Full term

Yeah, we're 37 weeks and full term. Baby still wriggling around and meeting with Dr next Monday to discuss induction at 39 weeks if it hasn't come before.

Yeah!!!!

Here's a photo:

34 weeks

Met with the midwife, all well.

Am feeling very stressed though cause last week I had a whooping cough vaccination... Now I'm paranoid that maybe I shouldn't have.

I made sure I had lots of folate at the time and after, but what if...

I was trying to balance the risk of autism vs the baby getting whooping cough. Both are not good scenarios. I don't want to vaccinate baby until at least 3 months, if not later, so that's a long period to not be protected from whooping cough and apparently there's a lot around. I thought it would be best if I made sure I was metheylating, then used my body rather than baby's to pass on immunity. Really hope it was the right decision.

Thing that's making me paranoid is day of/after my vaccination the baby stopped moving as much. Apparently at this age they slow down cause they run out of space, so praying that is the reason. Please, please don't let me have made the wrong decision.

33 weeks

Another good meeting with Dr today. No issues. Baby weighs 2.2kg now.

Hospital visit

As part of an antenatal class we did a hospital visit to the delivery ward last night. They took us into a delivery room so we could get a feel as to what it will be like on the big day. In that room I choked up and had to fight back the tears, I can't believe we've made it this far. I honestly can't believe it.

Key milestones: 28 and 32 weeks

Our obstetrician told us that key milestones in pregnancy are 28 and 32 weeks. She said after 28 weeks the baby is likely to live if born. After 32 weeks it will live and not have any premature issues.

We are over 32 weeks now! Yeah! Here's a photo:

My dream

I dreamed about having this baby for the first time last night. It was a normal birth, everything went well and the baby was healthy and sweet. What's strange is it's the first time I've dreamed about babies, or miscarriages, or any of the issues we've been going through. The first time in 9 years. Something psycological happening there, especially when pregnancy/miscarriages/fertility is virtually all we've focused on.

Please don't let anything go wrong now. Please.

I'm 30 weeks and it's kicking like crazy.

29 weeks

Had another scan with the Dr today - all still going well. Baby was sucking it's thumb - cute!

Good news is the baby has turned so that it is not in a breech position, apparently it is sitting in perfect place. It's weight is now 1.4kg which is about average, heart beat is perfect, and my blood results all came back with no issue. Oddly, it seems that, so far, the pregnancy has been text book perfect. Very strange feeling. I keep on repeating to my husband 'I can't believe it's happening to us - after everything we've been through.'

I keep on expecting our luck to turn...

Dr says our next milestone is 32 weeks.

Another catch-up with my Natropath

Yesterday I had another phone appointment with my Natropath, this is what she told me:

1. She said that 3rd trimester was time to increase my Omega3 fish oil to x2 captuals a day - baby's brain is developing now so it's important for that. Note: my DNA says I don't absorb Omega oils well, so maybe x2 a day is more than normal.

2. She said it's important to have x1 probiotic each day - important to help with the baby's immunity.

3. She said to make sure I'm having almonds, eggs, cauliflower, fish and avocado along with my normal diet.

Negative for Gestational Diabetes

Oh, I'm beginning to feel so happy. There's kicking and movement on a regular basis and today I found out I'm negative for Gestational Diabetes. My readings were in the middle of the normal range for the 2 hour test - yeah. That's a big deal because in the past, when not pregnant, I had a Glucose Tolerance test and scored above average for it. Dr told me my insulin levels were high and my body was struggling to break down sugar (though that could have been for the 1 hour test). He told me that while I didn't have diabetes, I was susceptible to it - so I felt there was a high chance of getting Gestational Diabetes, especially seeing I did research on why the baby could have a big stomach and found there was a correlation between the two. But my obstetrician must have been right, she told me she thought the large stomach was the sign of a healthy placenta. Oh, so happy.

Note: the 2 hour Glucose Tolerance test was not fun. I felt like vomiting for the full 2 hours, and it had me in tears. Yuck.

