Baby Development

Age of Fetus — 10 weeks

Both you and the baby are growing right along. By now you have probably gained 2-4 pounds. The baby's palate has formed. The palate divides the mouth from the nose, making it possible to eat and breathe at the same time.

Other changes that are happening:

* Your baby's fingernails and toenails are beginning to grow.
* The baby's brain has the basic structure it will have at birth.
* The baby's digestive tract is becoming functional and developing the ability to push through food.

Baby's Size (head to rump) this week: About 2.5 inches.
Right now your baby is about the size of a billiard ball.

We Be Back

Okay well techincally we got home on Friday afternoon after spending a VERY romantic evening at the plush Nara Resort at Seaworld, and of course, the half day spent AT Seaworld. Yes I have pictures and yes I SHOULD be Flickring them as I type, but NO I'm not. At least not yet. And I have no reason, other than the fact that I'm lazy . . . and I'm waiting for D to email me the pictures HE took because I can't access them through the network because my network card is dying and so is my motherboard and CPU. Infact, I have no idea how I'm managing to get this post out because I'm expecting the machine to conk and die ANY SECOND now.

I need a new computer. Anyone feel rich enough to send me one?

Anyway I've digressed. We had the most AMAZING time, though Seaworld on the GoldCoast is not nearly as big or as impressive as Seaworld Orlando. (sigh) So that was disappointing. Also, there isn't much to see outside of sharks and dolphins. Seaworld Florida had SO MUCH MORE to it. But it was a lovely day all the same.

The highlights of our getaway will be posted in picture format shortly. Stay Tuned.

PS: There were no Emperor Penguins. Only Fairy Penguins. And they are neither gay nor have wings. But they are rather cute and I did get some snaps of them. If you want to see the Emperor Penguins, you'll have to take a squiz at the dotPhoto album I have linked beneath the Flickr album.

** edit: Okay uploaded the photos to Flickr. Well, some, anyway. The highlights of the getaway have not yet been posted.

Getting Away

We're going to Seaworld and we're SOOOOO excited! Prepare yourselves for a ton of pictures over the coming weekend.

Anyone want to see anything specific?

Baby Development

Age of Fetus — 9 weeks

Your belly continues to grow outward. To support you and the baby from this week on, you will experience a 40-50% total increase in blood volume (most of the gain is in the liquid called plasma and not the red blood cell count).

Other changes that are happening:

* Your baby's head now makes up more than half of its entire length.
* Although weight will fluctuate a great deal, your average gain in the second trimester is about 1 pound a week.
* The baby's skin, though very thin and transparent, is forming and becoming thicker.

Baby's Size this week: About 1.5 to 2.5 inches
Right now your baby is about the size of a lemon.

* * * * * * *

I am a little confused by this. I went for my ultrasound last week, and I called them up on Friday to get the results. My Dr wasn't terribly clear on the whole thing, and told me that if we go by the ultrasound, I would be 9 weeks along. If we go by the first day of my last period, I would be almost 12 weeks along. (11 weeks and a couple of days) Isn't that typically what they go on? I understand about the 2 week gap, so if we go by the first day of my last period, then this coming week would mark my 12th week of pregnancy, making the baby about 10 weeks. Does that seem right, or am I dong this completely wrong? I'm going in to see him tomorrow regarding a previous infection, so I'll ask him then what's REALLY going on, and maybe he'd best refer me to an OBGYN.

My jeans are continuing to feel tighter and tighter, particularly after I've eaten, and EVERYONE has commented on how much bigger my boobs have gotten. It's great to see they're paying attention to SOMETHING. I'm not showing yet, but I'm getting to the point where I'm feeling full throughout the day, so much so that I'm not always eating when I should and it's only after the nausea kicks in that I realize I haven't eaten and hurry off to do so. Thankfully that doesn't happen frequently - I think maybe three times so far - and I'm generally eating 6 smallish meals per day, and tons of apples. (And now oranges)

Ladies are still wicked itchy. I'm so looking forward to when THAT stops. Honestly, it's driving me insane. I stopped using the Hydrocortisone cream because it was drying them out and making them MUCH itchier, but I am still using the DermaVeen moisturizer which really does help. I've also read about a vinegar therapy that is supposed to be really amazing and stops the itching almost right away. I'm almost ready to try that.

