23 weeks! And oops, long time since update!

All is progressing well with the pregnancy. I had a bad fall at the beginning of October which saw me go to A&E instead of a wedding reception, as I badly hurt my right foot/ankle and had nasty cuts to my left knee and big toe. I was in agony with my foot and could barely walk, but as I'm pregnant they didn't want to X-ray me, especially as my foot didn't hurt in the right places that would indicate a fracture. Luckily it has healed up ok with just a bandage, although the first night I was crying with the pain and I couldn't even walk 2 metres to the toilet! Changing the pressure on the bandage and back to back paracetamol helped, then the next day it was much better.

Baby has been by far the most active little bean I remember having. I had my anomaly scan at almost 21 weeks, and I was curious to find out if the placenta was at the front of my uterus, or, as I suspected, at the back. Sure enough, it was at the back, so I'm feeling every little kick and wriggle!

The sonographer checked everything out, and could see everything present and correct as far as she could tell which was a relief, and as she did the measurements, I stared to see if I could see a telltale sign as to whether Pipkin was a boy or a girl. As she got the thigh measurement, I was pretty sure I could see what gender our sweet baby was... But wanted confirmation, so at the end when she asked if we had any questions, I begged her to find out if we were expecting a boy or a girl. I held my breath the entire time, as she positioned the device to look, and she said to us "well... It looks like you're having a baby girl!" Which was what I thought I had seen earlier but didn't dare to believe until she said it too. As I got down from the table/bench afterwards, having wiped all the jelly off my abdomen, I must have looked like the Cheshire Cat! Yes, I cried a little in the room. A baby girl!!! 2 weeks on now, and another scan later (to confirm the kidneys) at which she also double checked the gender again, and I think I might be starting to actually believe that after 3 lovely cheeky boys, I get to raise a DAUGHTER.

She is such (SUCH) an active baby. I'm feeling at LEAST 6 bouts of strong kicks a day, even though I am sometimes very busy, and she's still so little, only about 1lb in weight (although that seems very big too, as it doesn't seem that long ago she was the size of a poppyseed and weighed less than a gram in weight!). Time seems to be flying so so fast, and the older two boys are absolutely over the moon that they're getting a sister! D, is only 3.5 years old so he's not all that aware of what it means, although he had been maintaining for a while before we found out that "it not a baby boy, it a baby GIRL". Whereas R and C were hugging themselves in anticipation saying "ooooooh I hope it's a girl, I really REALLY hope it's a girl!" So when we brought home a box with multicolour stripes in, hiding a "it's a girl!" balloon, and opened it up to show the boys (and grandma and grandad) what was inside, there was lots of whooping and joyful leaping around! :) and Christopher coming up to me, giving me a hug and saying "I'm so HAPPY it's a girl!" It really really made my heart sing!

Other news, is that we have just bought some triple bunks for the boys, which will be set up tomorrow and they (and I) am very excited to get them up and built :) a nice Saturday morning job. :)

A jump to 13 weeks 5 days!

So today I had my dating scan. My original appointment was last Friday, however I had to change it because we were coming back from Devon that day and it would cut it close to get there on time. Good job we changed it, as we were still almost 2 hours away by the time we should have been parking up at the hospital. I thought I'd be around 13 weeks 1 day, but the ultrasound technician put me at 13 weeks 5 days. Pipkin was happy as Larry in there, waving and kicking. I was blown away by how clearly we could see the hands. It was so cute. And though I was concerned by the feel of my uterus and how much I'm showing already that maybe it was twins or triplets even, it is just the one healthy happy baby (for as much as they can see this early on). One heart beating away merrily, two hands, two feet, one head. :)

Unfortunately the scan wasn't really clear enough to see the nub, I really have no idea which is a shame as I am in the zone where if it was identifiable, it would be more or less 100% accurate at this stage. But here are little Pipkin's first photos anyway...

11 weeks along with baby number 4, little Pipkin

All the grandparents now know they are expecting another precious grandchild come March next year. We've not told siblings yet but will do once we have the scan no doubt. The scan is at the moment set for 2nd September late afternoon,which isn't very convenient due to the fact that we are on holiday from this Friday til next Friday (2nd September). I've tried phoning up three or four times to rearrange it but no luck getting through or getting a callback (I've left 2 messages so far). It might be possible just to get to the appointment on time but it will be close and will rob our chance to break the journey with a few hours at a park or something else.

We will be going with my inlaws this time. We don't usually holiday with our parents, but we have decided to this year because my father-in-law got a poor prognosis diagnosis of prostate cancer earlier in the year. He has just finished his last session of chemotherapy last Thursday so he should be feeling fine on the holiday. It'll be lovely for us all to create some lovely memories together!

Changing the subject, at the weekend we told my dad and step-mum about Pipkin. How we announced it was we signed a birthday card with Pipkin's name along with our own. I wrote something along the lines of how I hoped he didn't spent the entire birthday party the day before under an umbrella, which he answered, but completely missed Pipkin's mention underneath! 😂 He turned to talk to one of the boys while my step-mum picked up the card, read it, and we watched her reactions carefully. Her eyes widened, she turned to us, mouth open slightly and said "is this an announcement?" When we nodded, she said with amusement "he didn't notice did he?" *head shake* "um, love, I think you should read your card again!" Haha! Reactions have greatly been positive/neutral which I'm grateful for. I haven't been expecting hugely excited reactions like you tend to get for number one (and maybe number two) but as long as they're not negative that's great.

Other news, the morning sickness has returned, I'm generally feeling pretty pants. It's a bit worse too as I've actually retched a few times before I made myself take a sip of water or lie down. Still grateful that I have it mildly compared to some, but it is definitely hampering my ability to function in day to day stuff. Making meals is difficult. Staying upright is difficult. The list of jobs I want to get done before our week away is not getting any shorter which isn't good. I felt sick all day yesterday. I managed to set the washing machine going, make meals for the boys, and sweep the floor. That's about it. I need to hang up yesterday's washing, get another load on, clear and clean the inside of the car (although just clearing it will be better than nothing), and make a start packing the suitcases. I woke this morning feeling better, but the sickness is descending again, but I am determined to power through. If I get at least one job ticked off the list I will be happy. I will do this!

Thanks for your private congratulations, and your comments. I know I'm not a frequent poster anymore. Xx

11 weeks 6 days - Dating Scan!

Well, as you can see, my dates have been put back a bit ;) I was unofficially due on 27th April 2013, now I'm due 2nd May 2013. Dated at 11 weeks 6 days today. The second she put the scanning device on my belly, she said "One baby, and a heartbeat". We saw the baby, but how she could have seen the heartbeat so quickly is amazing! The scan was quite long, she showed us the arms and legs, and she showed us the heart beating as well. Pretty amazing :) It was so clear, and could see the baby bouncing around like crazy, and waving! It was such a relief to see baby moving around, heart beating and everything!

The sonographer said what a photogenic baby we had ;) She tried to go and find an assistant (or trainee, something like that) to come and see as our baby was so co-operative, but couldn't find her, so we just stayed in the room looking at a picture of our baby up on the screen :)

Here are the pics!







Here's a picture of baby's face!! :) So tiny and perfect!










Hope you like them :) The first one, going by nub, looks pretty girly, but the last two look boyish!! And the others don't really show it well. Guess it's going to be a waiting game til 19th December, when we have our second scan :)

12 weeks

Tomorrow, I will be 12 weeks (ish). Well, it's when I am classing myself as 12 weeks according to my average cycle length. Wow. I just read that back. TWELVE weeks. Right at the end of the first trimester, already! This last week or so has CRAWLED by, it seems like AGES ago I had that small bleed. Like a month or 6 weeks or so. But it was only 2 weeks ago. I am getting my scan, to see my tiniest baby for the first time on Wednesday. I have been counting down the days, and now I'm on to days and hours. So around 1 day and 20 hours time, I will be on my way to the hospital for the scan.

