IT'S A BOY!!!
I've not blogged for a while cos I've just been way too busy being pregnant and running a business.  But as the heading proclaims - it is a boy.
I'm now 29+4 weeks and found out it was a boy at the 20 week scan and had that confirmed just a few weeks ago at our 4d ultrasound scan.
At the 2d 20 week scan the sonographer showed us his bits but I couldn't see them, I couldn't even see what she was trying to show us.  But at the 4d scan I could see his bits very clearly so it's definately a boy.
Now all we need to to do is decide on a name.
Cos I thought we were having a girl I'd only considered girls names and I think boys names can be really quite boring - david, mark, john, derek, graham (sorry if I've offended anyone! but IMO they're boring) but can we think of a cool, un-boring name that won't cause bullying at school?  Can we hell.
And so I think he's just gonna be called Sam cos it's the only name we all like. 
It's so different to come up with baby names with you have older kids.  With the other two I decided and that was it.  But this time I've got the 15 year old and 10 year old putting in their choices and nixing every nice name I like and the other half is as bad as me - he's not keen on very many boys names either.
Who'd have thought this would be the hardest part of the pregnancy?!!

I've been really healthy over the past few months.  It seemed like as soon as I reached 5 months I got all this energy and it's not left me yet.  I'm enjoying, nay loving, being pregnant.  I'm embracing my huge belly (getting huger by the day) and loving having this tiny person inside me. 
I never feel like I'm alone, cos I've got my wee man with me all the time.  It's gonna be really weird when he's born and I don't feel him kicking and fluttering and dancing inside me anymore.  I'm gonna really miss him being inside me when he's born.
People keep asking me how I feel and the only truthful answer I have for them is "I feel better than I have done in years".  And I really do.
I had no idea pregnancy would make me feel so good. 
I was actually really quite worried about how exhausted pregnancy might make me what with having B12 deficiency that makes me quite exhausted when I'm not pregnant.  But it's been the opposite.
If I could have the choice I think I'd just stay pregnant forever - and that's not something I ever thought I'd say!!!
Last year if you'd asked me if I'd have more children you'd have got a very definate NO.  And now, here I am 7 months pregnant, feeling fantastic, feeling so bonded to my son who is living inside me right now, thinking I'd like to stay pregnant always.
Oh how life changes.
If someone had told me 5 years ago when I met Lee that I'd be having a baby with him further down the line I'd never have gone out with him.
Life truly is quite incredible.
The Babymaker


Some 4d images of my gorgeous little baby boy

Well, after all the worry and all the needles getting stuck into me it turns out I've not got gestational diabetes! And to get the results I had to phone the midwife cos she didn't think to phone me and tell me I was fine! Turns out that my glucose tolerance test was absolutely fine and now the midwife has no idea why the two blood tests she took showed that I had a high level of sugar in my blood. She suggested that perhaps it was cos I'd eaten something sugary for breakfast or that I was borderline, but the GLT didn't show me as borderline. So I guess we'll never know. I'm just pleased to not be diabetic for the duration of this pregnancy.

Boy or Girl?

I've got my 20 week scan next week on the 9th Sept. And we've decided to find out the sex. I think I'm having a girl and would love for it to be a girl as my partner's family have no girls in it it's all boys. And we just found out today that his stepsister is having a boy. She's due just 10 days before me. So, please, fingers crossed that I'm having a girl. I'll let you know as soon as I know.

4d Scans

Has anyone had a 4D ultrasound scan done? I've been looking into them and I'm going to have one done when I'm around 25 weeks or so. I chosen a company in london called Cocoon4d cos they have the most up to date equipment with their scanner having the highest resolution available on the market. And the 4D dvd you get with baby on it is edited to look like proper movie and you can have the baby's heartbeat as a soundtrack. You can also pay extra and get an ipod or iphone video of the dvd movie! I had a good look around their site yesterday and they seem really impressive. A touch more expensive than the others but I it looks like it'll be worth it. If any of you have had 4d ultrasound scans done please let me know where you got them done and if you felt it was worth the money. And what you think of the quality of your photographs and dvd.