My eyelids have gotten itchier again as well. They had actually stopped itching for a week or so, and have flared up again, as has my neck. It looks as though I have tiny patches of exzema on my neck and eyelids, and under my left arm. My stomache has been itching on and off, and I have cocoa butter to help combat that but jeez . . . I'm so sick of the itching!!!

I'm not sleeping well anymore either. I bought the What to Expect When You're Expecting book and according to that, starting from next month I shouldn't be laying on my belly or my back to sleep. I've been practising not doing that, and it's really bloody difficult. D woke me up last night and told me to roll over because I had been sleeping on my stomache. I'm trying to get in the habit of sleeping on my sides, but it's not at all comfortable and I find I'm waking up with an aching back and hips. To combat this, last night I ended up sleeping with a pillow between my legs, and while that effectively stopped me from getting up numerous times to go pee through the night, it didn't really alleviate the ache in my back or hips. I'm a little unsure as to what to do about THAT now.

Otherwise, the pregnancy is going very well and I have no major complaints (save the itching). I'm not experiencing any cravings per se, at least not for any one type of food. I find that I'm going through stages of "three" with certain foods, however. For example, I really really wanted those Fillet-o-Fish burgers from McD's, and I wanted those three days in a row. Then it was meat pies for three days. Then spinach and cheese rolls. It's all very unusual for me, but I'm flowing with it the best I can. I figure that if I just listen to what my body wants, I'll feed it accordingly and all will be well - unless my body starts asking for really weird stuff like clams, in which case I'll forcefully IGNORE it.

Baby Development

Age of Fetus - 8 weeks

Your baby continues to grow rapidly this week. The baby's fingers and thumbs are short and webbed but distinctly visible. Toe rays are developing in the feet and the retina is fully pigmented. The external ears are now fully developed as well.

Other changes that are happening:

* Your amniotic sac is about the size of chicken's egg.
* The baby's tongue is fully formed and taste buds are forming.
* The arms are lengthening and able to bend at the elbow.

Baby's Size this week (head to rump): 1.25 to 1.75 of an inch
Right now your baby is about the size of a walnut shell.

Awww

I should be banned from looking at pictures like these because inevitably, I want one. Or two. Or four.

How It All Happens

Incase you didn't know how pregnancy happens, here is an indepth look. Keep your speakers on! (and probably not work-friendly)

Linked from Unwanted Commentary

"I'm not a puppet - I'm a real boy!"

Okay so I left you yesterday with the promise of some announcement today. I suppose I could keep you in suspense and not share it, and while that would totally be my style, I won't do that. ;)

I'm pregnant!!!! Join with me in a chorus of "OH MY GOD!" Yes yes, it's unbelievable but completely true. I've known for about two weeks now, and today we had our first ultrasound. We got to see the baby - he's about 3cm long and his heartrate was 167 beats per minute. He's soooooooo small and sooooo cute!!! We have pictures however they're abit darker than I thought they would have been so I'm not sure how well they're going to scan. I will try though, and if I can, I will post them.

This is such a huge thing for us, particularly me really, because for so many years I was convinced that I could not have children. After spending so many (8) years with someone and never being able to conceive, that was the only conclusion that I could come to. I had resigned myself to not ever being able to fall pregnant, that I was actually in denial for the first 7-8 weeks of the pregnancy. Part of me actually knew I was, and the rest of the family knew I was, but because of my previous relationship I couldn't let myself believe that I was. For EIGHT weeks I put off every little symptom as something else:

My itchy ladies! Rather than believing I was pregnant, I chose to think I had breast cancer. Hello, someone slap me please. With my constant loo breaks I chose to think I had some kind of bladder infection or something. The nausea I had whenever I thought about food and wasn't hungry, I chose to think was some weird weather related thing.

So it was kind of a downer when the Dr came in and said, "Well, it's positive." referring, of course, to the test itself, and I immediately got hyper with excitement but neither Mum nor D did. ("We KNEW this already. This is not news to US.") I couldn't help but laugh. And then, after it finally sunk in, and I wiped away my tears, did they both get a little more excited with me.

