Doodle or Hoo-hoo?

We just got back from holidays in Merimbula (hence the absence of blog posts).  We had a great time, but more on that in another post.  I have something more exciting to share:  Today, we found out the sex of our unborn baby.  So, do you want to know what it is??

We walked to the hospital and found the waiting room full of other soon-to-be mums, uncomfortable in their seats with their full bladders, unhappy that they had to wait, their bladders filling more and more with each passing moment.  The girl next to me told me her appointment was 40 minutes ago and she still hadn’t seen the sonographer (is that what they’re called?).  Sigh.  It’s cruel to make pregnant women wait with our full bladders, not allowed to pee.

Somehow, I got called about 5 minutes after arriving.  All the other mums-to -be were still sitting there, waiting their turn.  Hey, I’m not complaining, I don’t know how they figure out who gets to see the doctor when, so it’s not like I jumped the queue.

When we got in the ultrasound room, they had a tv screen above the bed so we could easily see what was going on on the ultrasound without craning my head at an awkward uncomfortable angle to see the screen the technician was working from.

He showed us the head, the heart, the backbone, the kidneys, the stomach, a couple of 3D shots of the head, they showed us everything.  What, you want to know about those parts?

Drumroll please….

“It’s a boy!” he told us.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised, I always knew it was a boy.”  I told him.  I really wasn’t surprised.  I did always figure it was a boy.

“See, you’re not going to be surrounded by girls for the rest of your life.”  I told Aaron.  He grew up with his sister, his mum, and his grandma.  Now he has me, Hannah, and Grandma.  Always surrounded by girls.  It will be good for Aaron to have another boy around.

We are so excited!!!!  Now to paint the room and get lots of boy things.

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Dear boobies:

Time since birth: 3 months
Total weight loss: I decided I’m not going to update that every week from now on. I’ll just let you know when I get back to normal

Dear Boobies,
Please refrain from leaking while I sleep. I don’t particularly enjoy waking up in a puddle of milk (nor does Aaron enjoy trying to cuddle me while sleeping only to be met with sticky milk). I fed Hannah only 4 hours before waking up in said puddle. Why would you leak on me like that. I really thought we were past that, it’s been so long since you previously made puddles in the bed. How about you go back to waking me up when you are full by feeling sore and engorged, instead of leaking everywhere? I promise I’ll be happy when you wake me up that way. Ok, maybe not happy, but not cranky.
Thanks,
Sheri

Pllffttt. Grandma and I looked at each other and giggled. We were with Hannah in the waiting room at the cardiologists office. Hannah gave us a cheeky grin and did another big fart. We couldn’t contain ourselves this time and burst out laughing. Hopefully everyone else in the waiting room knew it was the baby making such noises and not me or Grandma, but we couldn’t stop laughing anyway. PPPLLFFTTT!! Hannah was trying to blow Grandma’s lap off. Tears started rolling down my cheeks from so much laughing. Changing her diaper, I saw the biggest poo Hannah had ever done. It was a 4-wiper poo. I usually only need to use 1 or 2.

The Cardiologist called us in and I took Hannah’s shirt off. He got out the ultrasound thingy mabobby, put it on her chest, and she giggled. Amused, the cardiologist leaned down to try to get her to laugh again. Bang! Hannah kicked him in the face. She thinks it’s amusing to kick people (probably because we laugh when she kicks her little legs, and we laugh harder when she kicks us with her little legs). I couldn’t help but laugh, and then explained to the cardiologist that it was a game we play.

Hannah was very well behaved during the exam, and the little hole in her heart has amazingly shrunk a little bit. It may close completely, but even if it doesn’t, it’s unlikely to do her any harm. We don’t have to go back until she is 2 years old. As soon as the cardiologist was done, Hannah decided she was hungry and screamed the house down.

In the waiting room, I whipped out my boob. Grandma tried to shield me with the pram. Judging by the horrified expression on her face, I’d say that in Grandma’s day, people didn’t just whip their boobs out in public to feed their babies. I don’t mind feeding Hannah in public, but there are some people who I would not feed in front of. Top of the list: all of my male relatives. Also, the ministers at church. For some reason, I just couldn’t do it in front of them, it would be weird.

Playing with Hannah on the bed, Daddy sat her up. She looked pretty stable, so Aaron let go. Hannah sat up un aided for about 30 seconds. I rushed to get the video camera, but she doesn’t like to perform with the camera out. I think the camera itself is far too fascinating. She loves technology too (Daddy’s girl!), always grabbing at and touching keyboards, laptops, mobile phones and ipods. She’s a clever girl!

It was good being heavily pregnant during winter rather than summer so I didn’t get too hot, but there is one drawback. The electricity bill! At $496, the electricity bill for keeping Hannah warm was our highest ever.

