Registering our unborn baby at a Nursery..now!!

D and I have had the dreaded "Money, Money, Money" talk that our respective pregnancy books advise we have about now. We have been together for 10 years and in these 10 years we have been homeless on one occasion, whilst still at uni, we have had to sell jewellery and life off coupons and vouchers for months on end (also whilst students and just out of college). For the last 5 years or so we have been doing progressively well. We had a few instances where one of us was unemployed but for the majority of time we have had it easy. We now have a good saving account, we drive two good and "expensive" cars (one of which is 100% paid for), we live in a big house and we give extravagant gifts to our friends and family. If we want something we just get it but we are also smart in saving and not overdoing it. We have also had the experience of not having any food in the house and not being able to get on a bus because we could not afford it for months on end so we know not to be stupid with our money.

Now that baby is coming along we need to be extra careful with how we spend our cash. We know that if we are careful now and don't get too carried away we will be able to provide a better future for our little one. We discussed the possibility of me quitting my job and discarded as a non option because my company pays well and has a lot more benefits (schooling and annual flights back home and better medical care) than D's company and also because we just moved into a more expensive house and with a baby coming we are only going to spend more not less. So me being a stay at home mom is out of the window unless I am made redundant in which case my severance package will be enough to keep us going until baby is about 3 months old. So the options are to either hire a nanny or send the baby to nursery. We are really not comfortable with a live in nanny and unfortunately in this country the idea of part time nannies is not an option. We would really hate the idea of a stranger living with us, coming out with us and eating with us and I really would hate to share my privacy with a stranger. So that option is out of the question. Next option is nursery.

So I spent all week looking for nurseries close by my office and then I realised that all of them don't take babies younger than 12 months. So then I started looking into the city close to where D's office is and I found a few but again the age limit did not work. I then stumbled upon a website for local mommies and found that, like I suspected there are only a couple of nurseries that cater for babies. I emailed one and got a reply that shocked me. Apparently their waiting list is closed for Sep 2010 and to contact them again in the future to see if a place frees up. I got hot sweats thinking we had already missed the "nursery train wagon"!! We should have registered when we started to TTC two years ago and maybe then we would have had a place!!! I am serious.. it's that bad! So then I called another nursery with a cute name that by coincidence is really close by to our old apartment. The lady was super friendly and complimented me on being so organised and she added that if I had left it an extra month we wouldn't even have that place!! So I gave my name and they reserved the place as "baby Laura"!!

Sunday I will go and pay the registration fee so that at least the place is secured for Jan/Feb 2011. It feels so bizarre to go register for a baby who is 12 weeks old and still in my womb!! I will also go open a file at the state run maternity hospital that has a great reputation and an amazing NICU unit. My doctor told me that if Peanut comes early I will go deliver there as it's best catered for Neonatal care. If all goes well then I go deliver at the private hospital where my miracle doctor will deliver our miracle baby!! Either way if I am registered at the state run hospital I have options.

After all of this I really do feel like a mama!!

Need to rethink baby boys' names

So first we had issue with the perfect girl's name and now we found Isabella which we love and hope she will love too. Now the issue comes with boys names. We were set on Gabriel all these years but now that we thought about it and did some research we are not so sure anymore. We looked up the name on Babynamesworld and we realised that if we call him that he might be subjected to name bullying. It never occurred to us until we saw it and now we feel like we need to come up with a different name. But what name? It has to be a name that is easily pronounced in all of our 4 languages (Italian, Greek, Dutch and English) and that is not an easy task! I feel like we are starting from zero again and that our baby will be called Peanut in the end!!! LOL

The alternative names we liked were Michael and Dominic but now we are not so sure about these two either! Oh what a mess!! A friend at work has nicknamed the baby Alberto from the day I told her I was pregnant but I don't like the name and won't easily translate and people will end up calling him Al! I always thought I was lucky to be called Laura as it's so simple and easily translatable and I have never been bullied because of it.. that was until last night when I told D about it and it said: "weren't you ever called Laura the whor-A"!!!LOL So there my name can be made into an insult too!! Which maybe it supposed to tell me that there is no "safe" name!

