The Mysterious Case of the Fainting Female.

I don't think I mentioned it before but last week I had my first experience of almost... and I think I was very close.... fainting. I had just seen to the chiropractor and was talking to Donna at reception when all of a sudden I was overcome by the most bizarre feeling. The world was moving in a very uncomfortable way and I was sure that I was going to drop to the floor. I quickly sat down and had a glass of water and after a couple of minutes I was feeling fine. Decided that maybe it would be best if I took it easy for the rest of the day.

Today it happened again. I was standing up, talking to a salesperson about the new mobile phone I was about to get when all of a sudden the world started feeling very strange. Woozy. Spinny. Weird. Luckily I sat down again quickly and within a few minutes, probably a few more than last time, I was feeling a bit better.

Apparently, according to Birth.com this is completely normal. I've never even come close to fainting before but my blood pressure has always been a little of the low side. Add this to the 'Chucky' phenomena and I think that pretty much explains what is going on. However, knowing that it is normal and being happy during the actual experience are two very different things. I hope it doesn't become a regular occurrence.

Just call me Chucky!!

I can't believe how much of a chucky I have become. Just when I think that I have worked out a pattern... eg dinner may as well be put straight in the toilet... things go and change. Yesterday the only food I managed to keep down was dinner. Today so far the only food that has been safe was breakfast. I might as well flip a coin to see what will stay in and what won't. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully it will bring more food in than out.

Did I tell you about my Baby Dream?

Now I'm not normally someone who remembers their dreams however all these pregnancy hormones seem to be having an effect, not only am I dreaming more but I'm actually remembering them the next morning.

A couple of nights ago a had my first dream that we actually had a baby (a boy) here at home with us. I had just come home from the hospital and was extremely unprepared. The nursery wasn't set up, I could find anything including clean nappies and we didn't seem to have much in the way of clothes for Ernie to wear.

Anyway, of course Ernie needed his nappy changed, and of course it would have to have been the stinkiest worst nappy you could possibly see. So Ernie's lying naked on the change table, I'm trying to clean him but can find anything to wipe him with. At this point I need to describe Ernie a little bit. He is big, very big, far to big to be the newborn that he is supposed to be. About the size of a 1 year old and at about the developmental level of a three year old, without being able to talk. Finally Ernie decides that he has had enough of my incompetence, jumps off the change table, grotty bum and all and puts himself into a clean pair of pj's that had miraculously appeared out of nowhere. I'm left trying to explain to him that we have to at least make him clean before he should put on clean clothes but I have to admit he didn't seem that interested.

And that was my dream. I think this is part of the reason that pregnancy takes nine months. You need at least that amount of time to come to grips with the emotions of it all and subconsciously work through all your worries and concerns. Thank goodness I have another seven or so months to go - I think I'm going to need them.

A change in name....

So I've changed the name of the blog and its address.

I discovered that someone else pretty much had the same name and I wanted to think of something different. The original name 'Desperately Seeking Baby' had a spelling mistake in the URL that I wasn't able to fix as the name had already been taken. So.... since this blog will largely be about Ernie and his life, thought a name change was more than appropriate.

Hope this doesn't cause too much confusion.

Nine Weeks - Oh how time flies.

So on Saturday I hit the nine week mark. This week Ernie looks something like this.

Ernie is about 2.5 cm long now and has officially been renamed from embryo to foetus. Way to go Ernie.

As you can see there are now separate fingers and toes and he is currently busy developing his elbows, knees, wrists and ankles. Ernie's little heart will have four chambers and valves, lungs with bronchi that are spreading and a liver that is producing his blood. Pretty clever for someone who is only 2.5cm long. Who's a proud mother then?

I find it all such an amazing process and to think it is all happening within my body as I sit here at the computer typing this. No wonder I'm feeling so nauseous with all that building going on inside me.

Eight Weeks - What Ernie may look like now and general update.

I'm just a couple of days off being nine weeks but I thought I should post an eight week picture. Ernie should be starting to look more human. Hopefully his Aunts and Uncle will agree that he probably isn't quite so alien/fishy anymore.

As for me - I had to give copious amounts of blood yesterday for various prenatal tests ordered by my GP. The tests were all done a couple of years ago when we started trying to have a baby but apparently that is too long ago and they all had to be done again. The nurse was so rough that it hurt for a couple of hours afterward. At least all the results will be sent to the OB so I won't have to do them all again when I see him.

Today I had my first experience with almost fainting. I've never fainted before but I think I came extremely close today. It was really sudden and I just had to sit down. I've also been really tired but just can't sleep during the day. Luckily I'm going to bed pretty early and sleeping really well.

The food thing is still really interesting. I'm not eating that much but what I am eating is generally pretty good for me. Tea tonight was a tub of fruit and some yoghurt. I had made spaghetti but I think I might see if I can eat that tomorrow instead.

All these weird and wonderful things mean that things are going well with my hormones and hopefully with the baby too. I'm not complaining when I talk about what is going on with my body.... I find it really interesting and actually quite reassuring to know that all these things are quite normal and experienced by many other pregnant women. For once my body is behaving completely normally.

The Nose Knows and Menu Madness.

