grrr hospitals

went for my 28 week scan on Monday, i do like all the extra scans im having, two just doesn't seem like enough! Mil and fil were going to come but chris wasnt well so just Ian and i went. Radiology was quiet so we went straight in for a scan, was fabulous to see her again and lovely for Ian who was very impressed with the advances in technology.

unfortunatley that was as good as it got! we were then told that the consultants wouldnt arrive at hospital for another hour and a half, so ian and i headed to the cafeteria. Ian was pleased that it was 'pie Monday'.
arriving back at antenatal, we only had a half hour wait until they called me back in. we then discovered that all my data had disappeared/never been entered on the system and that my november blood results had also disappeared, so was not great for the registrar who could not tell us anything. we were assured that they would find the results and that they would contact me in the next few days.
then we had to go back to radiology to book another scan for january, to check the growth, radiology was enpty apart from two receptionists, however, it still took us 10 mins to get an appointment, and only after the registrar spoke to them! not the most productive day and a real eye opener for Ian who is planning a letter!
anyway, boo is fine and perfect size and definitely still a girl which are the most important things (health not sex).

Busy times

Huw picked Enid up last Saturday and returned her safely in her home. She was extremely pleased to be back, and Huw is relieved if his duties as his folks are home. Saturday after noon we took Mia to see Arthur Christmas, then Mia and I dropped Huw off at the club with my dad for him t watch the match. Although Huw only spent a couple of hours out, he managed to come out looking a little worse for wear.
Sunday we ventured into Cardiff to d hues Christmas shopping. It was a little manic to say the least, but Huw managed to get most of what he needed and we enjoyed a mulled wine and hot nuts for our efforts. Huw did on occasion, forget that I was growing a person and stormed off at a quick pace which I struggled to keep up with,but he did eventually learn to walk at a snails pace.
There has been a slight mix up in work and I haven't been given forms that I was meant to sign 6 weeks ago, s Tuesday afternoon was spent in antenatal obtaining the needed matb1 form. I also had my blood results back which were very pleasing as neither the anti c nor anti e have risen, which means they think I should have a normal pregnancy and birth. Happy days.

fighting the power!!!!

today i will mostly be fighting the power from the comfort of my home! Mia is also home as her teachers are on strike so we've decided to fight the power by putting up our christmas trees and visiting friends. Have read so many ignorant comments on facebook about how people's day is being affecting by the strike that i ended up getting on my soap box, can feel my blood boiling!!! they'd have enough to say if their pension pots were raided to pay for the govt/bankers deficit, i also thought that mp's were civil servants, so how come their pensions are not affected!!! ggrrrr rant over!
everything is fine babywise, my wedding and engagement ring are getting a little tight and my fingers look a  little chubby, so have been told to keep an eye on it, other than that we're all doing well. probably not helped by the fact that i had a ling parents evening last night, and with 5 classes i didnt stop for a second. at one point the girls started opening windows around me as apparently i was turning a rather fetching purple colour, which worried them. I got home about half past 7, where huw had cooked fajitas for me and i slumped for the rest of the night, and a lie in this morning means i feel fresh as a dasiy!! Mia is writing her letter to santa which is probably a good thing as i've already orchestrated a reply! so here's to the assembly of the trees. guarantee Mia will get bored half way through decorating the first one and i'll be left to sort it all out!!!

anti c

have been reading up on anti c. wish i hadn't now as it doesn't sound great, lots of early c-sections. would much rather have a natural birth but not a lot i'd be able to do if my titre levels rise. And now that there's two different antibodies it's not the best. My class asked about names today and unanimously agreed on Emilia lol, Huw said we'll wait and see when she's born, which is probably best as i keepp changing my mind.
Huw is going to sort out the flat tomorrow so that he can rent it out, i have a couple of prospective people, will have to wait and see. Hes then off to buy lagging for our loft. house isnt too warm and we've just had a letter off swalec to say that the bills are going up by another 50%!! wouldnt mind if the house was like a sauna but its bloody not! seems a lot to pay so we're going to see if insulating the loft makes much difference. failing that we will be putting jumpers on our christmas list!
just about finished our christmas shopping thank god, even done the mothers birthday pressies too so we're pretty organised this year. just a few more people to buy for. Mia is almost done, it's just stocking fillers to get fro her now. really looking forward to christmas, its my favourite time of year.