12 weeks pregnant!!!!

Today we are 12 weeks pregnant. It is the week we have been looking forward to the most, the week of, dare I say it,"safety". Well, now we are here and it feels GREAT. Knowing that the chances of a "M" are a lot less than 10 weeks ago, reassure me and I hope the bad dreams will slowly stop. Our baby is the size of a Plum. Funnily enough I brought a plum with me for lunch today... and knowing how baby is as big as that it's incredible!! He will develop reflexes this week and if I press on my belly he will move to avoid it. He will also be able to make sucking noises and curl his toes. He will start moving his eyes from side to side. How very amazing is this week!!

I keep seeing pictures of women during their 12 weeks and they have a bump, a small one but nonetheless a baby bump. Mine seems to be gone. I went to see a friend yesterday who I haven't seen since I before the pregnancy and I wanted to show her how different I look now. Well the bump was not there. I have a retroverted uterus and the baby is on the left side below my belly button. I know this because at every u/s that's where he is and my left side is always more bloated than the right side. I wonder if this is why I am not showing yet or whether it's normal that I am not showing yet. The doctor reassures me that the uterus will flip all by itself at around 20 weeks or before unless there are any adhesion that have contributed to the uterus being retrovered. I really hope this is not the case and that my uterus will give in to the baby weight and flip naturally.

Last Thursday after work I went food shopping and then made my way home. I got home and was looking for my house keys and they were gone and I mean gone gone. I emptied my bag and nothing. I called D and told him I was locked out as I lost my house keys. He could not believe it. I am normally one of those people who never lose house keys or forget things. Well that was until I got pregnant. This is the new me. I leave the house without my wedding/engagement ring, I lost my fertility necklace and now my house keys. It's a brand new me and poor D knows about it! Well today I was determined to call around all the places I went to on Thursday to see if I could find the keys. I called the supermarket last and they have them!! I was so pleased to know that they are no lost and that I am not a complete airhead!! Victory for my memory!!

Today I also got my much awaited Spoiled Mama box of goodies!!! It is all wrapped up so well that I don't want to open it in the office but wait until I can enjoy every minute!! It looks delicious and yummy and my tummy cannot wait to be all Spoiled up!!

NT scan & we think we might know the gender.. beautiful day!!

We went for our NT scan today. I have been worried about it for a while even though I knew it was a routine test and that we had nothing to worry about. The doctor said that in this test they want the baby to cooperate and turn to the side so that they can measure behind his head. She said if I normally do as I am told or if I am head strong. D laughed out loud!!LOL I am a stubborn and I always know best! D is the one that listens to advice and is more open minded. So the doctor told us that this one test will give us an insight into what our baby will be like personality wise. LOL

Once we were ready Peanut appeared on the screen and he looked so big compared to a week ago, he is now 5 cm, last week he was 3 cm!! He was moving about and we were able to see his little hands moving and feet kicking. At one stage he looked like he was waiving at us and was bringing his hand to his face. It was incredible!! It was the most beautiful sight in the world. Then the doctor moved the wand about to try get a good picture of peanut's profile and in no time she got a really good picture. She said he was definitely like his daddy!!LOL She measured the part behind his neck and all looks great. She then saw his nose and his long spine and all looks as it should be. She was so happy that she did not advise us to do the blood test as I am 29 and all looks so great. We both felt so relieved that our little Peanut is healthy and strong.

Now the fun part..Dr.S got a good view of his "bits" and she confirmed what she thought she saw last week... we are having a BOY!!! She moved the wand about and pointed to something and said that she saw it from all views and therefore she believes it's not the umbilical cord or his leg/foot. We wait and see but we trust her knowledge in this matter and so far we are getting excited at the thought of having a little boy.. our Gabriel! We would have been as happy with a girl, as long as our Peanut is healthy and happy that's all that counts!!!

