Dear everyone,

If you aren't on facebook, you may not be aware that my brother has been making requests on your behalf.  This is a message I received earlier this week:

Kyle Hamacher says:

Dear Stacy,

We all want an updated picture of the bump.

Love,
Everyone

Well everyone, here you go:

I'm 25 weeks today. And my bump is certainly coming along. Baby W has been kicking up a storm lately. He's still got room to move around quite a lot and I think he's been taking advantage. Don't worry though, he's not keeping me up at night yet! 

Well I must keep this short as I've got 15 people coming over for Thanksgiving dinner in 30 minutes!

consultant appointment

I saw my consultant today about my fibroid. She was very helpful. She explained what a fibroid is--a dense mass of muscle tissue, which grows, in my case, in the outer layer of my uterus. A lot of women have them and they can often go unnoticed. The hormones released during pregnancy can speed growth. My fibroid is on the larger side. It's over 10cm (4 inches), which by comparison, when your uterus is normal size is only 8cm (just over 3 inches). My fibroid is 'well placed,' in that it's not blocking the birth canal, nor will it affect me having a c-section should I need one.

The implications of the fibroid mean that there's that much less space for the baby, which means towards the end of my pregnancy, I might have more aches and pains than other women. It could also put extra pressure on my intestines which can also cause cramping (see last week's incident!). It's also harder to monitor the growth of the baby just by feeling my stomach, which is normally how they monitor growth from here until the birth. The result of this means I get three more ultrasounds at 28, 32 and 36 weeks.  We also got to see my little guy today:).  He was upside down and facing my back today, with his little legs curled under him. Sorry no photo today as it wasn't a full scan, just a quick one to check the heart rate. I also have a follow up appointment with the consultant at 36 weeks to discuss the birth.

In terms of removal, it's very highly unlikely that they would ever do anything during the pregnancy to remove the fibroid. After the birth, the blood supply to the fibroid can be cut off naturally, meaning it could shrink. If I ever need to have it removed, it's possible that it could be done laproscopically depending on how deep within the uterus it is lying. We won't be looking into this any further until after the birth unless it becomes an issue.

All in all, it's about as good of news as I could have gotten given the circumstances, which is a relief.

becoming a grown-up!

First pregnancy. Then a house. Today...a car!  Paul's motorbike just wasn't going to cut for a family of 3, so we've forked out for a car. A BMW 320 diesel with sport pack. That's an estate car as they say here, a station wagon to you in the States. Not exactly my first choice, but the SUVs don't really work as well on the small roads over here (and aren't economical or environmentally friendly). And Paul was set on getting one, it's good for the stroller and for our eventual dog he keeps saying.  So here it is:

It's graphite with cream leather interior. It's a 2006 model. And you know what all this means...I'm going to have to learn to drive it. It's a manual (stick shift) which I never learned, plus they drive on the wrong side of the road. The driving tests are notoriously hard over here too, so I'm nervous. Let's just hope Paul's a good teacher. I have to send off for a provisional license through the mail, which means also sending my passport away too.  Hopefully it doesn't take too long, wouldn't want it getting held up before our Christmas flights!

a little scare...

Last night around 10:15 I started to get some cramping in my lower abdomen. It became quite severe fairly quickly and we decided to call my midwife. She advised us to go to the birthing center at the hospital, so we took a taxi over there. We waited about 25 minutes to get into a private room and a midwife came and checked me out. We listened to the baby's heartrate for a while and she took all my vitals and everything was normal. The doctor then came in and checked for any signs of miscarriage and I wasn't dialating nor were there any signs of leaking fluids or blood, thankfully.  The cramping came in waves and was very painful. They gave me some paracetomal and codeine which resulted in me throwing up several times 30 minutes later. They also wanted a urine sample, which despite drinking several liters of water took me until 1:30am to produce.  The hospital staff were all very nice and Paul was amazingly supportive. We got home a little after 2 and the cramps had lessened enough for me to sleep.

They don't really know what the cause was. It could be ligaments stretching, but I think the baby's movements yesterday were putting pressure on my intestines.  The pain has gone down significantly today, but not gone completely. I went out for one meeting and then came home and took it easy the rest of the day. I plan to most likely work from home tomorrow. I've also had two follow up calls from various midwives.

what a busy week!!

Thursday: we sell our flat (finally!).
Saturday: see 7 houses
Monday: make an offer on one
Tuesday: find out that one has a recent insurance claim for subsidence. Go visit second favorite from Saturday to see garage and backyard as we weren't able to find keys to get out there with estate agent.
Today: make an offer on the second house, negotiate, and they accept.

Wahoo!
The house is lovely and, unlike the first, we can move straight into it with very little work. (The first needed new flooring and every room needed wallpaper stripping and a couple coats of paint.) Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms plus an office. Downstairs is the living and dining rooms, kitchen/breakfast room and the garage which has been coverted to a utility room It also has the most amazing three tiered garden. It's in a lovely neighborhood close to some good schools and half a mile walk to 3 different train stations, which will help with commuting.

Of course it's still very early and everything has to go to the lawyers and the house has to be surveyed, etc. A lot can go wrong, but I'm choosing to stay positive. We haven't been told any timeframe, but I'm working under the assumption it will be in Januray. Pray that everything goes smoothly from here on out.

Now the important bit, the photos:

front of the house

backyard

kitchen

living room

dining room

master bedroom

bathroom (also has separate shower)

Guest bedroom

Unfortunately there are no pictures of the soon to be nursery.

Good news!

We've finally had an offer on our flat and we've accepted! It was £5k less than what we really wanted to accept, but it's likely that if we wait for another buyer, prices might go up by that much for places we're looking. And I have a nursery to plan! So now starts the house hunting process. We're looking for a house in south outer London. We've spent most of this evening looking at what's around, and there's not a lot. But all we need is one good one. The next two Saturdays are the only two Saturdays we have free pretty much for the rest of the year. Wish us luck!

Mid-wife appt #3

I had another mid-wife appointment this morning. Very short and sweet. It was a follow up to the ultrasound.  I met with Uwa today, which is Mara's main partner (i.e. if Mara is not on call when I go into labour, it is likely to be Uwa helping me.) She was very friendy. She took my urine and blood pressure (100/65) and both were fine. She has also referred me to see a consultant about my fibroid. The appointment is in 3 weeks and she said the likely result would probably be more ultrasounds to make sure the fibroid doesn't impede the growth of the baby. Doesn't sound too bad to me...more opportunities to see my little boy:).  The other likely side effect of the fibroid is more pain as the baby gets bigger and starts pushing on or kicking the fibroid.  Will let you all know how it goes.