I'm excited, nervous, scared. I've got past the stage where I wonder if there'll even be a baby THERE at all. I think at the third baby you KNOW there'll be a baby there once you've had that double line on the wee stick. Lately though I do not feel pregnant, one iota. I mean, I feel a tiny bit bloated down there, I'm pretty sure I can feel my uterus now, and I've had nothing blood wise apart from that blob a couple of weeks back, but otherwise, just a whole load of CM. Morning sickness has faded. In fact it seemed a lot better all of a sudden after I got a 24 hour sickness bug. I felt ROUGH that day (and delicate the day after), maybe I just am so grateful it was a bug and not a sudden worsening of morning sickness that anything else just doesn't register on the scale anymore ;)

I'm pretty sure this baby is implanted on the left hand side of my uterus. It's where I've been feeling niggles all the way through. I've not felt any on the right so I'm hoping that rules out fraternal twins. Hoping it rules out any sort of twins!! Although if it is, I'll be happy to have healthy babies, even if it would then be probably definitely my last pregnancy!

I think my belly has popped out a bit - although it's ALL my belly, again like the last times. Not just a cute little bump down beneath my belly button. I have taken belly shots at 5 and 10 weeks. Not posted them yet however. Am thinking possibly of taking another one tomorrow, just because it's you know, twelve weeks. Although 15 would show more of a change.

Oh! I almost forgot. Although I've not been *too* excited about this baby as of yet, I did see something in Tesco, a little 101 dalmations onesie. It was too cute and perfectly unisex, so I got it! I am hoping to have lots of skin-to-skin contact when the baby is here though so I'm not sure if he'll actually get to wear it much ;)

Anyway, that's about it. Really not much to report as of late though!!

Lots of updates

Well there seems to be so much going on at the moment, firstly Robert starting Nursery (pre-school), then Christopher's birthday, the garage conversion, and last but not least the new baby. This entry is likely to be long as I'm covering all four!

Starting with the first, Robert's been at nursery now for a week. He started last Friday, and has done SO well. He's settled in beautifully, and really enjoys going. After he's hung his coat and bag up, we go over to find his name badge, and then he goes off to play. He is right at home and doesn't even stop to say goodbye! When I asked his teacher a question, I then had to go and find him to say goodbye! He's been doing pictures and paintings, has told me he has a friend called Ewan who goes to nursery (somewhat confusing as that's also his cousin's name!). He has trouble remembering everything he's played with but does remember a few bits. Overall, I'm pleased he's settled in so well, and quickly, and I think that makes my decision not to send him to a private nursery beforehand a sound one.

Now my mornings are just with Christopher, it seems a bit odd! We've been keeping ourselves busy, mostly going out and about, to groups or whatnot. Things at the moment are a bit complicated because of the building work going on in our garage, but we work around it.

The builders have made fabulous progress. The garage door has gone, the front has been bricked up with just a hole where the window will go once it arrives. The wall framework was made, then they got the ceiling supported on both sides of the wall (complete with a clear plastic dust sheet so the remaining space in the kitchen was usable), and then the wall knocked through. There is now a supporting beam in the ceiling to hold the house up because the kitchen wall was load-bearing. Yesterday they worked on the floor, putting in wooden struts and filling the space with block insulation, then putting floor boards down. Finally, they put up the dividing wall framework. Today, they finished off the framework, and filled the walls with more block insulation, except for one panel in the adjoining wall to allow movement between the two separate rooms. The next bit of the job is the electricians and plumbers, who will sort out lighting, sockets and the water pipes. There's currently a pipe in the middle of the wall they knocked down, so that'll have to be re-routed. Then once all the electrics and water pipes are sorted, the builders will come back to put the plasterboard up on the walls, and any other jobs they need to carry on with. It still seems hard to visualise just how big the kitchen will be as there's a dustsheet and kitchen cabinets on the floor in there. Plus the table that will go in at some point! The study seems like a great size though, with plenty of room for storage as well as the computers. I'm glad all this is getting done in my early pregnancy, so hopefully it will all be COMPLETELY finished (including new kitchen installed and decorating done) by the time baby is here!

