Friday 27 September 2013
Everything has been ticking along beautifully since my last post. Lil Dash gets more and more active every day. She is quite a wriggly little monkey! She especially loves to move around a lot when I am relaxing in bed or on the couch, actually these days as soon as I am stationary for more than about 5 minutes she starts wriggling. I wonder if she'll be as active once she's born!
We've spent a fair amount of time over the last couple of weeks looking at day care centres. It seems kind of strange to be looking into day care when she isn't even born yet, but where we live the waiting lists are anywhere from 12-18 months so we have to get our names down early!
Most of the ones we saw were great, with two major stand outs for us. There was one however that was just awful! The place was dirty and smelt and the staff seemed uninterested, in fact one of the staff appeared to be stoned (I really hope he wasn't). There was no structure or order and the kids were running rampant. We were looking in one of the rooms and the lady taking us on our tour had to leave us at least twice to chase kids back inside the centre as the staff supervising them hadn't noticed they were chasing birds outside. It was just terrible.
Next week I have to call some more places and get our names down on more waiting lists. Given the demand for day care I've been told we should be on at least 8 waiting lists, we are currently on 4 (including the awful place, which we wouldn't accept a spot at anyway).
The plan is I'll have 11 months off work with Lil Dash. Bio Mum will have the first month off with us and then the last month off when I return to work. That will give our little girl almost a year at home before she goes to child care. Plus it gives both of us some one on one time at home with Lil Dash.
Monday was Bio Mum's birthday so on Saturday we headed off for a picnic with some friends and Bio Mum's lovely sister, brother in law and nephews. It was such a beautiful day! The weather was perfect, the company was perfect and the food was great too! I did manage to get a little sunburnt, but not too badly as I kept moving so I was in the shade. Being in the sun for too long made me feel a tad sick. I don't cope with sun and heat as well as I did pre-pregnancy! It's a little scary that I'll be at my biggest right in the middle of summer!
Sunday Bio Mum and I spent most of the day working on the nursery. We have started sanding the furniture so we can paint it, still a bit of work to go there! After that will be the sanding, cleaning and painting of the walls and trims. Then it will be the blinds going up and finally the furniture, decorations and stocking the room for our new arrival.
Here are some shots of the nursery I took this morning, clearly it is a work in progress!
The above photo shows our baby's bassinet, which was used by Bio Mum as a baby and many family babies since then. I can't wait to put our little girl down to sleep in it! We are planning on adding wheels to the legs to make it more mobile around the house!
I have to admit I wasn't such a big help to Bio Mum on Sunday, after a few hours I managed to fall asleep on the couch. I hope to be a bigger help to her this weekend coming. We have a long weekend (3 days off! Heaven!) and hope to get most of the nursery done.
Monday Bio Mum and I had the day off work in celebration of her birthday and spent a relaxing morning together at home (with me heading out for McDonalds for breakfast) and then I was out for the afternoon for my friend's mother's funeral. It was a very sad, but moving service and I was glad that I got to be there in support of my friend. She is living my worst nightmare. It certainly made me think about my own Mum a lot.
Monday night we had a quiet one and got a very special surprise from our little girl. While we were lying in bed I happened to notice a little movement in my tummy. We both watched intensely and then got to SEE Lil Dash kicking/moving! It was absolutely amazing. I so love our little girl.
Here is the 21 week bump photo (because I was slack and didn't post last week!)
And here is our 22 week bump photo (not the best photo)
I am definitely noticing a difference in my belly as it gets bigger. I tried leaning forward to put on my shoes at work yesterday and had to lean sideways as the bump got in the way! Oh man I still have approximately 17 weeks to go! How much bigger am I going to get?!
Had a lovely date night with Bio Mum last night. We headed out to Nightfest at Floriade (big flower festival for people who aren't locals) which was just lovely. I got to play with my new camera and managed to get a few shots that weren't too bad. I'm very slowly getting the hang of it.
Just went out on my lunch break to have a look at some maternity jeans. Now I might be showing my nanna nature here, but who in their right mind wants to wear maternity skinny jeans! I mean really, are they serious?! I couldn't find one pair of jeans that were even remotely flattering or comfortable! It was really disappointing. I might duck out for a little shopping this weekend and see if I can find some jeans that are actually comfy and flattering.
We're off to see Dr B again next week so I'll be sure to post again then.
Ciao for now!
Friday 13 September 2013
It's been a big week. Sunday night we had some friends over to celebrate my birthday and Bio Mum and our friend Steph made me home-made sushi! I have been craving sushi like crazy since my morning sickness subsided so it was just what I wanted. It was so yummy! Best birthday dinner ever!
Then on Wednesday, which was my actual birthday, Bio Mum got me the most amazing Nikon D3200 camera. It is incredible, but it's going to take me a while to learn how to use it properly. Miss Moo has been a reluctant model as I tried out different features of the camera. I mentioned to Bio Mum ages ago, not long after we got pregnant, that I wanted to get a really nice camera so I could take photos of our baby. It was sweet that she remembered. I can't wait to take lots and lots of photos of Lil Dash. I love my camera!
I got a nasty sore throat for my birthday, not exactly what I wanted but what can you do. I also got some lovely flowers from my workmates which made the sore throat a little easier to bear, see the picture below
All in all it was a lovely birthday!
Yesterday we went to have our 20 week scan, and aside from me almost fainting on the table, it went really well.
It's at this point I am pleased to announce that our Lil Dash is in fact a little girl!! I can't even describe how amazing it is to known that our Lil Dash is a little girl. She is growing beautifully and exactly as she should. we got to see her little hands and feet, ten fingers and ten toes all accounted for!
I think knowing she is a little girl makes her all the more real, not that she was a figment of my imagination before. She is just becoming more of a little person to me now. She is our daughter and we get to meet her soon. I can't describe how much I already love this little girl, this little piece of me and Bio Mum.
Here is a scan picture of our little girl:
She has been quite wiggly the last week or so, which is nice. She seems to like to make her presence known!
Here is the 20 week bump photo
I'm off to visit my mother and sister tonight for the weekend, which will be good. I'm not feeling so crash hot (viral sore throat thing) so it will be a fairly low key weekend. Just so long as I get to spend some time with Mum then that's the important thing.
So that's all for now. I'll post more soon!
Wednesday 4 September 2013
Firstly thank you to all who have read this blog, thank you also for your kind words and support. It really does mean a lot.
Now onto the update!
Mum is doing well at the moment and we were lucky enough to get her into a really great care facility that will be able to provide her with appropriate care that will suit her needs. It was a difficult move for her (and my sister) as it was a bit confronting to walk into a dementia specific ward and see the other residents, many of who are more advanced than Mum is. After a day of upset and distress, Mum has settled in. I'm sure the next few weeks will bring more upset and distress as she gets used to the new environment.
I do feel guilty that the move was so hard on her, but now I know that she is going to be safe and well looked after. I can live with that guilt, but I couldn't live with it had we left her where she was and something terrible had happened to her because the care she was receiving was not adequate to her needs. I will sleep easier knowing she will be safe.
I'll be flying down on 13 September to spent the weekend with Mum and my sister, so I am looking forward to that. My poor sister has to have surgery on 11 September (my birthday!) so it will also be good timing as I can help her out for a couple of days. I am planning to fly down each month until I am no longer able to travel.
It's hard to not to dwell on the fact that Mum has cancer. I try not to think about all the worst case scenarios that might happen and I am trying to stay positive and focus on Lil Dash and how excited Mum is going to be to meet her little grandchild, but it is difficult not to imagine how absolutely devastating it would be if Mum never got to meet our baby.
Let's aim for some positive thoughts and I know seeing her next week will make me feel better.
In other news yesterday Lil Dash was quite the little wriggler! It was the first time I was absolutely certain I was feeling Dash move around in there. I thought I felt something last week, but was unsure. Then yesterday morning I was sitting quietly at work and it was unmistakable as Dash moved around on and off for about 45 minutes. Then last night Bio Mum and I were sitting on the couch and I felt Dash moving around. Bio Mum put her hand on my belly and after pressing in a bit (on my poor bladder) she was able to feel Dash move too!
It is really early for us to be feeling movement, but our little one is already a bit of an overachiever so I am not all that surprised! It was really wonderful to be able to share that moment with Bio Mum.
Today we had out appointment with our OB Dr B which went really well. Everything is progressing just as it should, in fact Dash is several days a head of schedule (meaning Dash is a bit bigger, which is why we were able to feel the movement so soon).
Dr B tried to get a good look at the sex of our little one, but Dash was not so cooperative. We are all booked in for our 20 week scan next week so fingers crossed Dash behaves then and we get to find out!
Here is the 19 Week bump photo taken on 2 September 2013, please excuse the fact that you can see the bottom of my bra hanging out...I am a class act.
On Monday I went and bought my first few pairs of maternity pants after sitting at work all morning rather uncomfortable due to the tightness of my work pants. I was able to get 3 pairs of pants at Big W for $20 each, so I was happy with that! While the pants are not the most stylish, man are they comfortable! I might keep wearing them once baby is born.
This weekend we start on the nursery, which I am super excited about. I am feeling the urge to nest! I'll be sure to take some photos of our progress and post those as we go.
Sunday will be awesome as we are having some lovely people over for dinner to celebrate my birthday, but most importantly Bio Mum is making me home-made sushi!! Oh man have I been craving sushi! I am so excited to eat some it is almost insane.
Have a wonderful rest of the week and I'll post more soon!
