31 weeks 5 days - cravings, hiccups, nesting

Something I've been thinking about lately is cravings in pregnancy. I have had them - but they've all been NORMAL things, nothing really to give anecdotes on like pickles and ice cream, or whatever. Early on in my pregnancy it was fruit fruit and more fruit. Mainly citrus, but anything would do. Now, the fruit thing has waned a bit, although I can quite happily munch through a whole bag of grapes (We buy two whole bags every time we do a big shop, and I eat most of them).

Now, it seems to be all about the calcium. Bowls of cereal with loads of milk, milkshakes galore, and ice cream. Yesterday I must have got through about 2 pints of milk by myself with my 3 bowls of cereal, and 2-3 glasses of milkshake. Although today I must restrain myself a little, and make sure there will be enough milk for Saturday. As we were shopping last night, J said "do we need more milk?" because he'd only been and got a 6 pint of milk on the Monday on his way home from work with some cereal. Today I finished off that 6 pint carton of milk! So it's a good thing I said "YES we will, I'll go through the one that's in the fridge in no time!".

But it's all good! Because now's the time when the bones really start to harden up, so I need as much calcium as I can get! Oh! And yoghurts, I've been eating those like they're going out of business. The tesco smooth set ones - I really really like those ones! Can't get enough! (3 packs of 6 we get, and they get eaten fairly quickly - I usually eat 2 in a sitting!)

Since I started paying attention to Robert's hiccups, he seems to get them all the time! The other night he got them just after I laid down in bed, and J felt my tummy to see if he could feel them too, and he could! He was surprised at how frequent and rhythmic they were. It seems that a good way for people to feel him will be to wait until he gets the hiccups, and then get them to come over and feel - they won't be feeling his kicks, but at least he can't be stubborn and stop hiccuping as soon as someone comes over to feel! ;)

I actually can't believe how I felt his kicks and movements when they were so slight! I'm so used to his big kicks and sweeping movements of feet over my belly that I can't fathom how I ever felt the teeny tiny movements at all!

Anyway - I forgot to talk to J about the optician, so it might have to wait til next week now. I guess another week won't hurt when it's already been so long. It's a good thing I don't drive! Sometimes as we're going somewhere in the car, I can't read a sign until it's practically ontop of us... as for reading numberplates - hah!

I have a feeling the nesting urge is going to start real soon as the panic wears in that we've still got nowhere to put the changing table, and the back room is still full of boxes, and we still don't have a supply of nappies, and we still need to make sure we have all the essential clothes for Robert and wash them all, and sort a hospital bag just in case he's premature or we need to transfer... etc etc etc. Oh, and writing a birth preference sheet! Goodness, can't believe how much there is to do.

And maybe somewhat silly of me, but I've said that J and I will go to Thorpe Park to meet some friends I've known online for the past year and a half. This is taking place on November 1st! 3 weeks from my due date! I must be friggin crazy! So I'll have to make sure that we take my notes with us, and a hospital bag, and anything else I'll need in case of an emergency incase I go into labour! But crazy as it sounds these people are some of my best friends, and next year, such a thing will be practically impossible with a small baby. So I kind of feel like it'll be now or never! Especially with quite a lot of them from Netherlands, Denmark, or such. And of course I won't be going on any rides! Well, maybe the teacups and the rapids, but that's the extent, if even those! But yeah if any of you lot end up going to Thorpe Park on November 1st and see a huge group of pasty internet geeks wandering around (I think there's going to be 24 or so of us!!!), you'll know who they are lol (well, that it's me, J and a load of my online friends).

Anyway, I'll leave off here for now. Speak to you all soon!

30 weeks 5 days - an easing up of discomfort finally??

For the first time in goodness knows how long, I've got up in the morning without having to clutch the side of the cotbed, and hobble along to the bathroom until my back pain eases. Which makes me VERY happy! :) It makes such a change to be able to turn in bed without having to wake myself up, steel myself for an excrutiating pain in my lower back/pelvis, and then flip myself over while gritting my teeth. I hope this continues! I suppose I should have really told Beverley (my midwife) about this before, as it has been going on a while, but I think I'm generally the kind of person who plays down things like that. Well, I'll gripe and moan about it to whoever'll listen, except people in the medical profession. And especially when it comes to pregnancy related stuff, I tend to think "well, there's no point making a big fuss over some stuff, since most pregnant women get it anyway". Although with the heartburn, something that actually keeps me awake for several hours if left untreated because I was in pain is not something I could tolerate!

