First week on our own

Hi Everyone,

I've just had my first week on my own with Mummy as Daddy has gone back to work. On Monday we didn't really do anything. Mummy caught up on some sleep while I had a nap and then Daddy was home before we knew it!!

On Tuesday we went to see Grandma and Grandad again. Grandma insisted on Mummy taking a new picture of us without her having her apron on so here it is!!

We had dinner and then I got to meet Great Auntie Ena and Great Uncle Ron. They enjoyed having a cuddle and Mummy took a picture for me.

On Wednesday Mummy took me for a nice long walk in my buggy. We walked (well I was actually asleep for most of the journey!!) to the doctors to get my prescription and then Mummy went and did some shopping in Tesco. We were out for a good hour and a half and Mummy was very sleepy by the time we got back (unfortunately by then I had woken up for dinner!!)

Our Health Visitor Hayley came this afternoon.She bought me some books for Mummy to read to me and talked through a few things like doctor's visits and baby clinic. She also weighed me and I'm now 7lb 15oz!! Mummy was very pleased and so was Hayley as I'm gaining weight nice and steadily.

On Thursday we popped to Tesco for Mummy to get me a few new clothes and some other baby things. We were there a lot longer than Mummy anticipated as everyone (as well as us) were trying to double up there clubcard vouchers!! I had my first ride in the Shopping trolley but again I was asleep most of the time!!

On Friday I played on my play gym (kindly donated by Elizabeth, Alistair and Melissa) and Mummy put me on my tummy for the first time!! On Saturday we popped to Babies R Us while we waited for Daddy to finish work. Then Mummy's friend Julie came round for a cuddle.

Today, (Sunday) we're all having a day of rest as I kept Mummy and Daddy awake crying until 1am! I've been suffering from colic and it's not very nice. Mummy went to boots this morning though to get me some new medicine and we're all hoping it works better than the infacol I've been taking.

Next week Daddy has to stay away a few nights so I will try and be a good boy for Mummy!! Will update
you all again soon,

Lots of Love
James xxx

First Visit to Grandma and Grandad's House

 

Hello Everyone,

I've finally made my first trip to visit Grandma and Grandad. I had a lovely day and had loads of presents to open when I got there. Mummy and Daddy are going to have fun writing all the thank you notes for me!! They also have to go and open me a bank account to put my £2 coins in that Grandma and Grandad gave me.

Grandma had the first cuddle. She has decided she wants to be Grandma rather than Nanny as she doesn't want to be refered to as an old goat!!!

Grandad had the second cuddle but I upset him a bit as I started to cry!! It was my dinner time and I was hungry! Mummy and Daddy gave me my bottle and I went to sleep for the rest of my visit!

I went through to see Ursula and and Fred next door with Mummy but I slept through that as well. Milk makes me very tired!!

I hope to visit again soon and maybe meet Aunty Ena and Uncle Ron too.

Bye for now,

James xxx

Ready and Waiting!!

Hi everyone,

This will probably be my last post now until baby arrives. I've just been for my last (hopefully!) midwife appointment and everything is looking really good. My blood pressure and urine are fine. Baby is 2/5ths engaged and in a good position. According to my tummy measurements the baby is already 8lb!!!!!!! I asked how accurate this was and she said it was more for giving them a rough idea that baby was growing well. Plenty well enough I think!! Gonna get on my birthing ball later to help him along I think before baby grows anymore!!!!!

Anyway, I hope to update this with a photo and info after the birth, while I'm in hospital. Thought it would be the easiest way to let you all know.

Bye for now,

Rachel and Bump x x

Lady of Leisure!!!!

Hi all,

Just a quick update as haven't been on here for ages!! I'm now 35 wks and 3 days!! I finished work yesterday and was presented with a lovely flower arraignment and a card! Will miss everyone but am about ready for a rest. We'll I say a rest but there's so much I want to do before baby arrives.

Today was a busy day. Had my phsyio class. It was a group session designed to give you ideas on how to move properly to avoid pelvic pain and some exercises to try. There is an opportunity to go back for a one to one but I don't think I'll bother. The support belt my friend has loaned me seems to really help and baby could be here in two weeks if it gets impatient!!!!!

After this I went to a breast feeding session which was really interesting. We were given lots of pointers and advice and it answered a lot of questions and hopefully will help.

My next midwife appointment is next Wed so fingers crossed everything is still going to plan. My bag's are just about packed (just last minute things to put in), and I'm off to do some last minute baby shopping with Grandma to be next Thursday!!!

Bye for now,

Rachel and Bump x x

It's positive!!!

Hi all,

Just been to anti D clinic and trust me to marry someone who's a positive blood group!!! The baby is positive so have had to have anti D injection :-(

Had more routine bloods done too which are the last ones now so I look like a human pin cushion!! Blood pressure and urine all fine. This means I'm still on track to use the lovely Birth Centre where the rooms look like hotel rooms!! Hoping to go and have a look round nearer to my due date.

