Well, it's pretty much baby central in our house at the moment. I'm now 16 weeks pregnant and have definitely begun to feel (and look!) pregnant! I have just had to change hospitals as we're soon moving house and it makes sense to be booked into the hospital closest to where we'll be living, which is the Lyell McEwin. I had my first appointment there today, which was excellent- they seem to be extremely thorough and really nice, and I even got to hear the baby's heart beat!! Wow, that was amazing, very emotional. Now I know there is actually something growing inside me and I'm not just getting fat :-) Unfortunately James couldn't come today as he was working - and I didn't know prior that I'd be listening to the heart beat so didn't think to tell him to get off of work to come along- but he was excited, and is looking forward to coming along to the scheduled ultrasound sometime early in July when we'll find out if we're having a little James or a little Courtney :-) I don't think I've felt the baby move yet- I know they liken the feeling to flutterings, and there has been once or twice I felt something and wondered whether that was it... but I've really not felt anything I've known for sure was our little Piggy.

I have taken to calling our baby Piggy... all it does is make me eat- I couldn't believe today when I was weighed that I had only put on 1.45 kg in the last 5 weeks, I feel like an eating machine. James started calling my belly "Tummy Town" so at this point in time we talk about our Piggy who lives in Tummy Town :-) We know... we're crazy :-)

Today I opted to be involved in a research program called the SCOPE study, where women in their first pregnancy are screened for three main problems during pregnancy including preeclampsia, premature labour and delivery of a premature baby and small babies for their stage in pregnancy. The study is being conducted not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, England, Germany, the USA and Sweden and originally was a 3-year study but has now been extended to 5 years as already the research is helping to assist many women during pregnancy and is actually already saving the lives of babies in-utero. Being involved in this study basically means that I will have extra screens, tests and ultrasounds, and they will closely monitor the development of our baby to detect any early potential problems, which can only be a good thing. I have my first appointment for the study on Monday, and several more in the coming 9 weeks or so. The study continues during the pregnancy until the woman reaches 24 weeks gestation and then you carry through to another form of care for the rest of the pregnancy. On Wednesday I have a 'dating scan' which I think is actually some kind of ultrasound to determine exactly how far along I am, but so far all the signs point to me being what I believe I am- 16 weeks and 2 days! Anyway, it's all pretty exciting though a bit nerve racking!

We haven't started shopping for any baby things so far, there's not much point until we've moved since we'll just have to transport it all with us anyway. We have looked around and gathered some prices, poor James is still in shock!! I think it's more daunting considering we'll have the moving costs and then the baby costs, but we'll get there :-)

Ok, enough baby talk... what else has been happening? Work for James and I is still the same, though on Monday I start 2 weeks of holidays- HOORAY!!!! I'll then be back at work until September 24th when I start a month of annual leave (then begin maternity leave straight after) so I really will have maybe 3 and a half months of work to go once I return from my short break. Last weekend was pretty social- we went out for tea with friends on Saturday night, and then went out for Yum Cha (chinese breakfast) on Sunday morning with some more friends. On Sunday afternoon we looked at some furniture but didn't buy anything... and slowly made our way home again. The weather here has been a bit crazy lately- it's been really cold and we've had 2 days this week of massive downpours. I heard on the news this morning that in May we only had 3 mm of rain which was funny since when James' mum visited last May we had our wettest May in 50 years or something :-)

I'm going to head off to get my things ready for work tomorrow and then head to bed- just a quick congratulations to our friends Sally and Barry who had a beautiful baby boy last Monday who they named Lachlan James (and he is very beautiful, I saw him yesterday and had very long cuddles!) I did suggest that Sally and I could swap and she could be pregnant again and I could just take Lachlan home with me... but for some reason they didn't seem too thrilled with my good idea :-)