Well! So that's my announcement. We are so unbelievably excited and happy and overjoyed and elated. I'm due in February though not sure when, but we're even MORE excited our first born will be an Aquarian. And I'll be having him here (we both have a really strong notion we're having a boy) in Australia as well, before we move back to the States.

So who saw that coming?

Cold Tuesday!

I should create my own design for this site, I really should. It's so bland and boring and just sad that it's almost embarrassing considering all of my other previous sites have been much prettier. Part of me much doesn't care though about how it looks - there are far more important things going on in my life that are being tended to, but I have this little niggling voice inside that won't go away. It's chanting: Redesign, redesign, redesign. I have 2 options that I can see: 1) I can kill myself to shut up the voice, or 2) I can redesign.

Yesterday started out so amazingly well and ended up just as amazingly well. D made pancakes for everyone which were so incredibly yummy; I finished off my set of meds for the infection; I had 2 absolutely yummy lettuce/tomato/cheese sandwiches for lunch and we had Burger King (Hungry Jacks) for dinner last night, followed by a hot fudge sundae. Oh god it was good.

My ladies are still sore. Still very itchy and because I've still been scratching like a maniac, I had to have a manicure last night to rid myself of the unwanted razors on the end of my fingertips. My nails were then filed down and painted a very pretty pale pink. I'm all about pink lately.

Oh. And one more thing. I have an announcement to make. I will make that announcement tomorrow.

Strong Scents

I woke up this morning, twice, to the smell of breakfast sausages and ketchup. The scary part? Nobody was actually cooking them.

Too Excited

I believe I have found a new favourite website: Vegas.com. Whoever said that Vegas had nothing to offer except gambling, was full of shit. What an absolutely AMAZING city! I can't wait to go and we're setting our sights on earlyish next year. I'm SO excited I can't even believe it. This trip will coincide with another trip as well, so I'll keep you updated on that as it progresses.

Feeling Blah

I thought I woke up feeling okay this morning, but after only 10 minutes of being awake, I was snapping at people and all cranky and irritable. I've got no idea why, except that maybe it's because I'm tired of the constant scratching, I'm tired of having to get up every couple of hours to go to the bathroom and ontop of that, the meds I was taking for my initial infection has brought about ANOTHER infection so now I need to take more stuff to combat THAT. I think I'm just slowly wearing out.

I have a scan on Wednesday which I'm not really looking forward to. I have to drink a full litre of water before I go in and I'm not allowed to go to the bathroom until after it's done. Joy joy. Really though I should be happier about it and I wish I was in all honesty, but I'm not. I guess that's just me being hormonal or something, I don't know.

Anyway I'm hungry so I'm going to go find something to eat.

Happy Thursday!

Had a fantastic day today. We got up at the crack of dawn (7am qualifies) to go for a drive into Queensland to get the car rego'd and insured, plus transferred into D's name from the previous owner. Surprisingly we only had to wait roughly 30mins and then it was all overwith and we were on our way home.

We stopped home for a couple of hours before I decided it would be really neat to go back to Sizzlers for lunch, and D lovingly agreed, so we ventured back out with my brother in tow. It was a fantastic time and as usual, I ate way too much. But it was great and D played around with his camera taking photos of the food and of me. <3

Yesterday I went "fun" shopping and bought 2 black skirts - one drawstring cargo design, the other a slinky black and very chic. Now I just need some shoes to go with them, and I'll be set since I already bought a gorgeous halter top the week before. (I know, I know, I have to take photos) I also purchased a really lovely, very long blue slinky dress which I can't wait to wear come summer. I'm soooo happy with what I bought, though I didn't spurge completely and buy the shoes I think I want, nor the makeup I saw that I desperately wanted. After all, a girl needs to save SOMETHING to buy on her next spree, right?