Onto Christopher. He had his second birthday on Tuesday. I can't believe he's two, TWO whole years old. He is my cheeky little ray of sunshine. I adore it when he grins at me with those dimpled cheeks, as if to say "oh yes, Mummy, I'm about to be cheeky, and I KNOW you love it!" He and his big brother are playing together more and more. They are beginning to play wrestle!! With Christopher usually the one who pushes his brother over and clambers on top! On Christopher's birthday, we opened presents first thing in the morning. Jonathan and I had blown up 20 balloons the night before (but one got a hole in the neck while it was being tied, and another went down overnight), so Robert was quite happy to play with the balloons and didn't seem to mind much that all the presents were for Christopher! I'm sure it'll be Christopher we have to console on Robert's birthday! We dropped Robert off at nursery, then the three of us went to Irchester Country Park and let Christopher play in the play area there for a while, before he wanted a drink. The cafe was open so we went and got tea for us, and a fruit shoot for Christopher (it was a special occasion after all - I can't stand those things! The kids usually have water when out and about, or squash if we take their cups). After we picked Robert up from nursery, we then went on to Northampton and went out for lunch with Jonathan's parents at the Harvester. Then back to their house where Christopher had yet more presents, then tea and birthday cake, followed by a trip to the park, during which we all got soaked as it suddenly downpoured! It was a good day though, and Christopher got lots and lots of dinosaur presents, and consequently, he now seems to have a new word "dah-dor" or dinosaur (although I can't be 100% sure, as I point to one, and he will say "RAAAAAR!" rather than saying dah-dor. I remember this stage in communication very frustrating, as they start saying words, but as they're not recognisable, it takes a while before you learn the words as they say them. It sounds very much at first like they're still babbling! But it's promising that he's moving forward slowly.

Finally, the new baby. :) This pregnancy, I don't know if it's because I've done it twice before so it's not as novel, or if it's because I'm just not SURE on dates, but I'm not keeping track on how many weeks and days pregnant I am. I am thinking to myself that my due date is 30th April, but I don't KNOW whether that is an accurate representation of when I conceived. The midwife put me as 27th April due date. I just have NO idea, and am waiting for my scan so I feel like I do have a proper date. And yes, I know this DATE means nothing!! But it means I can finally start to keep a track of my weeks, and know what's going on! By my April 30th estimate, I am 9 weeks 3 days. Which is 9 weeks 6 days on my record.

I received my scan appointment through the post this morning. It's a late morning appointment on October 18th which is a Thursday (and therefore the most awkward day possible, as that's the one day the in-laws can't babysit - so goodness knows what we're going to do! It's also awkward as Robert needs picking up from nursery 10 minutes after the scan appointment starts). I MIGHT have to be attending this scan alone :S Which I'm a little worried about, because I have this feeling that things might not be ok. I'm still getting days of morning sickness (strangely they seem to alternate - one day will be bad, the next day quite bearable, then bad again the next day), so I guess that should reassure me. Still no bleeding, although several days ago (might have even been before my booking appointment) I had a SLIGHT amount of red mixed in with CM (which is still plentiful) and then nothing more. Of course I have no real reason to be worried, everything probably is fine. But the thought of a missed miscarriage keeps popping into my head. Anyway. On the scan date, I should be between 11 weeks 6 days and 12 weeks 5 days. So I should be able to nub spot, assuming that all is ok and baby is still well. Still thinking it's a boy though! I know plenty of people that have had 3+ boys and no girls, but also quite a lot that have had two boys, followed by a girl. I think I'll be joining the 3+ boy group!

Well, that'll do for a very long update entry! x

21 weeks 1 day - anomoly scan!

Ahhhh finally the day arrived, Squidge's anomoly scan!

As some already know from facebook, all is well with Squidge, he is healthy as he can be that they can tell by scans, which is great :) And also I stayed strong and Squidge remains a surprise! (but still saying "he" just because it's easier!) I was impressed by the scan on 2 accounts, one being that we arrived 10 minutes early for the scan and were seen straight away (so I couldn't go for a wee), and also, the woman doing the scan was brilliant! She gave such a good commentary on everything she was doing and everything that was seen, I was particularly impressed when she informed me that she would be looking at the heart next, and that it would take some concentration, so not to be concerned that she was staring at the screen with furrowed brow, if you know what I mean! She pointed out that at one point Squidge had his hand up behind his head, and showed us his little feet, and we could see his hand waving around. Ahhh it was so lovely and cute!

Unfortunately we didn't get any good profile shots of Squidge, but we got a couple face-on, 2 where he had flipped up the other way completely lol! And one of his feet and another which was the best side on shot which was a whole body shot so not very good for profile really.

