Wow! has it been a year already?

No, not quite a year since I last posted, but instead it's been almost a year since I stood up in the science library, felt a wee 'pop' and all hell broke loose. What a steep learning curve - after that first unreal month spent in the hospital, to coming home to that 'oh-my-god-whatinthehelldoIdonow?' feeling. Well what have I done in the intervening year?

- given birth (well DUH!) and become a mum as a result - not perhaps the experience that I hoped it would but, but as awesome as it could be in the circumstances

- been introduced to REAL sleep deprivation (there's a reason it's used as a torture technique, that's for sure)

- successfully breastfed, thanks to the wonderful support of the NICU nurses and lactation consultants at Dunedin Hospital

- became way more intimate than I ever thought possible with poo, wee and other bodily excretions

- watched a tiny (they really are! gosh I was visiting my cousin with her 1-2 month old who was twice the size of Moe at birth and all I could think was, 'OMG he's so little!'), inert bundle develop into my current crawling dynamo cool dude of a son

- managed to use cloth nappies most of the time

- gone back to university and managed to maintain reasonably good grades

- gone back to work (part time student job, good money, hours that suit, choice!)

- sold my old house, bought a new one, moved

- watched my husband step up and excel as a daddy (thanks babe!)

- got my cooking mojo back (yay!)

- had a few glasses of wine here and there

- made some awesome new buddies in the outside and online world (you know you are guys, thanks!)

- produced a son that has the same impeccable sense of timing as his mum (chicken pox for your first birthday, anyone?)

- became, I think, a much more chilled out and accepting person than I was before I became a mummy, wow what a learning experience this is turning out to be.

Whew! That's all I can think of right now...okay what shall it be for the next year then.... any ideas?

Ow ow ow.... not bees, but baby....

Hmmm - 6 odd weeks to go, and gosh, I've already got an intimate relationship with Panadol going... How will I cope if I go over term (as is statistically likely)? Oh the joy of getting up 6 odd times a night (already... I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until after the birth) and having wee Bubba A regularly punching my left kidney and using my cervix and nearby organs as some kind of trampoline.

Despite being so uncomfortable, I still managed to find the energy to go slightly crazy in the weekend and decide that the washing machine needed to be thoroughly washed (including removal of the agitator and scrubbing of all the greasy crud underneath with a toothbrush). I even got excited about the geranium at the front door and spent some time this evening (ooo it has been so lovely and balmy here in Dunedin over the past few days) pruning it carefully. It is strange, going from moments when you almost totally forget that you are pregnant, to ones when you can barely move, to having your insides treated like the unlucky player at the bottom of the ruck. Perhaps this is what allows women to feel prepared for labour (light at the end of the tunnel and all that)?

Excitement tonight when I went to take a look at a blog I regularly peruse, Frugal Me to find a somewhat lengthy comment I posted a few nights ago had been featured on the blog! Hee hee, how nice!

Anyhoo, here's the latest photo, as well as a piccie of the lovely cake Mandy made for my baby shower. 33 weeks....

Hat

Hat
Originally uploaded by mellopuffy

I've been getting this impulse to do something with my hands. That, and the request that we take along something special that we have bought/been given/planned to the final antenatal class had me looking through my copy of Stitch n' Bitch to find something that I could have a go at knitting. This wee hat popped out (easy, cute, etc.) as an idea, so off I trotted to the knitting store to buy circular needles etc.

So here it is - my first attempt at knitting in ummmmm 15 years? It took far less time than I thought it would. Seeing as there seems to be a lot of people in my family alone that are popping out sproglets, I think I might be able to keep myself busy for the next wee while.

9 weeks to go today. I'm feeling BIG (more photos to come soon) and quite a few of the preggie clothes that I have been wearing for the past 14 weeks or so are even beginning to get tight! Went up to my parents place in the weekend as Mum organised a baby shower for us. A really lovely chance to see family. And mum ordered yummy cookies and cupcakes for the party which was awesome (I'm such a cupcake fiend!). One of our oldest family friends confided that in all her years, she had never actually been to a baby shower before! Everyone was really generous, which is such a great help (even using trade me, getting the basics is pretty expensive... though I must admit I am a sucker for slings etc in pretty fabrics).

My cousin N had her first baby in the weekend (on the other side of the world from here...). I got a few texts as her labour progressed (fantastically, she managed a 10 minute second stage of labour - I should be so lucky!), and then finally, a really neat message after she had taken her new baby girl, Emily, home, about how amazing she is.... I'm coming over all emotional now!

But seriously, the enormity of it all is beginning to sink in. I'm impatient to see what our little person is going to be and look like, but at the same time I guess a bit apprehensive about how things are going to go for the rest of the pregnancy and of course, during the labour. Our ante-natal classes are finished, and we're now seeing the midwife fortnightly. Baby A is apparently already standing on its head which is good. I like the feeling of knowing what it is that is actually poking and prodding me from the inside (I know where the legs and arms are now). So wish me luck!

25 weeks and counting....

Mel preggie belly 25 weeks(1).jpg
Originally uploaded by mellopuffy

Yup I'm getting big now.... on the whole have been feeling a lot better than I did in the first trimester, but definitely get tired easy! Not as fast on my pins either (and I have a fabulous waddle going on too lol). Add to that a niggling sore muscle on one side of my groin/inner thigh that won't get better. Might try some panadol before bed tonight to see if it helps.

