checkup.

I just got back from my 29 week checkup. The first of the fortnightly visits.

I feel awful.
I was feeling all sprightly and well this morning as we left. When we got there I got to see the midwife pretty much straight away. She was really friendly and lovely.

I was supposed to have my glucose test (for gestational diabetes) before Christmas but it just didn't happen so I had it done today. They got me to drink the sweetest drink I have ever tasted. It was thick and syrupy like cordial without the water in it. It had a slight fizz. After drinking that I was feeling even more sprightly.

The midwife took my blood pressure - 120/65 (perfect she said)

She felt around for the little one but couldn't figure out where she was. I think she was sleeping at the time. In the mornings I don't really feel her. She is moving right now and I can tell exactly where she is.
She found the heartbeat and said it was good.

Then I had to wait an hour to get my blood tested. I sat in the waiting room and read a book about babies. I began to feel a bit drowsy. It felt like I was coming down from that sugar high. Myl went to move the car and when he was gone the time came for the blood test.

I felt pretty good about the needle. I could tell this midwife would be really good at blood tests. But I was still feeling a bit drowsy. As soon as the needle went in (which I barely felt) i started to feel dizzy. I told the midwife and she told me to drop my head and keep my arm still.

She finished up the test and gave me some iced water. I felt so dizzy. The water helped. Myl came in just at that moment and gave my head a pat. I like that.

She told me to lie down next time.

After finishing my water I went out to the car where Myl was waiting. I began to feel a bit queasy. When I got to the car I felt like I needed to vomit. You know that horrible feeling in your throat. I wound down the window and contemplated running into emergency for a vomit bag. Feeling woozy we drove on. I was holding an empty packet of shapes (just in case) and had the window wound right down. Myles started to pray for me and I started to feel better. Crisis averted.

I still feel a bit under the weather. It's a cool day today. So odd for Janurary. So we are having a nice little relax in the lounge room.

It's nice. More water I think.

Oh my nausea.

Warning: This post may contain TMI about vomiting, nausea and sickness. If this makes you feel as queasy as it makes me maybe read another post about cute happy baby things.


Its hit.

The nausea.

I thought I was well and truly going to miss it being out of the first trimester on Tuesday but as the weekend approached as did the queasy feeling in my stomach, the headaches and the loss of appetite added to terrible feelings of hunger.

I have never really been a vomiter. Pretty sure I can count all the experiences of vomit on one hand. There was that time in primary school where I threw up in sick bay. I had the lucky treat of a lunch order that day and I could see my tasty saussage roll on the floor. (I warned you not to read this if it made you feel sicky.) The horrible 24 hour bug in high school that started as quickly as it stopped and the beach mission wonder. Myl and I were at dinner with a family in the caravan park and I started to feel unwell. I excused myself no less than three times to go hurl in the bathroom each time coming back to eat the next course of the meal. I will never look at salmon kebabs the same way again.

So I have not thrown up yet. I will not let myself unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

It is not a nice feeling making or receiving a delicious meal and feeling so so hungry for it only to eat a few mouthfuls and be very full or fit to throw up.

Just to make my sob story complete I have also got the swollen glands and blocked nose. I am one sick and sorry looking chicky.

But on the bright side with any luck it will all be over by Tuesday. This is the first sign of it and some women are sick for weeks if not months.




In other news. I went to see my parents for Dad's birthday this weekend (I'm sure a post will follow). As mum is a midwife she has a stethescope and we listened to the little ones heartbeat. It was so soft and sounded so fast and unlike an adult heartbeat but it was there and that makes me smile.

Image Credit: Flickr user EvilErin


Edit - Just ate some pizza and got through the whole thing. That food is magic.

We have visual

Yesterday Myles and I saw the little one for the very first time.

And here is the blueberry!

We went for an 8 week ultrasound assuming we were 7 weeks and 5 days in (in the 8th week) but in actual fact the little one is only 7 weeks and 2 days old. Not a huge miscalculation but it meant that the little one was indeed little.

But now the whole story. (Warning. This may be TMI too much information for some readers.)

I had rather foolishly emailed the ultrasound place on Monday to make a booking for this week and they had not gotten back to me by Wednesday.

I think there must be something called pregnancy time. Days seem to last for weeks. Time just goes a lot longer than you expect.

So I was quite impatient and went into the office (conveniently located just up the road from Myles college) and made my own booking for 3 30 that day.

The girl at the desk told me that I had to go to the toilet at a certain time and then drink a litre of water in 30 minutes an hour before the ultrasound. I had heard about this. About the pain of a full bladder and an ultrasound want on the belly but I thought I could handle it. Its just a litre of water. On prac last semester I prided myself on being able to down two litres of H2O in the day and keeping bathroom breaks to a minimum.

Oh but weeks have passed since prac. I have not been drinking the water I should.
I downed the water in 15ish minutes. I had not been watching the clock. I began to need to go.. badly. And there was still an hour to kill.

Myles and I watched some House MD. This numbed the pain or at least distracted me. My mind kept telling me to get up and go to the smallest room in the house. It was so strange as I had to ignore my normal conditioned response to a full bladder.

Then it was time to go. I felt ready to burst. Sitting in the car was murder. "I'm not going to make it" I told Myles. I kept imagining me coming out of the bathroom feeling ashamed and having to reschedule my appointment. I did not want that to happen but I also did not want to wet myself.

We got there. (Living 5 minutes drive from the hospital really has its benefits) I ran in and made my presence known. I asked the receptionist if she had any tips. She smiled and said to not think about it. I think it was beyond not thinking about it. Myles arrived after parking the car and I paced up and down the waiting room. My kidneys and bladder felt like they were bursting.

After an impressively short time (It wasn't even 3 30 yet) the radiologist called my name. I let out a rather audible sigh of relief and Myles tells me there were a lot of disgruntled looking patients in the waiting room. I had only been there about five minutes.

After telling Myles I could not do it the doctor walked in.

"Please lie on the bed" she said and left the room.

I can't. I can't. I can't.

She came back in

"You need to lie on the bed. I can't do an ultrasound when you are standing up." This woman meant business. How many busting preggos had she seen in her days? Hundreds? Thousands? She did not care.

But that was ok. I lay down and she put the sticky goo on my belly. I couldn't see the screen but Myles could. So I watched his face. He was smiling. That meant there was something there. I asked him and he said that he could see something. It made me smile.


I wouldn't sit still. And I was breathing like a maniac. So she let me go to the loo and advised me not to let it all out.

Mmmm... Probably one of the hardest things in the world to do. (Don't say I didn't warn you about TMI)

I felt so so much better and could actually lie still. She kept prodding the wand into my belly and asking me to hold my breath to make it all still. I patiently sat and waited and then at the end she turned the screen around.

She showed me all the bits inside and then showed me the little one. It was pretty special. It didn't look like much but it didn't look like nothing either. There was a little lump of a bump inside of me for all the right reasons. She got me to hold still and zoomed in on the little one. She pointed out the heartbeat. It was like a little Christmas light flickering.

All is well. Our bobbin child is alive and growing. We know it grows. We love it and can't wait to see it in the flesh.