The Gallery: Birth

This week's Gallery subject is 'Birth'.

I'm going for the obvious, but no nicely washed and presented babies here - just the before, during and after of Tiddler's entry into the world. Perhaps not for the squeamish!

Before

During

After

 The things we do to have our kids!

The Gallery: Birth

A Quick Catch-up Before The Year Disappears

Not an awful lot has been happening around here aside from the general hubub of life with small children (though as I'm typing this Mr Earplugs is discovering that stale bread makes good tinder as he's set his cheese toastie on fire under the grill!). I don't seem able to get any computer time lately and when I do have a spare moment someone else has usually commandeered the laptop. I did attempt to do some knitting but it ended up getting frogged - I'll save that for another post sometime. Such is life!

I've had a touch of the baby blues but thankfully I'm feeling much perkier now. It's difficult to say whether it was post-natal depression or simply hormones and tiredness but either way life felt a bit of a trial for a while.

I've been sorting out our photo's and realised that we had a few successes in the garden this summer. Entirely down to Mother Nature, though I did plant the Lavender. Our Damson tree did really well:

and Mr Earplugs made jam - yum!

We had some lovely Hollyhocks. Last year we just had the red ones but this year had a pale pink and a dark pink too. These are growing in a crack in the tarmac at the bottom of the drive:

My Lavender border did very well though I haven't trimmed it yet so it may look a mess next year!

Lovely apples too:And speaking of things that have grown well - Tiddler has gone from this:

to this:

Doesn't time fly!

And since I'm unlikely to be blogging again before next year I'll wish everyone a very Happy Christmas!

A Quick Catch-up Before The Year Disappears

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Linda to tell seven amazing things about myself. I'm not too keen on the word 'amazing' as that feels like bragging and makes me feel uncomfortable, so I'll settle for seven 'achievements' instead:

1). Despite the very negative attitude of my teacher, I passed my O Level in English Literature with a grade A. During class I sat with a girl who constantly gave the teacher a hard time. I kept my head down but unfortunately got tarred with the same brush. The teacher hated me and gave me a really bad school report. Luckily my parents took the report with a pinch of salt and I showed him!

2). I was the first person in my family to go to university. I grew up on a council estate and my Dad worked in a factory and my Mum did part-time cleaning. We were pretty poor and I remember that a lot of my teachers were surprised that I did so well academically. I was very lucky to have a couple of teachers who could see beyond my background and were really supportive.

3) This cardigan, made for Miss Muffett, was my first 'serious' piece of knitting. Each row took 12 minutes to knit and I dreaded having to answer the phone etc because I would lose my place in the pattern. Even though no-one else will ever wear it I can't bear to throw it away.


4). I've been researching my family history off and on for a few years and so far have managed to get back to 1790. We are so English and 'northern' at that! My parents live only 2 miles or so from where my Dad's ancestors lived - they just moved off the moor and down into the valley!

5). I am a very poor traveller. I get really bad travel sickness and so any travelling is usually quite stressful. A few years ago I did a tour of Peru - Lima, Cusco, Macchu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and various Inca sites, lots of air and coach travel plus a train across the altiplano, altitude sickness and a touch of 'dehli belly' too. Frankly I don't know how I did it! I couldn't have done it without Mr Earplugs and it's definitely one of my greatest achievements.



6). Having Tiddler has to be my greatest achievement I think. I wasn't sure I could face another pregnancy when I lost a baby last year. Tiddler's pregnancy was such a worrying time, constantly thinking whether everything was going ok, never mind factoring in my age (43). We are so pleased to have him and he's a lovely little lad.

7). My 1st Blogiversary! I have just realised that I have passed the one year mark! Look out for a blogiversary giveaway coming soon (or soonish anyway!)

(Sheep photo from answers.com)

Tagged!

Our New Arrival

Here is our new arrival - only 30 seconds old! (Apologies to anyone who is squeamish!)