We finished tidying the study/nursery and spare room/study in the weekend finally, so will be able to put some before/after photos up soon. The cot arrives tomorrow (hopefully) and I scored a change table as well off trade me again over the weekend. So we are just about sorted in the furniture department. The wriggling does feel strange, and I still find it a bit hard to actually connect those scan photos with the activity going on in my belly. I am starting to look forward to meeting Baby A when he/she appears outside of my body though (that's my impatient side showing). I better knuckle down - there's a whole semester to go before then!

Back to skool...

Tonight Phil and I went to our first ante-natal class, yay! Run by the Dunedin Parent's Centre, I get the feeling that it will be well useful. And we have a great group - all due within a month of each other of course, but most of us around the same age as well.

Tonight was mostly about getting to know each other, but we did do a wee exercise at the end where the boys and girls went into separate rooms and filled out a big piece of paper about the physical, emotional and lifestyle changes we are going through...

No prizes for guessing what came first on the boys list ;)

Half way there....

Well today we have made it to the official half way point - 20 weeks gestation exactly. The anatomy scan was on Monday, and Mum came down from Christchurch to attend with us (lots of oooo's and ahhhh's - things have changed a lot since I was in the womb). It was quite awesome - the sonographer spent about 20-odd minutes zooming around looking at and measuring just about every part of Cleitus - all the while studiously avoiding 'down there' as P and I would like to have a surprise when our wee bundle enters the world. We got a good few pictures and a DVD of the whole scan as well, which I have been boring my friends with over the past few days. Will try to pop up one of the profile pics in the next few days, they are so detailed! All was well, though the sonographer did observe that Baby A is about the size of a 21 week old foetus at present - so we may have a big baby on the way! (not so sure if I like the sound of that...:) ) - I reckon it must be something to do with all the Milo I've been drinking, lol!
In other not so exciting news, only 2 exams to go (all over on Monday) and then I have 2-3 weeks of blissful holiday (aka not feeling guilty cause I should really be doing some study). It's been a hard semester, and frustrating getting to this point feeling like I can't really make up for the lack of work I did whilst morning sick. Despite knowing that, I know I will still be really disappointed at myself when my grades come in...
The nesting instinct has also thoroughly kicked in, hence the paint query a few weeks ago. For those who could see a difference, we are going with the Rickshaw as it is a warmer colour. We also have new carpet going down next week, insulation going in the ceiling, and various electrical repairs being undertaken as well (primarily outside lights so our guests don't have to embark on a suicide mission when they leave our house after evening visits). Bathroom plans on hold due to cost :(, but if the house is much warmer, I don't think I will mind so much - will try and put a fan in the bathroom ceiling to do something about the condensation though for the interim. I've also managed to buy a baby buggy (trade me), a new Fridge/Freezer (Smiths City)and sold our old fridge (trade me again). I am now an official Trade Me addict! Though when they came to deliver the new fridge, we discovered the box had been labelled wrong and now we are going to have to wait even longer for the new fridge. The delivery guys were mightily peeved, after lugging the thing all the way up our hill! Hopefully the people that bought our old one won't mind too much about the further delay... if they do, I'm bloody contacting F&P and asking for a discount to cover the lost $$ !!!

Hey where you been? It's been so long.....

Mel preggie belly 15 weeks
Originally uploaded by mellopuffy

Well some of you might be wondering about the long period (ha ha, NOT! - excuse the pun) between posts. As you can see from the lovely picture attached, in the interim I have become the incubator of a baby bun! It's just that I've had this spot of bother with morning sickness (ha ha, who ever named it that - I might kill them ;) ), and haven't felt like doing much of anything. Have managed to keep it together for uni, but that's about it. Thankfully the 8-10 weeks of all-day car sick feeling and occasional random vomit seems to have ended now (I really really feel for those friends of mine that have been through worse than what I have...!)

So I'm currently at the 17 week stage. Baby A is due at the end of October (right in the middle of exams) - and no, we don't know what the sex is and do not plan to find out until B-Day.

Early days were a bit fraught - we had some endometrial bleeding at around 5 weeks which was understandably scary but thankfully we got through that okay, and all has been well at the 8 and 12 week scans. We got an excellent photo at 12 weeks which I will post as soon as I can find somewhere to scan the thing. Phil has named it 'Cleitus the Foetus' for now - don't know what we'll do if it's a girl ;) . On the whole I have been reasonably comfortable, my lower abs complain quite a bit and lying on my back just feels plain weird. At night I have quite a few visits to the loo (in preparation for night feeds they say). I went to aqua-aerobics last week which was the first proper exercise I've done for quite a few months and felt fantastic afterwards so I will definitely have to keep that up.

Our next scan is in a couple of weeks. Mum is coming down to go along with us which will be great.

In other news - we have a heat pump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (large number of exclamation marks are an attempt to convey the magnitude of this new addition). I don't think I really realised just how cold our house has been until it's not any more - I mean I was finding it pretty frickin' freezing getting up to 7 degrees C in the kitchen, so now to find its 14C at 7 am is pure pure bliss! Once insulation is added to the roof cavity (I know! We have NONE there at present, why on earth the previous owners were happy to drop an easy ton a room on fancy carpet but not $1200 on ceiling insulation, i do not know...) it should be even cosier. Add to that, the new rug in the living room, plans to update the bathroom, new carpet in the spare room, preparation for a nursery etc etc, some might accuse me of having a spot of the nesting bug!

So all is well in the Archer-Orchard household at present - hope youse all are well yourselves... more photos to follow ;) - Mel