Seriously. I'm so glad that she's Ok. Sending thoughts of health, peace, and warmth your way.

So, smoother sailing since our hiccups...
8 weeks and 5 days along now, and, I haven't seen another ultrasound as yet, but from what I understand the kid now has a more proper body type shape.
Looking forward to 13 weeks.

And after my 5th attempt I remembered my password hahaha.

Oh I love you guys. I miss being in here but shit just got too hectic, I still pay some attention.

Thankyou all for your congratulations, hints and tips. All is very welcomed. :D

9 weeks tomorrow WOOOHOOOO!!! and doing well. I sleep, I eat little bits of food all day long, I throw up randomly (straight up as soon as I wake), I pee lots and my boobs hurt. Welcome to pregnancy ha.

Can't express how happy that this is happening. Happiness isn't even the right word but I know that this has helped me to take my days slower than usual and it's doing wonders for my health. Instead of rushing around, I do things slow, helps me think more and I'm a much happier person inside and out since finding out bubs is on the way.

Cheebas as always is a crazy man, but one heck of a helpful, kind ad amazing crazy man. Would be totally lost without him.

Congratulations Disease, wonderful news and to the fella I don't know Giganticface. :)

Hubby will keep you posted, but I really wanted to say thankyou to all. :D

Spal!!!! SO good to see you!!!! The boobs hurting will subside a bit. Unfortunately, the peeing a lot will only increase as the baby grows. Just wait til the little bugger is laying on your bladder! LOL! My son used to curl up all on one side, hurt like hell. I'd have to sit there and massage it until he spread out. :D

Best of luck! Miss seeing you!

So yeah...
Pretty amazing, going from this small, nondescript praw-like shape with a heart to a proper person shaped thingy.
I was a little bit transfixed.
Of course, the waterworks were on with her...though I mighta welled up, just a little bit...
This little one is moving so much now, would not keep still, at all.

Crazy...a proper face, arms and hands right there...this is one day going to be the person that we'll know as our child.
It was a good day.

That's so awesome. I'm very happy for you and Spal!

Thankyou ma'am.
Yup, we're officially out of the first trimester from today.
The little one looked so healthy and active in there, would barely stay still long enough to get the photos - it was funny.

once again...congrats guys [ nice to see Spallllllaallllaaaaa make an appearance ]

That's incredible. Congrats again you two!

Thanks guys...I'll post some pics when we get the next US which I think is sometime in late January - but so far everything is completely healthy - that Ultrasound that can be seen above along with a blood test came back as 1-8000 chance of any downsyndrome related issues.
Good to know everythings ok there.

Funny, even though this was planned things still keep sinking in bit by bit...the enormity of the life change is sometimes a little overwhelming, but in a good way.
Though as time is going on I'm getting myself more ready for it - I'm now thinking about the things I'm looking forward to teaching them and doing with them at various stages of their lives.

Ach, anyways - will give some updates here'n there.

Congratulations!!

Hey guys...just a little update.

We decided to go with the Latin (I think?) spelling "Ryver".
Means the same thing, just think it looks a little more like a name.

Went for our last medically recommended ultrasound last friday, in this one they checked out the spine (sipinabifida, which I actually have a super-small amount of, resulting only in increased curvature).
They won't have the same problem.
So they're healthy and normal as far as everything shows.

We saw the little one suck their thumb the other day ::embarrassment:: Was kinda cute.

We finally decided on just finding out the sex when curiosity got the better of us.

So....we are having.....

























a troll baby.
Literally, hands in between legs. No matter what angles we got, we could not tell...so it seems like they're already taking after me in a sense.

Though yeah it's kind of cool, now we get to stick with our original decision not to find out - the only way we could, would be to get another ultrasound, and well, if it's not needed, we won't.
Surprise after all.

Oh, and as off last Friday, we are past the half way mark.

Wonderful! I'm so glad Spal is having an easy pregnancy!

Good to hear Cheeba

Love the name

Oh I dunno about easy...no huge problems or anything but yeah one of those kind've unluckier cases of morning sickness every trimester.

Thanks yea, the only one we could agree on.


So yeah my latest news is, I actually felt the baby today.
I saw it kind've rumbling around, placed my hand over the site, and yeah something bumped me a few times. ::big grin::

Aww, I'm sorry to hear she's still having morning sickness. That's the coolest feeling ever, when you feel your baby move.

It's eased up a bit now.

So baby River is now like...pretty big. Over 30cm in length apparently.
Since my last post I've been able to feel him/her quite a bit more.

She's having a c-section and is likely not going to be awake on account of an old back injury...so I've been trying to talk to the kid a bit, get them used to my voice.
Not really having "conversations" as such, but talking.

...and hows this?
I have found, that I can wake the baby up with my voice ha

Not long now.

That's so awesome! Can't wait to see pictures! You ARE going to post pictures, right? You're not known for posting personal pictures, but I'm hoping you post at least one of River!

Yeah, it is...though sometimes she gets irritated when I do it ha

Pics...hm...we shall see.
I'm not going to be a document their lives online, but, yknow I think I can probably post one.

Good! And, I apologize, I just realized I spelled the baby's name wrong. It's Ryver, right?

Ha, no need to apologise - in fact, we're likely going to just stick with the conventional spelling - to avoid people calling them "rye-ver" and the sure-to-happen type-os on forms and ID and the like.

So new news.
Tomorrow we're going to see some doctors, when we will elect a "birthday" for the kid, c-section and all...Funny knowing that before they're around.

Best of luck!

So....it's a girl.

Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice! When's the due date?

Congratulations!

Yup. Thankyou.
Well I mean this was just a scan in case that wasn't clear. We're just 6 days into third trimester at the moment.
I saw her hands, and her face properly today...she looks well shadowy and baby-like I guess.

I make no secret of it, and I think like a lot of males, ideally I wanted to have a son...and I was worried yknow? Worried that I'd feel somehow disappointed if it wasn't, and have to carry that with me.
It's funny how knowledge changes things.
Immediate acceptance.
I now know I have a daughter, and everything is awesome - she is the kid I'm supposed to have and yeah...I guess I will have to take on a slightly more guardian type role than I initially thought hm.

I'm looking forward to getting to know her. I think, that we will be able to raise a nice kinda chick. ::wink::

How is Spal feeling? Is she still having a rough time of it?

Not bad...at least not right now.
Lacking in energy, sleeping a bit more but the overall nausea/vomit level's gone down somewhat.

I've thought about it some more.
I'm pretty ok with it being a chick. I hope she's a bit of a tomboy, this would be ideal.

Awww..now you can start collecting Monster High Dolls! My granddaughter started collecting them a year ago and has about 35. She is only 4 and already drives a four wheeler. Lots of fun to be had.::big grin::

Hm, don't know if we're going to be big on dolls...of any kind really...but I don't know, it's their choice.
Just as long as she's not getting slut-trainers like ""bratz" or some such. No Barbies. I'm pretty much unenthusiastically open to other types.


More news.
Middle name decided upon - Violette.
Oldskool french spelling, I feel like it just looks nicer.

What a pretty middle name! Sorry to suggest the dolls..I know I drive my daughter and son-in-law nuts with my old fashioned ways!

Not so much about it being old fashioned...I am all for the old and new alike...just dolls, aren't gonna be something we particularly endorse.
If she wants one, sure...if she wants to have only dolls, nope.


So she officially recognises my presence/heat signature or something...I can put my hand on the belly, and she'll start tumbling around in there and bangin' on the walls.

If you talk to her while your hand is on Spal's belly, she knows your voice.

Oh yeah, I can wake her up by talking near her

Cool feeling, isn't it?! ::cool::

Well, I like it...

So, all proceeding normally it'll be another 5 weeks and 2 days.
Things are going somewhat well, no real changes aside from size and strength.
She hiccups a bit too now. Not sure how or why.

I've began to question parenthood.
I had a hand in helping raise my younger brother for a bit, so I know *some* things like changing, cleaning, feeding...but the whole rest of it, I really have no idea on.
I'm just wondering if it's all just an act.

I think (with the first child anyway) its basically on the job training for 18 years. When I first saw my little grandson cooing away at his dad (my son) at approx 2 months old, I said "See that...you put in the time and its paying off. Making sure he's comfortable, caring for his needs..etc".

This is not medically based, but someone told me that the hiccups is the baby's way of preparing to breathe air.

Well, I don't have as much time to get ready for this as I thought.
It's now 4-5 weeks before we were going to get the c-section done, but last night there were some symptoms.
Went into hospital - her water had broken.
So as I'm typing this, it's 6:03pm here in Sydney.
Tomorrow morning at 8:am she's booked in for the c-section.

But, it's not dangerously early (not ideal but hey) the baby is 2.2kgs, she's strong, healthy, and should have no breathing problems...some kind of steroid injection was given today to ensure that.

I've been having some freakouts...kind of puts things in perspective, I was not ready for this...but I'll do my best, I have to be there for her, and her, tomorrow.

Best of luck! I hope everything goes well!

Sending positive thoughts your way for all three of you. Good luck!