May 23/07

Okay, I got really brave here! I'm smiling AND there's my big line-o-pregnancy divided belly there! I think it was for when we were running through the jungle in hunter/gatherer days! Well that's my stab at Darwinian theory, 'cus fair people don't get it ('cust they were from the north, and always wore clothes? Okay, whatever). But it's for you guys' eyes only so that's okay.

The big belly pics were taken Tues May 22/07, at 26+2 (right and below). Doc said I look "small". Dunno. I put on 24 lbs (11 kilos) so far... Baby weighs 1 kilo, 119 grams (2.46 lbs). The other one was taken March 4/07, 15 weeks. Not glowing there - most of the time sick! But my hubby caught me in a good moment for the bottom pic :) Cheers!

June 29/07 - chickened out of posting the latest big belly pics (I blame my husband's camera artistry, not the subject). So this was taken at 31 weeks, on Sun June 24, me behind the livingroom door.

Here's a pic of her "looking" at her fascinating hand at 23+4 (May 3/07) during the level II u/s. That's her sexy leg on the right there!

May 22/07, 26wks, 2 days. This is the data my doc gives me along with an u/s pic every time I go. It shows vitals, including plotting how the baby compares to others from 16 weeks till birth. So for the last 4 u/sounds mine is right up there at the top of the normal range, and within all limits in the Growth Scan section (red dot). Nice huh?! Sorry it's a bit crooked!

More....

Guess it was about time I did one of these! My DH is very concerned that I post anything identifiable - overly cautious maybe, but you never know who's lurking out there. So here's a 'far-away' one of us - a favourite of mine, on our wedding day last year while doing the "dance of Isaiah" and being pelted with rice, inside the church! I LOVE that! I'm wearing a circa-1840s Irish lace veil that's been in the family since the early 1900s. What a special thing to get to wear! I was thrilled, and didn't want to take it off! Relatives came from England, Scotland, Norway and Canada, friends from Canada and as far away as Chile! Truly a blessed day for us, and I'll even boast, deserved, given we'd recently lost our little "muesli" as we dubbed it.
As for my story, (so much for not being identifiable!), and as if anyone cares! Anyway, I left Vancouver, Canada as soon as I got a degree (well, after a year working full-time to save up for the trip), and bought a round-the-world ticket back in 1988. I started off in Europe (I had eurailed here for 5 months 5 years earlier as a teen, where I got the travel bug), spent 3 months in India, a month in Nepal during snowy January, hiked the Annapurnas, spent months on beaches in Thailand and the Philippines... basically living the hedonistic life I wanted! Oh, and also spent six months in Australia and a couple of seasons in Japan travelling around, and ended up living in Tokyo for about 3 years in the early 90s - me and 4 or 5 other friends from university (all under different circumstances), which was weird but fun. I was lucky - I didn't teach English - I was the "English specialist" at an engineering co. Anyway, didn't get back to Canada till 1994, there was nothing going then for me work-wise, so I came to Greece in '95 where my sister had been living since 1982 or so, got a job right away (same line of work, in media this time), and expected my parents to come and retire here (Dad is Greek, Mum is English, so we're all coming back to the Old Country/Continent). Twelve years and 3 grand-kids later (sister's), we're still waiting! Lol. Big decision for them to move over at this stage of their life. I miss them terribly though - we're very, very close. We call each other all the time though. My parents had us when they were very young (like many of you! - I can't believe seeing your ages sometimes!), so it's like we all grew up together. I on the other hand, have always felt like the delinquent youngest child, but also very much still influenced by my parents. Greece too is very anarchic, which totally suits my temperament!

It's only really that the biological clock is real that we (my husband and I) started seriously thinking about a family. And strangely, almost none of our friends have kids either, so us having a child now is kind of the "odd" thing to be doing, even at our advanced ages! (He's 38, calls himself a geezer. He can speak for himself...) Anyway, and here it gets a bit more TMI, I had an orange-sized fibroid removed at age 40, then we TTC and nothing happened. A new doctor came to my health fund (it goes by profession here) who was a fertility specialist. He saw I had a polyp in my womb, so took it out. Then TTC again, did about 3 or 4 IUIs (the 2nd successful, but the pregnancy wasn't - I m/c'd at 11 weeks - just awful). Then started meds for an IVF. When we got to the hospital to do the transfer, the doc said the eggs looked abnormal, so they didn't fertilize them, and said not to bother trying anymore and start thinking about egg donation. That was on Friday October 13th. I was reluctantly looking into the idea, although people close to me said to do it for my DH, who I love dearly. I needn't have worried. I smoked and drank like normal (lots of cigs - they go with the work, and a bit too much barrel wine at tavernas over Xmas!), but my last period was only a month later, in November! I was pregnant! Took an EPT on Dec 21, my heart was beating like crazy! DH had his head on my chest that morning and commented on it, and I said, "That's because I'm pregnant!" What a thrill!!! A real little miracle baby :) So I was ill 24/7 pretty much from when I realized, and we've made it to 25 weeks and 3 days so far!

Every day is a gift. I just have to get that china tray across the room, as my DH says. That's all. So I'm TRYING to take it easy, as hard as it is here, because everything is walking in this city, and it's getting hotter, and we haven't moved to our still-under-renovations apartment yet (only the extremely wealthy have a house - I miss that about home...), and I have to climb 4 flights of stairs every time I go out - so I stay home most of the time now. Good thing I can work from here! I even had to turn down a f/t job on doctors orders. Only 3 hours out allowed a day, and only working from home part-time.
As for living in Athens, apart from the space thing, it is wonderful. I love that it's easy to go to the islands and sites, that I can see the Acropolis every day if I want (it's just up the road). Truly uplifting. I'll post some pics when I finish my current jobs (2 on the go).
As for baby, I'm obviously not the maternal type, but I hope the gene kicks in when she's born, and that I'll be something like the loving mother my own mum is and was. I do my share of "naval-gazing" though - and don't tire of watching her move and kick, break-dance, or whatever it is she's doing in there!

Well I think that's more than enough, for now, and maybe forever! All the best to all the parents to be out there!

Ticker 2 is scheduled delivery date (Aug 6!)

she got her dad's long frog legs!

Mon Aug 13: Well baby's squirming in my lap as i write - birth story somewhere, as well as in the comments below :). Vitals: She's 3.5 kgs/ 7lbs 7ozs at birth on Aug 6 at 8.55 am, 52 cms /20.5 inches long. So far so good! All the best for easy births and enchanting babies! xxx

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