28 weeks

Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! We've made it to 28 weeks. Dr said it's a major milestone. Know it's alive cause can feel it moving.

V happy.

26 Weeks

All still going well. It's 1kg now, in the 60th percentile. The doctor said if it was born today it would have a 90% chance of living. She took an amazing 3D image of it, see below.

Can't believe everything has been so problem free. Not normal for us, praying it stays this way.

3rd Trimester

Yeah, we've made it - for the first time ever!

Lots of kicking now and frequent night time trips to the loo. Tummy growing rapidly!

Can't believe this is happening to us.

23 weeks

All still on track.

Our obstetrician's first words to us today were "you're viable now". 

Our baby nearly weighs 700g, with 500g being average. It has a very fat stomach that is nearly 2 weeks above average (in the 88th percentile), our obstetrician checked it's internal organs and everything is fine. She said it's better to be bigger than smaller, and that the stomach size is a sign I have a good placenta. 

She checked the veins supplying blood to the uterus, which she said was very normal and good. Apparently if they are low then there is a high chance of preeclampsia and premature labour. 

She also told me that from now on it's a good idea to always be close to a hospital that you would be happy to deliver a baby in. So that means no weekends away to our holiday house. 

It was nice to see baby's movements in the ultrasound. Yesterday I didn't feel much movement, so last night I phoned the midwife who told me to come in for a scan with the Doppler. It was late, so I had to go into the delivery ward. Of course the heart beat was immediately picked up and everything  normal. The midwife said that sometimes the baby turns in the uterus and directs their kicks at the spine. 

Seems strange, but the closer we get to achieving a birth, the more upset I feel. I guess there is more to loose with everyday. 

Advised to stop Clexane

I forgot to mention, the other day when I spoke with the naturopath she said she feels confident for me to stop taking the Clexane injections... She said that is because I have a good homocysteine reading. 

She told me if I want to I could take them like twice a week - just in case - so I'm going to do that. But it seems EVERYONE is confident that taking an aspirin every day will stop any blood clotting issues the MTHFR may bring on. 

Really looking forward to not having to inject myself every day - and have a constantly bruised stomach. 

More on flu/whooping cough vaccination and MTHFR

So today I had a really good chat with my naturopath about getting the flu and whooping cough vaccination while I'm pregnant in order pass the antibodies on to the baby before it is born. Here are the conclusions we came to:

I am not going to get the flu vaccination. Reasons why:

1. In the first few months of life, I intend to stay at home, keep warm and not socialise with others or see any one who is sick. 
2. We intend to vaccinate ourselves and grandparents against the flu. There are no other young children in the family to pass on flu. 
3. The child will be born in summer, hence low flu time. 
4. The flu virus changes from season to season so even if we do get flu vaccine, not all flus will be covered any way. 
5. The biggest reason is, because the flu virus changes so often, so too does the flu vaccination. Because of this it is not tried and tested... It's a bit of an unknown quantity for people like me, people with MTHFR and prone to autism. 
6. If the child does get the flu, chances are it will survive. 
7. Later I spoke to the doctor about flu, she said the main reason for vaccinating is to stop the mother getting flu, not the baby. I had the flu vaccination just before getting pregnant - so I should be fine. 

I am going to get the whooping cough vaccination. Reasons why:

1. Unlike the flu vaccination, whooping cough vaccination is a little bit more of a known quantity.  It doesn't change from season to season, hence it's more predictable. 
2. Because I'm taking such good medication and have sorted my methylation system out, it means I should be able to process the vaccination without any problem. My naturopath says my homocysteine levels are great, and that's a good sign I'm methylating. She said if I was not methylating then she would not recommend it. 
3. Whooping cough is pretty nasty and can be deadly for a young child. It's something you really don't want them to catch. 
4. It's probably better I'm the one vaccinated when taking the right medication, than vaccinate a small baby who you aren't medicating. And whooping cough is something you want it vaccinated against. 
5. The doctor also agreed that if you were to choose one vaccination, whooping cough or flu, she'd recommend whooping cough. She also said there is an out break of it here at the moment. 