No more appointments now till 25th August. Then they will become two weekly.

Baby Collier's first portrait!!

Our beautiful baby!!

Just back from the scan and it was worth every penny! We even had a consultant obstetrician doing the scan not a sonographer so it put our minds at rest when he said everything looked fine. He took some measurements and they are all within the normal ranges. We saw baby's heart, brain, bladder, stomach and legs arms and feet. At the moment it's head down with it's back lying down my left side. It's feet are nicely positioned under my right ribs which I already suspected as I've been getting kicked in them for the last few weeks!! Baby weighs about 2lb at the moment.

He explained everything on the screen which was good for Rich as he's not as good at recognising things.  We have the whole 23 min scan on DVD and lots of still pics. Some are better than others as baby kept putting it's arms up in front of it's face. At one point it looked like the baby was sticking it's thumb up which made us laugh as that's a well known Collier trait!! We've also had the sex confirmed which is good as I have a whole drawer full of receipts in case I needed to take things back!!! I can open packets and wash things now!!

I've got my next appointment on Tuesday at the anti-d clinic where I should find out the baby's blood group and whether I need the injection or not.

25 Week Check

Hi all,

I had my 25 week check up on Wednesday. All is going well. Blood pressure still slightly low but they said it would be better to be a little low at this stage. They listened to the heart beat again and I managed to video it and have attached the clip at the bottom of this entry. It looks blank but if you click on play button it does play. You may need to install quick time from apple if you don't have it as that's the format video's play in off my iphone. I hope to put more video's on so you won't be wasting space on your computers for nothing!!!!

Movements are getting much stronger now! Can feel baby rolling over and it's definitely getting into a pattern of movement during the day. Only bout 8 full working weeks left too!! I finish (subject to change!!) on 22nd September. Looking forward to it now. We're beginning to sort out the nursery too. Rich is hoping to make the loft hatch bigger to be able to get more things up there for storage space. We hope to get a proper loft ladder and board it out. The room is full of the lovely freebies we had off Elizabeth and Alistair at the mo! Sorting that out later as we're off to get the wardrobe and chest of drawers and the bigger things can go up in loft. I have a lovely freebies feeding chair and stool off my friend too.

Have hopefully linked your emails to blog so you'll get an automatic email every time I post something.

Anyway, bye for now, Rachel and Bump

It's a ?????????????

Well, what an amazing scan we had yesterday. I wasn't prepared for how much detail we would see. We saw toes and fingers and bones inside it's legs, sooo amazing. As some of you know we were able to find out the sex of the baby. I've warned as many people as possible not to put anything on facebook so hopefully it will stay a surprise for you Auntie!

The good news is that everything they saw looks normal apart from some measurements are measuring big for the 20wk age. It's tummy measured 22wks, it's head 21 and a half wks but its legs were spot on! Must have it's Mum's tummy and Dad's legs!!!

I met with the research midwife again who talked me through the process of the research and took some more blood. At my 28wk appointment I will find out the babies blood group and whether I will have to have the anti D or not. All in all a very good day :-)

Rhesus Negative!!!

I had a letter today from when I had my blood tests at my scan. I offered to take part in a study they're doing at the Women's Hospital. It's all to do with the Anti D injection. I already new I was A negative so was likely to get this injection at some point (although not as likely as it's our first). This study is trying to work out the antibody levels at 20 weeks and 28 weeks, then again after birth. They hope to cut down the needless Anti D injections for those mothers who are having negative babies. I thought it sounded like a good thing so when I go for my 20 week appointment on 7th June I will have to meet the research midwife and have some more blood taken. I've heard these Anti D injections are not too nice so I'm hoping it will stop me and others from needing it!!!

The 12 week scan

As you can see, baby has grown quite a bit since being a jelly bean! It's head circumferance is now 86mm. That puts it at 13 weeks as of 19th April. They have given me a due date of 25th October.

It finally feels real now it looks like a proper baby and now that my miscarrage chances are much lower.

I bought my first baby magazine after the scan but will not be buying anything else for a while! We're going to the baby show on 22nd May so will be able to recearch things better there as it'll all be under one roof. We have no room to store things yet anyway until Rich has finished the bathroom. The spare room/nursery has loads of tools and clutter in it. Oh, and a whole in the wall where he knocked through when fitting the shower!!!!!!!

Finding Out!

We found out we'd finally succeeded on Valentine's Day. Couldn't have been a better day really. Even though the test said positive I still didn't believe it was finally happening! So much so that I organised an 8 week scan through a clinic my acupuncturist recommended.

At 8 weeks I still felt no different and was convinced something was wrong or the pregnancy tests were wrong. I was very relieved to find everything was growing in the right place and that there was a heart beat. This is the picture of that scan. Baby looks a bit like a jelly baby!! It measured 13mm, so tiny at that point.