As you can see he was born by c-section despite me nearly having a nervous breakdown at the thought (several hypnotherapy sessions worked wonders!) He weighed 8lbs and 7ozs and was born at 12:44pm as we were last on the theatre list.

The whole experience seems somewhat surreal to me now that we are back home. It wasn't as 'bad' as I'd expected though they did give me too much anaesthetic and the block went right up to my upper chest and I could feel my chin and ears going numb - scary! We only spent two nights in hospital. That doesn't seem very long, does it? I was in for longer with both Miss Muffett and Nipper. My stitches came out on Wednesday and though the area is very sore I'm managing to get about and do a few things around the house. All in all, a pretty good birth experience, and much better than the previous two.

'New Nipper', as I kept calling him, will be known in Blogland as 'Tiddler' (Kitty referred to him as Tiddler and I really liked it).

Here he is looking a bit more civilised:

He's quite a quiet baby, more noticeable I think because the other two were real screamers. He likes nothing more than a good feed followed by a good kip with my boob still in his mouth! Miss Muffett thinks he's quite cute and Nipper has taken his arrival reasonably well though he seems a bit cross with me. Not so cross as to deny me the lovely bunch of flowers that he made for me at nursery though:

Fingers crossed that the quiet times continue!

Our New Arrival

A Labour of Love

No, not that kind of 'labour'. New nipper is still tucked up inside and we will be setting off for the hospital at 7am tomorrow morning. By lunch time he should be with us!

No, this labour has been the knitting of a crib blanket:

Each row took approximately 5 minutes to knit and I ended up with around 180 rows (kept knitting till the yarn ran out). Altogether that's about 15 hours though it felt like much longer!

Soule Mama knitted a lovely blanket for her new baby and she mentioned that it was a variation of a 'feather and fan' pattern. So I looked up what this pattern was and it seemed pretty simple so I figured I'd give it a go. There's no actual pattern to follow, rather just a stitch and row repeat (18 stitches repeated over the row with 4 rows making up the pattern with a few extra stitches at the beginning and end of the row to form a border). Another 'winging it' project for me - lol! Here's a close-up, believe me when I say that it's much easier to knit than it looks:

I have some nice cotton yarn but was worried about making a mess of the project and wasting it so decided to use some baby acrylic double knit that I had in my crafty cupboard. I didn't have a clue how many stitches to cast on in order to get a blanket of the right size so I did a trial run of the pattern stitch and row repeat and hazarded a guess. My finished blanket is the perfect size for a moses basket. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and now wish that I'd made it big enough for a cot and out of the cotton after all!

In case anyone's interested here's my 'recipe':

2x 100g balls baby acrylic double knit.

1 pair of size 4.5mm needles (as I wanted it to knit up fairly quickly).

Cast on 116 stitches (6 x 18 for the pattern repeat plus 4 stitches at the beginning and end of each row to form a border).

Knit the first 4 rows to form a border.

Start the pattern repeat:

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Knit 4, Purl to the last 4 stitches, knit 4.

Row 3: Knit 4, *knit 2 together x three times, yarn forward then knit 1 x six times, knit 2 together x three times*, repeat from * to * to the last 4 stitches, knit 4.

Row 4: Knit.

Do as many 4 row repeats as you like but ending with a row 4 (I did 42 repeats).

Knit the last 4 rows to form a border.

Cast off.

If I was going to do this again I would probably knit 6 or 8 rows for the top and bottom borders, and likewise 6 or 8 stitches at the beginning and end of each row for the side borders.

Pregnancy Update:

Well, tommorrow is the big day and I'm pretty nervous. I'll be away from blogland for a little while I think but will try to pop up a picture of the new arrival. Thank you for all your good wishes, I will be thinking of them all!

A Labour of Love

Things I Probably Shouldn't Be Doing At 38 Weeks Pregnant!

1). Building shelving systems:

Though it's so good to have the toys going 'up' the wall instead of across the floor (Mr Earplugs did help) and we can now find what we want to play with.