Anyway, Robert's movements have died down a little in bed now, but he is still fairly active. Yesterday I watched for ages as he pummelled and wriggled around in there. I do get rather confused sometimes about where he is lying from where I feel kicks from. I can only assume that some of them are actually punches rather than kicks. He is also making it increasingly harder for me to sit at the PC for extended periods of time, with kicks not quite at my ribs, but nearly up there, and wriggling in such a way that makes it uncomfortable to stay in a sitting position for much longer.

Today apparently, someone from argos is coming around with a new table top, to replace the scratched leaf panel from the table. Which is great, although judging by the last time of delivery, they won't be here until gone the end time on the limit we were given, so gone 6pm. Still, it's a lovely day today, so I'm taking the opportunity to get some washing out to dry in the lovely weather. And also changing the duvet covers and sheets, which I should have done last week due to the cat being *ahem* ill, but never got round to. That's something else that doesn't get done very often around here, but meh...

Anyway, hope the weather is nice where you're reading from too, and have fun!

30 weeks 3 days - our own dining furniture! And quieter kicks from Robert - growth spurt?

Ooooh! Hello again! Last night we had our very first meal at our OWN table! Squeeee! I can't believe how good it feels to have our very own dining furniture. It feels so.... adult(!) of us. After 6 years of dinners on lap trays! The chairs were a lot more difficult to put together than the table, as the top came ready made and we only had to screw in the four legs and it was done. Whereas the chairs had a lot more bits to be screwed together, and then the seat screwed on, etc etc.

The only thing I'm a bit disappointed about is that on one of the pull out leaves (yep, extending table!), there's a big scratch :( It was obviously made during manufacture or something like that, as there is nothing for it to catch on when it gets pulled out. Which means that we're going to have to phone up and get either the leaf or the whole table replaced. :(

But apart from that I'm so chuffed with it! It's square when it's not extended, and big enough for 4 people just about, and extended, big enough for 6. Until we get the garage converted, it will live at the bottom of the stairs in the living room, and it fits fine there. :) If we want 4 or 6 people round though we'll have to shuffle furniture around to pull it out.

Robert's kicks seem to have died down a bit over the past day or so. Last night his kicks were there, but seemed a lot softer than usual, the same as his day kicks. Although, the kicks during the day (or seemingly lack thereof) could have been attributed to me putting together some of the dining chairs.

I've had two fairly decent nights sleep now without heartburn. Friday and Saturday nights I was up with heartburn, but it seems to have subsided again. Which means that my sleep is less interrupted which can only be good.

I can't believe it's almost TWO months until my EDD. As the time gets nearer and nearer I get more excited, more scared (in a good way!), and just wow - I can't believe how soon it is before my life will completely change. I suppose at some point soon I should probably tell the next door neighbours that we're having a baby, seeing as we share a wall!

30 weeks 2 days - weekend news, mum's response re. labour, and painful pelvis kicks!

Our dining set is arriving today! I'm so excited about it! :) Lap trays which we have been eating off of for ooooh - 6 years now - are getting too uncomfortable for me. My bump is getting to the stage where I have to lean right over my tray because it sits so far forward on my lap now, that my back hurts.

Yesterday we invited Jonathan's parents over for a roast dinner, and they brought Barbara with them. Barbara is a friend of Jonathan's late paternal grandma, who while she was alive lived next door to his parents, and Barbara lives in the same village. Now Barbara has lost her husband, she is getting more company for lunches, and she's a lovely woman, and I enjoy seeing her. She's almost like a surrogate grandma for Jonathan. Anyway it was going to be another lunch on the laptrays, but the weather gods decided to be kind, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous! So we decided to eat outside on our garden furniture instead. The meal, despite the fact we had to get a new roast joint from Tesco in the morning, was delicious, and I think we did really well. :)

Afterwards we came and sat back indoors, and Robert, who had clearly enjoyed his meal of roast beef, potatoes veg and yorkshire puddings, with mango ice cream as dessert, decided to start kicking and squirming away merrily in there! I asked Betsy if she'd like to feel her grandson kicking, and she came over. Of course, as he usually does, as soon as someone else comes over to feel a kick he will stop, but he did give her a fairly big wriggle in the end! She seemed quite pleased about it, obviously not wanting to ask me herself. Barbara also tried feeling for a kick but he was less co-operative for her, and although he did do a little wriggle, she didn't feel it. But it was an extremely pleasant day over-all, even if I did end up feeling rather washed out by the end.

