Eat her hat

So my GP said she'd eat her hat if I had to have a c-section (because of my placenta)! YIPPEE, hello to the week turning around. Apparently it's only reaching and she said more than likely it will move up a little bit more later on. I feel really relieved and hopefully I can twist the midwives' arms to stay where I am. I really want to try for a natural birth and thoroughly recommend that people DON'T read about having c-sections etc... cos it's pretty damn scary. Then again any births are scary and people I've spoken with who have had a C were completely fine with it. 


Unfortunately just got told to keep my fluids up in regards to being dizzy. I guess that's a good thing though because it wasn't something that concerned her. We got to hear Pecan's little heart pumping away, oh how I love that sound.


Also we've (98%) decided on a boys name for Pecan. My mind was changed after a movie cameo grr I hate being secretive but it does mean that our pets and our child will all have the same first two letters of their name. So there you go you can probably figure it out from that :p If Pecan is a he he'll have the same initials as my FiL which is sweet but either way his middle name will be Peter to honour both dads.

On a random side note did any West Aussies go the public route and if so did you get free ultrasounds/ultrasounds that don't cost $200!!!??? Because I might need two more with my placenta and that's a lot of moolah I could spend on other things.

Bonding with Bubs - Week 21

Size: 26.7cm, my little banana

What's Pecan Up To: other than kicking me lots...swallowing amniotic fluid and just getting his/her groove on

Symptoms: Dizziness - going to check out with the Doc if this is low iron levels or just because your BP is supposedly low at this point in pregnancy. If it's iron bring on the supplements!

Cravings: Coffee like a crazy person, fruit...

Keep that away from me: Still not a fan of chicken I will eat it but it doesn't really appeal. Meat I'm still half and half about.

Weight: I'll find this out on Monday! I don't feel any bigger other than my boobs & bump.

Feelings: Unsettled over the whole placenta thing but whatever will happen will happen! Sad because I wanted to be in control of my birth (at least at this point, when it gets down to 'the baby's coming' then I forfeit that).

Random: Finally decided that I would have to sacrifice one of my best friends and have the Baby Shower in October. I think if I did it before that and my MiL missed out I'd be dead. But still really bummed, it's like the whole bridesmaid situation at my wedding all over again :( I think I might to some sort of Baby Naming ceremony after Christmas/New Year and ask her and the other uni girls to be the equivalent of god parents to our little Pecan.

PS: Thank you girls so so much for all your kind words, first with my damn placenta and then with our beautiful dog. It's been a tough week hopefully Week 21 is kinder to me.

Before there was Twilight

...there was OUR Bella.

Our gorgeous family dog is going to be put to sleep Friday night and I'm extremely upset. It's sad because I don't believe she's quite ready to be put down but I'm not the one who has to clean up after she's been incontinent all night and who has to watch her struggle every time she wants to lie down or stand up. It's so hard to come to terms with and all I keep thinking about is the end of Marley & Me and how my Mum, little sister and I were all bawling our eyes out. I won't be going with Mum when she gets put down, I know I should to provide support to Mum but I just can't handle it and sometimes I think I'm allowed to give in to being a little kid and just hiding while the horrible things happen.

It's so hard to know I won't get to pat her anymore or give her huge cuddles, even now I've got tears in my eyes.

She will be the second dog I've ever had to put down in my life and it's horrible but I wouldn't give up dog ownership for it. It just really really sucks that our pets can't live as long as us :(

Baby Scan

We got to see our gorgeous Pecan! We requested not to find out and I'm still trying to decide if the tech's use of 'him' was an actual slip or just because she wanted to use a pronoun. I still think it's a little boy in there so that just cemented it ha-ha

Unfortunately we found out that my placenta is still low-lying, they reckon it is 'reaching' over my cervix and not completely covering but that it could be covering and therefore I'd need a c-section...I was half expecting this because it had been low lying at my first scan but my midwife said not to worry because everything moves upwards. I'm not down about possibly not being able to have a natural birth as I only want what's best for bubs but it does mean that the birthing centre might now turn up their nose at me :( If that's the case I'm now contemplating going with the hospital that's just 5 minutes from our house especially if I need to stay in the hospital for longer with a c-section. It's a real pain but we'll be going back for another scan at 32 weeks so fingers crossed. I'll just discuss it with my doctor next week and then the midwife in early August and hopefully we can come up with a game plan. My biggest concern (other than everything going well) is just wanting to know where I will be giving birth, I'm such a planner that that is really important to me and if the birthing centre turns me away at a late stage I'll be feeling pretty AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

Mum's 85 year old grandchild

Our little DJ, Pecan kept his/her hands near his/her head the whole time.

Cute little button nose!

I know it's all going to be ok and I just have to wait and see but it's so hard damn waiting ha-ha and I'm only halfway through the pregnancy!

PS: Congratulations to Mrs Wolff on her gorgeous new bundle of joy!

