It's a girl!!

We had our 19 week scan today. It was a big one because it was the scan where they told us the gender of our little growing bub. And as you can imagine, based on the title of this post, we're having a girl! Brandon and I had thought that was the case (not sure why) and everyone else had said it would be a girl too, so we weren't all that surprised. And while I was secretly hoping for a boy, I am certain that a girl will be loved and welcomed just as much as a boy.

Miss H didn't want to sit still very long so the photos didn't come out all that well. But it was very comforting to see her little heart beat. I'm not feeling any kicks or anything yet so I just have to trust mother nature and assume that everything is going the way it is supposed to. Today's scan was a good opportunity to put my mind at ease :-)

The sonographer warned us that I may need another scan at 32 weeks because apparently I have a low-lying placenta (only 1cm away from cervix). That can obviously change a lot as my uterus grows over the coming weeks, but she said if for any reason it is still in the same position closer to my due date, the obstetrician won't allow a natural delivery and will say I have to have a c-section. I'm not at all upset by that - so long as bub is healthy, I'm happy!!

Taking bets...

In two weeks time I'm having my morphology scan to determine that the foetus is healthy and all is progressing normally. Part of this scan can also be to tell you the gender of the baby, providing he/she is cooperating and sitting in the right position.

So I'm taking bets as to what 'vibes' people are having about gender... K's son says it's a boy; my work colleague NL says it's a boy; but then today someone who apparently has 'never been wrong' with her vibes about the sex of babies has said it will be a girl. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, it will be a girl.

What do you think it will be??

Maternity leave

I rang our HR department today to find out the details of the University's maternity leave program. I'm very lucky to be working for an employer who provides up to 6 months of paid maternity leave (I can take up to 12 months leave in total but no more than 26 weeks can be paid at full-time salary). With a bit of fussing around, I think we'll manage to have one or the other of us at home from April to December next year. That will be nice :-)

I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to not have the capacity to take paid leave. I really feel for those people wanting to start a family but who don't have the same leave entitlements that we get. It must be really hard. But it's also weird for me to even be thinking about this!! I can't actually believe I'm having this conversation with HR because it is not a conversation I really thought I'd ever have. But I guess that proves you never know what's around the corner.

Imagine my surprise when my obstretrician's receptionist asked me the other day if I had pre-booked at the hospital yet! It turns out you need to complete an online preadmission form NOW for a maternity admission in APRIL. Good grief! We haven't even begun to think that far ahead (other than my cursory enquiries with HR as mentioned above). At the moment we're busy designing a new kitchen and getting quotes for that. So there's no time to think about baby things yet - that will come in January after the new kitchen!

Some results...

Well, on Monday we met with the obstetrician to get the results of our nuchal scan. The ratio you are given is a representation of your age, your blood tests and family medical history, and your nuchal fold measurement. In my case, the ratio was 1:379, which places me in the 'low risk' group. Yay!!! Dr P still offered me an amnio though - he said he offers that to everyone whose fold measured over 2mm but ironically the odds for having a miscarriage after amnio are 1:300 which is worse than my odds for Down's Syndrome! We discussed the pros and cons with Dr P., and that given that the nuchal measurement of 2.38mm was the largest taken on the day (therefore the others would have been lower), and given that we really want to just sit back now and enjoy our pregnancy for a while, Brandon and I decided not to go ahead with the amnio. Dr P said this was fine - he didn't think there would be a problem, but he just wanted to know I had the option if I wanted it.

So I'm relieved!! AND I have started telling people. More and more people will now probably start reading this blog (leave me a message peoples!!) I'm 14 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow so I figure it's probably safe to start telling people. I told my Head of School on Monday and a few other people at work and Brandon has also started telling some work colleagues and fishing buddies. It's starting to feel a little more real now!

Mum has bought the first knitting pattern for the sprout!!! 6 more weeks and we'll know what colour yarn to use...

Nuchal translucency scan

Thirteen weeks today! Today I had an important scan, called a nuchal translucency. This is one of the tests they run to determine if your foetus is likely to have any chromosomal abnormalities. They do a specific measurement of the amount of fluid behind the neck in the 'nuchal fold', with bigger measurements suggesting poorer outcomes. This measurement is also considered with blood tests and you end up given a risk ratio. I won't be getting my risk ratio until I meet with my obstetrician on Monday but my nuchal fold measurement was 2.38mm which is within the normal range. But obviously the blood tests will complete the picture.

As part of the nuchal translucency I had a lengthier scan and walked away with a lot of images on a CD! It was pretty exciting to see the head, legs, arms, feet and hands even in something so small (7cm). I was also fortunate to have Mum and Dad in town at the moment so they came with us and were able to see little Sprout moving around and shaking his or her fists at the sonographer for waking him/her up!

