Names (again!)

So we have to start with the names thing again.

We still have ones from last time, but we're not 100% sure we still like them. Naomi's had a few suggestions, but I'm struggling to come up with any of my own at this point. Oh well, still got a quite a while to make a decision yet.

Naomi found an online Baby Name Genie - a name generator sorta deal. In it, you could put in names and it would make suggestion. My second name is 'Jon', so she put that in, with my surname, and look what it came up with! YIPE!

"Mummy, your belly is sticking out"

Aaah... out of the mouths of babes. Genevieve hit Naomi with this chestnut this morning. We'll explain it to her when we go public, because if we tell her before we go public... well... it's BE public from that point in time if you know what I mean!

Meeting Nicola

Today was my first appointment with our new OB, Nicola Bryan-Yuen. I hadn't met her before but we had been recommended by a doula who was worked with her before. We were certainly not disappointed. She has a wonderful philosophy and manner and is completely supportive of us and our birth plan.

She took my history and then we went in for a scan. I was pretty worried given the bleeding that I had earlier but as soon as she put the ultrasound on my belly we saw our little blob with a good heartbeat. It was wriggling and swimming around so everything looks great. It was measuring 9weeks 2 days which is spot on for the dates that we predicted.

So all in all it was a very good morning. We celebrated with some fresh icecream from one of those gourmet places, before I headed in to work (and Cory, back to the doctor's again, with this persistent virus he's had).

Nausea

From almost exactly the 6 week mark I have been suffering extreme tiredness as I did last time but this time it is accompanied by nausea - yay! I have already put on about 2kg because the only thing that seems to work is constant grazing.

With the doctors orders to take things easy I haven't been able to exercise as I normally would but have been eating more than usual to combat the nausea. I am hoping that this eases off soon as I want to start exercising again and eating properly.

Of course the nausea responds better to some foods more than others eg. I need to have carbs in the evening, dry biscuits in the morning, mints in the afternoon etc. Some days I need to eat chocolate but it seems to be less intense than last time where I had to have chocolate every day!

Limbo

We're stuck in Limbo.

We're in this weird 'floating' space where we can't quite yet relax. We're waiting for the next scan to confirm is is proceeding well (which, we are sure it is, but it's always good to have confirmation).

We're waiting until the 12 week scan before we go fully public about it.

And we're waiting to see if Naomi gets any more spotting (hopefully not).

It's a bit different to last time, as quite a few more people know. A few of our pregnant friends, as well as all of our family. And also, quite a few online friends through parenting forums etc. So... we sort of have to double-catch ourselves, what we can say to what people. It's harder, because sometimes you can let your guard down (which is great), but we don't really want to let the cat out of the bag either, at least not unintentionally.

Baby paraphernalia

This time around, we have a lot less we need to get. We've lent some things out, but by the time this one is ready, our friends will have moved on from their use of them, so we'll be able to get them back. So that's a good thing, and should save a lot of money.

One of the things that we will have to get is another car capsule. Last time, it came with our pram as a full setup. You could click the capsule out of the car, and onto the pram, without having to get Genevieve out of it. But we sold the two of them together as a unit, when we picked up the Phil & Ted's on eBay for a song.

We've been told that in all likelihood, we won't need to get a capsule, as by then Kellie and Erich's little-un won't quite be that little. (If it's anything like the boys, that is). However, we would like to have the option of being able to clip it into our Phil & Ted's pram.

Phil & Ted do have an accessory for this, but they don't sell it in Australia. So I'll investigate prices for buying it online from overseas, and we'll weigh it up. (It's not a 'must have', more a 'nice to have').

What probably is a must have is their toddler seat. This can be fitted on the top (if the freshie is to be sleeping in the back) or in the back (as shown right) if the freshie is going to be seated upright, with the toddler in the back. Friends of ours (and Vievey's) have this, and they've found it great.

There's plenty of other items I'm sure we'd love... but again, probably not too many we 'need'.

Plastic Baby Bottles

Genevieve was breast fed. But, once she started taking the bottle of expressed Mummy-milk, we used, exclusively, Avent bottles. We'd bought an Avent breast pump, and that had a bottle system to use with it, and then, when she progressed to formula, we stuck with Avent. Even our microwave sterilizer was Avent.

