More....

This is my sixth pregnancy and I have five lovely kids ranging from 11 yrs down to 2 yrs.

This pregnancy has gone smoothly so far with only a short time of morning sickness, Yay!! I seem to be popping out a little quicker this time so it's either wrong dates, twins or just I'm getting older and the tummy muscles are not quite what they used to be ( the latter is unfortunately more likely.)

17 weeks tomorrow

Things are ticking along nicely. Feeling really good. My belly seems to have stayed put growth wise so I don't feel so big now. I am not feeling this baby move much as I have with other pregnancies but this can be due to the positioning of the placenta and which direction the baby is kicking. I have had times where I have thought I felt baby but nothing to make me say that it's a definite baby movement. I guess that with 5 other kids I don't sit around waiting for baby to move so I may be missing it. I will have my first scan in about 2 weeks, I can't wait.

Funnily enough I have just started to feel rhythmic taps down low, almost like soft hiccups.

A bit about me

This is my 6th pregnancy. I have 5 wonderful kids who are all so different and unique. I home school the kids and do our book keeping etc for our business. My husband and I have been married for 13 years and he's great, he's a big kid himself and full of mischief. This keeps life interesting and keeps laughter a major part of our household.

My Other pregnancies and births

1: Pregnancy normal, slight bleeding at 8weeks. Head engaged at 32 weeks causing great waddling. Was in India until I was 20 weeks pregnant.

Birth: 40.6 weeks gestation, Contractions started 3 mins apart. Hospital delivery, posteria, suction cap delivery. Tore badly, had gas and pethidine for pain relief (never again)

Time: 11.5hrs hard labor from first contraction.

Sex: Girl, 7.10Lbs with 37.5+ cm head!!!!!!

2:Pregnancy normal.

Birth: 40.5 weeks gestation weeks, hospital delivery, no pain relief. Wonderful experience

Time: 4hrs from first contraction( like a dream)

Sex: Girl, 9Lbs

3: Pregnancy: Subchorionic haemorrage at 12 weeks, Bleeding until 16 weeks. Under specialist care. Not sure if baby would make it. God had a sense of humour. Went full term but induced on due date as placenta not fully functioning.

Birth: 40 weeks, Induced. Only needed prostaglandin gel to cervix and everything was all go. I must have been ready. Nurse did not believe I was in labour so I called my husband and midwife myself. Midwife got there 15 minutes before the birth. Amazing birth although they did need to rush me down the hall quickly to delivery. I peed all the way up the hall and then vomited once I was there. I was obviously in transition. Maybe the nurse will listen to her patients now. I happen to be very quiet and manage pain very well but I know when a baby is coming. She appologised once I was back on the ward and stated that she thought I was a teenage Mum having her first baby.
(poor teenagers)

Time: 2hrs from first contraction (wow) No pain relief

Sex: Female 6.15Lbs

4: Pregnancy normal

Birth: 38 weeks gestation, Hospital birth. Got to hospital and had baby 15 minutes later. No pain relief

Time: 2hrs From first contraction (Yay!!!) what a breeze

Sex: Boy 8.6Lbs

5: Pregnancy normal

Birth: 38 weeks gestation,planned HOME BIRTH!!!!! loved every minute of it. Had baby in bath tub with dim lights and candles. Could not have been better. No pain relief

Time: 2hrs From first contraction till birth

Sex: Boy 7.10Lbs

Here's a couple of shots of our kids on holiday

I wanted to test out how to upload a photo to my page and now that I know there will be no stopping me. Belly shots, here I come.......

26/01/08 Belly at 17.2 weeks

It does not look as it feels. I was surprised to see myself, I look smaller than I expected. It is also morning and gravity takes effect by the end of the day.