Oh, also I forgot to mention, I talked to my mum regarding the labour and granny dash situation, and as I expected she was completely understanding about it, and said that whatever we wanted to do she would respect that and just go along with it, and all she wanted to do was get a chance to see Robert as soon as possible after he was born, and have a cuddle. She said if that meant us waiting until just after he was born to let her know then fair enough, or her waiting in the car or downstairs, etc. (although we will probably be doing it downstairs where there will be more freedom of movement) So yes, all in all a good conversation. I expect that Steve and Betsy will also want to come along as soon as possible when Robert is born, and it's not such a long journey for them, which is good.

It seems quite scary that although I'm only 30 weeks, I feel it could happen any day! Well not literally, but I think - it COULD happen in 5-6 weeks! Or if not, 8 weeks. But then it could be as far as 12 weeks. There is still so much to do, so much to sort out. I need to get a hospital bag sorted out (just in case I do have to go into hospital), I need to get the spare room sorted, nappies sorted, a million and one other things I probably haven't thought about sorted. It feels a little like when I was in school and I'd always leave homework til the last evening before it was due in, even though for the entire week I'd be thinking "I should really do my homework now so I don't have to worry about it". Only this time, I don't KNOW when exactly the 'homework' is due!

Anyway. Before I wrap up this entry, one last little tidbit. As I crawled into bed at about 10.30pm last night, and laid down to sleep, of course Robert decided this meant it was playtime. Now he doesn't kick the front of my belly it seems anymore at night, but instead goes for the sides of my belly, usually the side right by the bed. He chooses this moment, as he did last night, at LEAST twice (possibly three times) to kick my pelvis really hard that it made me jump. Yee-ouch! I ended up turning over to lay on my back in the hopes it would stop him carrying on, or at least make it not quite so intense if he did! But what a little monkey!

Right, better be going now, the window frame I got given for delivery of the table and chairs were 10am-2pm, which it has now crossed over into, so I need to be ready to go answer the door. :)

Have a great day everyone!

30 weeks (wow!) - labour thoughts, and other stuff.

Well girls (and maybe even guys? who knows! ;) ) I am now three quarters of my way through pregnancy. Thirty weeks today! Before I go on I want to thank Sarah, Alice and Leigh for their comments on my last entry, I cannot begin to say how much better it makes me feel that it is possible to be inherently lazy but still be a good mum with it. Armed with that knowledge, and the fear release from Hypnobirthing, hopefully I'll be able to put it all behind me.

I have been reading through the Hypnobirthing book we got given on our first session (finally!), and that, combined with the research I've been doing on the internet makes me think that I really would like to do a homebirth. There's no reason why I should sit back and go along with what the midwives think based purely on the "it's your first baby" argument. Besides which, I will be most comfortable here I think, as long as I organise ahead of time any equipment I will want - birth ball perhaps, maybe think about hiring a birthing pool.

There was one thing though that made me think from reading the book regarding a home birth, and personal situation, which will need to be resolved ahead of time, and probably in the coming few weeks. That is that my Mum would like to do a "Granny Dash" as she called it when my SIL gave birth last November. The only difference being that SIL gave birth in a hospital, and probably didn't have to deal with my mum until after Ewan had been born. (probably waited outside or with SIL's parents, or something) If we have a home birth, and she comes up on her Granny Dash as soon as she finds out I'm in labour, she most likely will be here before Robert is born, and I don't really know what to think about that or what we will do with regards to that. I talked to Jonathan about it in bed this morning, and both of us are thinking that we probably wouldn't want my mum in with us while I am labouring, although my main concern is that she might be trying to mother me too much during labour and cause me to lose my concentration and relaxation, that or generally be too "present". So I think I will need to talk to her to find out exactly what she is planning on doing, and tell her what we're thinking of, and so on, and use the information we get to make a decision as to perhaps when to call her, or whatever. If we decide in the end that we don't want her HERE before Robert is born, then we will probably see about calling her fairly late on in the labour. I will probably talk to her about it all anyway, so she knows our position and I know she will respect whatever we decide. And I know she will do her best to honour our wishes with regards to it.