That's all for just now folks. I really must sleep this pregnancy lark is pretty exhausting.

The Babymaker

I had my glucose tolerance blood tests this morning.

This involved fasting from 10pm last night until 12pm today.

I arrived at the hospital promptly at 9.30am absolutely starving with my bottle of water that's supposed to stave off the hunger for the next two and a half hours!

Luckily I was taken in really, really quickly. Otherwise I may have started to chew on the chairs.

The woman who took my blood was excellent, she was chatty made me feel at ease and took the blood so quickly I barely realised she'd done it. Which is good for someone who's been fainting every time the midwife take blood from me!

Then I had to sit there and drink this yellow (urine-lookielikie) thick, gloopy (olive oil consistency) citrus flavoured glucose drink. I've got to admit it did taste quite nice, if a bit too sweet. But it was really hard to drink it due to the cloying gloopy texture. It must've taken me about 10 minutes to get through the small cup. But drink it I did.

Then I duly went out to the waiting room to wait for two hours until they could take more blood from me.

At first I was quite jittery due, I imagine, to the glucose coursing through my system and felt slightly light headed. Then the baby started jumping around due, again I imagine, to the glucose rushing through me.

I couldn't sit still, I couldn't concentrate on anything all I wanted to do was get up and walk around or talk to someone or just do something, anything other than just there trying in vain to read Heat.

And then, quite suddenly all I wanted to do was sleep. I was exhausted.

If someone had produced a bed I would've laid down on it and been asleep in seconds. I spent the next hour and a half yawning my head off.

Finally it was time for blood test number two which was, once again, painless and over quickly.

Apparently it's normal for baby to move after the glucose drink and other people, although not necessarily pregnant women, have wanted to sleep shortly after having the drink. That made me feel a bit better and less like a freak!

It'll take about 3 days for my midwife to get the results.

As soon as I know I'll let you know if I have gestational diabetes or not.

When I got home for the hospital I took myself straight to bed and slept soundly (some of the best sleep I've had in ages) for two hours cuddled into my gorgeous fluffy big cat.

The Babymaker

As promised here's my 3 month scan. Isn't it just perfect. Baby's kicking it's legs up in the air and if you look really closely you can see it fingers just beneath it's leg.

If anyone has any scan pix they'd like to share please email them to me and I'll put them on the blog with a wee mention for you too.

The Babymaker

Gestational Diabetes?

I've been in France for the past two weeks enjoying a wonderful well deserved holiday before the baby comes and changes life forever!

Although my holiday has been slightly marred (just slightly cos I've become quite adept at putting things out of my mind and not thinking about them) by the worry that I may have gestational diabetes.

Just a few days before we left for France I had a midwife appointment and as soon as I went in she rushed me to the couch to take blood without much explanation. Apparently the rush was so she could catch the courier to get my blood taken away to be tested asap.

Later, after I'd fainted and come round and heard the baby's heartbeat (the other half recorded it on his iphone so we can listen to anytime we want), she explained that my previous blood test at just 10 weeks had shown that I had a lot of sugar in my blood and my urine sample today showed sugar in it as well.

Gestational diabetes - which means diabetes that you have just for the duration of your pregnancy and is normally controlled by diet and exercise but can sometimes need insulin - is quite normal in pregnancy but not until mummy is well into her pregnancy. If it's gonna happen it'll normally happen at around 20-26 weeks.

So to be showing sugar in my blood so early is a worry.

This was Tuesday and by Thursday evening I had a voicemail message from the midwife saying that she'd booked me an appointment with the hospital for a glucose tolerance test for the following Monday as my body was pumping out WAY TOO MUCH sugar.

But, of course, I was going on holiday the very next day.

I phoned the midwife while waiting to board the ferry at Newhaven on Friday morning and she cancelled Monday's appointment and has made me a new appointment for this coming Monday.