35 weeks

Pregnancy: 35 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 15 Kilos (33lbs)
Baby size (head to butt): 31cm (12.2in)
Baby size (head to foot): 45cm (17.7in)
Baby weight (approx): 2.3kg (5lbs)

I finally had my do I need a caesarian ultrasound on Wednesday. The appointment started out ok, the technician checked Mushi’s size and measurements, which were all spot on what they should be, with Mushi’s head down, and bum pretty much right under my boob (so where my stomach has migrated to, I’m not quite sure), laying on his/her side. I asked if I get a disc full of nice images like I did at my other ultrasounds (which were performed elsewhere, this one was at the hospital). She said no. Darn. I couldn’t even see the screen as she was performing the ultrasound. At the other place, the screen is positioned so both the mom and the technician can see it, so the mom doesn’t have to just stare at the ceiling the whole time. Then I was told I needed an internal ultrasound (“transvaginal” I believe is the technical term…). Not again. I’m not really a fan of being probed in my bits, but if it means I don’t have to have a c-section, then go for it. I had to put on one of those open at the butt gowns and then hello camera (well, ultrasound instrument). Mushi’s head is right down in my pelvis, so the technician tried to push the head up a little to allow some amniotic fluid to get under his head. Mushi was having none of that though. He seems quite comfortable down there and refused to move his head (and instead protested by kicking me in the ribs). The technician was amazed at how much Mushi was moving during the ultrasound. I told her he is playing games. Usually when you push on my stomach that means it’s playtime, and Mushi pushes back. Clever little baby. Anyway, after much prodding, the end of the placenta could not be seen at all by the internal ultrasound as it was too far away (which is a good thing). In the end, it was determined that my placenta is 7cm from my cervix, and no scheduled caesarian is needed. My placenta used to be 7mm from my cervix, so that was great news.

Thursday was my last day of work. I finally get to sleep in!!!! They took me out to lunch and gave me a cute little polar fleece blanket with a zebra on it for the baby. Now I get to rest up before Mushi is born, get the room ready, etc.

I mentioned before that I like surprises, but not surprise shots. Well, I got another surprise shot on Friday. I really wish they would warn me. Maybe something like “on your next visit, you will need to get another anti-D shot.” Although, then I may have been stressing about getting the shot (I HATE needles!), so maybe I don’t want warning. The Jury is still out. This time the midwife asked me if I wanted it in the arm or the butt. What? I have a choice? I didn’t get a choice last time. She said she likes to give people a choice. I asked her which hurt less, and she said the butt. Butt it is then. Last time it didn’t really hurt when I was getting it, and it didn’t hurt at all afterwards. This time, it was quite painful, and my butt was sore for hours afterwards. I think maybe that particular midwife needs some more practice giving shots. She was quite young, so I suppose she was not as experienced as the older midwife I had for my last butt shot. Luckily I don’t have to have another until after Mushi is born. Word on the street is they won’t be routinely giving negative blood type pregnant women anti-D anymore because it takes too many blood donations (they are made with blood or platelets or some part of human blood) to make them and there aren’t enough donors. There also isn’t a huge chance that the baby’s blood will mix with the mothers before birth if you haven’t had any sort of bleeding or anything. The midwife said that Mushi is thriving in there. I never tire of hearing that. The ultrasound tech said after taking all measurements, heart rate, etc. that he/she is perfect. Good baby.

I had my first baby shower on Saturday. The Jess (my sister in law) organised it, and had it at her and Grandma’s house. The greek in The Jess (I call her the Jess, she calls me The Sheri, that is just how we are) really came out, and there was food everywhere. I certainly wasn’t complaining! I even got to eat oreos. Finally, I’ve only been craving them for like 2 months. I didn’t want to buy any because I knew I would eat the entire pack. We played some funny games. Guests had to team up look through magazines, and then cut and tape onto a piece of paper to make their idea of what Mushi will look like. Oh was that funny. There were 2 comical entries, and one realistic one. The realistic one was really good, they even had the eyebrows and hair. I got lots of good presents as well, which is really helpful considering all we really have so far is clothes. My host Mum Linda even made us the cutest quilt for the cot, as well as a cute little knitted sweater. My host sister Lauren knitted us some booties and a beanie that match the sweater. Awww….. At the end, everyone had to take some yarn and cut a length that they thought would be the measurement of my belly. Everyone but Lauren was WAY off!!!! The Jess’ string was nearly as long as she is tall (she’s not that tall, but still…). Come on people, I’m not that fat! Most pieces were at least a foot longer then necessary. Lauren was only off by about 3 inches. She said she guesstimated how big she would be if she were pregnant, and then halved that. You’re funny Lozza! FYI, I’m 97cm (38in) around the belly at the moment. The month I got pregnant, my waist was 60cm (23in). Of course now I’m measuring the biggest part of my stomach, and then I was measuring my waist, the smallest part. I don’t want to measure my hips/butt. I’m not game enough to see how much bigger they are.