Near the beginning of the scan she went down, and for a tiny moment I thought I saw a willy.... but it could have been the umbilical cord.... and at the end of the scan she was going down through the body and ended up at the feet, at the right angle for a toilet shot, and as she went through "that area" for the split second I thought I saw girly bits. But sooo so so not sure as it was so quick and they seemed so clear which a lot of girly bits AREN'T iykwim makes me think it was actually something else... so really not sure it could be either still! And I'm glad I think I saw some of each hahaha!

Here are the scan pictures!

Face on ones! He has quite a long thin face at the moment I think! In the first you can clearly see his heart!





Here's the side on view, unfortunately he's facing away slightly so you can't see his nose or a proper profile!



Here's the two upside down ones, he flipped face down part way through (probably after the sonographer vigorously jiggled my belly to get him to move so she could see his lips!) Second one is better than the first I think.





And finally, his little foot!



So so cute :) I feel so so lucky! And I love that I can feel him kicking so much! She told us the placenta was in a good position for "the big day" and it is, at the back and not low, which is fab, means I can feel lots of kicks. I'm sure Robert's placenta must have been at the front! (don't remember if they told me for his!)

But yes, little Squidge is happy and healthy! Measurements showed head circumference 6 days ahead (!!), tummy circumference 3 days ahead, and thigh length 1 day behind. So about right :) I hope you enjoyed reading and meeting little Squidge!

10 weeks 5 days - amazed

I am amazed that I am now less than 3 days away from seeing my baby for the first time. I have a busy week ahead, made sure I have had something planned each day and that is really helping I think! I went to a group this morning, was going to try and go to one this afternoon but somebody refused to go to sleep until 1.30pm, and stayed playing in his cot for about 45 minutes before he finally dropped off to sleep, so he didn't wake until 2.40pm. (group was until 3pm so not worth going as I would have got him ready and been down there and had about 10 minutes if that before we'd have to come back!)

Tomorrow I go grocery shopping with the in-laws. Who now know! It feels odd! I think because I already have a baby, and when they are here their attention is on him, so this new little baby doesn't get mentioned much! Maybe it will once I start showing lots!

Wednesday I am seeing Sarah in the afternoon. And then Thursday is the BIG DAY! I am a little nervous, but mainly excited. I think because my symptoms aren't really becoming less, what little symptoms I have are still around which are mainly tiredness and peeing! I peed TWICE in the middle of the night last night!

I occasionally expect to go to the loo and find blood... I don't know why... I sometimes feel damp, and think "uh oh I'd better check" but no, it's just that lovely increased CM in pregnancy. Which is good though! I've not had any bleeding since the morning of my midwife appointment which is almost 3 weeks away now. And that was only a little amount as per all the other times. I can't believe how much more spotting I've had this time round than with Robert. With him it was ONE small brown stained CM blob. (sorry lol). This time I've had quite frequent small wipes of red blood. About once every 2 days for the first 3 weeks since I found out, then it gradually has tapered off. Before the morning of the MW appointment it was 2 weeks since the last, so nearly 3 weeks and counting is good.

I can't believe it's nearly here! I wish in a way it was a 12 week scan and that I hadn't fibbed with my dates, but I only fibbed because I thought they were going to give scans at 14 weeks lately rather than 12 weeks lol! But it is nice having an early scan. Some people have told me I might have another if I'm under 12 weeks (which I will be!) but I'm not holding my breath for that. We shall see.

Anyway... in two days and 19 hours (roughly) I will be on that bench/couch thing with a scanner stuck in my belly! Wooop! :)

9 weeks 5 days - told Jonathan's parents

Well, we decided to tell Jonathan's parents this weekend rather than next weekend, so we could give them a bit more notice for babysitting. I guess I'm not too brilliant at keeping the secret as I thought... MIL opened the card and said "Oh!" in a knowing way, and passed it to FIL who repeated her "Oh!" and then they proceeded to tell me they suspected due to my tiredness, suspicious doctor's appointment, smell aversions and my sickness on Tuesday (which I think must have actually been a bug as that's all it amounted to, plus I had the runs in the morning along with feeling sick). Doh! But they were very pleased, and like the midwife, the first question MIL asked was whether I was going to have another home birth! I really don't know just yet.