I get home from holiday around midnight on Sunday night. I can't eat anything from 10pm Sunday night and have to be at the hospital for 9.3oam on Monday morning and I'll be there for around two and a half hours!!!

Initially I wasn't too worried about the gestational diabetes cos as I've said it can be controlled by diet, but my midwife's urgency to get me to hospital has made me worry more than I wanted to. It's also made me quite concerned about what I'm eating and drinking while out here.

I mean, am I harming my baby if I eat a pain au chocolat or drink a full fat sprite? What if I eat too much french bread cos it's a complex carbohydrate and not good for diabetics?

So as you can see it has slightly marred my holiday but in no way has it ruined it. I've had a lovely time, I've relaxed and ready to return to normal life. I just need to get the hospital appointment out of the way first.

Wish me luck...

The Babymaker

PS I've bought some fabulous baby stuff out here and I'm going to be looking into selling some of the exclusive French baby stuff on Toys to You. Has anyone heard of a Doomoo? Or BabyMoov?

It was three month scan day today!!!

It was amazing.

When I had my other two, all those many years ago, getting your 3 month scan was over pretty quickly. I just saw a picture of the baby on the screen and heard the heartbeat and that was that.

It was over in 5 minutes pretty much.

But this time was so very different.

The sonographer (or snographer as I thought the receptionist said!) took her time with the scan.

I laid on the bed, she put the cold gel on my tummy (it's not as cold as I remember it to be) and she told me to look up to the left and there on the screen fixed from the ceiling was our baby and it was yawning!!!!

My partner and I watched our baby moving inside me for about 20 minutes this afternoon. We watched with open mouths clutching each other's hands as our baby (who is only 7.5cms right now) waved it's arms, kicked it's legs and leaped around.

It was incredible. So incredible I don't think I can find the right words to help you understand how it made me feel and just how wonderful it is to see the baby I know I'm carrying and growing inside me actually moving about inside me.

It is like nothing else in this world.

It is confirmation that our baby is growing well, has a fantastic strong heartbeat and seems happy to be in my tummy.

I was nervous before today just in case I got there and something was wrong with the baby. I don't know why I've been so afraid and nervous with this pregnancy, I just have. Perhaps it's cos I'm older or maybe cos I'm a bit wiser about what can wrong? I don't know for sure I just know that I am quite anxious.

But today has allayed a lot of anxieties.

Our baby's heart is beating great guns, it's jumping around happily, kicking it's feet and waving it's hands in the air. It's even yawning.

It's amazing.

Soon I'll post the scan picture here so you can all see our beautiful baby who is only 13 weeks old and 7.5cms long.

The Babymaker

Well it's been a while since I wrote and that's cos I've been so, so tired. This pregnancy is really taking it out of me.
But hopefully it'll pass really soon cos I'm now 12 WEEKS PREGNANT!! Woo hoo.
I can now stop taking the folic acid that has been upsetting my stomach every day and I can relax a bit and worry a bit less.
I am looking more than 3 months pregnant but I guess that's normal when it's your 3rd baby and you're my age (38 for any of you desperate to know). And I'm wearing maternity clothes already.
And you would not believe the size of my boobs, or the pain they cause me at night. Cos my boobs are so big - a 36G already (I was a 34FF before I got pregnant so I've never really been that small) - I've got to wear an underwire bra for support and I can't sleep it them. So I'm still sleeping braless but the pain is unbelievable.
My boobs hurt underneath so it hurts when I bend over braless, they hurt at the side so they hart when I turn over in bed at night. In fact they hurt so bad at night that they wake me up when I turn over.
So at the weekend I'm gonna go to Bravissimo in Brighton and get me some of their support nightwear. I'm hoping to get a little strappy pyjama top with built in support (fingers crossed it's strong enough for my boobs!) so I can sleep and turn over without pain.
I'm off now cos Heat magazine is waiting to be read.
The Babymaker