It's a risk, the naturopath said she feels torn with the whooping cough debate but is confident with not to flu vaccinate.

She also said she wouldn't consider vaccinating a child at 6 weeks - it's too young. She said they should be a minimum of 3 months old, and they should be fit and healthy before it is done. 

Any ones comments or thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. I've still got time to make my mind up. 

20 week scan was perfect!

Yeah, baby is still alive and well. Heart there, brain in order, and all measurements perfect. Person scanning said baby is 1 day older than it should be.

Wonderful result.

I then spoke to the naturopath who was thrilled. We discussed vaccinations and the fact that I'll need more magnesium as the pregnancy progresses from now. She said to look out for cramping muscles and twitching eyes, a sign of low magnisium.

We had good discussion re flu and whooping cough. She said not to have flu vaccination, but was on the fence over whooping cough. I'll update my vaccination section with our discussion soon.

20 week scan today

I am feeling nervous.

Was feeling quite emotional last night, stressing that I hadn't really felt much movement over the past couple of days. Bad news flashed through my mind, and dread of today crept in. I'd been invited to a friend's place for a musical concert put on by the symphony orchestra, 1/2 way through the concert I felt kicks, including the biggest kick I've felt yet. Relief.

After the concert a friend came up to me and asked if I felt kicking during it. She said it is quite normal as the little baby can apparently hear now. Then I spoke with one of the violinists who said her baby kicked like crazy during rehearsals when she had them. Babies seem to love music. So now I'm thinking I'll take to playing Mozart during the day, surely the sound waves and rhythm will be good for it.

Oh dread, the 20 week scan. It's an hour away! :-(

I can feel kicking!

Yes, baby is kicking. I can even feel it with my hand. It started off feeling like a little muscle twitch inside my stomach, I wasn't sure if they were kicks or not. Now they are stronger, and undeniably kicks, though it hasn't been kicking too much today.

I have my 20 week scan on Monday, hopefully that goes well. Gosh, every stage of this whole process is so nerve wracking. Just imagine if I lost it now. I'd be heart broken. Big breath.

18 weeks - heart beating

Today we had our first appointment with a midwife. We filled in some hospital forms, gave personal information, and had a scan with the Doppler machine. My poor husbands face went white and dropped as the midwife searched for the heart beat, it takes a bit of finding with that thing and 10 seconds of silence felt to him like 10 minutes... The one and only time he's been present with a Doppler was when we miscarried at 17 weeks, but today the heart beat was there - Yeah! We're still on track.

Next time I see the midwives is at 30 weeks.

Next appointment is our 20 week scan. Apparently it is very detailed and takes 1 hour. Our Dr said 2 out of every hundred have some kind of issue, but from what she's seen she thinks we will be ok.

17 weeks - OMG, it's still alive!

I just can't believe it. 17 weeks and it's still alive. Nearly brings tears to my eyes. Am beginning to think it might work this time. After nearly a decade of trying, we've never been this far.

It was 17 weeks we discovered the death last time :-(

Our doctor said everything looks completely normal. It's heart is the right beat, it's head and measurements the right size, brain developing well - everything. Baby was so big, it's now haunched over inside and they have to measure pieces of it rather than one length.

Can't believe parenthood might be an option for us.

During this time of trying my emotions have shut down, and while we've been doing nothing but IVF, special diets, injections, and visiting doctors for scans over the past six years, I haven't allowed myself to visualise a live baby at the end. Now I feel torn, it brings tears to my eyes - the feeling of allowing myself to hope is frightening. Maybe it's best to stick on autopilot and not think.

Here is the latest scan:

And this scan is too funny, it's of Baby's finger... We spent a while working out what finger it had up, for a moment we thought it was the middle one. Dr said she would have framed it and put it on the wall if that were the case. We all had a good laugh: