Nuchal scan + getting my head right – 13 weeks 3 days

Yes, yes, I am still here! I’m still alive.  Baby is good. Life has just been busy and in the evenings I’m so tired so posting has slipped by the wayside a little.

If I had posted last Monday a I intended to I would have talked a lot about how flat I have been feeling this pregnancy. All the anxiety and stress and hormones have all combined to create this real lack of enjoyment for this experience I have been aching to have and that was starting to get really fucking old and really fucking frustrating for me last week. 

I believe a lot of it is down to diet – I have been consuming waaaaay to many carbs and waaaaaay too much sugar (as my 4kg weight gain already will attest to) and I know that shit fucks with your mental health. So I am on a bit of a journey to try and combat that. It has also been aaaaaages since I did any decent exercise so now that I’m feeling less sick and slightly more energised I need to make the most of that.

Last week I started by getting out in the sun for at least an hour a day about 3 times that week and I have to say it really really helped. We also have a great walking/bike track near the ocean here with body weight exercise equipment in three locations as you walk along so I’m going to start a bit of  a routine that sees me do a brisk walk up to the track (about 10 mins) and then a brisk walk along, stopping to do some of the body weight exercises. It will prob take me 45 mins tops from my front door to lounge so surely I can fit that into my day, right?

There is also a pregnancy yoga thing on Thursday afternoons so I think I’m going to get my yoga on soon. People swear by it for birth so I think it is time for me to give it a shot.

We had our nuchal scan yesterday. I was equal parts terrified and excited before going in. I was pretty sure it would be OK as I feel like I’ve been growing but you always hear all these terrifying stories and I hadn’t seen baby for 2 weeks so I was scared that there would be bad news. It was all great news, everything was perfect. Of course the results we got in our Harmony test trumped the stuff they do at the nuchal that is related but it was good to see that even without it we would have had very little to worry about. This was such a different experience to this scan with Monkey. He JUMPED like he was on a trampoline the entire time almost whereas baby girl was just chilling. The US tech had to keep jiggling my belly to try and get her to move around. I was almost bawling my eyes out through the whole thing. I could hardly believe it was true. It was a really great day.

This past weekend was my birthday. I am the bright young age of 39 now and 40 really is just around the corner. I had a friend fly up from down Sydney way and throw me a massive surprise party on the Sunday.  Her and another local friend coordinated it all with Eric. I honestly could not believe it and was totally surprised. I was soooooo tired that day though and had a massive tantrum before we left for lunch saying I didn’t want to go (I thought we were lunching with friends of Eric).  “They’re your friend” I was blurting out. “You’ll have a good time because he’s your mate. SHE is so hard to talk to”. And more along those lines. I was a joy. Shocking behaviour really. Lucky I’m pregnant and got away with it. Ha!

I booked the doula! I had been in two minds about it but then I read Faye’s birth story and saw how she really had to buckle down and focus to stop the birth from stalling (you did a great job by the way, lady!) and I just thought I would need to have someone there to help with that. This doula also runs births classes so she will do up to 10 hours birth prep with us so it will be like having our own personal birthing classes. I’m REALLY pumped about this. My friend raved about how helpful her doula was for her husband and I really like that idea too. I know Kirrah will be a great support for Eric. I know he wants to feel useful and having her there to guide him will really help him in that. It actual makes me emotional just thinking about this birth being a real team effort.

Last but not least, we told Monkey and he is the cutest about his baby sister. I let him announce the news to people when we run into friends who don’t know yet. He kisses my tummy all the time and is excited for me to grow bigger and bigger. We have had to have a few convos about how babies can come out and he is pretty obsessed with the idea that this baby will come out my vagina. Every now and the he just announces it to me “This baby is going to come out your vagina, Mummy. That’s what I want to happen.” Ha!

So that’s what has been happening in the hood my friends. I will try to post more frequently just so it isn’t so long next time! And BOOM, we are now in the second trimester. Crazy!

Here are a few little of pics of baby girl. Monkey looked at a particular 4D one (not here) and said “She looks like a monster”. They really do in some of those pics. It’s a bit spooky.