One good doctor and one bad one..

I have always suffered from eczema. When I was a child I used to get an allergic reaction every summer and my feet would break out in little bumps that would each.. I am sensitive to heat, cold, certain types of foods, most cleaning products and on an on the list goes. I can live with it by being careful and taking precautions. Before getting pregnant I used to use a cortisone based lotion that used to help with the itchiness and redness. Even before getting pregnant I stopped using it, just in case I was pregnant.

My issue is that since becoming pregnant the eczema has become so bad that it wakes me up at night. It's concentrated mainly on my right fingers and two of my left fingers too. It all started when I was about 2 days pregnant (I am not joking here!) I was making a Frittata (an Italian version of an omelet) and I touched the egg shells with my hands to out them in the bin. The next morning my fingers looked like they were the fingers of a monster. They were itching like crazy and filled with little red pimples. I could not even bend my fingers. The itchiness lasted one day and then as it came it went. I didn 't put any creams on them just Vaseline and that helped. Then I discovered Aveeno hand cream and read up on it and it's safe for mama and Peanut I started using it. I apply it every day twice a day and it helps. On good days the eczema is gone and my hands look normal on bad days, the days in which I have eaten eggs or strawberries or used too much soap at work, my hands are a complete horror to look at and they itch like crazy!! I made an appointment with a dermatologist to see if he could recommend any safe creams for me to apply.

Well today I went and he prescribed two products which are safe and one which I will never use as long as I am pregnant. Seriously what is this guy taking me for, a moron! He prescribed me a Potent corticosteroid cream that should not be used during pregnancy. I asked him and made sure to him during my visit that I don't want to used any creams that might effect the chances of my baby having any birth defects because of them and here he goes prescribing me this cream and telling me it's safe for mama and baby! I am not impressed!! I will take the cream my RE on Thursday and show her but no matter what she says I will not take this cream I would rather keep the eczema than put by baby's life at risk like this. I will use the other cream and the fragrance free, preservative free soap but not anything else! So instead of feeling more relaxed about the whole situation I am not any wiser...! What a useless and scary exercise that was!!!

In other medical news I went to see the neurologist and he told me that my "visions" are normal. Basically instead of getting the bad migraines I was getting before the pregnancy, I am now getting the symptoms of them without the pain. He told me that in some pregnancies the head pain goes away but the symptoms are enhanced by the pregnancy hormones, hence the vision. He said he cannot give me anything for them and cannot do a MRI as I am pregnant and number one priority is the safety of the baby. I like this doctor already! He said not to panic when I get them and to try breath and relax. I felt much better after seeing him.

We are counting down till Thursday, we get to see Peanut again and we get to do the NT scan and blood test. Cannot wait to see our little dancer again!!

Confessions of an 11 weeks along mama...

I am 11 weeks pregnant today and this is how I have been feeling lately...

1. The closer we get to being 12 weeks the better and more relaxed I feel. I haven't had a bad (miscarriage related) dream in a while and the nausea is slowly going away.
2. I am still capable of falling asleep at 8 pm and sleep through to 12pm the next day!
3. I am still hungry most of the time but I can control and deal with it in a more proactive way than before without letting it get too unbearable.
4. My trousers are getting tighter around the waist and I am getting the beginning of a baby bump (I think).
5. My boobs are continuing to grow and I am now one cup bigger than before... yaay for that!
6. My hand eczema is still very much a bother and showering and washing is a tough job as the worst area is my effected area is my right hand. I am going to see a dermatologist today to see if I can use any safe creams for the eczema but of course I will not use any creams until a) I have checked them out with my RE and b) I have Googled the crap out of them to be extra safe!!
7. I haven't had any more eye incidents and touch wood I won't have them anymore! I am going to see the neurologist in a few hours to confirm all is well.
8. We are having sex again. The doctor never told us to stop having sex but to have "very gentle and superficial sex".. whatever that means!! We didn't want to risk it so we waited until a week ago to start again.. by that stage we both could not wait any longer!! I think the more we do it the less freaky it's going to feel and the more we are going to enjoy it!
9. I am growing fine hair on my belly... it's mainly in the area directly below and above my belly button. Sometimes it grosses me out and I have renamed myself Bigfoot!! After much Googling I read it's pretty normal for some to have more hair. It's still gross but I still would not do anything about it. Some women shave other wax but I will leave it as I read it goes away after you deliver. I am a hairless kind of person who never needed to shave my legs more than once a week and now my hair is growing so fast that I need to shave every 2 days!! As I have said... Bigfoot.
10. I am a bit worried about doing the NT scan and blood test on Thursday and I am sure I will be a wreck until I see Peanut.. then all will be good with the world again.
11. I am not sure about the names we chose for the baby and I keep changing my mind.
12. I am walking around with the biggest grins in the world and I am capable of talking about pregnancy and what a blessing it is for us to be pregnant to anyone who is willing to listen.
13. I have allowed myself to become attached to Peanut from the moment he/she was transferred into my uterus. I speak to Peanut as if he/she can understand and I tell Peanut of how much we wanted to have him/her in our lives and how much he is loved.
14. D got me a cleaning lady and I am so thankful that he convinced me to have her come clean the house. It's the best present ever! She comes in every Friday and so our house is clean for the rest of the week.
15. I cry a lot these days... about anything and everything.
16. I love D so much. I love the fact that he loves my changing body and that he keeps telling that I am a sexy and beautiful mama. I love the fact that he tells me off for doing too much. I love the fact that he sees when I am tired and does not pushes me to do things I don't want to do. I love him because he is already the best dad in the world and he doesn't even know it yet! (started to cry so I will stop.. but the list goes on...)

So this is me at 11 weeks... in love with D and Peanut and generally so happy I could burst!!!

Peanut's got a song and mama got spoiled!

The other day, well before seeing our little active, D and I were in the car and the song "Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake Your Booty" came on. D immediately said that this was Peanut's song and I liked the idea of Peanut dancing to this music and shaking his/her booty. Well today I was driving into work and they played it. I put on loud and could not help but imagine our little baby dancing to it!!! LOL

My quest for pregnancy friendly body products continues. I have searched high and low on the net for pregnancy safe products and what I found is that a lot of companies are coming up every day with pregnancy products which claim to be safe but which, after a lot of careful research, end up being loaded with chemicals. Well ladies and gentlemen the search seems to be over, I seem to have a winner. I have stumbled across The Spoiled Mama website whilst doing one of my google searches yesterday. I immediately went to their website and it all seems to be true. Their product are natural and organic enough to eat and "they are free from Parabens, Phthalates, Synthetic Fragrances, Harsh Surfactants, Artificial Colors, and Petroleum Derivatives". Now I have read this sort of claims before and then after more investigation it turned out to be false.. well, NOT with this company. This company, based out of San Francisco, seem to be the real deal. All you need to do is look at the list of ingredients in some of their Pregnancy Collection to realise that there are no chemicals amongst them. Then I researched the herbs used in them and all of them seem to be safe. I would not drink teas as I am afraid of teas. The only one I drink is Peppermint tea one in a blue moon after a heavy meal. So.. I did what the name of the company encourages you to do... Spoiled myself!!! The other great thing about this company is that they deliver everywhere in the world (it's hard to find companies willing to deliver to the UAE!). I know some people might look at the prices of some of the products and think they are too expensive and I would generally never pay this much on body products but when you think of the safety element for you and your baby and if you are like me and suffer from problematic and sensitive skin... then go ahead and spoil yourself too! I will review the products when they arrive.. I cannot wait for the day! Now I need to go fess up to D on how much his lovely wife has spent on skin care products.. thank God I have a good job..... Ouch!!!