2). Yanking all the ivy off the garden wall. We've been trying to keep the ivy in check but it's a constant struggle and it's getting into the borders and the lawn, not to mention growing about 8 foot high in places, and ruining the pointing:

So, it had to go:

Now we have a lovely ivy free wall which we can repair:

And a space to put a small shed (we have a shed already but it's too big and rotten in places so that'll be going soon too!):


3). Spending a couple of hours traipsing around Heathrow looking for the 'spectators area' which is signposted but doesn't actually exist anymore! I had a few choice words to say about that! We were able to watch some planes taking off by hanging around the car-park (which you're not supposed to do apparently??). We also found a spot outside of the perimeter fence where you can watch the planes coming into land. They are so low at this point that you feel as if you could reach out and touch them. It was quite an experience and Nipper loved it. Wish I'd taken the camera!

4). Clambering around with Nipper on the equipment here with a view to getting him a play-frame (not from here though as they are a bit pricey). Mr Earplug's Grandad left him a bit of money when he died recently and we know he would love the idea of a play-frame for the kids. Unfortunately we have a slightly stroppy neighbour who I'm sure will make a complaint about it. I tried to head this off by asking the local Council's advice but they were useless. There isn't any legislation that specifically covers kiddies play equipment so they wouldn't give me any advice. So we'll have to put it up and see what happens and possibly apply for planning permission! I ask you - planning permission for a play-frame!

Following the ivy yanking and the kitchen refurb we're left with this:

So from now until the 12th we'll be skip-filling (got one coming tomorrow).

Pregnancy Update:

Well, so much for me saying I'm going to take it easy. We've had far too much to do! I think the iron tablets must be giving me a new lease of life - lol! Having said that, I'm quite tired as I can't find a comfortable sleeping position. I'm also having severe braxton hicks. I only had mild contractions for a few days before Nipper was born and none at all before Miss Muffett came along. These are so painful that I have to practice a bit of deep breathing! Hope that doesn't mean that new Nipper is coming early! I'll be having an afternoon at the hospital later this week for a 'pre-op' visit and a trip to the path lab next week for blood samples to be held in case something goes wrong - don't like the sound of that!

Re the registrar telling us we couldn't have skin-to-skin contact - I went to a 'c-section class' and was able to talk to a theatre midwife who said that it will be possible. We just have to tell the midwife and anaesthetist on the day and they will make it possible. I figured that might be the case. Shame that the 'higher-ups' who are often giving you information don't actually know the reality! Isn't that often the way though?!

And finally, something which I did, but which probably should have been done a few weeks ago really - set up a 'baby station' in our bedroom:

My lovely (if somewhat dated) gliding rocker came from Ebay for just £24 and a trip by Mr Earplugs to collect it. I also washed the moses basket:

So if new Nipper comes early I think we might just be ready for him - aside from the fact that we'll have to wait about an hour for m-i-l to get here!

Things I Probably Shouldn't Be Doing At 38 Weeks Pregnant!

Kitchen Re-fit

Before:

(Horrible units, even more horrible floor!)

During:

After:

(I was a bit worried about our choice of units but they've grown on me!)

(So glad this is finished and that we don't have that awful green floor anymore!)

Pregnancy update:

Nothing much to report really. I'm taking my iron tablets and so feel better than a couple of weeks ago. I've finally accepted that I have to try and slow up a bit. I popped into town for a coffee with a friend and had to get Mr Earplugs to drive in to pick me up as I knew it would take me forever to walk back up the hill to our house!

Baby is definitely making a descent and I'm carrying him very low. He is very wriggly and causes considerable discomfort very low in my pelvis. I'm also doing the pregnancy 'walk' big time now!