hospital

Back to hospital yesterday for my monthly check up. had to argue with a new nurse to get her to take blood as she said it wasn't quite a month!!! it was three days short!!!! now im not normally one to volunteer for a needle, however, having had time off work to make the appointment i would not have been happy to have to repeat in 3 days. Eventually she gave in, realising that she'd been looking at the processing date, not the date the blood was taken. good news though as my titre levels are still under 2, however they had now discovered anti C in my blood.
Having had the blood taken i went back to the waiting room again to wait to see the consultant. i say consultant, haven't ever actually met him as it's usually a registrar, and today was no different. noticing the emptiness of the waiting room and the fact that there were only two other expectant mothers there i sat smuggly thinking that today, i may not actually be in hospital that long. However, 1 hour and 20 mins later i finally got to meet the registrar who was very nice, quickly listened to the heartbeat, said everything sounded fine, and booked me for another ultrasound as she wants to check that the antibodies aren't hindering Autumn/Emilia's growth, so back up we shall go on the 19th, but we do get to see our little princess again. Apparently she is going to gain a pound in weight this week which seems mammoth considering she only weighs a pound!! and may be a contributing factor to my extreme tiredness, which seems to have returned. never mind, all in a  good cause.
ps she is getting very strong now, can almost feel myself getting swayed when she kicks!!! she also has a preference to which side i sleep on and repeatedly kicks me if i dare to differ!! typical girl!

Birthday weekend

It was mine and dads birthday the last few days so the weekend consisted of eating out mostly. We had a lovely evening Friday over the colliers. Huw taught Mia to play pool and dads friends woun her up by telling her to put a pool table on the Christmas list. Cheers for that!!
Friday morning I had my first emotional breakdown when I couldn't find anything to wear to work. Poor Huw was a little stunned lol, but came home that night with a card and some money for me to go shopping to buy some maternity clothes. So Saturday morning I took Mia to Cardiff, her to spend her birthday money, and me to buy some clothes that fitted. What was supposed to be a treat turned into a really stressful afternoon. We had breakfast with dad, then toddler off to Cardiff. Mia wanted to go to the disney store, but learned a harsh lesso in finance when she Dali sed how much things in there cost. She put them back and refused to pay! Lol. She decided on a bear in the bear factory, unfortunately, so did most other kids in the Cardiff area. So after auditing for an hour to stuff a bear, we headed to find me some clothes. Unfortunately, we discovered that most stores in Cardiff do not sell maternity clothes, including marks and sparks. And those that do sell jeans and leggings, not really appropriate for work. Hues decided that the majority if pregnant women in Wales therefore, do not work!! I did manage to find one pair of trousers in mother care, and to hues surprises, came home with his money. Huw did his duties taking ivor to visit olive and called in to spend time with enid.
That evening Huw was treating me to a birthday meal in our favourite restaurant, so we toddler off to Caesars to find it crazily packed. we eventually got to our table half hour late, Huw encouraged me to have fish, which turned out pricey as it was sold by weight. But was fantastic, baked in rock salt and cracked and filleted at our table. Unfortunately, eating has been a little uncomfortable this weekend and leaves my tummy feeling a little off, so ate as much as I could, but have to say I failed to finish my meal. But as it was my birthday Huw still let me have a dessert. Feeling thoroughy stuffed we left to go home and relax.
A lazy morning this morning which was lovely, Autumn/Emilia was very active this morning kicking huw when i cwtched up to him which amused me a lot.later We had zacks christening today so headed off to church, yes church, then off for a hog roast which was lovely, but again found that I couldn't eat much as it doesn't seem to go down very well. Huw made up for this however, by having third helpings lol.

