19 Week Scan!

Yesterday was the 19 week scan, 19 weeks and 2 days to be exact.

I was excited going in to this ultrasound as I was dying to see our little one again. Just to make sure she really was moving around in there!

When the scan first started she, yes – confirmed girl!- was moving around a lot. She loves having her hands up over her head and waving at us. All the limbs, feet and hands are as they should be. When she stretched up and did a massive yawn, that was amazing. Cant believe something so small – about 15cm from head to rump – can have visible facial expressions already. She must have been tired as by the end of the ultrasound she had gone back to sleep and was not putting on a show for us anymore – right at the time that dad started to video the ultrasound screen!

All measurements were completed – all growing as she should be at this stage. Right on track for our due date of June 17th. Her heart was zoned in so that all four chambers of the heart could be seen – even though they are only millimeters. The ribs, liver, kidneys etc were all in line with the due date.

I haven’t really been feeling too many kicks – I seem to get a few during the day but not all the time, and are still quite faint. I asked the sonographer why I wasn’t feeling too many kicks yet. She said it was because I have a tilted, or ‘retroverted’ uterus. Which is basically the same as being left handed as opposed to right handed. The main thick bit of the uterus is positioned at the front, closest to the front of my belly – therefore it takes a bit more than the average person to feel kicks, as there is a lot more cushioning than normal. So, Dad wont be feeling kicks for a little while yet! Just something to ask the doctor about when I have my next appointment – whether this will be any dramas for the labour / birth. However Dr Google comes in handy and everything I have read so far should not affect the birth. Although it is probably the reason why I have quite sharp ligament pains when I suddenly move. I have learnt this last week as well not to get up so quickly as I am quite light headed and dizzy. I guess “taking it easy” has never been in my vocabulary before…


Other than that I am still exercising, walking and doing weights. I am in a pretty good routine. I asked the sonographer why I wasn’t ‘showing’ yet and she said its because I have good muscle tone – so I must have had some abs hidden away that are now hiding her away! I must admit though, I feel chubbier in this last week so I must be starting to poke out now. Another photo is due next week, so will post it when we take it!

I have been busy ordering some things… I will probably be getting a package a week from now on until she arrives. Slowly getting the bigger items ordered. I have also looked up some DIY art for her room as I feel like I need to be more crafty... At the moment I am thinking some canvases with her name… but you will all have to wait until she arrives for that! All those wall stickers that you can get now are lovely too – so will probably get one to help decorate her room.

Cant believe that on Monday I am halfway through... thats crazy! Only another 20 weeks to go.....

Here are some pics of our little girl :)

Sucking her thumb!

Having a wave

We must have tired her out - she did a big yawn and stretched!

Nathan's View

Hello, very proud Dad to be here!!!!

This whole thing from my point of view. Well, where do I start. I will kick off at the start.

I was on the plane to Perth to pick up Tylah. I had landed at Perth but we were seated on the plane as we had to wait for a taxi bay for the plane. Typical Y Gen, have to have things now, I reached for the mobile phone and turned it on.

“DING!!!”, a loud message rings across the fuselage of the plane. The hostie fires daggers down the aisle and the pa on the plane rings out, “Ladies and Gentleman, as we are not yet well inside the terminal, could you please remember to leave all mobile phones turned off!”

“Whoops….”

I flick the phone to silent and read the message from Ange.

A single photo of a home pregnancy test presenting with “II”. Included in the photo were the directions on the stick. “I” not pregnant. “II” pregnant. You little beauty.

First emotion, unbelievable joy, accompanied with tears. Man up! Nope. Who cares, we are having a baby!!!

Excitedly I messaged Ange back that I would call her shortly. One foot off the plane into the jet bridge and I was on the blower.

We excitedly talked, tears streaming down my face as I wandered down to baggage claim. I was ecstatic!

Claimed my bag, leapt in a taxi and Ange and I continued to chat via sms. The taxi driver commented that I had used my phone more in the five minutes I had been in his cab, then he would use in a year. That prompted me, “Well mate, I don’t know who you are but I just found out we are having a baby!” Well I had to tell someone!!!

So the last four months had been awesome. The experience of first seeing the little peanut actually inside the womb, again tears!

Telling Tylah, and her overwhelmingly excited response, tears!

Taking Tylah to our 3D scan, and finding out we are having a little girl, tears!

Christ, sponsor me Kleenex!

