Week 17 - Haera ra Aoteroa!

My body:
•There is thin line across my tummy from up to top now! They call it linea nigrea, though who knows why it’s there. The only thing they explained about it is, again, this is because of the changes of hormones in my body.
•I had severe headaches at the beginning of the week for a few days. This might relate to something that I eat but also the temperature had been hot so there was a chance that I was dehydrated.


My baby:
is approximately 4.8 inches long and weighs about 3.5 ounces, and he or she should weigh more than the placenta from this point on. Since your baby's hearing has become more finely tuned, he or she may respond to loud noises and supposedly I can feel movement at the sound of large trucks passing or a slamming door (of course I haven't - maybe it's just me that is insensitive). Epidermal (skin) and fatty tissue are developing all over the baby's body to protect it after it is born and a substance called vernix is beginning to form on the skin tissue to protect it from the long exposure to amniotic fluid.


This is it. Our last week in New Zealand. It finally sank it that we are moving OUT of this country, might never come back (but hopefully we will!) and all the goodbyes to friends and places that we have become familiar with.

Monday:
My last day of working! For another 2 years!!! WOOO HOOOOOOO. Scott said if that wouldn't make me happy then he wouldn't know how to make me happy - I said I am worried about having to justify buying another pair of shoes for my self for another 2 years.
(Might try to see if I can get a contracting job in Melbourne before baby pops out but doubt it as I will start be showing.)
Had a terrible headache in the evening. It might be because of the chocolate brownie that I ate in the afternoon.
Went to pick up the car at the mechanic – it cost a fortune! I was pretty upset because with that amount of money, we really should have sold the car and get a newer one in Melbourne. But at this stage we couldn’t do anything but go ahead with the plan and ship the car with the rest of the furniture (which initially shouldn’t cost us anything since the company is paying for the shipment and the tax)

Tuesday:
I was into the (spring) cleaning and de cluttering all morning – done a big job sorting out books and little tidbits that we want to throw away. The problem was that we didn’t really know where to throw away 3 boxes of old text books (not that we feel right to throw away books as well). I rang secondhand bookshops but none of them do textbooks so Scott decided to throw them away at the waste paper bin at his work.

Farewell dinner at Non Solo Pizza in Parnell with Scott’s work. They gave Scott a kiwi with All Black costume photo holder to be put at his desk. The story behind it was that Scott had always lost betting Australia to the All Black during the rugby season and always ended up buying bottles of wine for the other who backed All Black. They said if Scott put that All Black photo holder on his desk in Melbourne people will think that he’s backing All Black and can get all the wine back from them.
As for me, I got a little cute teddy bear with All Black costume for my little peanut so he will know that he has a bit of Kiwi in his blood.


Wednesday:
I still had the biggest headache ever that I rang the midwife. She said chances are everything is ok –have a lot of water and if it still didn’t fix it, see a GP.

The weather has been gorgeous (sunny and not a cloud in the sky). Isn’t that typical, just when we are about to leave, rain finally stopped and was replaced with warm weather - spring has finally sprung!


Thursday:
I was going to get the car washed through the drive-through carwash but it was closed so I had to wash it myself – big mistake. I shouldn’t have been allowed to wash my car! What a waste of money – I spent so much coins to make sure that I did proper job, but once I got home I could see all the patches on the car that I missed cleaning.
Scott said it definitely needed to be cleaned again because it needed to be spotless for the immigration! Grrrrh… Waste of time and my energy.

Friday
Removalist arrived today – lovely hubby happened to forget to tell me about this change of plan! (They were going to come tomorrow). All went well though all they left us were the bed and the set of drawers – packed the rest of the things. They left the table where they put our laptop but then packed the chair!!
This poor pregnant woman had to sit on the floor for the rest of the night not able to do anything else but browsing internet! We couldn’t even watch TV since they packed both of them. Had to go out for dinner at Mission Bay – for the last time, sniff sniff. We chose the Italian restaurant that we had never been, and it was terrible. Food was not very nice and incredibly expensive.

