Into My Snow Globe

Baby Aoife at 25weeks and 2 days...  So... its the 26th week... what else is new?

A visual of our loot from this shopping spree... There are lists to be followed and lists to be ignored. For this one, I think I fell safely in the middle. Shopping for babies in NZ is not particularly appealing. You kind of get the feeling that there is not enough interest in all the bits and baubles of babyland and everything is so overpriced! A good example of this is how Mothercare recently closed its operations in NZ for lack of sufficient market. This, despite the abundance of babies to be found cavorting on the streets. It simply boggles the mind! Last August, we booked a trip to the USA for our annual biggie vacay and shopping spree only to realize four months later that I'll be at the tail end of my 2nd trimester when we finally make the trip. The trip's focus instantly changed at that point from "me, me, me" to "baby, baby, baby". If we thought buying on Amazon was cheaper than buying locally even with shipping costs, imagine how...

My birthday dinner date...  So for the last couple of posts, facebook statuses, and tweets, its been all about me. But then I thought, what about the instigator? The main culprit of this show? The man who has always wanted a kid but has patiently waited for me to let my guard down to sneak one in. Yes folks, I'm talking about PIC. The future daddy.

Never will you fear your own mortality as much as when you are a mother waiting to bring your babe into the world. For the squeamish, this is your last chance to step away from this blog. The next few lines would definitely be TMI for most.

20 week scan Last time I blogged, I admit I was still experiencing the after effects of my first term nausea. That however, has since abated. Thank Fudge! I am now well and truly into the good months or as I like to call them, my normal months. This is as close as I've felt to my usual self since being preggers, apart from the big belly.

The "Essentials" as defined by Daddy PIC have arrived... So I started this term thinking it would be easier. But apparently I am doomed to experience all the normal symptoms of pregnancy. With the second trimester comes the exit of morning sickness and the dawn of more indigestion and heartburn. Unfortunately on intense indigestion days, it also comes hand in hand with nausea and vomiting. The latter of which, I've never had to experience during my first trimester. Other than this, I will give the blogs and guide books props as they weren't kidding about feeling closer to normal during this time.  Well, as normal as I can be at 17 weeks walking around feeling like one of those little wooden fertility statues you see in museum gift shops with the boobage and the pot belly. At this stage, my tummy doesn't quite resemble a pregnant belly just yet. Its still a cross between a beer gut and someone who's had a big lunch that just won't go away...

14 weeks prego scan; Fetal age at 12 weeks, but he's actually a week bigger than he's supposed to be! Eyes shut and heart open. This sums up how I feel on the last week of my neurotic, and verging on extreme paranoia phase, AKA the most sensitive time in a new mom's pregnancy. So far baba's clinging tight and secretly mumbling "you're not getting away that easy future mommy."  I'm glad he's proving to be so tenacious.