Part of me though wants her there, because I feel so confident in my mind that I will be able to birth Robert comfortably, I want her to see it for herself. I think she was one of those people who thought "Hah, childbirth without pain? Yeah right, dream on" until I showed her that youtube video I posted on here a few weeks back (but via MSN), and she was like "Hmm, yeah my experiences of childbirth were nothing like that." And now I get the feeling she's of the mindset that "well, if this hypnobirthing thing works for Nicola I'll be pleased for her". My dad, who is a biologist, is also very sceptical. I tried explaining it to him, and he seemed very set in his beliefs that childbirth cannot be comfortable ever. I even tried comparing it to other animals' birthings, and how we are the only ones who seem to be "flawed" in that we cannot give birth comfortably, whereas the rest of the animal kingdom can give birth without excruciating pain. And still, it went over his head completely. Still, I know what I've learned, I've seen now goodness knows how many birth videos of people having comfortable births with no pain. I just now have a lot of revision (read practise!) before the final exam. Hehe.

Anyway, last night I didn't get a lot of sleep, I had bad heartburn and should have got up and taken some gaviscon a lot earlier than I did, because I was drifting in and out of sleep for goodness knows how long, until I got up around 4.30am, took some gaviscon and stayed up about 45 minutes to let it settle down a bit, and then went back to bed and had some solid sleep. But I felt really knackered this morning, and still feel a little sleepy truth be told. We were planning on heading to Aylesbury again today but I just don't feel up to the long travel (hour each way) and then cleaning, grabbing boxes from the loft, bleugh and so on. Plus I'm getting a lot bigger and feeling more "full of baby" than ever, and things are just so much more of a chore than they used to be. So Jonathan has gone to Aylesbury alone, but he phoned up his dad, and asked if he could come and help him get the carpet in the hallway up, and get things out of the loft, and tomorrow we're going to treat them to a roast dinner for all the help they've given us in the flat. Only I took out the joint of beef we had in the freezer - and it says it serves 2-3 people only :( And there'll be 5 of us there, which is a bit of a stretch, I thought it was a 3-4 people roast at least. So I might head into town in a little while and see if the small tesco has a roast join in it, if not, there's a newly opened "tesco rival" kind of shop. And failing that, telling Jonathan to pop into the Wellingborough tesco or the Aylesbury tesco on his way home and pick up a bigger one.

Unfortunately the table we've ordered from Argos isn't going to be arriving until Monday (doh!) so it'll be lap trays for the 5 of us. I am so glad this table is arriving soon though - I really am getting too big for lap trays. Although I think it's a flat packed jobbie again - unsurprisingly, as every bit of furniture we've bought since we've moved, apart from the sofas of course, have been flat packed!

Anyway I'll sign off here - oh before I do, I should let you know the cat appears to be better. The vet gave her an inflammitory injection which appears to have helped, she seems to have kept all of her food down now since we took her on Thursday afternoon. I hope you're all well, and look forward to seeing your names in red (those that I have anyway!).

19 weeks 1 day - cotbed made! Yippee

Nineteen weeks pregnant! Wow! Although I am worried I've not felt Sausage move lately. And I know that the midwife would just say "don't worry about lack of movements until 20 weeks" or something like that. I may have been feeling the "smaller" movements, I don't know though. Just not the big rolling movements I've been used to feeling. I'm hoping to feel one soon, as I'm not getting any medical appointments to see if things are ok until the scan on 17th July. Just under 3 weeks away.

Ailments wise I've been ok. Not great, but ok! :) I think I've been having a few days of what they call Pelvic Girdle Pain, which hasn't been great, led to a couple of nights of restless sleep. Luckily last night was okay, and not too bad when turning over. It might be getting a little better. Also yesterday I felt the telltale signs of heartburn creeping up on me during the day, so I took some rennie tablets a couple of times, and they seemed to do the trick.

