23rd January

Still totally shattered...which was really not helped last night by getting cramp at 2.00am and then realising that Baby Z was boucing happily on my bladder so I had to get up anyway. All the forums seem to be full of pregnant women who had urgent rushes to get to the loo in the 1st Trimester rather than now - but I guess that just shows our baby is going to be anything but normal and won't do the expeted!! But then again the fact it's even in existance shows that too!!

I'm still craving bacon rolls at the moment - and my darling husband has just come home with bread rolls and bacon! So right now there is a wonderful smell of cooking bacon floating through from the kitchen. How am I going to survive a week without him???

But seeing as we have just had a major disaster rearding his car as it appears the garage yesterday have completely mucked it up I may just have a week of peace and hopefully no disasters or panics! But then I still have Gizmog around and it seems to be his lifes work to make my life hell so I guess anything could and will happen whilst Andy is living it up in Reading!!!

When do I get my boost of energy???

All the 'wonderful' pregnancy books and websites tell you that once you get past 12 weeks you get this amazing energy boost and stop feeling so tired. Seeing as I'm nearly 17 weeks now and still waiting ...where is it? To be honest I could really do with it as I've only been at work 3 days this week and I am feeling completely washed out and exhausted.

Andy keeps suggesting I have a power nap when I get home - one small problem with that, if I drop off that is it for several hours and I'll never get the amount of sleep I need at night then :(

The big news is I think I felt the baby in the early hours of Thursday morning...I was awake at 3am and certainly felt something. I had debated waking Andy up to tell him but he was snoring well and I don't think he would have appreciated me waking him up to tell him that! After all he wouldn't be able to feel it to so it wouldn't have been exactly interesting or earth shattering for him!

Panic over for the time being!

I've finally calmed down after the adventures of Tuesday and Wednesday... All bleeding has ceased and right now everything is happily sitting exactly where it is supposed to be right now :) I am officially a happy Mummy!

This morning was my 'emergency' scan and I had a wonderful sonographer (I think that's what they are called) She showed me quickly where the baby was and it's heart beating nice and strongly and then talked me thought the 'rest' of it as she tried to get some measurements. Baby Zerfahs lived up to it's bolshy label and totally refused to help out or get into a position where we could tell what it is! The only thing I'm sure about is it has long legs already - inherited form it's Mum!So I am still none the wiser and much to Andy's disgust, still calling it Tadpole!

After the scan I had to go down to Early Pregnancy for  clinic - I saw bits of the WIlliam Harvey I've never been to before, but a very nicw volunteer told me where I had to go and thankfully didn't give me a map - if he had I imagine I would still be wandering around! The official decision is that the baby is totally fine and Tuesday has been written off as just one of those things with no real reason or cause...hopefully it will be a one off and won't happen again - or at least not too often!

I m still blaming my hormones for just about everything...I burst into tears driving home and it was totally down to hormones...and the fact I've realised that I already totally adore my baby and will do anything to protect him or her.

Panic Stations!

I've not had a great 24hours... I started to panic yesterday morning when I started to bleed... Me being me I simply went into panic stations and tried to phone my Midwife who wasn't on duty. Nowhere in any of the books I've got does it say not to worry in this situation, so I went over the top I guess. I ended up talking to the hospital maternity unit in the end, probably to every member of staff before being told to go in on Friday for an emergency scan (This was on Tuesday!) I ended up going home at lunchtime to panic in the comfort of my own home and still trying to ge hold of a midwife!

It turned out my Drs were closed for Training (along with most of the surgeries in Ashford) so I ended up talking to South East Health who are terrible at calling back when they are supposed to - after I called them back again I got a call from a Dr, and to be honest I could hardly understand him, but he sent me in to SEE Doc at the hospital. After a fairly uncomfortable wait I saw a Dr who took my blood pressure and told me to go home unless the bleeding increased and relax and call my  midwife in the morning.

Thankfully Nicky called me this morning and was here by 12.00...the first thing she did was check for the baby's heartbeat, which I have now heard for the first time ever. I admit I cried, it sounded so amazing...and very strong! The poor little thing is only about 11.5 cm from head to bum at the moment but it seems happy in there! My blood pressure was up a tiny bit (As Nicky said, to be expected as I'd been in panic mode) and my urine test was fine so until I have a scan done everything is as fine as we can test for now! I feel so much better - but I want one of those doppler things so I can hear the baby whenever I want!

I've also started getting cravings - nothing weird yet, just bacon rolls! No idea why, but I had one for breakfast this morning (Andy bought me a couple of the microwavable type) and it was honestly the best thing I've ever tasted!!!

The weather outside is frightful...

So what I need is a fire that is so delightful as I think this weekend I'm going to have to let it snow, let it snow and let it snow! I know compared to Milwaukee we get next to nothing but I am intending to hibernate for the next 2 days. I've thrown the cat out for at least 4 minutes this evening and I can't remember the last time I saw him move as fast as he did coming back in!

I did notice this evening on the forecast the weather was referred to as an 'event' - I can't recall that phrase being used before and I think this event should really come to it's conclusion as soon as possible please! But I would like to point out I have made it in to work all this week... which is more than my dearly beloved has managed! But in his defence Medway has been walloped with far more snow that we have and the Medway drivers are well known for abandoning cars whenever and wherever they feel like doing it! Especially on Bluebell Hill which brings that to a grinding halt! But, bless him, he has been getting up to help me clear my car off every morning which has made my life much simpler and easier.

There is no plan to do much at all this weekend - although we really should start clearing the bedroom out ready to redecorate prior to hopefully welcoming a small, screaming person. I'm not sure what the project plan says as I haven't seen it yet!

It snowed!

The usual English reaction to Snow has happened... it is now officially a disaster and the UK Population cannot cope with all the white stuff that keeps floating down from above! Mind you, it is really the ice that caused me more problems this morning!

Andy got a call/message from work last night and is working from Home...the company I work for are not like that so I drove in having persuaded my loving husband to drag himself out of bed to help de-snow my car for me! The drive in was uneventful in Ashford except for a small skid/slide around a roundabout close to home...But as I got further east the landscpe got whiter and once in the Port the roads were atrocious and the snow really deep (Well, deep for the UK anyway!)

I made it in on time and now it's over an hour later and only 3 other people have arrived! We have contacted our Manager re if we should stay or not and not had a decision other than he's on his way...with the news re the roads the chances of him making it in are slim so we'll simply wait for now! I want to drive home whilst it's still light if I'm honest, but time will tell!

New Year... New Start?

Well it's now 2010 and there is still a debate regarding how one ahould say the year...is it 20 -10 or 2 thousand and 10? (According to my sister it is the latter as she hates the former for some reason!)

As previously promised (If anyone even reads my drivel!) above is one of the scan photos from Christmas Eve... I have had another scan sionce and apparently will be having a scan a month as the baby and I (hopefully) progress through this pregnancy. My main aim right now is to stop feeling sick so often...I can only believe that morning sickness was named by a man - who was so wrong it's untrue! I'm also really hoping the hormones calm down as I don't want to keep biting Andy's head off, it really isn't fair on him.

Ok, enough baby talk - I'll try to stop now although it isn't easy when the baby is about all I can think about at the moment... Am I turning into a baby bore???

Oh yes - winter returned to the UK today... more snow and I really don't like driving in snow, it's all those white bullets heading straight towards me, I get decidedly freaked out! Thankfully Andy didn't do too much passenger seat driving today! But he has decreed that heated seats in cars are now officially the work of the devil and should not be allowed. Me, I like feeling warm and toasty and if it's cold I'm turning the heat on so I feel nice and warm and cosy!