melvania

Today was my last day at work. And there was much rejoicing (yay).

These are some excerpts from a weekly pregnancy email list I'm on.

Week 12: Your baby now measures about 7.6 cm (3.04 inches) and weighs approximately 20 grams (0.7 ounces).

Week 13: Your baby measures about 9 cm in length (or 3.6 inches) and weighs approximately 45 grams (1.56 ounces).

Week 14 (now): Your baby measures about 12 cm long (or 4.7 inches) and weighs approximately 85 grams (or 3 ounces).

So he/she has about doubled in weight each of the last two weeks!

I guess you could say at week 14 I'm officially in the second trimester now. Some places say 12 weeks, some say 13. I still have some nauseous days, but they're getting fewer. My appetite isn't really increasing yet and neither is my weight. But I do have a small bump that I can feel, and today I think I could actually SEE it, so everything is looking good so far. Have an appointment with my midwife on Monday morning when we'll hopefully be able to hear the heartbeat this time. Last time she tried to get it but the baby was moving too much (which came through the doppler as a big 'whoosh').

We've decided to have this baby at home with an independent midwife. Yes, I'm serious about that. There's plenty of reasons and things we considered in this decision, which I'll post later, because I don't want this post to turn into a rant - plenty of time for that later.

There's a post on a forum I read about Chia seeds. Apparently Chia seeds are a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids (the kind that's in fish oil). Which prompted me to look up whether or not Chia Pets ever came to Australia. I still haven't found the answer, but I did find this. And you'd think I was having a nightmare or something, how I kept saying "No! No! No!" over and over again.

Note to whoever has never heard of Chia Pets: They're a clay thing, and you basically spread a seed paste over it, water it regularly, and it sprouts "hair." The first one was the Chia Pet, then they did the Chia Head, Chia Kitten, Chia Puppy, Chia Rabbit, Chia Everything! I don't think I've ever known anyone who actually had one, except maybe my grandma, but they're selling like hotcakes, and have been for, I dunno, 20 years?

Note to Mom: don't bother trying to send one; with the seeds in there it wouldn't get past quarantine. Not to mention we may never speak to you again if you did

So there's this old wives' tale about finding out the sex of your baby by holding a wedding ring on a chain in front of your belly. If the ring goes back & forth, it's a girl; if it goes in circles, it's a boy. When we went to visit Simon & Briony & Inara today, Briony borrowed her mum's chain and Simon's dad's wedding ring and held it in front of my belly. She says she's never seen it be wrong.

And the ring on the chain went in a little circle. Twice. So we've got two non-medical predictions of us having a boy.

And we had a little discussion about how Simon will be once Inara reaches dating age, and that if we're having a boy, he could quite possibly be a candidate.

And Simon nearly died

I would just like to say that I HATE all the maternity clothes I've seen in shops. Mainly because, like anything else, all the shops just have the fashionable, trendy clothes, and I HATE the current fashion trend. All I want is a decent pair of pants or shorts. I don't want 3/4 length pants; if you're going to cut them off why not at the knee like normal shorts? And I don't want 'hipster' pants that show off my butt crack when I bend over. Is that really too much to ask?

Sure, I can try looking in secondhand shops, but then I have to look through the entire rack, because they don't always put maternity clothes separate, and my size isn't exactly a common one. So whatever I DO find in my size isn't necessarily also in my preferred style.

I just can't win!

Inara Jade Cadzow was born at 4 pm today, Friday the 22nd of September. 3.93 kg (8 pounds 10.5 ounces), and everyone's fine.

Okay, since there's a few of you who are gonna want to give a baby gift (or several, in the case of grandparents!), here's a tentative list of things we're planning on doing, so you can work out what to get and what not to get.

• I want to pick out the cot/crib and the car seat ourselves, but anything else is fine to be a surprise.
  
• We're using cloth nappies/diapers.
  
• We won't be using a dummy/pacifier.
  
• No pink. Even if it's a girl.
  
• I don't want to bother with a pram/stroller at first, but a baby sling/carrier would be GREAT.
  
• All the normal stuff, like clothes and blankets and stuffed toys and nappy bag.
  

"But what about this or that or the other?" Um, yeah, that's why I said it's tentative. No way could a first time mother remember EVERYTHING she needs for her baby, even if some do tend to over-plan the whole event... I'm finding myself wanting to buy things, plan things, organise things, but it's kinda hard to do without a house to store all the stuff in. So we wait until Christmas, I guess...

I finally know my blood type. O Rh(D) Positive. So no need for any anti-D (Rhogam) shot after the birth. Yay.

...was $1.10 in 5 & 10 cent coins stuck in the hose, the pump, all through the workings. And now that Darrin's gotten it all out, the thing works great, even better than it did before. And he even got paid for it!

So here's what I've been thinking as far as the birth, and buying baby things, and parenting, etc.

Baby stuff

• Any colour but pink. Even if I turn out to be wrong and we have a girl - no pink.
  
• I'm not going to bother with a pram/pusher/stroller for the first few months. I just wanna shake my head whenever I see someone try to drag one on a bus or through a supermarket. When the baby is that little, why bother? I think it's probably easier to get a baby sling or something so you can carry them on your chest. They're not THAT heavy. And supermarkets have trolleys with baby carriers on them anyway.
  
• I want to pick out the car seat and the cot/crib myself. Anything else is fair game to give as a gift.
  

Parenting

• Cloth nappies/diapers.
  
• Breastfeeding for as long as possible.
  
• No dummies/pacifiers.
  
• No vaccinations.
  

Birth Okay, so you can't technically plan the birth that well, because the baby comes when it decides to come. Generally anyway. And before I get into a rant about high induction & Caesarean rates I'll just get on to what I wanted to say in the first place.

• I will not allow anyone to induce this baby by artificial means unless it's an emergency. My brother was 12 days "overdue" and he was perfectly healthy. Since the estimated due date is just that, an ESTIMATE, seems really pointless to induce just because you're a day or two late. Babies come when they're ready. If I'm feeling really uncomfortable and just want to get the baby out, I'll jump around or take some castor oil or something.
  
• We're booked in at the Women's & Children's Hospital in North Adelaide, but we're not certain yet that we'll actually use them. Still looking into a few other things before we decide for sure.