Also, my sister went back to her specialist today and they found out what was wrong with her. FINALLY. Ulcerative Colitis. So now at least we know what's the problem AND more importantly, HOW to correct it! So she's over the moon, Mum's over the moon; we're all over the moon. She has to go back to see her specialist in 3 weeks with a bloodtest to make sure the meds she was given today, are helping in dissolving the ulcers she's developed. We're hoping that they do, because if they don't that means she'll be put on a steroid antibiotic and nobody wants that, particularly her doctor. Fingers crossed!

Results

The testing went well. I do have an infection which I now have antibiotics to clear up, and I have another test on the 20th as well. Hopefully I'll have much more exciting news to report after that.

I am extremely tired today. I keep waking up with a stuffy nose during the night, so my sleep keeps getting interrupted. I think it's got something to do with the dust that gets blown around downstairs . . . or there are little creatures using my nose as a (literal) dumping ground.

All is well otherwise - I get paid tomorrow so I have to head into town and do some grocery shopping, and then hopefully on Wednesday we're going out to for some FUN shopping! I can't wait.

Good News!

I don't have cancer. I was sent for blood tests though, and I have to call the Dr. on Monday to find out what the results are. There was a bunch of things they were testing me for, most of it abbreviated on the form, and I don't have a clue what everything was/is. Oh well. I just know I'm pretty much healthy and happy. Yay! Also, I got Hydrocortisone cream for my itchies which seems to be helping alot on my eyelids, though not so much on the ladies. I think I'm just going to have to switch fabric detergents.

PS, even though I slept well last night, I woke up with a stuffy nose and haven't been able to breathe like a normal person since. I kind of sound like a really muted Darth Vader - it would be kind of cool if it weren't so annoying.

Itchies Update (Again)

I think it might excema. Ladies are still itching, and I've switched topicals again, this time using a wonderful product called DermaVeen. I have a bodywash that is pH balanced and is recommended for sensitive and extremely itchy skin. It has been amazing. The moisturizer that comes with it is also good, yet doesn't stop the itching when I'm sleeping though it does stop the itching during the day.

And I have to say that while the internet is a great source of information, it's also overkill, particularly for someone who gets irrational very quickly. For example, you google "itchy breasts" and get a myriad of websites relating to breast cancer. I'm going to the Dr tomorrow for some testing, so I'm hoping like hell it's nothing as serious as that.

Zoom Zoom

Picture taken July 5th, 2005.

This is our little beater! Notice the towbar on the end of it. Notice that within the next week or so, I will have walked into it at least once. You should probably start placing your bets now.

We Got Wheels!

A little mitsubishi Colt, 1989 model. It's so cute! No idea what else to say about it except the guy D got it off was a pretty decent fellow - it was a private sale, not through a dealer - and so far the only things that are broken/not working are the airconditioner (which suits me fine since I hate a/c in the car), the left rear passenger window has come off the track and needs to be put back on properly, it burns a little bit of oil (which I think might be common with mitsu's in general cause the mini mini van I shared with the ex burned oil, and a friend of Mum's over here has the exact same model car that we just bought, and theirs does too), and the rear speakers for the stereo need to be hooked back up. So far these are the only things wrong with the vehicle, and in our opinion, nothing major. I think we did good, and D is really happy with it.

Yes, photos will come.

Also today my sister is off for her surgery, so we're leaving here in a couple of hours. She was prepping all day yesterday and wasn't allowed to eat anything solid; only liquids for the most part. Today she's not allowed to drink anything after 10am and eating, is of course, out of the question. We're hoping today tells us something about her recurring problem which has stretched out for FAR too long.

Oh my god, it's July

My sister is home, and doing much much better. She was given 2 units of blood and has to go back in on Tuesday for some minor surgery. Hopefully we'll know more then, but until then, thank you for the emails - she's doing much better!

Today we're off to go grocery shopping. This is a chore I really dread doing and hate passionately. It's made all the more worse since after yesterday's flood, today is a giant cleanup day for so many places that I'm sure these stores will have run out of food by the time I get there. And cleaning supplies. But we are almost out of food, so the deed needs to be done.

And we're going to go look at cars, apparently, though that depends on how long it takes to go shopping and whether or not I'm falling-down-tired afterward. I didn't sleep well last night again and as a result, I don't feel quite like myself again today. This shit is for the birds, I tell you.