They say the last couple of months rush by ... they're right

We had an appointment at the obstetrician this morning for Meeks' regular check up and to get the results from the liver tests from Wednesday. Apparently Meeks' liver function is down slightly and her bile slats are slightly above normal (only very slightly) which is where the itchiness is coming from. Apparently there is an increased likelihood of the condition in South American people and also Scandinavian people. The doctor has prescribed a medicine called Ursofalk which should help with that. The doctor said that in his experience the condition is unlikely to cause the baby distress which is good news. The internet very helpfully gave us some fairly dire statistics about it. He said a lot of the tests are based on incidences in South American where there are a bunch of other factors involved.

The other news is that it means that we are looking at the increased likelihood of an early delivery, even as early as 36 weeks. This is caused by the above problem and also Meeks diabetes. We have another set of liver tests and an ultrasound next week and that decision will probably be made next Friday when we have another appointment.

What that all means is that we could be parents in as little as 3 weeks. That freaked us out a little to say the least. It looks like we could be having an April baby instead of a May baby!

Itchy, itchy, itchy!

Meeks is going through a bit of a nightmare at the moment with itchiness on her belly and palms and feet. She thought she was going mad but then found out it's quite common, there's even a web site!

www.itchymoms.com

Apparently it can be quite normal and could be caused by the body not handling the extra oestrogen in the blood. Alternatively it can be something quite nasty called Obstetric Choleostasis but that only occurs in 2% of pregnancies. It has something to do with pooling of bile salts in the liver (mmmm ... tasty) and can be quite serious for both the mum and the baby and will likely mean having the baby delivered early if it gets serious. Meeks had a blood test today to see if it is the nasty variety or just the common one. She should know by Friday. Either way, it is causing a lot of trouble especially at night and Meeks finds it very, very hard to sleep.

Last night we tried Phenergan (an antihistamine) but that didn't really work so about 11pm last night we were driving around trying to find a 24 hour chemist to buy some calamine lotion. You would think there would be one in Hornsby (or Pennant Hills or Epping). Not a chance! So we went home and Meeks suffered through the night only getting a couple of hours sleep. Not the way she would have wanted to spend her birthday!

Tonight, we're going to try an upped dose of Phenergan and calamine lotion.

Please pray that it's not the nasty one and that we can find a solution for the itchiness.

The Nursery Part 2

Ok so I have been a little tardy, but here goes!

First up, Meeks' new favourite chair in the world.

Next a picture of the cot and the change table near the window. Meeks' old Big Ted is just minding the cot until the baby comes.
A closer look at the change table. It's in the "chest of drawers" mode at the moment. The top folds down to become a change table. When the baby doesn't need a change table anymore the top becomes a little shelf. Isn't Ikea clever! It's all stocked up with nappies and ready to go. You can also see the pram folded up on the left of the change table - nice and flat! Ellie the Lime Green elephant is hanging out with the Johnsons baby powder.

This is a little book/toy shelf and a little toy chest down on the floor. Raffy the Giraffe is sitting on the toy box. He is a gift from Anna.

And a closer look at the shelf. Meeks' mum has been extremely generous in giving little toys so the baby has lots to play with. With Ducky and Teddy and Paddington and Lamby and Monkey Boy and Sheepy (and Ellie and Raffy and Big Ted) to play with, the baby will have more than enough of little friends. There are a couple of books for story time too.

Nursery

Still not quite there with nursery shots, been lazy and busy! Here is one that was in my phone. Not bad quality for a shot with a mobile phone. I was not trying to be arty, just trying to fit in as much as possible!
You can see the cot and the wardrobe and just part of the arm of the arm chair. More to follow!

Finishing work, and U2 postponed!

After finding it harder and harder at work the past few weeks, Meeks has decided she's had enough so she will be finishing work at the end of next week (17th March) which is two weeks ahead of schedule. She's looking forward to doing a number of little things around the house and resting. I guess that means we don't have to compete for the shower in the mornings any more :)

In other BIG news, if you don't already know, U2 has postponed the Australian leg of their tour. This could potentially be a disaster as depending on when they postpone it to, we might not be able to go! There were tears I can tell you! Hopefully it is either a short (less than a month) or long postponement (more than 3 months) because otherwise it is going to be very tough to go. There are rumours floating around about the concert being postponed to a November timeframe which would be great, but they're only rumours at this stage. Thanks to those who have already generously offered to baby sit when we go to see U2!

That's all the news for now, I promise I will get those nursery photos online soon (sorry Mum - although she could just come and visit. We don't live THAT far away!).

30 Week Ultrasound

We had our 30 week ultrasound this morning. All looks well and the baby appears normal. The baby looks like it has chubby cheeks, and it had it's leg up near it's head - very flexible! The lady doing the ultrasound said the baby was larger than average (which Meeks was obviously thrilled about - not!) but aside from that all was well.

In other news, Meeks is having some back pain and some stomach pain and occasionally difficulty sleeping which is all no good, but it seems this is part of being pregnant. She has cut down to 4 days a week at work and is currently due to finish on the 30th March (only 14 "work" days to go!). She may get told by the obstetrician to stop earlier if the back pain etc keep up which she'll be terribly disappointed about (again ... not) if that happens! Fortunately, she has some sick leave stored up so that should be okay.

We have a pram

After a very extended period of looking and being confused and frustrated by lots of choice we finally found ourselves a pram. Hurray! It is a Mountain Buggy Urban, which we found to be a bit more expensive than some of the others, but after having some practice getting heavier ones in and out of the car, we decided it was the go. It is mostly black, but has a couple of bits of detail so it's not alllll black. It was apparently No. 1 in a Choice magazine test of three wheelers. It folds nice and flat and fits in the back of the car nicely.

In other news we've sort of decided on a car seat as well. The Safe and Sound Compact in "Kindergarten", which is kind of a dark grey/charcoal colour because Kindergarten doesn't really mean anything in a colour sense ... well at least to me it doesn't. We decided on the compact after seeing how big the more "normal" sized ones are. We might just have to confirm that they handle the same age children as bigger ones before we finalise our decision. Unfortunately they didn'thave one is stock today so we'll have to go back later on on get it.