This has been a great ride so far, Ange has been magnificent. I am getting healthy to prepare for the stresses and sleepless nights that will come. We are looking busily at nursery furniture and other needs. That’s right Ange, needs, not wants!! And we are, or Ange is nesting, fluffing around the bedrooms, moving stuff around and getting ready. I am really enjoying this experience.

I have learnt that now is not the time to query Ange over, say….anything! And the biggest kicker, “fat” is a four letter word. I have learnt to completely eliminate it from the vocabulary. If meat needs trimming, I am removing the fff..grissle. If I try to fit something in a hole and it doesn’t go because it is too ffff…wide.

A lesson from The Dad’s Guide to Pregnancy For Dummies, “Do not under any circumstances advise your partner that she is looking fat. Maybe suggest you go to the park to throw the Frisbee.”

Now Frisbee is also banned in our house…..

Love it! More dad updates to come!

Doctors Appointment 03/01/2012

Went to the doc’s for a general check up. All is going well. All my tests are exactly where they should be. The doctor also did an ultrasound with the portable scanning machine. Got to see the little one! Heartbeat was perfectly normal.

I do believe that this week my belly is beginning to “pop”. I can feel it more now and I don’t think it will be long before I will start having to release a notch on my belt ;)

Next appointment is the 20 week scan. Hasn’t been booked in yet, but they should be ringing me soon with an appointment. Exciting times ahead!

Apart from that, we may buy the cot soon. We have decided on dark wood furniture. Should be lovely when its all set up, just wish I could paint the room! 

 Here is a comparison pic. 8 weeks vs 17 weeks... not too much difference yet, but you can definitely see it taking form!

3D Scan

We want Tylah to be as involved as she can with her new brother or sister, so we decided it was prefect timing to have a 3d scan done while we were in Perth. All three of us bundled into the car and drove to Fetal Fotos in North Perth. We had decided prior to the scan that we wanted to find out the sex of the baby, so apparently at this scan, even though I was only 14 weeks, they could tell what the gender was. As we were driving, we all wrote down what we thought it would be… it was later found out that Tylah was the only one who got it right!

Within about a minute of me lying down on the table, the sonographer said, “And, yes, you are having a little girl!”. A BABY GIRL!

Tylah, Nath and I watched the screen intently as our baby girl moved about, waving her arms around. She was being a little shy and keeping her hands and arms over her face! We got a good look at her and were able to take home a disc of the scan and also a page of photos.

As the scan was only done at just over 14 weeks, these were the best images....

Front on view

A little shy perhaps?!

Forever moving her little arms

Perth time!

The drive to Perth this time was not going to be that boring as the long drive normally is – this time we were stopping off at Fitzroy with the Fairbrothers, Broome with the Smiths, Newman with the Bergmann’s and then good ol' Perth with all our friends and family.

Getting to Perth was great, although I was very eager to tell everyone the moment I saw them of our pending arrival, Nathan and I held the secret a little longer so we could tell Tylah in person. It was very important that we were the ones to tell her, and I am so glad we were for her reaction was brilliant.

We had organised to see Tylah for an afternoon prior to us picking her up for our week. We were in the car talking about normal things when Nathan asked Tylah whether she wanted a brother or sister. Tylah being the smart kid she is, cottoned on and inquisitively asked, “why”. Nathan then replied “Because Dad and Ange are having a baby!”. Tylahs reaction was of pure elation, the look on her face was a massive smile, with her eyes becoming glistening with happy tears “Really?!” she said. She was very happy for us and excited at the prospect of having a new sister, as she wanted it to be a girl!

Now that Tylah had been told our special news, it was time we could tell everyone. They say now that nothing is official until it is on facebook, haha! So what better way to announce than to have Nath, myself and Tylah in on the announcement. This was our photo and the way we announced to friends.

12 Week Scan

Before going in for the 12 week scan, I was nervous. Seeing the baby was the exciting part, but this was also the test for Down Syndrome. 

Seeing the little moving image, which actually looked like a real tiny baby now was incredible. Nathan didn’t believe that it would actually look like a baby, with a formed head, legs and arms. The sonographer showed us the beating heart, the liver, the spine, legs, arms – it was surprising how much you can make out already.

All the tests and measurements of the baby calculated a low risk status for us. Which was very good, a normal healthy bub! Now it is time to focus on growing the little thing!

Our little bub looking straight at us.

At work, the suspicions were up. It was getting too hard to keep it from everyone, so we ended up telling them prior to the 12 week mark. It was great to have so much support and excitement from work mates, just made Nath and I all the more excited and couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces!