Almost 23 weeks pregnant!

Tomorrow, I'll be 23 weeks pregnant. I can't believe there's only 17 weeks to go before Little Monkey is out. According to the books, he's now about the size of a small doll. Cool... I'll go out tomorrow to toy shops and have a look at how big he is. I can feel he's a lot bigger though... the easiest way is to just turn sideways, look in the mirror and marvel at how big my belly is now compared to just a month ago! I measure my belly sometimes (measured across the belly button), just to see how big I've grown. I'm now 35" around! Gosh! I've always worked hard to ensure my now-long-gone waist stayed in the 20"s and it's such a surprise to see the tape read that much!

When we were in Comox, Canada, we bought me a belly band and it's an absolute lifesaver. I'm now able to pull out my pre-pregnancy jeans and wear them again, unbuttoned and held up by this band. I'd looked everywhere for it here in Jakarta but couldn't find it so when I spotted it in Canada, I grabbed it.

I'm definitely looking pregnant now. The hotel staff have begun to rush out to help me each time I arrive back laden with groceries. They didn't bother much before... hehe... just thought I was probably fat and strong enough to carry everything. Don't worry, guys... I can still carry most stuff and I'm really training to be strong enough to carry a baby around all night long.

I finally picked up my Triple Screen test results from the doctor on Friday. I had my test done when I was 16 weeks pregnant, it's a screening test for Down Syndrome. Phew... I had a negative result! Yay! Now, for you worried mums out there, if you have a positive result, it does NOT mean that you have a Down baby. It merely means you must now undergo more tests for confirmation, that's what known as a diagnostic test.

The lab included a set of standards for comparison vs my own results. At about 16 weeks, it was a 1 in 3300 chance of the baby having Down's. My results came back as 1 in 3800, so I'm feeling quite relieved. They also included a results standard for your age risk. Mine (at 34 years when the baby is due) was 1 in 510.

The lab also screened for Edward's Syndrome. I didn't know what this was, so I checked up on the Net for it. It's when a baby has an extra 18th chromosome. It's a pretty serious condition with most babies stillborn before the end of pregnancy. You can read more about it here.

We've not started buying baby stuff yet as we're still living in a hotel here and haven't got any place to store our stuff. Crappo really... I'm so glad our home will be ready by early Aug and we can finally move in and have a proper home. All I've bought so far is a shirt-pants set, a souvenir baby shirt from Vancouver and a little black Canadian stuffed bear to put into his cot. I'll have to get pics of them to post up, they're all so cute!

It's been quite an uneventful pregnancy so far, for which I'm thankful. Apart from the morning sickness and lethargy in my first trimester, I've not had many probs. I've not had constipation, I don't really have muscle aches and cramps (but I still ask Top Monkey for back rubs! Hehe) and I've not had any mood swings. I've generally been happy and excited about the baby, really nervous about labour and delivery and unsure about my ability to care for a newborn. I ensure I'm out and about walking for at least 2 hours everyday for my exercise and I'm really, really, really trying to go back to the gym regularly. Honest.

Well, I've got my monthly appointment scheduled next week with the doctor. I always look forward to those, I adore seeing my baby in the scans and bringing home the new print-outs to show Top Monkey and end up staring at the print-outs for hours on end.

Knock, knock! Who's there?

Top Monkey finally felt his son kick for the first time last Thursday. I've noticed that Little Monkey likes to have a fiesta inside me around 11pm and he was kicking about quite strongly that night. So I took TM's hand and placed it on my belly. There was nothing at first but I said to TM, "Wait."

Sure enough, the little one gave me a huge boot in the belly and TM was delighted, "I can feel it!" Little Monkey gave Daddy a few more kicks as if to say, "Hi Daddy, it's me!" and then the kicks subsided in strength. I could still feel him jiggling around in me but if you put a hand on my belly, it wasn't obvious. Now that TM knows his little boy's kicks are strong enough, he's taken to putting his hand on my belly at random times of the day, especially when I report that the baby is kicking around.

It's kinda fun to have him moving around. For one thing, it reassures me that he's doing all right. A friend of mine told me to chart the baby's movements in the womb and to be particularly aware if he doesn't move for some time. For example, she said since I knew he had a tendency to wake up and kick about at 11am, I should monitor him closely if he doesn't do so as usual. If he doesn't move in two hours, she advised me to call the doctor.
Her advice to me was rooted in her own experience with her baby. Four days before her check-up, she realised the baby wasn't moving much and her gut feeling told her something was wrong. So she went to the doctor and when they did a scan and checked the baby's heartrate, they discovered the umbilical cord had wrapped around the baby's neck and his heartrate was too low. They wheeled her in for an emergency C-section that very day. Her little boy is now a healthy, bouncy 4-year-old but she's never forgotten the terror of that day.

What I've done is noted down the times when he's particularly active and I check on his movements during those times. So far, Little Monkey has been right on the dot... he's very punctual with his kicks and jabs. He's also discovered that my bladder makes a very lovely squeeze toy. Sigh. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't discover that till much later.

Little Monkey moons the world

Yep, dear readers, that is my unborn son mooning you.

On Friday morning 27 June, he finally decided he would moon the whole lot of us in the doctor's office. "Whole lot of us" meaning his daddy, the doctor, the nurse and me. And that was how we determined Little Monkey is a he, not a she because his wee wee-wee was quite obvious for all to see. (see arrow)
I think those two blobs above are his elbows. Not man boobs, okay.

Later, he must have felt embarrassed he was mooning us because when we tried to get a peek at his face, he'd covered it with his arms. I've just realised the machine this doctor uses is capable of doing 4D scans. Nono... not 4D as in 4D lottery numbers! 4D as in 3-dimensional with an added dimension of time. So instead of seeing the usual flat 2D scans as above, you'll get to see your baby in 3D moving. It's really cool when you see the facial features of your unborn child, Top Monkey's eyes popped wide open and he couldn't stop smiling when he saw his son's 4D scan for the first time. Ask if your doctor has the same machine, I don't know how common this machine is. If he has one, be sure to bring the baby's dad along for the appointment, he'll want to see this and I guarantee you'll love the look on his face when he sees his unborn child's face for the first time.