Oh, on other news, during the week, we got our changing table, and our cotbed from mothercare! So yesterday we put together the cotbed, and it's now standing in our bedroom, all ready and waiting. Maybe it's a little early, but ah well. Nice to stare at it wistfully hehe. It looks great, and sturdy. The cat likes to hide underneath it at the moment, and I'm hoping she doesn't start wanting to go in it, but we have a plan for if she does that... I read something about filling some empty soda cans with something that rattles a lot, and filling the cot with those, so if she jumps in, the cans will fall over and make a huge rattling sound and scare off the cat. Will save us having to have a net over the cot. But yeah, the cotbed is kinda huge :) Takes up a lot of room in our bedroom, so we've had to move out one of the chest of drawers we had in there. Today we're going to try making a start on getting some of the boxes in the spare room clear - starting with all the stuff that could go in the loft. That should get rid of a lot of the stuff we have lying around in there. Because eventually we want to make a semi-nursery, semi guest bedroom in there. I say semi because the cot will be in with us at first, and probably only move in there when the baby is older.

Anyway I think that's all I wanted to say today. Keep your fingers crossed that Sausage will do a big roll for me soon! Oh and if there's any tips you can give me for getting Sausage to do a roll for me I'd appreciate it ;) If there are such things lol..

Thanks for reading! x

18 weeks 4 days - local water scare

Hmm. Well, today our cotbed mattress and changing table/cupboard arrived. I had just had a shower, so hurriedly pulled on a dressing gown to go answer the door. I thought the guy had finished, I signed his thing, went back upstairs and the door went again. He said "Oh, since you've only got up recently you've probably not seen the news - there's been a contamination in the water supply, you should probably boil all your tap water you use for drinking." I thanked him, went upstairs, and googled it... and sure enough, there has been a water contamination issue in Northamptonshire. The town I live in isn't on the list, but there is a town on the list within 10 miles of where I live, so I figure that it's better to be safe than sorry... and as I'm in the low immune system group along with old and young people (although none of the websites have mentioned pregnant women, we do have poorer immune systems), I really don't fancy being ill for well over a month! (apparently people who are healthy and have normal immune systems can take a month to recover - so imagine how long it would take those of us with poor immune systems!) Anyway, so yes, I've boiled 2 kettles full of water so far, and a big pan of water. Storing it in the fridge so we can use that for any cooking/drinking/teeth brushing etc. The friend I mentioned who is pregnant, J's best man's wife, she actually does live in Northampton so her water supply is definitely affected. As are my in-laws, who live in one of the villages on the list.

Anyway, people have been panic buying bottled water at the supermarkets apparently. J and I are going shopping tonight, will be interesting to see if there are many people panic buying water this far out as well. I don't think we'd do such a thing, I'm against bottled water for a start, besides, it's already been said that boiling water is enough to make sure the bacteria in the water are killed off. Why pay money for stuff that's not required by law to have health and safety checks, and therefore in a lot of cases have over 100x more bacteria, chemicals (even arsenic!!) than the stuff that comes out of your tap for practically free? Some people have too much money to spend and yet don't spend it actually RESEARCHING what they're buying. Bleugh, weird people. Sorry to those of you who buy a lot of bottled water, and think tap water is generally bad, but hey, you're reading my diary eh? Nuff said ;)

Anyway, I'm getting thirsty (perhaps lack of being able to just turn on the tap and grab a glass of water is having this affect on me? ;) who knows hehe), so I'll catch you later. If you haven't seen pics of the babygrows my dad got us yet, or the belly pics, hit the before button for the former, or the belly link down the bottom for the latter. Tata chickies, thanks for reading! xx

14 weeks 3 days - Sausage's development and home-ware buying!

14 weeks and 3 days along today. Second midwife appointment is in 2 weeks and 1 day! I can't believe how much sausage has grown in the 2 weeks it's been since the scan. I can't believe it's BEEN 2 weeks since the scan! It still seems like just a few days ago! But at the scan, Sausage measured 53mm from rump to crown, s/he can now be anywhere between 85 and 90mm! That's almost double! S/he is also practicing different facial expressions, and is starting to grow hair and eyebrows. Little Sausage is now definitely a he or a she, organs have differentiated into male or female ones, and only time will tell before Mummy and Daddy know whether to buy pink or blue!