We had an appointment to see the Consultant last week but once again ended up seeing a Registrar. I was a bit annoyed as at this point (37 weeks) I'd rather like to meet the person who's going to be operating. The appointment didn't go too well with the Registrar questioning why I was having a c-section and making me feel that it wasn't necessary. She was also very negative and dismissive of things I was asking for ie I asked about having skin-to-skin contact with the baby whilst being sewn up and she said that there wouldn't be room available for that during the op. I've decided to speak to the Midwife and Anaesthetist on the day as I'm sure it must be possible (and 2 fingers to the unhelpful Registrar who ought to work somewhere other than obstetrics!).

Kitchen Re-fit

A Bit of a Round-up

I've been completely out of Blog land for the last month or so - just been too busy with the kitchen re-fit and all the decorating. You really do realise just how much stuff you have when you need to clear a room out. I seem to have done nothing but shift stuff from room to room lately! But it's all finished now and I'll put some before and after shots up at some point.

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I received a lovely present from Raina last week. She had mentioned that she was going to send me a little something as a 'cheer-up' following the sad demise of the Go-Go. I received the most beautiful necklace which Nipper has taken rather a shine to due to the iridescent beads - he's fascinated:

And also.........hand knitted socks! Gorgeously soft cashmere socks which fit perfectly:

I was overwhelmed. So much time and effort goes into anything hand made. I don't think I could ever let go of a pair of my hand knitted socks. Thank you so much Raina for your very thoughtful and generous gift. It certainly was a fabulous 'cheer-up'.

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Speaking of the Go-Go....I got an 'offer' from my insurance company for the write-off of the car.....£150, less my excess, so £50! I was rather cross at this to say the least! I got online and found half a dozen Micra's similar to mine with values ranging from £300 to £600 so downloaded the adverts and sent them, and a rather snippy letter, off to the insurers. Sure enough, ten days later I got a revised offer of £400, so result! However, I think I'm now going to equate insurance companies with 2nd hand car dealers and estate agents!

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I think it's about time I blogged some awards. Some of these are from before last Christmas so apologies all round!

Both Linda and Caroline awarded me the Premio Dardos award:

I'm afraid I can't remember specifically what it's for and when I tried to translate it I came up with 'prize darts' which wasn't really any help! But thank you Linda and Caroline!

The lovely Mel Mel (private blog) gave me the Hot Blog Award, which speaks for itself, and also the Marie Antoinette Award for being 'real':

This one was a little bit tongue in cheek as she passed it on to me after I'd regaled her with tales of all of us being up all night with a nasty tummy upsetting germ - and you can't get more real than that I guess!

Kitty passed along the Best Blog Comments Award:


And Linda very generously passed on the Lemonade Award:

for blogs which show attitude or gratitude (which was very kind of her since I hadn't blogged the first award she gave me!).

Having left it so long to blog them there's no way that I can list and link to everyone who deserves these to be passed on. So if you follow me, or are on my blog list, or have ever left me a comment then please consider yourself awarded with any or all of the above.

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I've also been tagged by Sara and Linda.

Sara tagged me for 'six random things about me' but as I did one of these before I thought I'd do a 'six things which get my goat!' instead, so here goes:

1. Since I started driving Nipper to nursery 4 times a week I'm noticing other people's bad driving habits (no doubt I have plenty of my own!). Top of the list has to be people who don't bother to indicate, especially at big junctions and mini-roundabouts. This leads nicely onto number 2....

2. People who decide to ignore the rules regarding who has right of way. This is another mini-roundabout problem and also crops up a lot as there are lots of parked cars around here.

3. And another driving related one - people who park across my drive, especially as the whole rest of the street is empty but they can't be bothered to walk the few extra feet! It's become so bad now that we have applied to the Council for a marking to be painted across the driveway. Hopefully people will notice that, though why they can't see the driveway in the first place is beyond me. (Mr Earplugs has been getting a tad stressed about this as he's worried that I might go into labour early and someone will be blocking the drive).