Encouragement for all you small framed girls:

With my first baby I was sent for a scan before delivery to check that my pelvic size and size of baby's head would be compatible. They said that baby had a small head and looked O.K. I ended up having a suction cup delivery as she got wedged and they could not get forceps in. It turned out that she had a huge head, above average at near 38cm with virtually no fontanel meaning that there was not much molding able to happen. I was told she should have been a C-section but was so glad I had her naturally (sort of). I was concerned when pregnant with my second that the head may be a problem. My midwife laughed and said, " If you got out a head as big as your first baby then you can give birth to anything". She said it was unlikely that the head would be bigger and that my first baby had paved the way. She was sooooo right. I have had very easy births since and am so glad I did not end up having a C-section due to my small frame. My second baby was 9Lbs and was easy peazey. Don't let people talk you into a C-section because of your size. It is so much easier to get back to normal with a VD. If I had a choice I would do it the same way all over again. You can give birth to a big baby naturally and be small framed!!!!!!

Things no one tells you:

I thought I would, every now and then, add a little bit of info that took me by surprise with my first baby.

Things no one tells you An experienced mum gives the answers to all those awkward questions you don't like to ask in simple, understandable terms....

Possible place of conception: India

Last year during October and early November we took a trip to India. We went to a Leaders training time at a church that relates to ours. It is part of NCMI (New Covenant Ministries International) We took our eldest Daughter Daya ( her name is Indian as I was over there for 3 months when I was pregnant with her). My Parents looked after our other 4 kids while we were away for 2.5 weeks. This was the longest we have ever left the kids. They did really well and we had a fab time. My point is that we are not absolutely sure if this baby is an Indian conception or just after we arrived back. We had spent most of our stay in India sharing a bed with our 11 year old and only had a couple of nights alone so needless to say it was great to get home to our own bed and possibly a welcome home conception???????

I have added a few shots of our trip. We brought all the kids some Indian outfits. They looked great.

!8 week belly shots

Here's my belly at 18.1 weeks pregnant. I think I have really grown in the last couple of days.

I did a blog for my 5th pregnancy. Check it our if you want. My Blog

Last days of 18 weeks.

This week has been a busy one. we have had three people staying with us. A lovely guy from Australia and a couple of 15 year old boys. We were going to a leadership training time hosted by our church. Today is the last day and although i have enjoyed it I am feeling a bit jaded now. Our billets all leave tonight so I think it will be a take aways and blob night. I Have not been feeling baby move much, just the occasional tap or little roll. This baby is very quiet at this stage compared to the others. I look forward to my scan in 3 days to see what this little one is up to.

19 week belly shot

Here's my belly at 19 weeks. It's funny how different days your belly can look bigger or smaller. I think I look smaller this week than last week but maybe it is the clothes I am wearing also.

19 week anatomy scan

I have the sex of this little pumpkin written on a piece of paper next to me. I have a feeling that although I want a surprise I may be over powered by my own curiosity. My husband David wants to know, hence the piece of paper but I thought I wanted a surprise. The lady doing the ultra sound said she had already seen the sex of the baby when I told her that my husband wanted to know, this has made me think that it was very obvious as she was very quick down in the nether region. I have always said that if it is obvious it is usually a boy. I have the video of the scan so I may go over it and see if I can spot when she saw.

Everything looked great on the scan. Baby had all the essentials and was busy sucking it's thumb or fist (very cute). My kids all came as well as my Father. I decided that because he never gets to be at the birth like my Mum then maybe he would like see bubs before anyone else on the screen.

Another interesting point is that I was feeling a little concerned that I was not feeling baby as much as I had with the others. It has much more gentle movements and I really had to concentrate to feel them. Usually by now even David has felt the baby move. I tried not to think about it too much and put it down to the position of the placenta and sure enough that is exactly what it is. For the first time out of 6 pregnancies I have an anterior high placenta. Usually the placenta is low and only just out of the way of the cervix. It all make perfect sense when you see the baby kicking the placenta rather than your belly.

Anyway, enough said. Here are the shots...................

It's a BOY!!!

I gave into temptation but am happy to know. At lease I have all the boy stuff as my youngest 2 are boys. Practically it's great.