Our trip to South Australia was really great. We started out our holiday with two nights at Mt Gambier a very pretty place with some great volcanic formations. It was also where Ernie made his presence felt whilst walking up the edge of an old volcano and giving me not only a severe case of nausea but a very interesting new queasiness with heights. I had my first craving for sausages with bread and sauce, of all things and thought that I was going to throw up whilst in the meat section of Safeway. It was also here that I discovered the new found ability of my nose to smell all sorts of very yucky smells well before Jochen the super nose.

We headed from Mt Gambier to Adelaide where we planned to stay a night or two and investigate the city. After a couple of hours of driving around the city and looking for accommodation we discovered that it was impossible to stay in Adelaide as all the accommodation was booked out due to the Clipsil 500. So instead we had a night at Glenelg a suburb on the beach, that hadn't quite been booked out when we got there. We decided to wander the streets and see what took my fancy for dinner, as Ernie had been dictating quite heavily what I did and didn't want to eat. It was here that I discovered the ability of menus on restaurant walls to induce extreme nausea. It took quite a bit of wandering before I found a restaurant that I thought I could cope with. Whist eating tea, Jochen and I decided that my body had been taken over by Ernie the military dictator who had overthrown the ruling democracy.

After Glenelg we travelled to the Barossa Valley, a well known wine region. Along the way I found Barley sugars and lemonade a great help with the sudden nausea when driving. We stayed at a gorgeous B&B in a cute little town called Tanunda. We only had one night there but we will definately go back. We went to quite a few wineries where Jochen got to taste a large number of wines and buy a few as well. I was designated driver due to Ernie - but that was okay as it really didn't tempt me anyway. Our night at the B&B was also my first experience of true morning sickness. However, unlike the name implies my morning sickness only appears to really happen at night after dinner, this occassion - a garlic prawn dinner.

We did plan to have a night in the German town of Handorf, but after wandering around all the very touristy shops and Jochen getting the chance to eat some traditional German food we decided to keep travelling to my Aunty Jeans house near Maryborough for the night before making our way home the next day.

As much as I enjoyed our time away, it was good to get home to where the food is as I like it, the bed is comfortable and the smells are not too bad.

Hi Ho Hi Ho - To Adelaide we go.

So we are off to Adelaide and surrounds for about a week. There will be plenty of trips to the wineries for Jochen, I'm the designated driver as I'm not drinking anything these days. I'll just look on fondly at the odd glass of sparkling white and remember how it used to be. Actually I'm looking forward to the whole trip, I've never been to Adelaide before so it should be pretty good. We may even visit the 'My Restaurant Rules' restaurant in Adelaide called The Greedy Goose. We will have to see how long the line is though as I don't think Jochen is very keen on lining up for hours.

Anyway I'll post more when we get back.

Introducing Ernie...

Yesterday we had our scan to check how many babies we were having and also to check for a heart beat which would mean that so far everything was going okay.

Unfortunately Bert did not make it but Ernie had the tiniest little flicker of a heart beat. (Okay so we don't really know which is which but Ernie seems to have been very lucky so far so I'm sticking with him). It was totally amazing to see and was also a huge relief. Yes I admit there was a tear or two in my eyes. This wiley little alien is taking hold of my heart.

Yesterday Ernie was 6.8mm long from each dot above - it is the only way they can measure them properly when they are that small. Almost 7mm with a heart beat, a head, the start of arms and legs and so much more. So incredibly amazing when you think about it. The scan also started to make it more real for Jochen who isn't feeling the changes or suffering from the enormous hunger that I am. Surprisingly I've actually lost a little weight and not put any on - putting it down to a lack of chocolate.

I'd also had a blood test in the morning and my levels were fantastic yet again. My HCG was 36,568, my Progesterone had increased again and was 44. This time they also checked my estrogen which was 4797, I'm not sure what the estrogen level means but apparently it was all good, so that is the most important thing.

So as of today I'm seven weeks pregnant and everything is going well. I see my GP in a couple of weeks for a check up and then see the OB a day before I'm twelve weeks.

Six Weeks and still an alien.

This is what Bert and Ernie roughly look like this week. If you would like to find out a little more about what is going on check out this.

I also got those blood test results on Saturday and the results were good, the HCG was 8274 and the progesterone was 37.5. I was really happy with the progesterone as it had increased since the previous test when it was 30.6. What was a concern was that the spotting has continued and there have even been a couple of little blood clots. All extremely scary and worrying. I can't wait until Friday's ultrasound where we can hopefully see that all is going well regardless of what my body is doing.

Bugger Bum #$%@$!

I started spotting last night.... only a little bit but enough for me to be worried. I so do not want to miscarry this baby. We had only just had an appointment with our fertility specialist yesterday where we basically were all pretty pleased with ourselves and where he said that from here on in we are part of the 'normal' pg group (well apart from our ultrasound next Friday). We discussed what had to happen from here on in with my 'normal' pregnancy - I think we got a little too confident because it was only a few hours after his visit that I noticed the spotting.

So this morning I was able, luckily, to get an appointment with my GP who is fantastic. So more blood tests this morning to see what my hormone levels are doing and bed rest for the whole of the weekend. I should get results this afternoon. I also have to take it easy for the next week or so. I so hope my levels are okay. It is such a worry though. Tomorrow I'm six weeks pregnant - fingers crossed that I make it to seven and more.