visiting the oldies

Last week we definitely did our best to visit the oldies and make sure they were ok. Huw's week is much less manic now that Olive is out of hospital, but Huw still wanted to go down on Tuesday as Ivor's kitchen light wasn't working. Huw had managed to source the bulbs, which are no longer sold by the DIy places so he picked Ivor a couple up just in case. Finding out that it wasn't the bulb but the fuse, we headed down to change it. We popped in on Enid first who kindly treated us to dinner, Mike and Chris were there and had time for a quick chat which was nice, Mike asked lots of doctory questions, checking that myself and the baby was ok lol.
Enid was full of excitement at seeing her grandson and very keen to discuss baby names, she is compiling a mental note of the names that she likes (mostly we politely told her no - not sure we're ready for a Pippa or a Sarah). But she enjoyed debating names which is all that matters. She told us about sneaking FiLs middle name onto the birth certificate by accident, which led us to talking about my uncle George, and how i would have liked that as a middle name, had our girl been a boy. i have to admit, i did enjoy mentioning the fact that his brother was a convicted murderer, Enid looked quite shocked lol. She asked me how we were related, and i told her that he married my aunty Alice. This put another name on Enid's list, although i'm not keen on Alice, Enid seemed a little convinced that the baby might be called that, until Huw told her we liked Autumn, i thought Enid was going to need a doctor at that point lol.
We said goodbye to Enid and headed over to see Ivor, who had the kettle and chocolate fingers ready. Huw fitted the new fuse onto the kitchen light which worked straight away. After a little chat and big hugs all round, we left Ivor to head home, as we were visiting again for lunch on Sunday.
On Sunday we called in on Enid before lunch, she was sat chatting to her new friend Mae, who is down for the week. Enid seems quite taken and is enjoying her company. Mae asked if we knew what we were having which triggered a conversation where Mae informed us that she never cared for girls and always wanted boys - she has 7 great grandaughters who she says are always around her,  i couldnt help thinking that karma had well and truly bitten her on the arse! She then asked Enid if she would be 'ok with a girl'!!?? the cheek of it!!! good job Huw was signing us in or I think he may have said something! We were then told that we could always try again for a boy straight away, informed Mae that i didnt care for boys!!!! and had i been able to get away with it, would have probably poked my tongue out at her too! Lunch was served so we left Enid to enjoy her lamb dinner which smelled lovely, she says the food is excellent!
Onto Ivors where we were greeted by Mike and Carole on the drive. They were hungry so we headed straight to the Rose and Crown. The dinner was delicious and it was quite amusing to watch Carol arm wrestle Ivor over the bill - she didn't win, apparently he's 'freakishly strong'! lol. we spent a few hours chatting and eating, then headed back to Ivor's. Huw and i had to leave shortly after as we had to get back for Mia. Carole and Mike left the same time as their car isn't working too well so they wanted to get home before dark. Ivor walked us down the drive and thanked us all for a lovely afternoon that he'd had, that made Huw happy.

busy week

well its been a busy week with daughter number one's birthday. We took her to the fireworks display in Ponty on Sunday night, then she had her own little tea party with a fireworks display on Monday. Not really sure who enjoyed themselves more - Mia or Huw!! We had Mia's parent's evening tuesday night which was lovely. Mia had a glowing report as per usual, and was told what a delightful young lady she is, which is always nice to hear. On Wednesday, the much anticipated uncle Gaz birthday present arrived, which is always one of the best ones. Mia ripped it open to discover the Dance game for the kinect, which we've all been sujected to since wednesday - thanks Gaz! although it is worth not watching what we want just to see Huw doing some Shakira moves!!
The baby is growing well and i seem to have exploded!! i even have a bum! as my mum keeps reminding me - cheers! got on the scales this week which was a bad, bad move as i've put on a whopping 9lbs since this pregnancy started. Huw told me its the baby, however, she only weighs a pound so we cant really blame her, his next argument was water retention - im going with this!!!! Annoyed with the weight thing i vowed to return to the gym properly, no more splashing around in the pool and relaxing in the jacuzzi - hello treadmill!! so got up this morning and dropped the car off for its MOT before heading to the gym. it didnt really go as well as i expected as i had a stitch after 8 minutes walking on the treadmilll and thought i was going to die on the crosstrainer even though it was only on the second setting! never mind, i do enjoy swimming!!!
wel its fair to say that i'm definitely looking pregnant as strangers, work colleagues etc are starting to walk up and touch my bump, which can be a little unnerving at times. what is it that people feel they can touch you? family members yes, joe blogs from down the street?? GET OFF!!!!!

                                                                         23 weeks

naming the Morgan one!

We started looking at baby names last night and compiling a shortlist. Huw had picked a girls name as soon as we were pregnant which we both loved, but in a freak coincidence, Mia's dad named his daughter Isla so that name was out!!  It's actually quite fun to look at the very weird and wonderful names that are out there. Mia is also desperately trying to participate in the baby name and likes the name Isabella which we've put on the short list as we both think its pretty. The names that we've liked from the start are on there but going through a baby name website we found one that was quite unusual and we really like it, but wondering if we will be brave enough to name our little girl it. It's nice that we've found a name that we both equally love and i like the fact that there wont be three of them in the same class, so will see how we feel about it as the weeks go on. We've checked the popularity lists in the UK (yes i am a little anal) and it's not on there so it is quite usual in the UK, which i like, but a more popular in the US. Having told someone Mia's name before she was born, and said person then using it, causing Mia to always be known as Mia H everywhere, i like the idea of a name that very few in the area have. But will have to see how it grows on us in the next few months.
 I have also been looking at older generations of the family as i'd quite like to give Boo a middle name that has some meaning, but with all the Annes, Nancy's, Alice's, Florence's etc, there isn't really much that is taking our fancy. i was hoping that someone in the family would have a slightly unusual and cool name but haven't stumbled across one yet. In the meantime, we will keep looking  :)