My stomach looks even funnier now. Apart from the battle zone that is my belly button, I now have a line running all the way down the middle of my belly. It looks like I have dipped a very small paintbrush in the cheapest, most orange, ugly self tanner I could find, and then drew a line all the way from the top of my belly to my bikini line (well, I’m assuming it goes all the way down to there, but since I haven’t actually been able to see my bikini line for some months now, that is debatable. Lucky it’s not summer, fixing up my bikini line doesn’t go so well when you can’t actually see it). According to the pregnancy magazine I was reading on the weekend, this line usually appears around 14 weeks if you are going to get it. Some women don’t. I guess I’m just a late bloomer.

34 weeks

Pregnancy: 34 weeks 2 Days
Total weight gain: 14 kgs (30.86lbs) but I did weigh myself at night rather then first thing in the morning before I’ve eaten or had anything to drink….
Baby size (head to butt): 30cm (11.81in)
Baby size (head to foot): 45cm (17.71in)
Baby weight: 2.1kgs (4.6lbs)

34 weeks. Wow, not long now! Good thing too because I just keep getting bigger! I can’t believe I have gained 30 pounds! If I sit too long, my back starts to ache, if I stand or walk for more then about 2 minutes, my feet swell. If I lie down (on my side of course, wouldn’t want to cut off blood flow to Mushi) too long, my hips hurt. Lucky for me, my couch seems to be quite comfortable for long term sitting (with me sideways, taking up the entire couch, with my legs extended). Some chairs/benches/couches make me ache in 1 minute flat. The very worst culprit: the pews at church. Luckily we only have 6 more weeks until I can be comfortable in the pews once again. After lunchtime, I will have reflux for the rest of the day and half the night as well. I suppose this is not surprising considering that my stomach is now smushed way up, and I’m pretty sure is sitting nearly level with my boobs. It doesn’t seem to hold much anymore either, and I can never finish my dinner. When you look at this depiction of a 34 week baby, you can understand why:
Ok, that little copy and paste thing didn’t seem to work… I’ll put it on the side with all the other photos. Sometimes cheeky little Mushi likes to kick me in the actual stomach, which really doesn’t bode well in the reflux department.

I think when Mushi gets older, he/she will really like to play games with us. Already, Mushi plays games with Daddy while Mommy is sleeping at night. Aaron told me that when he comes to bed, he puts his hand on my belly and then Mushi will kick him and have a good old time for ages. How I can sleep through all of this, I’m not sure, but do. Mushi also likes to play the “poke my limb” game. He sticks out a limb (not sure which one, it’s really hard to tell!) so we can feel it from the outside, then we push it, he takes it away, and then returns it in another spot where we poke it again (and repeat). Sometimes I think it’s an elbow, sometimes a foot, but as I said, really hard to tell!

plate. Anyone who knows me well will be quite shocked/flabbergasted/amazed at something I did this week. I, Sheri Thomson, tried beef. That’s right, you read that correctly. It’s very hard to argue with Aaron’s logic. He said to me “aren’t roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes some of your favourite foods?” Why yes, they are, I really like them (we had them this week, prompting this little discussion). “And you used to always say you hated them until you tried them a couple of years ago.” Uh oh, I see where this is going…. “So if you thought you hated potatoes and sweet potatoes because you didn’t like them when you were little, then you tried them and loved them, then maybe you will like beef if you try it.” Slam dunk, how can I disagree with that?? We made an agreement that next time we went to Bento-ya (a good excuse to go there really), he would get the teriyaki beef and me the chicken (because that is what I get every time we go there because I have never tasted such good teriyaki in all of my life), and I will try some of the beef. Nervousness rising…. Also, in exchange for trying the beef, Aaron would buy me some gelato (mmm…). The day in question came all too soon and I found myself with a bit of beef staring at me from between my chopsticks. “Keep an open mind,” Aaron said “you’re not going to like it if you convince yourself you won’t before you try it.” Ok, open mind. He decided to mark this fateful day with a photo of me about to eat the beef. Ok, just go for it (I know these thoughts should be in italics, but you know what? I just can’t be bothered). I put scary beef in my mouth and started chewing. That’s right, I didn’t just swallow it, I actually chewed it (not like when I started eating peas…put some in, swallow whole, wash down with water, repeat). At first, I was pleasantly surprised. I quickly realised though, that the pleasant surprise was just the teriyaki sauce coating the beef. Once I got past that, I really didn’t like the beef. I did swallow though, so that in itself is an accomplishment. Now we know I definitely do not like beef. Not because I tried it when I was like 2 and didn’t like it then, but because I actually tried it in adulthood. It’s been about 24 years since I last tried beef, and sorry beef, I still don’t like you. You can moo on someone elsesGelato, here I come!!!!!!!!!!