Then, back in April of this year, I saw this :

Canada Bans BPA From Baby Bottles

An Arcadia, Calif., store displays a "BPA Free" sticker on its plastic bottles as the chemical raises safety concerns. (By David Mcnew -- Getty Images)

By Lyndsey Layton and Christopher Lee

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A03

Canada yesterday became the first country to ban a widely found chemical from use in baby bottles, spurring a leading Democrat in the U.S. Senate to call for legislation that would prohibit use of bisphenol A, or BPA, in a number of everyday consumer products.

"We have immediately taken action on bisphenol A because we believe it is our responsibility to ensure families, Canadians and our environment are not exposed to a potentially harmful chemical," Tony Clement, the minister of health, said in a statement.

Clement said the action was based on a review of 150 worldwide studies. "It's pretty clear that the highest risk is for newborns and young infants," he said in a telephone interview.

Wal-Mart Canada began pulling all baby products containing BPA from its shelves this week, and the chain said it plans to stop selling products containing BPA in U.S. stores by next year. Playtex said it would offer free non-BPA bottles to parents and will stop using BPA in all products by year's end. Nalgene, the maker of reusable water bottles that are popular among athletes, said yesterday it would discontinue production of bottles made with the chemical and recall existing products already in its stores.

Washingtonpost.com

One of the main companies targetted (primarily because they are one of the biggest/most popular), has been Avent. And they're not alone. The majority of plastic baby bottles in Australia contain BPA.

What does it do? Well... if you believe the studies, when the plastic is heated, BPA is released (and so pops up in whatever foods/liquids it is in contact with). When absorbed within the body, it sort of acts like an artificial estrogen - so the body reacts the same was as it does as if it were injected with small doses of female hormones. The panickers are suggesting this is the reason for little girls growing up too quickly, boys becoming more feminine, homosexuality, global warming.... well... you get the idea. Check out here for more http://www.squidoo.com/bisphenol-A

I certainly don't like the fact that we used these with Genevieve and heated them up until she started to prefer cold milk (which coincidentally, was around the time I first became aware of this issue).

Suffice it to say, we'll be getting new bottles with this little-un.

Attractive little critter!

Last time around we subscribed to the weekly newsletter from birth.com.au. It's really good, as it gives you an overview of what's happnening week by week.

Well, last night, Naomi was reading me a bit from their website...

You are now 7 weeks pregnant (35 days after conception), which is the beginning of week 8. Your baby has more than doubled in size during the last week, to be just over 1 cm in length (or 0.4 inches) and is now looking more human. Each eye now has an optic cup, retina and lens and your baby's nasal pits are now present. These will extend to become their nostrils. Your baby's inner ears and tongue are starting to form and their upper jaw and palate come together this week, fusing as one. (If this fails to happen, the baby may be born with a cleft lip and/or palate.)

Your baby's tadpole-like 'tail' is noticeably receding and their trunk is now slightly straighter. Your baby now has a pancreas and an appendix and the beginnings of their reproductive organs, although not distinctly male or female yet. By the end of this week a fine, transparent layer of skin covers their body and their fingers (although still webbed) are now being defined as distinct thumbs and fingers.

I suppose it's not too hard to double in size in a week, when you're only 1cm long!

You can't keep a secret around here!!!

Even MX knows about it - check out the headline!!!

"I have a blob with a heartbeat"

Cory came with me again for this ultrasound (he was to be delivering a training session, but the two he had were no-shows) as I was very anxious about whether we would see anything or not. The ultrasound lady was much more thorough and was able to see that the cervix was long and closed and that there was a tiny little blob measuring 0.69cm with a little fluttering heartbeat. When I held my breath we were able to hear the heartbeat and it was recorded as being 114 bpm which is great given that they like it to be over 100 bpm at this age. We were right on the money with due dates as the scan showed 23rd Feb +/- 5 days and we think 22nd Feb.

Another blood test

Yesterday I had my blood test again and went back for my 2nd ultrasound. The blood test came back at 65,100 so it had definitely increased which was positive.

Quite funny coincidence

Article in The Age today.

Social networkers have found a new frontier for the ever-blurring line between inner and outer worlds: ultrasound photographs.

Browse through MySpace profiles or the blogosphere and you can find an expansive collection of in utero snapshots at various stages of the foetus's growth, from grainy, barely readable pictures to the much more vibrant 3D and 4D pictures that show depth and movement.

Many mums-to-be say posting ultrasound photos is an easy way to announce an exciting piece of information to lots of people all at once. But some warn that sharing foetal pictures could be oversharing - like posting drunken makeout photos and fret about what happens if the pregnancy goes wrong.

Read the whole thing at TheAge.com.au.

And don't worry - they also have an article that says Blogging makes you happy!