Baby Moon - Melbourne

So we finally jetted off from Perth after the debacle with Tiger and the ash cloud (we've made a pact now that we are never flying Tiger no matter what the discount and they've further proven this with the safety stuff going on now!). We arrived at Avalon airport and then were in a mad dash to make it to Melbourne so we could do our chocolate degustation. Unfortunately the baggage handlers had other ideas and whilst one family got all their bags the rest of us were left watching 3 random bags spin around and around for 20 minutes until the rest came out. The afternoon didn't get much better due to the cranky as anything bus driver we had drop us off at our hotels (he was annoyed at how many people had booked to arrive at different hotels). People actually got off the bus at the wrong place just to escape him. It was extra hard for me experiencing that seeing as my job involves recruiting people for the public transport industry!

As always because we were running late I was super stressed about missing the chocolate date I'd booked for Hubby and I, especially because the place had told me they really didn't have any space for us but could squeeze us in. I called to advise we would most likely be late and I got the nicest guy on the phone who told us no problems at all he would see us when we could get there. Immediately I felt so much better and I could finally switch into holiday mode.

We arrived at our hotel on Little Collins Street and it was fantastic. But it was a quick dump our bags and jump on a tram to make it to Shocolate. OMG it was delicious, I was jealous of Hubby's glass of wine but he's very anti me consuming any alcohol so no booze for this Mummy except my one glass of champers when Hubby finishes uni!

Because we'd only just arrived in Melbourne (and headed straight to Shocolate) we got lost looking for our next voucher spot - Urbany Woodfire Pizza Cafe . Or rather I believed that a 30 minute walk wasn't that much, it was cold but I managed to get there (surprising with all my dizzy spells!) and it was nice to see a bit of Melbourne. I'd definitely recommend this little pizza/pasta place. I ate so much and it was extremely yummy, I can't remember exactly what I got but it was scallops and prawns in risotto. I also tried their yummy pesto bruschetta (Hubby ordered a proper bruschetta but I couldn't eat it) and it was delicious. We both loved the meals and if I lived over there we'd definitely be going back.

On our way to the DFO, Hubby loved the bridges.

We spent our only full day in Melbourne going to the South Wharf DFO (oh how I wish Perth had something this awesome, Harbour Town just doesn't cut it) and to St Kilda (for cakes) and Chapel Street. At the DFO we stocked up on some cute things for Bubs and some sports gear for Hubby and I got my favourite bag of the moment from Tony Bianco - small but fits everything in (including a water bottle) absolutely perfect for me. After that we utilised the trams and tried to find the shops I remember on Chapel Street, no luck unfortunately but I'm sure my wallet was happy! We had an early dinner (5pm!!!) at Embassy@97 Restaurant. Because we were trying to use a ScoopOn it was the only time they had available. But it was great a small little restaurant and our waitress was lovely. I finally got my snails which I've been craving for years but unfortunately I ordered the pork and whilst it was really yummy my pregnancy belly decided it wasn't to be. Luckily Hubby was still hungry after his duck l'orange so he happily gobbled it up. Then we shared a crepe and headed across the road to a chocolate shop we'd spied.

Looked better than what it tasted unfortunately and came with the worst coffee I've ever been served!

Can I just say if you are ever in St Kilda on Fitzroy street (directly opposite that restaurant) GO THERE! The macroons were to die for and so were the chocolates. We easily spent over $60 and have no regrets whatsoever. So to all those people who are obsessed with getting Krispy Kremes whenever they go to Melbourne ignore that and head to this chocolate shop, you definitely won't regret it.

After that we left early Sunday morning for Sydney but that will be another blog post...

Bonding with Bubs - Weeks 19 & 20

*I'm combining the two because of the BabyMoon, nothing notably different between them!

 

Size:Week 19 15.2cm; Week 20 16.5cm

What's Pecan Up To:developing millions of motor neurons and getting covered in vernix so he/she doesn't come out looking like a prune.

Symptoms: Very strong movements from Pecan including what must have been a full body roll (that was crazy!). I'm still getting super dizzy and this didn't help my attempts to destroy my bank balance whilst shopping on the BabyMoon.

Cravings: Green apples, vegetarian options of things on the menu. COFFEE!!!

Keep that away from me: Chicken and meat in general which is really annoying because iron would help with the dizziness.

Weight: No clue but with all the eating I'm assuming I'm sitting in the high 70kg.

 

Feelings: Really enjoying feeling Pecan move about in there and so excited to be halfway through (as of tomorrow). Unfortunately sick with a cold though.

Random: You girls were right the Jeans West maternity jeans ROCK!!! I'm surprised mine still last after I wore them to death on the BabyMoon. We've also assembled our Ikea cot (minus 1 missing screw grr and 2 broken plastic bolt thingoes - another trip back is on the cards to get that sorted but the engineer aka Hubby assures me baby will be fine) and the nursery is all painted WOO HOO! And yes, I do realise we're getting in a bit early with the whole nursery thing but I love planning and just can't stop myself.


PS: Once I get over this cold I'll post about the BabyMoon, I'm just so annoyed that our first year wedding anniversary is being spent with me surrounded by tissues and feeling horrible! Oh and I'll also post some Bump pics soon as well. I'm turning into all boobs and bump at this stage ha-ha.

Baby Moon...

was awesome! Photos and posts to follow but now I'm just going to enjoy my first anniversary weekend with the Hubs.