They're going to do their best to sort out something for Robert on that Thursday, he might have to be minded by someone else for an hour or so. But it's very exciting, only 10 days to go until my scan!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going so far. The first trimester is the worst in many ways because you just don't know what's going on, or if all will be ok, and for that reason it can drag, but with Robert around, it's whizzing past, it really is! I am almost 10 weeks pregnant - a quarter of the way through my pregnancy! It feels like only a week ago I got my BFP. And I guess telling the in-laws this weekend just gone sort of makes it feel like it's the beginning again, we told them last time when I was only about 5 weeks gone, but I'm now almost 10 weeks. I can't wait for my scan! Unfortunately Sarah didn't get very good scan pictures, but I'm hoping that I will get good ones like I did with Robert, so I can nub spot! I couldn't even see a nub on Sarah's it was so blurry! :( But more than that I of course hope that baby is growing well, and is healthy and happy. My worst fear would be seeing a fetus that is only 7 or 8 weeks, because I know my baby should be 11 weeks by my scan. What's worse than a miscarriage is a missed miscarriage, where you're led to believe all is ok only to find out your baby has died, then having to have the baby removed... :( It's so so worrying, all I can do is have faith so I hate this part! And then of course it's 4-5 weeks before I get my next midwife appointment and hear the heartbeat! From 16 weeks it's ok as you hear the heartbeat, and by 15 weeks I was feeling movements. Roll on the next 6-7 weeks!

8 weeks 1 day - midwife appointment

Well, I had my midwife appointment a couple of days ago. It went really well. :) I know it's only my first one, but blood pressure was "very good" at 110/55, wee was clear, and we had quite a long chat about bits and bobs. She asked me straight out "what are you going to do with this one?" which got me wondering what she meant, but she elaborated, was I going to have another home birth this time. And while I've not made my mind up 100% I am thinking yes, but it won't be another water birth. She said to me (after I asked her for her opinion) that they would recommend a hospital birth after the way Robert's home birth went, but they would honour my wishes. And I said that with the benefit of hindsight, I think this birth would go better than Robert's, as I wouldn't give birth on my back (or reclined as I was), I would give birth squatting, and not in water.

But she went through all the normal forms, asked me about my periods, at which point I *ahem* fibbed a little, and gave my LMP as a couple of days before it actually was, and said that I didn't know how long my cycles were because *ahem* that was my first and only period since Robert was born. She dated me as 30th September due date but I know it's actually 5-7th October. I then found out in the evening when Sarah came around that she has her scan at 12 weeks not 14 like she said before... so I'll probably have mine at 11 weeks! LOL! Ah well! And then have to wait another 5 weeks after for my midwife appointment. But it'll mean we can see baby sooner, and tell the parents sooner :) So I'm looking forward to getting the mail with my scan date. :)

She also took my booking bloods then and there, which was great because it meant I didn't have to go back another day. She was pleased when I told her that I was A positive blood type "Ah good, a nice common one" lol ;)

Although I keep spotting (I had some the morning of my appointment) I have a good feeling about the pregnancy. I just know it's going to go ok. But then I think you do have to tell yourself that anyway. At least in the beginning weeks. I think the first 16 weeks, until you hear the heartbeat for the first time, are a constant worry. Until you start feeling baby move, you just have to have faith all is ok. Even when you get the scan and all is ok then, you do just worry that the next time you have a checkup they won't find the heartbeat.

With regards to my scan, I have decided not to have the nuchal test. I had it with Robert, and got my results in the post. Low risk. It was then that I realised, ok, what does that actually mean? Nothing! I might be that 1 in 1000 or whatever that has the baby with downs. It's still possible, just not probable. So this time I have decided against it. I would not terminate a downs baby. I saw the beginning of a youtube video (it was linked on the side of a 4d scan video) an anti-abortion video, and OMG I immediately regretted clicking on it. How anyone could do that to a baby, THEIR baby.. the pain the poor thing must feel. I don't know if there are more humane ways of doing it but still... it almost made me sick. But anyway, I digress. I saw no point of the nuchal test, so it will simply be a dating scan. Some people have said that some hospitals do it so that if it comes back under 12 weeks they give you another in a couple of weeks time to check the growth. I don't know if Kettering does that, but we shall see.