dark nights

i have to say im not liking these dark nights. tookMia cheerleading this evening and it was dark on our way! Baby seems to be doing well and there seems to be some sort of routine times that shes waking up and fidgeting, she is now reminding me if i accidentally roll onto my stomach, with a short sharp kick. Havent seem much of Huw this week with him being the responsible adult and taking his grandad to visit his gran in hospital, he is tending to leave straight after work and getting home at about 10pm when i'm in bed. Have to say that i am looking forward to a quiet evening over the weekend to catch up. But he's being very thoughtful and trying to call into all the grandparents as often as he can while mil and fil are away, and am very proud of his efforts. i on the other hand, am managing to get home, cook food, do a little cleaning, bath and put mia to bed before i fall into a heap myself. not sure whether it's the first week back in work or those dark night that are making me feel so tired.

consultant's appointment

well today was the day that we were to meet the consultant to discuss the anti E in my blood. got into school to find that i had not been covered for the lessons that i would miss, so had to sort that out. Then, had the class from hell so by the time i left my blood pressure was through the roof. Got to the hospital for 1pm, antenatal clinic was locked, when they did electronically unlock it they didnt bother to tell all the pregnant ladies waiting outside, so we were all stood there like lemons! when we finally realised we were allowed in i was called to have my blood pressure taken, which surprisingly, was ok. the midwife then explained that the consultant had not arrived yer (1.25) and that he was notorious for being late. we were called into the consultation room at 1.50, to be greated by a doctor (the consultant still had not arrived), who poor thing, had no idea about my case or anything that had happened, so had to explain the whole history to him. He then was unable to tell us anything we didn't know about anti E and had Huw not asked a couple of questions such as contingency plans, would have been out of there in 30 seconds. My blood results weren't back so we couldn't compare titus(?) levels and therefore left feeling that we'd wasted our time. I had not met the consultant, who sauntered in over an hour late just as i was leaving, and therefore have no back up plan and no results on latest blood tests. 
we were told when leaving to book our next blood test date, good job i checked the file as the receptionist had changed the date of my appointment three times and simply rewritten over the original date. Glad i checked as it looked like the 27th to me, it was actually 21st, and i'd have missed it. grrrrrrrr. Think its time for some chocolate!

it's a pink one!!!!

Well the day of the scan was finally upon us. THe hospital was rather empty so there wasn't much hanging around. Mia decided that she didn't want to go to the scan as her cousin was down and she wanted to play, so we took mum as well, as she'd never seen Mia in the scans. The lady who did our scan was lovely, she explained everything she was looking for and pointed out what she'd found, or not in this case!! true to form she wriggled and pushed and shoved whilst having the scan and I ended up having to go for a quick walk and a toilet break in order for the lady to be able to check the bits of her heart (GCSE biol was almost 20 yrs ago!!), every bit of her is fine thankfully and we're now half way there!! We'd told her we were dying to know if it had a winkle or a twinkle and having checked thoroughly (and twice) she was quite convinced that Boo is a she, so we no longer have to call her 'it'!
We were all a little surprised by the pink news as everyone thought we were having a little boy. It took Huw a few hours to get his head around the fact that he would be living in a house full of girls and did question whether she should join a rugby team. This idea was quickly quashed however. So we are now choosing names, we seem to have a favourite but will decide for sure in a few months when she arrives.Now the pink shopping can commence!!

Here's a pic of pinky xx

Broadhaven boozer!!

Huw, Mia & i toddled off to Broadhaven on Sat night to meet up with FIL anfd MIL so that Huw is able to close the caravan up for winter. we had a lovely dinner and opened the box, unfortunately it was the old councillor who opened to box rather than us, so we are no richer! Huw stayed on to have a couple of father - son pints with his dad and i took Mia home. The men came home a little pale faced after what Huw believed was 7 pints. Huw then proceeded to drink a bottle of red wine and throw up!!! Perfect. i had to drive home the next morning as huw was feeling a little 'delicate', had to stop on top of the Rhigos mountain for both Mia and Huw to vomit!! lush!!
My family were arriving in the afternoon and we had arranged to pick them up and go out for lunch, Huw however, could not manage this, so gave me his credit card out of guilt!! i found an expensive high chair in john lewis and text him a pic with the note -'dear daddy, thank you for leaving your credit card with mummy, i've been really spoiled, maybe that will teach you not to follow 7 pints with a bottle of wine, much love, Boo'xx
i didnt actually spend £350 on a highchair as it seemed a rather exensive lesson. infact, Boo ended up with nothing as i saw nothing i liked, and everything was either pink or blue, so thought i would leave it until later in the week when we know if boo has a winkle or a twinkle!! (get the feeling Huw wont be feeling quite so generous this weekend though!!)

