Howdy!

The last 4 weeks have flown by as per usual. I had two of those weeks off on holidays from work and didn't get too much done aside from a lot of relaxing and socialising!! I actually did do some packing, but as we're still not completely sure when we're moving, it makes it difficult to feel totally motivated! In the first week of my holidays I had 3 appointments at the hospital, so that took quite a bit of time since we're still living 50 minutes south of it... but it was a great chance to see my Nana while I was out that way, and also some family who I don't always have the chance to visit.

Yesterday was the "big" ultrasound, the morphology scan. I was feeling a bit nervous about this scan as it's the one where they take a lot of measurements of the baby and check on its development, making sure that everything is formed as it should be. Luckily James is on afternoon shifts this week so he was able to come with me. We finally got into our scan appointment by around 1.20pm and it's supposed to take around an hour- and it started off fine, with the sonographer taking all sorts of measurements of the baby's head and heart and aorta, and blood flow to and from the baby. I have to say, I almost became a little teary at seeing that tiny heart pumping away- it's absolutely such a miracle. Anyway... as the scan progressed the sonographer was laughing saying that the baby was facing towards my spine so he couldn't take a couple of really important measurements of the heart so we tried a couple of different methods of trying to turn the baby around with no luck (James said this is how he's sure the baby's his: the stubborn factor, hehe). In the end, the sonographer said we really had to persist, but after 20 minutes of no dramatic movement he suggested we go off and have something to eat and come back in half an hour... so we headed off, but unfortunately James wasn't able to come back in with me as he had to make it to work by 2.45pm. James had said before he left for work though that if I could I should try to find out the sex of the baby which we hadn't discovered yet, even though he wouldn't be there.

So, back in I wandered and got another lovely girl who was just as nice as the first guy but very friendly and chatty and the first thing she said was "Do you know what you're having?" James and I had been warned off by the midwife about pestering the sonographer for the sex so we hadn't asked yet... so she asked if we wanted to know or if we wanted to wait until next scan in another 4 weeks to find out when James would be with me. I told her he'd said it was fine to find out now- so she began the ultrasound, and luckily the baby was in the perfect position for those final measurements so she took them in around a minute and then asked me for my VHS video to record some of the ultrasound- during which time she told me she's pretty sure...

IT'S A GIRL! IT'S A GIRL! IT'S A GIRL! IT'S A GIRL!

Now, of course they say they can't give you a 100% definite, but as she said at one point, "The baby has it's legs wide open here and I can't see a willy so I'm pretty sure it's a girl!"- so she seemed quite confident! At the next scan the baby will be bigger so I guess they can see with more certainty but they're well trained in what to look for so we're taking her word for it! After the ultrasound I then tried to contact James (with no luck unfortunately), so ended up sending him a text message to tell him he's having a daughter! (He rang me later and was very happy about having a little girl, he said lots of people have told him that little girls are often very close to their daddies so he's feeling pretty chuffed about that!)

Just so you know, we did get another couple of photos printed off but we have to get them scanned onto a disk again before we can post them up here, so I'll try to organise that today and have them up before the weekend :-) If we can be really tricky, we can try to get the VHS tape put onto a dvd and upload it if we can which would be great, as you can see her sucking and swallowing the fluid around her and reaching down and playing with her toes :-)

Not to sound cocky :-), but I have been quite sure the whole way along I was having a girl- I have no idea why. Just like I knew I was pregnant all the way along, it's just this feeling I've had. In fact, I was so sure about it that at one point I was completely focused on it and had to talk myself out of it just in case I was very wrong. Obviously either a boy or a girl would have been wonderful, but I'd just had it firmly in my mind it was a girl. The only other person who thought it was a girl too was James' mum, but everyone else was predicting a boy. If our baby had been a boy he would have been the first boy born on my mum's side of the family in 102 years since my Papa! But now our little girl will be the first girl born on my mum's side of the family since me!

It's all very overwhelming, we're so in love with our daughter already and we both just can't wait to meet her :-) And it's wonderful to know that all the scans and tests have shown she's developing exactly how she should, and everything looks fine so far. We feel very, very blessed :-)

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In other news, James has been really sick for the past 2 weeks with some kind of flu he can't shake off. He's taken 4 sick days over that time to rest and get rid of it to no avail, but he's back at work this week and is feeling a bit better I think. I've also had a couple of bugs that have been hard to get rid of, I'm sitting here sniffling as I type this! But hey, it's winter, it's what we should expect! Otherwise we both have been doing well- James has actually got into yoga in a big way, downloading podcasts and doing some almost every day. He had even booked into a class last weekend with a friend but ended up being too sick to go which was a shame, but he's really enjoying it. He even bought himself a yoga mat :-)

I'm starting a month of night shifts at my work as of tonight- how funny that I couldn't wait to escape night shifts at my last job and here I am volunteering to do them again! The thing is though, that at this job even though the shifts are longer there's a whole lot less to do in terms of food preparation and housework (there's not even any ironing to do!) The biggest drawcard for me to do nights is the fact that it will be less physical work than what I have been doing, so much less bending and lifting etc. It's not about the amount of work but the type of work really, so we'll see how I'm coping at the end of the month, as there may be an opportunity to continue. As of this point I have exactly 42 shifts left before I start my leave (3 months worth) so even if nights don't suit me it's not like I have to do them indefinitely.

Ok, that's enough for now- once we get those ultrasound pictures up I'll post them on this post and also on the side bar as I did with the other 2 from last time.

By the way, today is the 4th of July so:

HAPPY AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY
to all our friends and family on the other side of the world!