Disturbingly, I saw what Aaron would look like pregnant this week. The men were encouraged to try on the “sympathy belly” at our antenatal class. I asked the teacher how much the belly weighs, and she said it would be fairly heavy as it represents a nearly full term baby. We were all curious after that, so she went off to find the exact amount in the brochure or manual. “8 kilos,” she said. We all laughed. That is a lot less then any one of us has gained. Later they showed us a video of babies bonding with their parents. Even when they are newborns, they will look into your eyes for a couple of minutes. It was so cute! I keep finding myself getting cluckier by the day. I suppose it’s all the hormones.

we went again (after Aaron picked me up in We have decided that we need to either get rid of the computer, or tv to make room for a small home gym to keep us fit and healthy. First we thought maybe we would get rid of the tv, get a tv tuner card for the computer, and get rid of the tv and stand (or keep both, but get a small computer desk to put in our room). Off to IKEA we went. We looked at some computer desks, but then realised that we probably should have measured the proposed desk area before purchasing. After navigating the maze filled to the brim with crazy shoppers that is IKEA, we went home. Next we decided that we would get a big tv with the same resolution as Aaron’s monitor so he can still play games on it by plugging it into his computer, but we can still use it as a tv. Off to IKEAParramatta as I had a girlie night with The Jess and Romana. It took us about 20 minutes to find each other in Parramatta. Would have been easier except the Church Street mall cuts Church street in two and I was confused as to which side Aaron and the car were on…). We picked out a nice compact tv stand that would leave lots of room for our future exercise bike and weights, as well as a little dresser for Mushi. Completing the maze once more, we finally found ourselves at the self service pick up point (for those of you who have not yet ventured to IKEA, you find what you want from the displays, write down the aisle and row number, then go to the giant warehouse and pick out the boxes yourself). First up, new tv unit. Out of stock. That’s ok, let’s get Mushi’s dresser. Out of stock. We must have good taste. Another fruitless trip to IKEA. Lucky though, Aaron got the new big tv later that day and I don’t think it would have fit on the stand we chose. Apparently we didn’t learn our lesson about measuring from our first trip. We did at least get a very cheap breakfast, mine was $2.00 and Aaron’s $2.50. I think maybe the eggs were made from powder, but I suppose that is to be expected for such a cheap meal.

Later that day, I went to Equip, a Christian women’s convention/conference at Darling Harbour. I have never seen so many women in my entire life. I went to the elective on Hospitality, which I found quite good. After, they had an afternoon tea, but no food. Mel, Katherine and I decided we were quite hungry, so, tea mugs in hand, 10 minutes until the main talk, name badges on, we set out to the shopping centre food court. We found a Macca’s (McDonald’s for you non aussies), and finally, we could satisfy our tummies. I’m sure people thought we were quite strange walking around the shopping centre with non disposable tea mugs. The talk started with, well, I’m not quite sure what you call it really, maybe dramatic reading? There was someone reading for each character in the book of Esther. There was also a narrator, who I think, should have a career in movie trailer voice overs. He was just that good. The talk was very good also. The only problem was I couldn’t get comfortable. Even though the chairs were nice and cushy, no matter how I sat, some part of me would be very uncomfortable, usually my back. I’m just getting too big and awkward I think! I suppose traipsing around Parramatta as well as IKEA earlier that day didn’t help things. I’m still not sure why, but as we were coming out of the conference, there were fireworks going off in the harbour. Some from stationary platforms (or something) out in the water, and others off the back of 2 jetskis. It wasn’t a holiday or anything, but we were complaining, everyone loves fireworks! We ate dinner at Wagamama, where, of course, I got the teriyaki. Not as good as Bento-ya though. As I said no one beats the teriyaki at Bento-ya. Embarrassingly, my nose decided it was a good time to start dripping blood. At least we had all finished our meals by that time. Nothing to see her folks, just pregnant woman nose bleed! By the time I got home, I think my legs were about to fall off. For the first time, the feet swelling went past my feet, and all the way up to my knees. I think I walked around way too much that day.

Tomorrow I have my last ultrasound to see if my placenta has nicely moved itself up. I hope so, otherwise I will need a scheduled Cesarean! I am looking forward to seeing Mushi again though. Hopefully they won’t accidentally tell me Mushi’s sex. I’ll have to tell them when I first arrive that we don’t want to know.