31/01/2010 by stupidgirl_no1.

Well I just realised that at 2.50pm today Owen turned 15 - weeks obviously!  Hard to believe he’s been ours for that long but then at the same time I am now feeling a bit more confident as this Mummy-ing thing!  There have been quite a few “first”s since my last post - his first wee chuckle, first (and second the next day!) time going to a birthday party, first go on a bouncy castle, first attendance at a wee person’s music group, first trip to town shopping, first feed in public, first afternoon with his four cousins, first swing ride in a park, first look at a book and his first turning of a page himself.  The last thing obviously made his Librarian Mummy very proud!

Meanwhile I’ve had my first night out with a whole glass of wine, and another night I had my first beer since June 2008 when I gave up drinking and we started trying for a baby.  This is all due to the wonder of Owen now having his own bedtime.  I feed him at 7.30 and then we put him to bed and he tends to be asleep by 8.30 or 9 at the latest, so we have some time to ourselves.  He sleeps until at least 3 as a rule so its safe for me to have a wee drinkie once he goes to bed - woohoo!  The night I was out at Gill’s I was enjoying myself chatting to the girls so much that I didn’t get home until about 2am - and then Owen was awake an hour later!  That was hard, but worth it!  Nice to have some grown up chat for a change.

As for weight, Owen is now healthily over 15lbs and filling his 3-6 month clothes nicely.  On our shopping trip I chose him two outfits which are the first clothes I’ve chosen myself!  Everything else he’s worn has been hand downs or gifts - well except for the Manchester United clothes and the Mamas and Papas jacket that Daddy chose!  I am down to 10 stone 11 so only half a stone to loose before I get back to my pre pregnant weight - hurrah!  I’ve already past my pre trying weight as I was about 11 stone when we decided to try for a baby, got down to 10 stone 4 before I got pregnant and put on 3 stone!

Owen can now support his own head so we can now put him in his Bumbo seat, or the in door bouncer.  Its lovely that he can sit up supported and play with toys and as he can now grasp things he is enjoying playing with things - everything fascinates him and needs inspected.  It’s so cute watching him with new things, or with his favourite talking Winnie The Pooh teddy which he just loves.

As I reported with his hip he now only wears his splint at night so that’s lovely as we get much nicer cuddles during the day, much closer!  His blocked tear duct seems to have cleared up so we’re not having to clean it and cream it twice a day, the down side is that when he cries we get real tears - which makes Mummy’s heart ache!!  We’ve still not managed to breast feed the “normal” way but we’re still happy using the breast shields, it doesn’t bother me anymore, I’ve just accepted that we use them and that’s that.  It does mean I’m constantly sterilising them and the machine is constantly on but such is life!  I also can’t just be lazy and stay in bed to feed him during the night, we have to come downstairs and get a shield from the steriliser - and it does leak sometimes so we couldn’t feed in bed anyway.  Never mind, small price to pay and it means I get to check email, Facebook and Twitter whilst the wee one fills his boots!  This is also why it was a big thing for me to finally feed in public, its a bit difficult to be as discrete when using shields, but it is possible!

At Lucas’ birthday party our wee guy started crying quite a lot and we were thinking he was teething but he’s only had a couple of crying bouts in total so I think it may have been his colic, or just that he was too warm or something.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell with babies.  He does like to chew or suck things but then babies like to investigate things in their mouths so it might not mean he’s teething - that will come soon enough I’m sure!

And that, I think, is that!

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27/12/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

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14/10/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

So after my disappointment yesterday I got taken out for lunch today.  Mum, Dad, God Mummy Jenny and Harry made an almost 300 mile round trip just to take me out for lunch - hurrah!  Got lots of hugs too which was super.  We went to a local carvery for lunch, after I gave the ladies the full tour of the baby ready nursery of course!  Had a huge plate full of roast turkey, beef and veggies, then a pudding of chocolate fudgeyness.

After that it was suggested that a walk at the beach might be a good idea so we headed to Balmedie and got some lovely fresh air and exercise - slowly of course, a 41 week pregnant lady post-lunch only manages a gentle waddle!!