Week off!

After the excitement of a few weeks ago we have settled back down to a nicely normal life again. I've returned to work with no problems (apart from a little stress), and have now managed to make it to the end of half term and a well earned rest. Mum and dad are in tenerife so have had to rope in a number of Helpers to pick up/ drop off Mia. But we've managed!! Baby seems to have grown a lot and my belly has the odd day where it looks much bigger, then seems to deflate again, feel a bit like Beyonce!! Baby is now 19 1/2 weeks and 24 cms long, and is a complete fidgeter like it's dad!!!!
We are now counting the days to the next scan on thursday, when we hopefully find out what sex boo is and we can finally stop calling it 'it' and can start the shOpping woop (Huw is not so thrilled about this part)!!! Recently dragged him round MothercAre to a lot of "how much"s and "do we need that?" so may have to go without him and with the MIL instead who will be far more excited about the baby shopping!!
Have had a little early nesting where I've spent hours moving furniture and dusting and polishing skirting boards (I kid you not)!! Have also got back into baking and have made a vanilla and buttercream sponge which will hopefully wing it down west to the IL's tomorrow, if Huw doesn't eat the lot!!! prety sure the nesting was a quick phase as I definitely have the CBA feeling at present!! Never mind, a lovely week off, some time down Broadhaven and family coming down to stay. Mia has cheer camp for a few days so a couple of girlie shopping trips are in order. May find it difficult to resist buying Boo a few little things. I can buy some White can't I??!! :)

More relaxing! Meh

Had a lovely evening last night with Ian and chris. Was allowed as far as the car and back but to be honest, I was in a lot of pain yesterday so don't think I could have managed much more. Had a fabulous Indian, just for you cath - chicken tikka masala, chicken pathia, lamb bhuna (I think), something with spinach and some rice and naans. Was lovely to get out for a few hours but by 9 o'clock I'd flagged and Huw took me home. Secretly, he was desperate to see the boxing so he decided Mia and I looked tired lol.
Feeling much better today, like a new person, pain has gone thank goodness and starting to feel normal again. Still not allowed to do much and Huw is keeping his beady eye on me to make sure I'm relaxing. A friend of mine who is also pregnant has added some photos on fb of her fabulous bump, and it got me thinking that mine is a little pathetic in comparison! I know that i'll be the first to complain in a few months when I'm the size of a house, but it sure taking it's time in growing. Just to illustrate, I have added a photo.

Boo is the right size for it's weeks which is the important thing but pregnant women look fabulous -well, except the ones on Jeremy Kyle with their crop tops and jeans three sizes too small! He/she is rather active today which is good, and seems to dislike anything on my tummy, especially when it was being scanned and trying to push the scanner off my belly with it's hands, very funny.

the runaround

well baby Morgan has definitely given us the runaround this week, but one midwife, two docs and scan later all is well. Am having total bedrest at the moment which has bored me to tears this week, even though i know it's for the best. daytime tv is not the most entertaining, even found myself watching Titanic 2 yesterday, not good!!!! and have also been introduced to the disgracefullness otherwise known as Jeremy Kyle and the skiprats that enlighten itv's screens every morning. Huw loves this programme, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes that watch again!
Waving had a slight bleed and some stomach pains, had dragged myself to the midwife who listened to Boo's heartbeat and said all was fine. Not content with scaring us a little, Boo went onto cause some pains wednesday and through the night so Huw cancelled his patients and took me back to the doctors. One student doctor later and then the new doctor, i was referred to hospital. Saw an SHO who discussed smeartests and having a cervical examination, which struck me as a little odd considering we were told not to engage in any horizontal action!! But she came back having spoken to the registrar and sent me off for a scan.
Boo was fine but kept his/her legs crossed throughout the scan so we are still no closer to finding out where there's a winkle or a twinkle there!

Slept well last night but accidentally rolled on to my stomach (ooops!) which caused me to wake again in pain. Guess its another day of rest and crappy tv. Off to the inlaws later for a takeaway - I've had permission to walk to and from the car! hooray, different walls to these four, can't wait!