Little weight update. 14/03/08

Weight gain: I started this pregnancy weighing 48Kgs (105Lbs) and am now weighing 54.5Kgs. Thats a gain of 6.5 Kgs. I usually put on about 10Kgs per pregnancy so It will be interesting to see this time. It only gives me room for a 3.5Kg gain between now and 4.5 months away. I think I will exceed my norm. It doesn't really bother me how much I gain as I would like to retain a little after this baby. It seems to drop off me quite quickly and I am more inclined to look scrawny and have everyone asking if I am eating properly. (I hate that). It's
funny how people are happy to comment on how skinny you are, I guess they must see it as a compliment. The old classic line is " You need to put some meat on those bones". If only they could see how much I eat. My husband and I eat very similar portions and he complains of having a bit more padding than he would like. There is a lot to be said about metabolism and breeding.

20.1 week belly shot

Here is my latest belly growth. Nothing huge since last week. I don't tend to get very big even though some of my babies have been. Again this is a morning shot. It looks very different after a day of gravity forces upon it. Maybe I should take a morning vs night shot to see the comparison.

Here's the afternoon shot at 20.1 weeks

I don't know, I think things look bigger in the afternoon. What do you think?

20/03/08

Well it's been a reasonably uneventful week. I still don't feel Jackson much( that's what we are going to call him) due to having an anterior placenta. It's very strange after having 5 other babies and feeling them very early and all the time. It just goes to show that every pregnancy is different. I guess as bubs gets bigger I will feel him more and more. My belly is slowly getting bigger and I am enjoying every minute of it. I try to put my feet up each afternoon for an hour or so while my littlest boy has a snooze. I am often flitting off here and there taking kids to music lessons or swimming or netball. My girls have also been taking a sewing class. I am learning so much from it. I never really got into sewing when I was young. I much preferred metal work or wood work.

21 week belly:

So here it is again, clothing makes all the difference. No huge growth in the last couple of weeks.

It is Easter break at the moment and we have enjoyed time with family and friends. We did a Christian passover meal on Thursday night then my parents came for dinner on Friday night then David's sister and family came for lunch on Saturday and ended up staying on for tea (evening meal) we call it tea in N.Z. On Sunday we went to church and friends came back for lunch. We then had a communion meal down at church where everyone brings a plate. We had to leave early as Levi my youngest vomited all over the table. I managed to catch most of it in a cup but not exactly the most pleasant for those sharing a table with us. Yuk!!!!!! Nothing like surprises from little ones. What can you do but laugh, clean up the mess and leave.

22 Weeks pregnant:

Another week has passed and another belly shot update. I have been feeling a lot bigger this last week and have just started feeling it's a little harder to roll over in bed. When I bend down I can definitely feel resistance from my tummy. Jackson (babies name) is moving a lot more now or should I say I am feeling him a lot more. I can even see my belly move now as he pushes against it. My belly button still has not popped out but I am sure it won't be too far away. My veins in my left leg have been looking pretty unsightly so I tend to be wearing trousers a lot. They seem to get worse with every pregnancy so I might get something done about them after Jackson is born.

I got busy with baby clothes over the weekend. After being in storage for a while they tend to get a musty smell. They are now all washed and folded just waiting to be worn. The room is ready to go, the change table is set, the cot is made up. the only thing I do not have is a baby bath, my other one has a small crack and is now used as the dogs water bowl. I am umming and Ahhing over whether to get one or not. I often put baby either in the shower with Dad in the morning or in the bath with the other kids at night. I still did use one from time to time with my last baby but not a huge amount. It's not a huge expense so maybe I will just get one.

David (hubby) Has taken all but Levi, who is sleeping, to the library. It's nice to sit and write without being interrupted. I should really use this time to take a nap.

I see my midwife tomorrow so I may do another update then.

22 week midwife appointment:

Nothing to report really. I took all the kids to see my midwife. She also had a student with her who may attend the birth. All was well with Jackson. His heart was pumping away. My little Levi thought Baby was walking due to the sound from the dopler. My fundal height was normal and all other recordings were normal for me. My BP often goes very low during pregnancy and this time seems to be no exception. I don't tend to get dizzy with it and it is better to be low than high.

Blogging spot:

I have just discovered that I can now do a dated blog rather that just adding onto my page. Maybe you could do this before and I just didn't realise. Now you can go to the side bar and click on the latest blog for up to date information. I shall no longer add to this page as it is getting rather lengthy.