In the last few days, I have noticed an alarming increase of urination. And unlike for the most part this pregnancy, yesterday for the first time I felt like I really needed a wee, went to the toilet, and only a little came out. I need to get up at least once during the middle of the night these days to go to the toilet, most often two times before I get up in the morning. And as such my sleep is suffering a little too - because when I get up to wee, I wake up, then when I get back into bed, Jonathan is snoring and wheezing away, making it difficult for me to get back to sleep. Argh! J and I went to Chiquito in Milton Keynes (ahhh how I love that place!) for a meal on Saturday on the way back from Aylesbury. I had 3 glasses of diet coke there (although really I think it was probably just over two, because of the amount of ice they like to throw into the glasses - sigh), and I had to go to the toilet just after we the starter, and then again at the end of the meal. I can usually manage just after we've had the meal. Apparently the frequent toilet trips are supposed to be waning, not escalating! Hehe. Ah well, at least it's something that makes me think all the time that I am pregnant still! :) (even though it's a little infuriating at the time!)

I'm going to try and take some pictures of the house today - since we've not done any since we've moved in, and it's high time we did it :D Our bedroom is nice now, the living room is nice, the kitchen is about the same as it was before hehe. But it'll be nice to have photos of how it was when we moved in, like we had for the old place to see the difference heh.

We went shopping in Milton Keynes yesterday - looking for furniture and stuff for the house. We still have several hundred pounds worth of vouchers from our wedding three years ago, which we can now finally spend on things for the house! We went around with a shopping list of two nice toilet brushes, a table for the hallway to put the phone and the mail on, etc, and maybe a nice dining table and chairs. We went in John Lewis first, and found a cheapy bit of furniture which would have done for the table in the hall, it was about �60, but it wasn't very nice to look at. We also went around and looked at their table and chairs sets, and we found a lovely one which was a nice square size unextended, that I believe will fit 4 people easily (or just about) as it is, and then extended will fit another 2 people. The only thing with the dining furniture in John Lewis is that it's quite.... pricey! lol But we have �140 in vouchers to mitigate the damage hehe. And we're thinking that maybe if people ask what I want for my birthday, I can ask for a dining chair from the set! ;) Although my mum at least is incredibly anal about birthdays and birthday presents etc. But I do really want a dining table. Not least because I know that when I'm heavily pregnant, eating food off my lap will become very difficult. I'll see if I can persuade her, although I don't know if she will be able to afford a chair (the ones that match the table we want is almost �100 per chair!), maybe if it's mine AND J's birthday presents for that year maybe.

Anyway, then we went to Marks and Spencer - we had �365 to spend there in vouchers, and we found a couple of nice toilet brushes - a nice marble one for the main bathroom (that co-incidentally matches the bath and toilet etc!), and a steel one for the downstairs toilet. And while we were looking around, we found a nice "bathroom storage tower" that would actually go PERFECTLY in the hallway! Was very nice to look at too. It was over double the amount of the plain bookcase-type table we saw in John Lewis, but I think it was worth it, plus we had more vouchers to spend there ;) We ordered it, but unfortunately we'll have to wait another 7-8 weeks (sigh) for it to arrive. Which is smack-bang around the date for my second scan. But apparently if they say a date you can't be there to accept, you can get them to deliver it another day. If it's going to delay it too much though I suppose I could ask our next door neighbours to accept it for us, check it over, and hold it until we get back from the scan (assuming it's going to arrive while we're at the hospital for the couple hours it'll take lol). it's a shame we couldn't take one of the two display models home with us that day! ;)

Ahh, it's so nice buying things for the home. Anyway, I've rambled on long enough, I need to go get dressed, and take some photos of the house now :) Hope you're all okay, and thanks for reading!

12 weeks 3 days - another entry - new photos!