Then it was back to the house for afternoon tea - ooh and cake!  Hurrah!  Been wanting jam doughnuts for a couple of weeks now but keep forgetting to mention when Bryan is near a supermarket so that’s been sorted now!  Aunt Jenny had brought me some bubbles so we amused ourselves by blowing bubbles at George cat and watching his reaction - bless!!

They managed to stay long enough to see Bryan before heading back home.  I managed to decline any offer of dinner needless to say - there is a limit to how much even I can eat!!  Although might need a wee snack later… hee hee!

Once they left Bryan had a wonderful idea of how to get the baby out…maybe….

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13/10/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Baby bump is still appearing totally unaware of the fact we were expecting him/her last week and isn’t coming out to play at all.  On the upside this does mean I am getting most of my To Do list done, and have plenty of time for visitors!  Yesterday Rhona came to visit and we had a nice chat - and she brought gorgeous cakes with her too!

Today was a down though, the midwife came to visit to try and get things started but was unsucessful (will withhold details for all our sakes!).   It is possible things might happen later in the week but it doesn’t look likely so I will have to wait for Saturday’s appointment at the hospital to get induced.  Baby is fine though, all the tests are okay so this isn’t a thing to worry about, just a bit disappointing that we have to wait longer to meet the wee one - and I am getting quite big and uncomfortable now.

Most disappointed though is my Godmother.  Jenny and Harry are up visiting my parents for 2 weeks and I had been told that they would come visit me once baby had arrived, however they go home to Hampshire on Thursday and so it looks like I will produce too late.  I blame Gill, she’s in Florida and asked me to wait for her to come back before having baby - think she’s back on Thursday so looks like baby listened to her - not surprisingly as it was her that threw us the fab baby shower!  Unfortunately for Jenny her requests were by phone and email so baby bump won’t have seen or heard them whereas Gill had all 4 of our ears for her demands!!

There is an upside though - Mum phoned me back after I reported on midwife visit and they are all coming up to take me out for lunch tomorrow!  So I will see Mum, Dad, Jenny and Harry - and probably get crumble and custard!  Much better than sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself as I am currently doing!

Unfortunately the other downside of baby being late is that it now looks like Bryan won’t get 2 consecutive weeks off work for his paternity leave as the other engineer has annual leave booked.  However I have my pal Jennie (not godmummy JennY but JennIE) coming to stay for part of the week Bryan can’t be off so at least I will have some help and support, just sux for Bryan!  Such is life though unfortunately.

So that’s the news so far - no baby to report!  Yet!  Induction at hospital on Saturday and they won’t send me home without a baby according to the midwife so at least an end is in sight!

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11/10/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Neil, Zoe and their 2 gorgeous daughters moved to Shetland so we don’t see them much anymore but they had got in touch to say they were “coming to the mainland”.  I’d said it would be sensible for them to arrange to meet Ray, Nicole and Lucas and we’d just join them if possible - seeing as we’re hoping to “pop a sprog” sometime around now.  And no, it’s not happened yet!!  So today was the day and we were able to make it and join them all.  As they were arriving by boat and leaving by train it made sense to meet up near the harbour and station so we met at the Carmelite Hotel.  It worked out fine as they let us sit in the reception lounge where they had comfy sofas and games of Jenga.  The grown up men, well Robertson boys anyway, got a bit competitive with building a tower taller than Abby’s whereas the young girls seemed to delight in building things for wee Lucas to knock over!

 Few more pics on my Flickr page.

We had coffees and chatted until lunchtime when we moved to the restaurant and had a yummy lunch - the burgers looked awesome!  I had Chilli Con Carne (well hot stuff might get baby moving!) which was very tasty, and then Bakewell Tart which disappeared effortlessly!

Eventually it was time for the Galbraiths to head off and meet their next friend on the itinerary and the rest of us headed off to different shops.  I even got Bryan to Next and we bought him some new clothes!  Was quite an effort though as we were stuffed after lunch! 

When we got back home I got greeted by a neighbour, they had seen us leaving this morning with the hospital bag and thought that was baby coming so she was a bit surprised to see me back and still big and bumpy!  Explained we just didn’t like to be away from the house without bag now that baby is 6 days overdue.  Nice to know even my neighbours are watching excitedly for news, although I feel bad I’m keeping everyone waiting!  Not my fault though!!