During the day Scott came and picked me up so we can drive my car off at the Depot. The trip took forever since it was on the other side of the city, and the customer service made us fill in the immigration form at the last minute (Scott was getting nervous at that time since he’s been away from work more than 1.5 hours). To make things worse, we also had to return the number plate to the testing station and get de-register, but they couldn’t take off the plates from the car! We decided to go back there tomorrow morning to pick them up.


Saturday
Moving day! We were up by 8am but the removalist didn’t come until before 10am. We both got a bid edgy because we needed to drive all the way to the Depot to pick up the number plates and get registered. Fortunately it all worked out fine and when we got home they had almost finished with the moving. We still had to wait for the cleaners to come in though to clean the house thoroughly, and to say goodbye. Thought the job is over? Well, not really. The real estate agent said that we need to see her to sign on the bond release form this afternoon. All this never-ending little jobs that they only tell you at the last minute!

It was really hard packing clothes for the first 4 weeks in Melbourne when you pregnant, as you don’t know how big you are going to end up in a few weeks.

Anyhow, we went to see Birgit, Stefan and little Daniel before taking off to say our goodbyes (hate goodbyes!).

Checked in at Heritage hotel. This was the hotel that we stayed at the first time we went to Auckland almost 2 years ago. Very posh and expensive house but our room was crap! Maybe all are just signs that we really need to get out of this country! :P


Our last night was spent at Bombay Hill, for Phil’s 40th birthday party. Good weather, good companies, big bon fire, we even had hangi (traditional Maori feast) for dinner making it a nice way to spend the last night. Everyone had promised to come so it’s not like goodbye.

We’ll miss this place – and promised ourselves that we will be back here with the little one!

Week 16 - Bad Week!

My body:
* I hate it! I hate it!! I put on weight faster than a rocket - around 1/2 kg per week. Don't know how it happens but it does. What makes things worse it that I haven't really watch what we're eating as well - one night it's pizza, the other day it's hamburger - it's just the things I craved for, plus I still couldn't be bother to cook. Also because this is our second last week we are busy having farewell dinners and getting free meals - do you think I slow down on that?
* Sore back - every morning when I get up, it felt like I have been sleeping on nails.
* I also have been getting this twicthing feelings down my tummy - It might be the that the uterus is strecthing out preparing for the baby growth but apparently at this age it might be the baby kicking and about!
All and all I feel unattractive the whole week!

My baby:
is about the size of an avocado now but in the next three weeks, he'll go through a tremendous growth spurt — doubling his weight and increasing his length. In the meantime, he'll be playing with his umbilical cord and practising breathing by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid through his lungs.

On Monday, we went to the second visit to the midwife - we told her that we were moving to Melbourne in two weeks so she didn't actually perform the test which initially to be done today and said it could be done later!
Aaargh.. Why why it can never be right with these people?

Enough winging. Can't really be complaining because everything is fine, apparently.

My little peanut is a big baby apparently - according to the midwife. When she touched my tummy, she said "Wow. The Baby is really growing fast!"
Me: "Oh really? Wow that's a relief. I have been thinking it's just my tummy since I have a very healthy appetite now"
Her: "No, you can feel the size of your womb and it's quite big."
Scott (jumped into the conversation): "Well, I guess we're having a big Australian baby - not a tiny Indonesian one"

(PS. Told mum about it and she said hope baby wouldn't be too white/bule or people will start thinking that I am just the Philipino nanny. PPS. Scott argued that western people don't think like that but they might think that I am a philipino bride by mail!!!!!)

Then we heard the baby heartbeats again.
Her: "Are you going to find out the sex?"
Me: "Yes. Definitely."
Her: "There is an old wives tale which predicts the sex of the baby from the signs. And this is quite a fast heartbeat so it might be a BOY"
(Scott grinned very wide at this point)
Scott: "I've got a psychic aunty who said this is going to be a boy"

Scott aunty, Kerry, a self-proclaimed pshychic woman apparently said to one of her colleagues that he was expecting a baby which was due in March and it's going to be a boy. And this man was obviously a bit confused about what she was talking about (not sure if he was expecting any baby) but anyway, this was before Kerry found out about us. When she did, she figured that her premonition was all about us after all.