4. Irresponsible dog owners. Don't get me wrong, I quite like dogs ,but have never owned one and don't know much about looking after them. But I do know that I wouldn't let my dog jump up at strangers, nor would I let it off the lead in a park where there were lots of small children playing. Miss Muffett was slammed into a wall when she was about 5 years old by a dog which was charging around the entryway to the park. It might not have been so bad if the owner had come over and helped but he just walked straight past and didn't say a thing. I had plenty to say! I've also had clothing ruined by dogs jumping up and scraping their dirty paws down my clothes, and had a picnic in the park spoiled by a roaming dog which figured it was a slap up meal just for him.

5. This one could be tagged on to no 4 really - dog mess on the pavement! It's a nightmare when you tread in it or get it stuck around your pram wheels. If a dog owner can't be bothered to pick it up then at least get them to do it in the gutter where it's less likely to be trodden in!

6. Another driving type one - cyclists riding on the pavement at break-neck speed. I have every sympathy with people wanting to ride on the pavement as the roads are so busy. Unfortunately a lot of them forget that pavements are supposed to be for pedestrians. I've been hit twice by cyclists zooming along and zig-zagging through people, and we had a scary near miss with Miss Muffett when she was small.

Linda tagged me with a 'Reading' meme:

Who is your first favorite author and why?

I think this would have to be Enid Blyton. I read the 'Wishing Tree' books, then the 'Mallory Towers' series, and of course the 'Famous Five' books. I think I liked the 'mystery' aspect of the Famous Five.

Do you still consider him/her to be among your favourites?

Not really, though if I was a kid again I'm sure I'd still like the 'Famous Five' and I do still like mystery novels.

Who is your all time favorite author and why?

I loved 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte, which we studied for 'A' Level, probably because it's set close to where I grew up and the language of the characters is real . That really appealed at the time as I went to a grammar school and there were very few kids there with a 'local' accent.

Do you still co nsider him/her to be among your favorites?

Absolutely.

Who is the most recent addition to your favorite authors and why?

Probably Jodi Picoult. Her books often deal with difficult subjects and she looks at them from all angles.

If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth?

Probably Jodi Picoult as I haven't read all of her novels yet. I love Sue Grafton's 'alphabet' series of crime novels. I also really like Nicci French but have to be in the right mood to read them. I like a good crime/thriller/mystery novel.

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Pregnancy Update:

I have only 5 weeks to go now! It has come around rather quickly, especially since I thought I had 2 more weeks than that. I've been feeling a little bit under the weather with tiredness, dizzy spells and breathlessness, and feeling a bit twitchy about the upcoming c-section. I figured it was just down to being in the latter stages of pregnancy and chasing around after Nipper (not to mention no longer being a spring chicken - lol!) Turns out that I'm anaemic and have been having the classic symptoms. So it's iron tablets for me from now on which means I have to also limit my intake of milk, tea and eggs. What'll I do without my first cup of tea of the day??

Everyone keeps commenting on how small I look (even though I feel like a whale) so I thought I'd put a recent photo up alongside the one taken at 25 weeks to see if there's much difference:

I guess I am bigger, though I don't look much bigger considering 10 weeks have gone by. Let's hope I don't get too much bigger then over the next 5 weeks.

(And this has got to be my longest ever blog post - congratulations if you made it all the way to here!)

A Bit of a Round-up

Mid-term Musings

I've now passed the mid-point of my pregnancy and reached the point where new nipper is classed as 'viable'. Because of my age, and what happened with the last pregnancy, I've found it a bit hard to relax into this one. I was just starting to get there when my Consultant reminded me that this birth had better be a c-section. Yikes! Guess I'll be needing lots of these then:

This has now made me freak a bit (the c-section rather than the pants - lol!). I don't know why as I was told that this would likely be the case after I had Nipper. Still, there's quite a difference in a hpothetical c-section for a possible next birth and having one fixed and put in your diary (12th June)!

I don't have any issues regarding c-section versus natural birth. In my view you have the birth necessary to keep both you and your baby healthy. I think I'm stressing because it's a major operation, which scares me to death, and I'm unsure how much help I'll get afterwards (judging by my experience of 2 previous births and my friend's recent c-section it won't be much!) And Mr Earplugs may well have problems in spending as much time as we'd like at the hospital because he'll need to look after Nipper.

I've been 'musing' a bit on how different this pregnancy has been when compared to my previous pregnancies.

I read something along the lines of: 'In your 20's you can be pregnant, hold down a full-time job, and have a social life. In your 30's you can be pregnant and have either a full-time job or a social life. In your 40's being pregnant is more than enough!' I'd have to agree. I'm going to bed before 9pm each night but I'm still absolutely knackered. Having an active toddler who doesn't like to sleep probably isn't helping there.

The morning sickness was worse and lasted longer than with previous pregnancies.

I've had every germ going - the flu which morphed into gastric flu; the nasty chest infection which landed me in hospital; 4 instances of digestive 'upsets' (the type where you need both the loo and the sink at the same time - say no more!); I now have another throat and chest virus, and there's been an outbreak of chickenpox at our toddler group so I have to avoid the place until I've had a bloodtest to see whether I'm immune!

Name a pregnancy 'irritation' and I've got it already - really bad leg cramps keeping me up at night, needing the loo all the time, terrible heartburn (I should buy shares in the company that makes Rennies), other 'digestive' issues, pelvic joint pain, nose bleeds, dropsy, braxton hicks already, and backache! I'm not 'blooming' yet either!

One thing has remained the same though - a strange desire to eat freshly cracked black peppercorns. Even when they are burning my mouth I can't seem to stop myself. Very odd!

And I've become rather large rather quickly:

I've got another 15 weeks to go so goodness knows how big I'll be by then! I rather like the blurry photo. I couldn't use the flash in the mirror and there wasn't really enough light in my hallway. I also realised how grotty the mirror was so I've been at it with the Windowlene and it's all sparkley now!

*Pants photo from the book 'How to have a baby and still live in the real world' by Jane Symons.

Mid-term Musings

Back at Last!

Thank you so much for all your lovely messages while I've been poorly.

Things got rather worse before they got better. Despite the double strength antibiotics my chest infection got worse. Mr Earplugs got back from Spain and didn't like the look of me(!!) and whisked me back to the doctor, who said the same thing. I thought she'd just give me more pills but she sent me to the hospital with suspected pneumonia or a blood clot on the lung and they admitted me!!! I was completely unprepared - no spare underwear and badly shaven legs - lol!

My only encounters with hospitals have been when having the kiddies and I'm not too fond of them! Staying in for 2 days wasn't my idea of fun - nor anybody else's I'm sure. Whenever anyone comes near me with a needle my veins collapse and it's virtually impossible to get a blood sample. After 4 failed attempts the nurse called a doctor to take a deep vein sample instead and I still have the bruise. Add to that 2 attempts at a canula, an arterial blood sample, a shot of heparin, and a supersized canula for a CT scan and I felt like a pincushion! Apparently the risk to me of a blood clot was greater than the risk to the baby of having an x-ray (hence the CT scan rather than a standard chest x-ray). I would have preferred not to have an x-ray at all but didn't much fancy dying either! I don't know which was worse - the chest pain and not being able to breathe properly or the sickness caused by IV antibiotics and painkillers.

Luckily the scan showed no clots but some small areas of collapsed lung which would right itself over time (apparently!). I was sent home with even stronger antibiotics which made me rather sick. There was also some debate over whether I had pleurisy or a cracked rib from all the coughing. Since my ribs are still uncomfortable (sneezing really hurts!), and I've finished off the pills, my bet's on the cracked rib.

What was quite funny (well not really) was that I'd recently received the death certificates for my gt-gt-grandfather and his family (I'm a fan of family history). Pretty much all of them died of either pneumonia or TB. When I told my mate Pete he said my 'living history' experiment was taking research a bit too far! It certainly makes you realise how fortunate we are. Less than a hundred years ago people were dying for lack of antibiotics.

Pregnancy update:
I'm just over halfway through my pregnancy now and I'm getting very big. If I carry on at this rate I'll be like a house-end by 9 months! We had a scan on Friday which showed that everything seems ok despite my ill-health, so that was a great relief. They still think that new nipper will be a boy. Mr Earplugs was very pleased as he reckons he doesn't understand women. I said "even me" and he replied "especially you"! I guess ignorance is bliss?? (And we've been together 7+ years and just had our 1st wedding anniversary too!).

Hopefully I'll soon be able to blog something a bit more interesting than the state of my health!

Back at Last!

A Lovely Wedding and a Great Relief!

Last weekend we drove to Chichester for a friend's wedding. We stayed at a lovely hotel; very clean, good food, a small 'leisure suite' and very reasonably priced but we had a really hard lumpy bed! This was the first night in months that Nipper had slept through and we didn't get any sleep as the bed was so uncomfortable (even Mr Earplugs couldn't sleep and he usually sleeps like the dead!) Isn't that just always the way?!

The wedding was held in a barn complex and although it was very cold and wet it was a really lovely day. The barns were decorated with christmas trees and fairy lights and there was a whole pig turning on a spit in the courtyard which smelled fabulous. The bride's dress reminded me of a mermaid and her attendants wore dark steely blue dresses with organza wraps and sparkly shoes. They all looked beautiful. I loved wearing my new velvet coat but only just managed to get into my posh frock as I hadn't realised just how much I'd expanded given that I'm still only in early pregnancy!

There was lots of champagne - I was on the lemonade :o( - and canapes and nibbles. This was followed by a sit down dinner of red onion and feta tarts with rocket leaves and balsamic dressing, hog roast with roasted vegetables, wedding cake with mixed berries, raspberry sauce and whipped cream, and a cake of stacked cheese which looked amazing. The people on our table did very well with the wine and champagne allocation, and were very pleased about it, as none of the four of us was drinking! Nipper was still quite poorly with his nasty virus so we stayed just long enough for Miss Muffett to have a few dances and then headed back to the hotel, where I was very happy to get out of my frock! We didn't take many photo's but here are a few:


You might remember that I was knitting a shrug to wear with my posh frock. Well there is a bit of a story attached to that! Something rather strange happened. While I was knitting it I had terrible morning sickness, which is thankfully getting much better now. Every single time that I looked at it I felt really sick and so couldn't then face the idea of wearing it for a 'big event'. So I put it to one side. Very, very strange!

Here it is:
It's almost finished with only about 15 rows to go. Miss Muffett has taken quite a shine to it and so I'm going to finish it off for her instead, perhaps for Christmas if I can face it or more likely for her birthday.

Pregnancy Update:

On Wednesday we went up to London for a scan and blood tests to see if all was ok with the pregnancy. As Wednesday is the day on which the clinic deals with pregnancy problems our appointment was delayed by 2 hours. The waiting room was quite comfy and I had a sandwich and a magazine so I was happy waiting (that's probably the quietest 2 hours I've had since Nipper arrived!)
I must admit that I was feeling very nervous about the scan so when it was our turn and the doctor very quickly said that everything looked ok I was so relieved that I cried. I couldn't help myself. When we went in our 'unadjusted' risk for Down's (trisomy 21) was 1:33 and for trisomy 13/18 was 1:61 based on my age. Following the scan and blood test results our risk went to 1:1109 and 1:2011. These are better results than those we had for Nipper and since the risk of miscarriage with a CVS is 1:100 we decided that it wasn't necessary to have any further tests. And here is the little fellow:

The doctor was 80% sure that we are having a boy. Miss Muffett was somewhat underwhelmed by this news as it means that she'll have 4 brothers, bless her! I'm just so relieved to have got to this point, I can't tell you. We can now get on with thinking about Christmas!

A Lovely Wedding and a Great Relief!