I’m now happily back on my sofa, he’s given me a fashion show of his new stuff and I gave him a tour of the nursery now I’ve got it finished. 

Now he’s playing Fifa 10 on Xbox and yelling at me to look every now and then as he’s uploaded his photo into the game so one of the players really is him - whatever will they develop next?!  Very clever and quite effective looking too. 

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08/10/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Okay so one day this baby bump will decide its time to come out and meet us all!  I just thought I should let you know visitor arrangements at the hospital.  I’ve been told I will need to stay in for a couple of days due to having a blood condition that could affect baby (Group B Strep, quite common and nothing to worry about as they are aware of it now).  So I would hope to get some visitors in that time please! 

There’s a useful page on Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Maternity Unit’s website that gives lots of details.  Click here for link.  Basically you can come from 2-4pm and 7-8pm.  If you want to text or call Bryan or I’s mobile to check first feel free, apparently they have recently relaxed the rules on mobiles on the ward so we should be able to get back to you.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to blog what ward we’re in or whatever - not sure how all that works!  I have set up so I can text an update to Facebook so should be able to do that once in the ward for those that use it, add me as a friend now if you want access to this!

Address for hospital is: Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, Cornhill Road, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZL.

Obviously once we’re home we won’t be limited to such specific hours but please remember wee baby needs sleep so phone calls and visitors too early or too late won’t be too appreciated!!  Thanks!!

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02/10/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Okay so yesterday was a good day.  I’m not really doing much now as its time to wait for baby to come and I’m a bit too bumpular to move far.  My uni pal Vicky had arranged to come and visit yesterday and I had arranged for a delivery from Donald Russell.  Both of these were lovely things I was looking forward to - Vicky as she is great company and the meat as I’m really missing blue/rare steaks and Bryan has promised me one when I get out of hospital with baby.  Donald Russell does lovely, lovely meat so this will be the perfect reward for that whole labour/birth thing I apparently have to go through!  You aren’t supposed to eat pink meat whilst pregnant you see, so I have had to have meat cooked on which is a travesty to me!

So the meat arrived and about 5 minutes later Vicky did too.  As my delivery was here we were then free to go out for lunch so after “morning coffee” and a lovely homemade rock bun that Vicky had brought with her we wandered down to Raspberry Cheesecake for lunch out - and a wee cake…!

When we got back there was a card from UPS saying I missed a delivery but it was at a neighbour’s so once Vicky left I wandered over and collected my parcel - another pressie for baby bump!  This time it was a baby listening monitor which I had ordered from a website that I do surveys for and get points in return.  Points make prizes and hence we now have a lovely Tomy baby monitor that cost us nothing, hurrah!

I then had a lovely evening with my hubby on the sofa, chatting and eating lovely dinner and watching tv.  He had been offered a job during the day so we were discussing that and I was all proud at him impressing someone enough that they would try and poach him from his current firm - and yes, he has told his boss, and this post won’t get him in trouble - cause he’s a good and loyal employee and likes to be honest with folk. 

At about 9.40pm we were watching an episode of Two and A Half Men that featured waffles and I expressed a desire for waffles.  We don’t have a waffle iron so that was out but Bryan offered to make me pancakes as the next best thing.  I exclaimed that I couldn’t possibly after the lovely lentils and lamb dinner he’d given me so he suggested I asked the good people of Twitter.  There was unanimous support for this motion so he was sent to the kitchen forthwith!  I had been told early on in pregnancy that I would get away with one irrational request for naughty food item at whatever time of the day and night and Bryan reminded me that I hadn’t used it yet and as it was only 4 days till baby was due I was running out of time!

Some time later (well the mixture needs to rest before cooking) I was served gorgeous pancakes, 1 at a time so they were each nice and hot, with banana and honey from the Isle of Man.  Yummy!  Spoilt little girl ahoy!

So that was - lovely visit from Vicky and home made rock buns; promise of gorgeous steaks; lunch out and choccie cake; free baby monitor; nice dinner and quality time with hubby; proud feeling of hubby being offered a job; AND pancakes!!  Now that’s what I call a good day of being spoilt!  Anyone would think it had been my birthday rather than my Mum’s yesterday!!