Although talking about psychic, Rianti and James reckon it's going to be a girl - but can't give any reasons why they think of that (maybe they are two of a kind? :P). I don't think they are particularly psychic and honestly, it's not a hard guess isn't, it's either a her or a him!

Scott is convinced that I shouldn't take any drug during the labour because anything given to me can be passed to the baby through the placenta. Baby gets weary until the drug is worn out, and also the mother doesn't recover as quick because of the drug effect (drowsy and weary). Eeks.. I said I'd think about it. At the moment my ground is we'll try but I am not ruling out drugs - if I need it then I NEED it!

Bad week!

I am not having a good week. Wednesday morning was such a bad morning. Started with having to go back to the house twice to get water for my radiator, and then realising I forgot the laptop (I guess it's good that I remember before I hit the road but it;s still annoying) and then I 'bumped' into other car when I parked the car and this Witch who was there screamed at me "What are you doing? You hit my car.."
bla bla bla. It was such an innocent bump, but it is my fault! I shouldn't be allowed to drive while pregnant - very very careless. This is quite normal though, pregnant women are known to loose their sense of judgmental and also sometimes get brain fog and becoming absentminded.

Also, I've been meaning to get my tooth fixed but I got so lazy and ended up not having able to do it because of the pregnancy. Then the filling just fell off! I went to the dentist but they only gave me temporary filling because they need an xray to give me a crown - which they couldn't do because I am pregnant. This means I will need to fork out my own money for crowing in Melbourne instead of covered by our expatriate insurance here.
Lesson to learn: Never procrastinate.

Week 15 - I am ballooning!

My body:
* I think my body is adjusting alright now. I still get sick from time to time but not all the time, thank God for that. I have been feeling so much better - I actually could (and do) change TV channel when it starts showing Home and Away! My couch is no longer my sanctuary, but I still looove our bed (I have always had this infactuation with bed so this is not due to the pregnancy but just because I love my beauty sleep!). And because now I am pregnant, Hubby lets me sleeps in as long as I like - am like a Queen!
* As you can see from the pictures, my waistline has been expanding from sometimes now. I am not very sure whether this is classified as bubbie bump already or if it is my fat storage (more likely!)as baby is only about 1.75 ounces (see below: my baby)
Rrr.. my jeans that were okay last week (in fact they were one size too big in my other life) are now suddenly too tight.


My baby:
weighs about 1.75 ounces and is about 4 to 4.5 inches in length. His or her heart is growing strong and, even though it is little, it is pumping between 20 and 25 quarts of blood every 24 hours. By the time for delivery, baby's heart will be circulating up to 300 quarts of blood every 24 hours. Many fetuses develop their future hairline pattern this week, although it can take quite a bit longer for some babies' hairline or hair to fully develop.


As the result of trying to make the best of our last 3 weeks here, we decided to drive to Raglan yesterday. It's the famous surfing beach where the international surfing competition is held annually.
It took 3 hours to get there because we did a bit of sight-seeing detour and refused to use the motorway. Got there hours later, it was windy & cold, and I had already been fainting with hunger and had a very severe headache. What a way just to get fish and chips.

The other day I was adamant to use my favourite pants, only to find myself fainting and regretting it the whole day (although I felt better after I undid the buttons) . Well I was going to say goodbye to prematernity clothings and so long tight jeans, short skirts, and body hugging tops already, but then Scott said I should buy the belly belts. So today, I went to the Baby Factory and got myself that, which to be put around your waist to expand your pants/skirts waistline. What a clever invention! And saving me from wearing those maternity clothes for another month or so at least (but they are not cheap.. oooh noo.. baby is expensive!)

