - here's hoping something comes up next week!). I did have a bit of an emo day yesterday, with the whole "I want to go out, I don't want to go out, Why are you making me go out? Shall we go out?" thing going on. Scott must have the patience of a saint!
Shopping-wise, I bought my first baby related item - a Baba Sling. It was reduced in TKMaxx, so I figured, why not? I also bought a black and white spotty maternity dress (again reduced) from Mothercare. Oh, and I bought teething rails for a cot, as our friends have offered us their son's old cot. I love hand-me-downs and bargains!
I think that'll do for this week. Next week should be fairly quiet, so we'll see what happens...
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Week 11 - not drinking with mates
Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since the last blog - we were reviewing the Hellfire Festival at the Islington Academy last weekend. It was awesome - I had a press pass and got photos with lots of rock stars. It was also officially the last outing of my corset for a fair old while. The midwife told me a corset would be fine as long as I was comfortable!
Anyhoo, we had our booking meeting with the midwife a week and a half ago, and apparently I have really good veins! I really like the midwife - she's a good laugh, and is very straight talking. All bodes well I think.
I had my first experience of a child knowing I'm pregnant too - I babysat our friends' young daughter one evening, and she spent much of the evening poring over baby mags with me saying how cute everything is. She said she'd seen a pregnant lady before in a shop. Children really do remember the weirdest things!
As well as rocking at the Hellfire Fest at the weekend, we had the trauma of South West Trains "engineering works" at Southampton, which meant we had to use a bus to get to Southampton Parkway. The bus smelt like a teenage boy's changing room. Yuk! There were "planned closures" on the underground too, so everything seemed to take forever! We became McDonalds junkies for the weekend, as there was nothing else open nearby that I fancied.
Which brings me to my key issue over the past few weeks - food. I have always prided myself on having a pretty healthy appetite, and I've never been a fussy eater. Suddenly, though, I'm finding that I don't want bread or certain types of potato. I walk into the dinner hall at school and feel the need to leave, and quickly. I'm not sick, it's just the smell is so much worse now that my senses are on overdrive. So, in place of school dinners, I'm eating pot noodles which seem to stave off the hunger pangs just nicely. Oh, and I'm loving grapes, natural yoghurt with honey and, of course, chocolate.
We had our first evening out with friends on Friday, which ended rather disastrously. We were sat with some of our best friends in the world, who we can share pretty much anything with, and I was enjoying the congratulations and attention (though I would gladly have swapped my tonic water for a pint of IPA smooth!) when suddenly, I really needed to leave, and was getting impatient watching the last of Scott's Guinness sitting in its glass going nowhere. So I subtly went to pay, put my coat on, then, er, left. Poor Scott was left with comments like, "You're in the doghouse now!" and "You can always stay at mine." The trouble was, I was having an emo moment and had to leave before I seriously made a scene - a serious amount of blubbing and stamping of feet was on the cards. All's well now though - my hormones are meant to settle in the next 3 weeks. Hallelujah!
Right, well I'm going to tile the bathroom (wetroom) floor now, having put over 700 tiles on the walls during half term! Hope you're all well - Over and out for now!
Jeanie.
Anyhoo, we had our booking meeting with the midwife a week and a half ago, and apparently I have really good veins! I really like the midwife - she's a good laugh, and is very straight talking. All bodes well I think.
I had my first experience of a child knowing I'm pregnant too - I babysat our friends' young daughter one evening, and she spent much of the evening poring over baby mags with me saying how cute everything is. She said she'd seen a pregnant lady before in a shop. Children really do remember the weirdest things!
As well as rocking at the Hellfire Fest at the weekend, we had the trauma of South West Trains "engineering works" at Southampton, which meant we had to use a bus to get to Southampton Parkway. The bus smelt like a teenage boy's changing room. Yuk! There were "planned closures" on the underground too, so everything seemed to take forever! We became McDonalds junkies for the weekend, as there was nothing else open nearby that I fancied.
Which brings me to my key issue over the past few weeks - food. I have always prided myself on having a pretty healthy appetite, and I've never been a fussy eater. Suddenly, though, I'm finding that I don't want bread or certain types of potato. I walk into the dinner hall at school and feel the need to leave, and quickly. I'm not sick, it's just the smell is so much worse now that my senses are on overdrive. So, in place of school dinners, I'm eating pot noodles which seem to stave off the hunger pangs just nicely. Oh, and I'm loving grapes, natural yoghurt with honey and, of course, chocolate.
We had our first evening out with friends on Friday, which ended rather disastrously. We were sat with some of our best friends in the world, who we can share pretty much anything with, and I was enjoying the congratulations and attention (though I would gladly have swapped my tonic water for a pint of IPA smooth!) when suddenly, I really needed to leave, and was getting impatient watching the last of Scott's Guinness sitting in its glass going nowhere. So I subtly went to pay, put my coat on, then, er, left. Poor Scott was left with comments like, "You're in the doghouse now!" and "You can always stay at mine." The trouble was, I was having an emo moment and had to leave before I seriously made a scene - a serious amount of blubbing and stamping of feet was on the cards. All's well now though - my hormones are meant to settle in the next 3 weeks. Hallelujah!
Right, well I'm going to tile the bathroom (wetroom) floor now, having put over 700 tiles on the walls during half term! Hope you're all well - Over and out for now!
Jeanie.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Week 9
A strange week - I don't actually feel as if I'm pregnant this week - body seems to be acting as normal, except I cannot get warm. It doesn't help that our boiler has died this week though. Mum says my great gran, Nanny Kimmer, used to say, "That baby's taking all the heat from you!" Let's just hope he or she continues to take the heat in the summer, because otherwise I'm going to be walking around with an industrial wind turbine to keep cool!
I've got my meeting with the midwife this week - Wednesday afternoon, and Scott's off work for half term with me, so he'll be coming too. I think they do blood tests and stuff, no scans. That'll be in a few weeks after the booking meeting.
I'm still nausea-free and not really doing cravings, although I've gone off the Uncle Ben's microwave risotto I'd bought for school :( I'm also drinking lots of milk, which is apparently a good thing.
Scott and I went to Ikea yesterday to buy bathroom stuff (our half-term project) and had a quick look in the baby department. Far too scary to think about any of that stuff yet, but quite nice to think that one day we'll be in there buying bits and bobs from there. We were given a big bag of baby clothes from a lady on Freecycle too this week, with very cute teddy bear snow suits and little vests and stuff. Mango and Marmite are very intrigued...
Please do leave comments and messages - it makes life a bit more interesting for me, and I love a distraction.
Take care all,
Jeanie.
I've got my meeting with the midwife this week - Wednesday afternoon, and Scott's off work for half term with me, so he'll be coming too. I think they do blood tests and stuff, no scans. That'll be in a few weeks after the booking meeting.
I'm still nausea-free and not really doing cravings, although I've gone off the Uncle Ben's microwave risotto I'd bought for school :( I'm also drinking lots of milk, which is apparently a good thing.
Scott and I went to Ikea yesterday to buy bathroom stuff (our half-term project) and had a quick look in the baby department. Far too scary to think about any of that stuff yet, but quite nice to think that one day we'll be in there buying bits and bobs from there. We were given a big bag of baby clothes from a lady on Freecycle too this week, with very cute teddy bear snow suits and little vests and stuff. Mango and Marmite are very intrigued...
Please do leave comments and messages - it makes life a bit more interesting for me, and I love a distraction.
Take care all,
Jeanie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)