Hey again all! (Second entry of the day - if you missed one hit the <<>

I've been a busy girlie today! I've tidied up the box room ready for the armchairs to go in (sofas arriving tomorrow woohooo! Although I'm paranoid they'll end up going to the billing address - our old address we lived in when we ordered the sofas, not the delivery address we stated to them at time of ordering). I've also been busy with the camera! (double woohoo!) Go clicky on the belly gallery link for self taken slightly blurry and surprisingly flattering pic of 12 week belly, complete with cat in the background!

And then get yo ass back here, because there's a second pic! And it's been a long time coming! My 8 (hehe) pregnancy tests!! I spent ages trying to get them in focus, so you could see the lines and text perfectly clearly...

Tell me... can you see a teeny tiny hint of a line on the top two?? No? Try squinting, and holding the webpage up to the light, can you see it now? Just about? And so finally you see what my early EARLY entries were about! Hehe! And why I wasn't keen to shout it out until the line became darker :)

My tummy has been feeling hmmm.. what's the word... tight I suppose. I would bend over slightly and my tummy would CLENCH and I was like woahhhhh... how weird! But also wonderful! I love how different my body feels now I'm pregnant, particularly my tummy. :)

Anyway, thanks for reading! Again! :)

11 weeks 6 days - 3 to go, feeling a bit better xx

I don't know what to say... thank you ALL so much for your notes, it meant so much to hear from each of you that it's normal, and that chances are I have nothing to worry about. However, I probably will still worry... lol. Ah well, but at least I only have three days to wait now.

Oh, and tomorrow I will be twelve weeks pregnant! Oh my gosh! I can hardly believe it, but still, I'm trying not to get too excited until I see the scan on Monday. I'm so glad I don't have to wait until 13.5 weeks, like the midwife had me thinking I'd be waiting til. As soon as I see little Sausage on the scan, moving away, heart beating, and nicely progressing, I will be thrilled and just BEAMING and will tell the world that I'm pregnant :D Those being all my extended family, all my facebook friends, and all my World of Warcraft friends. I still have a subscription to WoW (it's an internet game, massively multi-player) and I was once addicted to it. (Meaning I had to play every day for several hours) Since I've become pregnant though, my entire outlook has changed, and I've stopped WANTING to play as much, I only go on every now and then, do a few bits in the game, talk to my friends on there, and such. It's like I'm naturally weaning myself off it in preparation for Sausage's arrival, which is great. :) I can't wait to tell my friends on there about it. And also the facebook friends - the majority of which are old school friends and suchlike.

Caroline (my step-mother) said she wanted to tell her family (mother, brother etc) my news, but I was wondering once I have a picture of the ultrasound, and scan it into the computer, I could just email it around :)

Oh! And some more good news, I don't think I've said it here yet... J got a phone call on Wednesday saying that our sofas will FINALLY be delivered next Wednesday! And they'd text him on Tuesday saying a rough time period they'd be coming! Oh my gosh finally, I can't wait! Not that I didn't love relaxing on 70s chairs where the cushions slip all the time, with hard wooden arms, and no real ability to stretch out.. hehe :) We'll have to go and get some nice red scatter cushions to match the carpet and curtains (the sofas are a creamy/ivory colour). Hehe, J's credit card certainly loves me ;) J's bank account however... not so much ;)

Anyone else finding the nights getting hotter? J and I had to open the windows in the bedroom last night, and sleep with the covers off - although I kept managing to pull them back on in my sleep haha :) I am wondering lately why I haven't had any more gender dreams since I was about 7 weeks pregnant. Not a single one! Bizarrely.... most of my vivid dreams lately have been about.... ahem.... to steal a phrase from Alice... parsnips ! I have had at least two very vivid dreams about parsnips which is so unlike me! Maybe I am needing more parsnips than I've been having recently. Since J and I found out we were having a baby, we've had parsnips once - about a week ago (which was so lovely, and I started crying afterwards for some reason!) I'm sure that as time goes on, I'll be having more and more gender dreams, and just generic baby dreams. I guess I just expected more than I've been having so far.

Anyway, I'd best get going, grab some breakfast, get dressed, and then actually make a start on unpacking in ernest (so we can clear enough room in the "box" room for the two chairs ready for next Tuesday night when we have to move them out ready for the sofas)

Thanks for reading (again!) xx

8 weeks - names!

Jonathan and I stayed up fairly late last night, he went through the shortlist of names I put down, and crossed out any he didn't like, circled ones he did really like. I think we have names! :) (and reserves, incase we can't use the ones we've thought of for any reason)

He liked Daniel for a boy, and Chloe for a girl. I love the name Chloe too, so that's our girl's name choice. But Daniel... I like "Daniel" but I HATE Danny, and Dan. So he said "well, I guess we'll go for your favourite then" which I was a bit peeved at - I didn't want a name that I loved "just because", and wasn't wanting to force it on him at all... but he says that my name idea is okay as well... So we've decided on Robert if it's a boy (Rob and Robbie are just too cute!).

As our reserves we have Jessica and Megan (although I had to fight for Megan! Jonathan said he didn't really like it very much, but I'm sure it could grow on him) for a girl, and Malcolm and Thomas for a boy.

We finally finished our bedroom wardrobes last night! :) So now we just have to "stock" them hehe with all the clothes from various boxes in the house. We're also going to go to Homebase today (hopefully) and get some more bookcases for storage upstairs. Jonathan has a load of computer stuff he could do with storing on a bookcase properly, in the flat, it was mainly piled onto a few shelves above his PC, and on the wall heater (which we never used, because it was used as a storage place) by the side of him.

We're also seeing my Dad and Caroline tomorrow - they're bringing up a pressure washer for our patio as well since it's got some marks on it from plant pots from the previous owner. We might be going out for dinner as well, in which case we'd need to find somewhere to book ready.

Anyway, busy day ahead, and I need to get something to eat. Baby doesn't like it if I miss breakfast these days! (And it's already a little late for breakfast hehe)

7 weeks 2 days ish - gender dream and house stuff

I had my first gender dream last night. It was a little boy. Although at first the doctors weren't sure (even though it was a dream of the birth). Also for some reason I ended up giving birth while on the loo (!!!) and it happened surprisingly quickly after my waters broke (also while I was on the loo). I dreamed that we named the baby boy, but then I couldn't remember what we named him, and also I forgot to get his measurements at birth for the birth announcement.

On other news, Jonathan and I spent best part of the day putting together the wardrobe for our bedroom :) We have two things missing, and one of the doors is damaged, but the missing things are stuff we can do later, they're 2 of the drawer rails, so we'll just wait til they arrive and then fix them on later. We've built the main frame (including slotting the flimsy back into the grooves - what a frustrating bit to do! In at the bottom, pops out at the top.. ah well, got it done eventually!), and put the top on (I had one bit waaaaay above my head and helped maneuver it into place). Jonathan stood on a stool to screw the top into place (he's tall, but not THAT tall!) All we have left are the drawers to put in, and the doors to put on, and the last few little bits and pieces.

We were thinking about putting it in the spare bedroom, and getting fitted wardrobes for the main bedroom, but in the end we just decided it would be enough for our clothes, and we just kept it for our main bedroom. We fiddled around with arrangement of the chest of drawers and where the one I haven't built yet would go, and we SHOULD have enough room for a cot as well by the wall once everything's in place. We DESPERATELY need more storage space. The back spare bedroom is CHOCKA with boxes, and just basically a load of crap. We neeeeeed to get more bookcases, and cupboards, and stuff. We have a half empty box in the kitchen where we cannot put stuff because we have less cupboard space in this kitchen compared to the last kitchen! If we sort out all the spare glasses and mugs we're not likely to use for a long time, then we can put them in the loft for when the ones we use get smashed. Then that might free up the cupboard space for the other stuff. Sheesh, Would be so nice to just do the garage extension already and extend the kitchen into a kitchen/diner. And the other half of the garage into a study (so Jonathan has to move all the computers and stuff again - oops! :P ) and maybe add a little storage cupboard or something in there for the vacuum cleaner, tools, so on, etc. Here I go, dreaming away :) I'm sure we'll do it eventually - Jonathan hasn't got round to using the garage to store the car yet, he thinks it will be too much hassle to get out of the car, open the garage, into the car, into the garage, out of the car, close the garage... every time he has to go in or out. Besides, there's a huge mountain of empty boxes there at the moment *ahem* :) Another job to do - flatten and shove up in the loft.

Anyway, I'll wrap up this entry for now. Thanks for reading!