Another example of social life downhill for me: Had a hen's party on Saturday (Mia's getting married in Fiji in 3 weeks time), started with lunch (no alcohol for me!) and then went to the local stripbar (closed for us, it's too early anyway to be open) to learn how to pole dance. I was really looking forward for this, until about 2 weeks ago it dawned to me I might not be able to do it. Surely enough, it is 'not recommended for pregnant women'. Damn! Even looking at them was so much fun - although it looked ridiculously difficult that even I can see what a big exercise it is for the tummy muscle. Anyway, they continued on to the bridesmaid place, have drinks and nibbles and strip dancing. Thinking that it would be boring for me (without any alcohol) I went home and stayed home - alone, while hubby and his bestfriend from Australia were out and about the city. Help I am turning into a boring pregnant wife that I promised myself I wouldn't turn into when I got pregnant!

Week 14 - Second trimester

My body:
* Well, morning sickness was almost almost gone - except for two days in the middle of the week where I was sick all day!
* I am not so tired anymore this week and surprise surprise I didn't belch as much as the previous weeks.
* On the other side, my appetite has grown so much. I have been eating like a MONSTER. This might be because I finally enjoy what I am eating. The other night we had Indian! I thought I had gone off the taste of the spices and cream in the curry but I enjoyed it so much.
* Severe headaches - I have been getting very bad headaches lately. Apparently this is normal. Pregnancy headaches are most commonly the result of hormonal changes, fatigue, tension, hunger or physical and emotional stress.

My baby:
weighs almost one ounce, and is 3 to 4 inches in length. Your baby's bladder is beginning to function and, believe it or not, your baby actually begins urinating. In fact, although doctors are not really sure how or where your baby's urine is produced, they do know it is one component of the amniotic fluid, which regenerates itself every 3 to 4 hours.


My beloved friend Gita sent me this txt this morning (she just had a baby a month ago): People said "congrats, ur life'll never b d same again", n it's so7x trus. So linda, move ur bump, do whatever u wanna do NOW, forget the sickness, its only in ur mind!

At the moment the surge of panic attack is overwhelming me. So many things that I wanted to do, and still haven't done them. Which is why I was so annoyed when I missed the auction for U2 tickets in Melbourne on Trademe (NZ Auction website) because we slept in! Aaargh. Thing is, we were going to see them here but because the show is in November, I had to sell the tickets. I sold them for quite a good price actually and I was hoping I can get these particular ones with seats - just in case, you see.. I'll be 5 1/2 months pregnant when the concert will be on.

Anyhow.

Lani stayed with me for 3 nights while Scott was away for work to Melbourne. On the last night Jacs came along for dinner - Birgit meant to come as well but cancelled it at the last minute saying she wasn't feeling well. Sure enough, the next day she gave a birth to Daniel Thomas!
We went to see them and the baby on Saturday on the way to dinne with Scott's supplier. Such a tiny little thing! I had this nervous feeling when I held him in my arms (I mean, he was only 2 days old, very helpless and as Scott put it, two days ago he was still in his mother's womb and everything is all brand new to him and he wouldn't know what's going on!). Scott was more natural about it. He's got this good fatherly instinct that I am soo proud of - I think he's ready to look after baby and be a good father!

I've sent email to people at work this week telling them that we are leaving to Melbourne and that we're expecting a baby. This came from Megan - and I think it's really true!!
You took that leap of faith when you upped and left and sometimes if our gut
keeps telling us something isn't right, or things just won't seem to work
out no matter how hard we try, it can turn out to be a blessing in disguise
if we follow that instinct and let life just take it's course. Which is what
you did and look how well it worked out!

First day of Spring

It is the first of september - the first day of Spring.

And the weather is just like what it is - Spring. Beautiful sun, blue sky, warm weather. It feels like the season takes sudden turn.

It's also the new hope for me. I woke up and my sickness was gone - puff. Out the window - gone with the winter wind! Exactly 13 weeks of my pregnancy, no more no less. I can breathe normally without worrying about the smell, I can move so freely without the motion sickness pain, and the tiredness is all gone! No more slumping in the couch anymore!

I might enjoy the rest of pregnancy from now own (unless if my neurotism gets the better of me *grin*). I AM A NEW WOMAN!