I've attached some photos here - on the black and white one you can clearly make out the shape of a side-on picture of the foetus, with the head on the right of the screen.

This 'orange' photo is looking front on to the foetus in a sort of 3-dimensional image. Quite weird!!! The foetus has his/her hand up next to his/her head.

 I will write another post on Monday once I've heard what is hopefully some good news from the obstetrician.

First obstetrician's appointment

On Tuesday we had our first obstetrician's appointment. The last time I saw my ob I was in the closing stages of a miscarriage and he was about to perform a curette on me, so it was a pleasant change to go in there this time with a little more confidence that things were OK. That's not to say we're being overly optomistic, in fact we're being very realistic about things this time and literally taking things one day at a time. But it was nice to finally talk to him about some of the issues that I had wanted to discuss last time, such as debunking some of the food myths etc (turns out I can eat medium-rare steak!! Yay! And I can drink diet coke!! Yay! And I can have ham or salami if it's cooked, like on a pizza!! Yay! But it's true that alcohol isn't all that great so only on very special occasions).

Dr Price did a scan while we were there - I've included the picture here. It was great to see the little sprout doing well with a nice strong heart beat. The size here is 7 weeks and 5 days and this is actually further along than I got last time, so already this sprout is bigger than the last ever was.

As we were leaving the doctor's office on Tuesday we were sprung by a good friend of ours who had just had a baby and was a patient at the hospital. We forgot all about her being there and it was a bit of a shock to both us and her when we met up rather sheepishly walking out the obstetrician's door! So she and her husband know now, and they are keeping mum about it until we're ready to go public ;-)

I haven't had any morning sickness as such but have had small bouts of feeling 'uncomfortable' and feeling like I would like to just lie down until the feeling passed. Unfortunately I'm usually at work when this comes on, so I can't really have my nanna nap, but the discomort doesn't seem to last very long so it's not that disruptive... yet!

So, 8 weeks pregnant today and still going strong... keep your fingers crossed!

Round two...

It is now 2 months since my last entry and things have been quite up and down since then. I had to have a curette on 22 June to completely clear myself of my miscarriage and immediately started feeling better physically and psychologically afterwards. I was ready to move on. My ob/gyn said I could expect to have a period in 4-6 weeks and then after that we could go back to trying for a baby again.

So my first period actually came 3 weeks later and then I went overseas to Israel for 2 weeks. Then, by the time I got back, I was ovulating. Before this experience, I don't think I ever could have told you when I was or was not ovulating - it never really entered my mind. I never noticed any changes in my body, I never felt any different or felt any cramps etc. But this time, around the last week of July I felt cramps on my lower right side, I felt bloated, my body temperature felt different, and I just knew I was ovulating. It's odd that I don't think I've ever really noticed that before!!

So, it's now 26 August and my period was due two weeks ago and still hasn't come LOL. Last Friday,  when I was a little past a week overdue I did a home pregnancy test and it showed positive! So apparently I'm pregnant again with attempt #2.Wow - that was quick!! I never, ever thought it would happen again so quickly. I mean, it's not like we were actively timing things and saying "right, now's the time". Nothing like that - we were just going along for the ride and seeing what happened. Turns out, we're a fertile couple - who'd have guessed!

So far nothing feels much different to last time, although I do think I'm experiencing more cramping and 'funniness' in my abdomen. K says "this one feels better" and the fact my new due date is on or around Dad's birthday is being taken as a good omen! I'm not telling as many people this time - mainly because I'm trying to keep this very low key and not rushing out and over-reacting as much as last time. Only our parents know and K, no-one else. So I'm probably writing for a small audience at the moment, but that will change in time.

I haven't been to the doctor yet, and I haven't made another appointment with my ob/gyn. Part of my whole "let's just take this one day at a time" mentality. I know what to expect now, at least for the first 8 weeks! For example, I know my GP will get me to pee in a cup and re-do the pregnancy test. Then she's going to order some detailed blood tests to ensure all is OK, the results of which will be given with a referral to my ob/gyn. The my GP will want me to have a dating scan, even though my ob/gyn has all that equipment in his office and can find out exactly what the scan place can find out. Then I sit back and wait for the appointment with my ob/gyn and hope all goes well in the mean time. So because I know all this now, I've decided to wait and not go to my GP until I'm a few more weeks along; I'm going to say no to having a dating scan and tell her I'd rather wait and just let my ob/gyn do the scan in his office when I go see him. I'm already taking my pregnancy vitamins, so really there's not much else my GP can do or say that hasn't already been said or done! Quite a different approach from last time when I raced out and did everything straight away. I guess I've learned the hard way not to let yourself get too carried away.

K's right - this one does feel better ;-)