The last Christmas...

As a family of two!  This time next year baby boo will be with us and everything will be very different!  Lucky for us we made this Christmas pretty low key and stayed in London with Rob's family.  Christmas eve was spent at a local curry house in Upminster followed by Christmas day around Rob's mum and dads.  This year was a smaller than norm affair as Rob's aunt Irene and uncle Nicky were away in New York celebrating the birth of their very first granddaughter, Sophia.  So there were only 9 of us - which by Rob's family standard is small.  But it was lovely, we got a few nice bits for baby boo and a few nice bits for ourselves.  Beofre dinner we enjoyed the annual trip to the pub for a few pints before dinner and i indulged in a small glass of wine.  I don't think I've ever ordered a small glass of wine before in my life?!  But, it was really nice and certainly hit the spot.  I think i even got a buzz from it which was certainly the highlight of the trip :)  Here are a few shots from the day:

Rob + Clare + Mum + Dad opening pressies:

Nan, Steve & Dan:

Rob's mum gave him a shirt with a matching partner for baby boo:

Clare showing her hawkeye pride:

Down at the pub, can you see the bump?

View of the bump from above.  Looks much bigger this way, don't ya think?

SPD

Well, it's been an eventful past week - packed full with a visit to A&E!  Luckily baby boo is ok, just a small issue for me called SPD, better known as symphis publis dysfunction.  Nice name, eh?  In a nutshell, i've been experiencing a lot of pain during my pregnancy but for the most part just assuming it's part of the growing process.  However in the past week it's gotten a fair bit worse and really bothersome when I walk.  Well this past Friday became almost unbearable - and scary when it started to spread to my back and get more intense.  Stupidly I did some online research, as you do, to try and diagnose it and after reading articles and posts that indicated i may be going into pre-term labor (at 24 weeks!) we started to get concerned.  After debating our options for a fair while we ended up going in to A&E about 1230 am.  Lucky we did as they did a lot of tests, listened to the baby's heartbeat for a long time, checked the cervix to make sure it was closed and finally took some swabs to rule out any infection.  After everything came back normal they diagnosed me with the pubis dysfunction.  The symptoms are pretty basic: pelvic and back pain which intensifies when walking or moving.  And apparently it gets worse the bigger you get - some people even require crutches to get around.  Sweet - can't wait for that! 

Luckily, all is well with baby boo - he's happy and healthy - in fact he's moving around quite a bit these days.  Kicking up a storm!  And what's even more exciting is that every night when Rob gets home he's been talking to Boo, telling him about the day and what's happening and i think boo is responding.  Whenever Rob speaks to him he gets really active - lots of kicking.  It's the cutest thing!

We have another scan this Thursday, part of the hypertension clinic requires me to have scans every 4 weeks so looking forward to seeing baby boo.  Will make sure to post a new pic and also get on posting a pic of the bump.  Getting lots of requests for a photo - but pretty scared to take one.  Eeek!  Once i see it in a photo i fear there is no more hiding.  Oh well, at nearly 6 months I think it's time to embrace the bump!

We've got a mover!!

Our 20-week scan was today and all is well!  It was actually amazing to see how much baby boo has grown and how active he was!  He's about 12 cm long and weighs exactly 1 pound.  And he certainly has energy - he wouldn't stay still for the measurements or his pictures!!  But we did get to see pretty much every part of him; we counted all the fingers and toes, saw his eyes, nose and mouth and of course, the willy.  With all the movement we could hardly get a photo of the little guy but did manage one decent shot:

In other news, we are trying to get ready for the move - in less than two weeks we are upgrading to a two bedroom flat which marks the start of operation GET READY FOR BOO!  I already feel so disorganised but once it's over I'll be happy to start preparing BB's room and shopping for the necessities.  It's kind of scary how quickly time is going by.  It's also scary to think after Christmas it will only be 3 short months until the arrival.  We better get our butts in gear!!

It's a boy!!!

We had another scan today and were lucky enough to find out the sex!  And yes, it's a boy!!  It's so funny b/c I've thought 'he' would be a boy since the very beginning; I'm constantly referring to 'him' or 'he' when talking about the little boo so it was quite exciting to find out 'he' actually is a 'he'.  This wasn't the official 20-week scan so they didn't perform all the measurements but from the basic assessment the midwife seemed to think all is OK. 

Here are a couple of new photos from today's scan: the first is another head shot, if you look closely you can see the little hand as well.  I think little boo is looking quite cute from the inside, don't you?!

The second picture is actually a 'bottom up' shot - it's like he's sitting down and you are looking up from the bottom and the main focal point is his bum.  If you can visualise him sitting you should also be able to make out a leg as well. Then, low and behold, between the cheeks is a willy!  A little willy!  The scan technician was an Indian woman and she said in her cute little Indian accent 'oh yes, look here, you can see it quite clearly - it's a little willy!!'  What a riot.  I hope boo doesn't mind being exposed over the world wide web :) 

A new pic of Baby Boo

We're 15 weeks and 5 days today and quite lucky to have a second scan...even if it comes with a long list of other tests.  Small price to pay in my book!  This scan was amazing as we got to see a lot more of the litte one  - in this scan I could really make out some of the features of growing boo; arms and legs, the spine, the brain and the heart pumping away.  But, the cutest of all was a full hand view with all five fingers that you could literally count off.  There was also what appeared to be some thumb sucking and general all around movement.  Quite funny to see and as we got to the profile shot I shouted out 'how cute!' so the scanner took a picutre at that point.  Looking at BB's profiile below all I can think is how adoreable!  You can literally make out the eyes, the mouth and what appears to be a little button nose.  We're already in love!

Up the Duff

That's right, we're preggers!  So hard to believe since we just paid a visit to the doctor to see about getting some help.  Come to find out I've not been under the weather with the flu but suffering from mild morning sickness.  The best part of finding out was that it was on the day of our 5 year wedding anniversary!  So needless to say it was a fantastic pressie! 

We're 7 weeks right now so it's still early days but we couldn't wait any longer and told both sets of parents today.  We shared the news with Rob's mum and dad over lunch and they were beyond happy.  Then off to skype to tell Kat & Don but unfortunatly their web cam wasn't working so i couldn't see their faces.  But based on their verbal reaction I'd say they are quite excited.  Kat has been IMing me ever since just bubbling over with excitement!!

We'll give it a bit longer to tell all our friends but are dying to break the news.  I have so many questions for my friends who've had babies it's gonna be so difficult getting through the next 6-7 weeks.  Fingers crossed! x

It's Official!

As if it wasn't 'official' from the first couple of tests but somehow seeing the little one on the screen makes it all feel real.  That's right, we had our 13-week scan today and got to see everything - movements, heartbeat, the little arms and legs.  It was brilliant!!  I swear s/he waved at us during the scan, as if to say 'hello!  i'm ok in here!!'  So the due date is 3rd April - 2 days before my birthday in fact.  How amazing that I could share my birthday with such a precious little suprise!  Can't wait to meet him/her but in the meantime here s/he is: