Here we are, still plugging away! This limbo part of pregnancy is the worst; we've seen the heartbeat and we've seen baby growing - but now we have a two week wait until we can see it again! I just hope the baby is fine, and keeps on growing. In the meantime, I'm still using the progesterone pessaries & praying all is well in there. Hopefully bub is cracking the 2cm mark this week & growing arms and legs and fingers and toes!
I need to go back through the blog archives and see when I found Georgia using the doppler, because I'm sure it was around the 9-week mark last time. Hearing that heartbeat at home would be very reassuring over the next few weeks, but we'll see how we go. I won't panic if I can't find it yet. Baby's tiny, after all.
As for life, well, things are good. Georgia is playing with everything and her little personality is shining through more and more every day. We have started looking for a proper weekly playgroup for her, and went to an open day this morning. Not sure it's the right one for us yet, but we'll keep looking. Will be good to get out of the house more regularly and see how she goes with meeting and interacting with new people.
How far along? 8 weeks and 1 day, as of today!
How big is baby? The baby is about 1.7cm long {we saw it on ultrasound this morning!} and is the size of a raspberry or a kidney bean. We're growing! So in love. :)
How I’m changing? I'm bloated up the wazoo & trying really hard to keep calm and carry on.
Symptoms? BOOBS. Sore, sore boobs. Every now & again I get flash pains in my left boob, really bizarre. Cramping. Just odd flashes of queasiness, but nothing drastic. As long as I keep snacks up, it's not too bad.
Cravings? Juice. Orange mainly, or apple/blackcurrant. I also really want chicken nuggets, go figure.
Food Aversions? Eggs, no. No eggs. EVER. Blergh. I'm more in the head space of nothing ever sounding good.
Highlights this week? Seeing the baby again & hearing its heartbeat. Ticking some more days off the calendar!
The Belly? Still frumpy, and still bloated! How about a picture of the baby instead? I look at this shot and see a little wee crab, with pincers on each end {which I hope is a head to the left, leg buds to the right}... meet our little Nipper!
There has been a bit of a media frenzy here in Australia over the last few days, with the announcement of the opening of Sydney's first bulk-billed IVF centre. From the reading I've done, the majority of procedures will be covered by Medicare {the currently-free Australian healthcare system} and there will be some out of pocket costs, for items that aren't listed on their books. The news reports are claiming costs of $500 for a procedure.
This news is really exciting to me, as I'm sure it is to many couples struggling to conceive. The double whammy of needing IVF is not only the emotional aspect of it all - it's the financial side of things. Paying excessive amounts of money to achieve something that your body just isn't able to do on its own; it hurts.
We've been lucky with our experience - we researched a lot of clinics, and ended up using one that is currently one of the most reasonably priced in Sydney. There are some consequences with saving money there; we are part of a clinic, so don't see the same doctor for procedures - it's whoever happens to be working as our dates are scheduled. I also had to have my egg retrieval procedure done under local anaesthetic and twilight sedation, as opposed to being knocked out in a day surgery. {Yargh!} But to us, it was the only way we could jump into IVF after not being able to conceive on our own.
But there are a LOT of people who aren't local to our clinic, and who only have expensive private clinics available to them. This impacts on whether they're able to go down the assisted conception route, or how many cycles they can go through if they are unsuccessful in becoming pregnant. Hearing about this bulk-billed, low cost clinic, sounds like a dream come true to a lot of people.
That said, I've read a lot of negative comments about it too. Not surprisingly, a lot of the criticism is being offered by Australians who have never struggled to fall pregnant, never been told they couldn't have a baby, never needed to even THINK about spending money on this sort of a procedure. They say: Why should tax payers foot the bill for a non life-threatening procedure? It's only babies, after all. Not that important. Maybe they should 'just adopt' or get a pet instead?
My blood boils reading this sort of nonsense. It actually boils. The sense of entitlement some of those comments project ... the 'well, if you can't have kids, it must be for a reason' ideology - it blows my mind. For so many people, infertility is a disease. It may not be life threatening, but we live every day with emotional and with physiological scars from it. Why should couples that are struggling to conceive simply give up their dream of having a family, because other people don't think they're 'in need enough' to qualify? And how can anyone chime in on this discussion who hasn't been through these circumstances themselves? If you've never had to even THINK about potentially needing IVF to conceive, you don't deserve to come in and shoot down the idea of making it affordable for hundreds or thousands of potential parents - parents who wouldn't get a chance any other way.
This whole thing makes me so thankful. Thankful that I live in Australia, where we do have certain parts of things covered by Medicare, even if private health insurance isn't interested in covering infertility treatments. Thankful that we conceived Georgia after two rounds of IVF, not twenty. Thankful that we live locally to an affordable clinic. Thankful for this little jellybean in my tummy, and that we even get to be parents at all.
I just wish that everyone had the same opportunities that we do - and that people who have no stake in such a sensitive topic, could stay the hell away from it.
Today I met with my NEW obstetrician for the first time. We decided to go with a new doctor AND a new hospital with this baby, because I still have issues with Georgia's special care stay at the previous hospital, and I'd like to have a completely fresh start with Baby #2's birth and care. This OB is one that was recommended to me by friends & is raved about in the local mum community, and is conveniently located 10 minutes down the road, which is awesome. {Same with the hospital - 10 mins vs 30 mins!}
I left hubby with Georgia, since I didn't want to risk the wrath of a cranky baby in a waiting room - right through her nap time. Happy to say that the whole thing went perfectly. The doctor was amazing, made you feel right at ease. He listened to my previous birth experience, asked lots of questions about IVF and spent at least 45 minutes in the appointment with me. Was really nice to not feel rushed at all. His midwife was also in for the appointment and she seemed very sweet too.
We headed over for a look at the baby - just a tummy ultrasound today, so not an internal for a change. First up, I heard the heart beat - such a sweet little sound. 159bpm, and all good, the most beautiful thing to hear. Baby has grown since last week & I'm measuring 7w4-7w5d depending on the scans he took. I'll probably have an internal at Thursday's ultrasound just to confirm, but looks like a March 4th due date. :)
So in love with this little jellybean!
How far along? Since the dating scan pushed me back two days, Wednesdays are now my 'new week' day. 7 weeks!
How big is baby? The baby is the size of a blueberry. A very, very cute blueberry. :)
How I’m changing? I feel quite calm now, though I'm sure that this will change soon! Body wise, my boobs feel a little bigger {particularly my left one.. weird} & I'm feeling pretty jiggly.
Symptoms? Still with the bloating & cramping - sometimes it makes me stop and think about it, but mostly it's twinges. My boobs feel quite tender now, my left one really pains me every now & again, which is uncomfortable. Had a big head spinning/dizzy moment a few nights ago that left me lying down.
Cravings? I had my calamari fix last week. Not really sure what I'm feeling like at the moment... but I seem to be drinking an awful lot of juice.
Food Aversions? Nothing major, but the idea of reheating a sausage dish for Georgia's dinner the other day was enough to make me feel pretty sick.
Highlights this week? Seeing that heartbeat flicker, and a teeny tiny baby on the screen. I've also confirmed an OB visit for next week, so that should be interesting.
The Belly? Large and in charge - but all belly, no baby yet!
Oh, sweet, sweet relief. Meet Baby #2:
Just a few days to go before the ultrasound. In the meantime, I've been:
- Peeing on sticks daily. Don't worry, they're just el cheapos... and they're still dark!
- Feeling pretty good, with the odd bits of nausea that are mostly fleeting.
- Having some new cravings: apple & blackcurrant juice, and carbs. All carbs. Going off hot teas, which is weird.
- Going to bed super early, usually straight after Georgia goes down for the night. Thankfully, she's been sleeping pretty well too. Phew!
- Worrying, as per usual. The current thing I have on my mind? What if Monday's scan is massively different compared to Georgia's 7 week scan? It's so daunting. Fingers & toes crossed that all is okay.
How far along? My 'new weeks' start on Mondays - so I'm 6 weeks pregnant.
How big is baby? The baby is tiny, as small as a pea, a lentil or a grain of rice this week. Growing slowly!
How I’m changing? I AM SO BLOATED. It's mostly progesterone from the twice-daily pessaries, but I feel like my stomach has already puffed out a great deal. It's a little embarrassing breaking out the stretchy pants before being anywhere near ready to come out to the world! Seriously... my belly looks 20 weeks pregnant already.
What I miss? Absolutely nothing. I am so, so happy. Hoping with everything I have that it continues to go well.
Symptoms? Bloating, cramping, peeing every five minutes. Tender nips, boobs fine. Can sleep at the drop of a hat & am irrationally moody - I go from hot to cold in seconds. My skin has also completely broken out.
Cravings? All I want is crunchy calamari. Seriously - this coming from someone who doesn't eat seafood!
Food Aversions? The smell of hubby cooking scrambled eggs earlier this week was enough to make me feel sick.
Highlights this week? It's another week down! That means there is only 1 more week until that 7 week ultrasound... where we can hopefully get some good news & I can breathe a tiny bit easier. Fingers & toes crossed!
The Belly? No pictures for a while yet, but I am giving it a good cuddle every night before bed. :)
This pregnancy is so eerily similar to Georgia's! In 2012, I got a 3+ weeks reading on the Clearblue Digital pregnancy test at 5+6 weeks. Guess what today is? These pee sticks drive me mad & keep me sane at the same time.
Today, I'm pregnant. That's pretty much all I can say with any certainty; I don't know how it's all going, I don't know what's happening in there... but the pee sticks are still staring at me with double lines & I'm holding on to that.
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