I'll be expecting my scan date through about a week after my midwife appointment, so maybe around next tuesday. By the time my scan date comes through I could be only 2 weeks away from having a scan! :D And I most likely will get one before Easter now, so once we get the date through we can organise things with the family :) And go and get 3 frames ready ;) I'm so excited. I can't wait to see our parents' faces! I talked for quite a long time on MSN to my mum last night, and somehow I managed to not tell her, but also not tell her about Sarah's pregnancy. If I told her that Sarah was pregnant, she'd start questioning me about how I felt about it, and if I was, or whatever, so I just didn't tell her at all :) Although part of me is wondering if Jonathan's parents are beginning to suspect, what with my doctors appointment and the fact it took an hour from when I left to when I got back (I did say I was waiting a long time lol) and my extreme tiredness, and I have been wondering if I have been talking about Sarah's pregnancy too much, or Robert's. And when the scan DOES come through, I asked the midwife if they allowed children in there, and she said they don't... so we're going to have to come up with a pretty good excuse as to why they'll babysit at a pretty weird time (in the middle of the week, possibly middle of the morning or afternoon). Any ideas??? lol! The only thing I can think of is that Jonathan tells his parents he's booked the day off and that he's taking me out as a surprise or something! And hope it doesn't fall on a Thursday as they're generally unable to help on a Thursday. Or.... Jonathan could take Robert over there in the morning, saying I'm tired, pretend he's going off to work, but come back and pick me up (or hide me in the car while he takes Robert in) and then we head off to Kettering for the scan, then go back home and Jonathan goes off to work in the afternoon, and his parents bring back Robert in the afternoon. Hmmm that could work if it's a morning appointment! If it's an afternoon appointment we might have to think again!

7 weeks 4 days - names! Argh!

I know we have another 32 weeks to think of names, but yesterday throughout the whole day I spent going through page after page of names, and finally got through the whole lot with a fairly decent sized shortlist for both boys and girls. Jonathan had a look at them (granted it wasn't a very long look) but he immediately vetoed 2 of the 9 girls names and 3 of the boys names (definitely, no way he was going to have those names kinda thing) and he also told me that he didn't actually like ANY of the boys names I'd chosen at ALL, apart from one, maybe. Which really disappointed me actually, as I'd chosen names that lept out at me, I really like all of them (although I must say the only one he "sort of" likes is the one I like least! Argh!), and I knew that a couple he would say a definite no to, but there were 3 of them I thought he would like!!! They are quite traditional names, not "made up" sounding, they've been around a long time if you know what I mean. And one that I really do really really like, he said "sounded like a girl's name"!!! That one being Darrell (or Darryl). Another one he said sounded "too Scottish" (!!) and another he said was "too old fashioned"! Those being Callum and Samuel. I really thought those 3 he would like. So I am really quite disappointed.

So I told him to go through a baby names website and come up with his own list of names, as he really didn't like any of the ones I've chosen :(

Although, good news is that the girls list I came up with had more luck! One of the names he did really like (and it wasn't Chloe lol, I didn't put that on the list because if he did he would have just said "oh, chloe, you like that so let's go for that because I really like it!" I might reconsider it in a few months time but we will see how I feel!), and it's one I really like too! He didn't like Penelope, or Jayleen, or Cailyn ("sounds too much like Caitlyn and sounds wrong") But there is one name that might well be a good girl's name contender :) I'll keep it a secret for now! But we'll see what Jonathan comes up with. I'm just so gutted that he doesn't like any of the boys names I suggested. But at the same time I don't want him to just succumb to what I want, I want him to really like it too! And feel like he's had an intregal part of choosing this baby's name. We shall have to see I guess.

Midwife appointment in 3 days! (well, 2 and a half ish) I am very eager to get my scan appointment through, and am hoping that it is in March but I fear I might be setting myself up for huge disappointment in that respect when it turns out to be April, which would mean I would either have to post-pone my dad's visit, or make another trip within the next week or two to go see him with his surprise! Maybe I'll see if I can make the appointment myself, if I can find the right phone number! Anyway that's about it for today. We're going to see Aunty Naomi whose birthday it is today, hopefully the snow won't be too much trouble! :)