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26/09/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Today was a gorgeous sunny day so I asked Bryan if we could go for a walk or something.  We decided to go to the beach and then I took a wee fancy to a paddle.  This proved photogenic apparently so Bryan got clicking!

Other bump photos are on his website.

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23/09/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Mum and Dad had promised to visit me between finishing work and baby coming but it had to fit in with hotel stuff.  Hurrah, they managed to come up yesterday and stay the night!  We had a lovely time together once they got here.  Mainly we sat and chatted, then when Bryan came home from work he cooked us a lovely Pork and Chorizo Paella for dinner.  Dad had brought some Bread and Butter Pudding with malt whisky in it for pudding and there was some wine consumed, by everyone but preggers me of course!

This morning we went up to Newburgh so I could show them how gorgeous it is up there.  I have been meaning to go up to Hazel’s grave for quite a while to show her my bump as she had been so excited about me trying for a baby before she died so it was nice to get there.  Bizarre that its a year ago already, time really does fly.  There were some lovely flowers and tributes there from the anniversary of her death so it was nice to see them as well.  Weird that cemetaries are put in spots with such amazing views, but so lovely and restful looking over the estuary.

We went for a walk in the nature reserve but I didn’t get far before I started huffing and puffing.  Think someone’s on my lungs!  Dad went off for a speed walk and Mum and I had a slow wobble and a natter before returning to the car and enjoying the view.

We found a lovely wee bug thing that I managed to get a photo of, quite pleased with it too!

After our walk obviously we needed some lunch so we went to the Udny Arms Hotel and I had a yummy Steak and Ale pie to recharge my batteries!  Then Mum and Dad dropped me at home before heading to Stonehaven to take Great Aunt Dorothy and our friend Noreen out for afternoon tea.  Meanwhile I planted myself happily on the sofa!

So strange to say to my parents - “bye, next time I see you I’ll have a baby”!!!

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20/09/2009 by stupidgirl_no1.

Keep getting asked a few questions so I thought I would post the answers!  Expect I’ll still get asked them but at least if there’s other people wondering but not got round to asking they will know too…

1. When are you due?    5th October, 2 weeks tomorrow.
2. Do you know if its a boy or girl?    No idea, we want a surprise on the big day.  They have a policy not to tell you in Aberdeen any more, but that suits us fine anyway.
3. What are you hoping for?    My answer to this is generally ”a human”.  As long as its a healthy wee baby we’ll be happy.  I always used to want a boy but since I got pregnant I’ve really not minded if its a boy or a girl, either would be lovely.  I will deny a little girl of pink lacy dresses when she’s too small to ask for things herself as I’m just not into that myself but do like pretty things as well as remote control cars and jeans!
4. Are you prepared?    Not sure I’ll ever be ready mentally or physically but the hospital bag is packed, the car seat is in the car and the moses basket is ready to go next to the bed as soon as its needed.
5. Have you got everything you need?   I think so!  We’ve got the nursery furniture in place, the pram and pushchair is ready and waiting, carrying sling, 2 bouncy chairs, a baby swing, a baby gym play mat, car seat, changing mats, changing bag, baby bath, lots of teddies, boxes full of clothes, baby sleeping bags, various blankets and other bedding, a couple of wee rattly toys, muslim cloths, various baby smellies, nappy rash creme, stair gate, travel cot, a nightlight turtle who projects the night sky on the ceiling, and a cot side sheep who makes soothing noises of sea and heartbeat.  What more could a baby want?!  I only have some nappies and baby wipes but it depends what size baby comes out and what make fits the wee thing best so no point in buying too many yet!
6. Are you excited?    Excited about getting to hold and meet our baby, rather petrified about the birth thing and trying to be a Mummy though.
7. Are you missing work?    I really thought I would but I’m actually not.  Caroline is kindly keeping me up to date with occasional emails but I’m so big and uncomfortable that I’m much happier on my sofa anyway, its such a relief not having to get up in the mornings.

As for the update - well mostly I have been sat on the sofa catching up with email, surveys and Twittering.  In between I have been cleaning and tidying stuff around the house.  Was quite a lot of sorting out to do to clear my stuff from what was the spare room and my office.  It is now officially the nursery though and only has baby’s stuff in it.  I don’t have much energy so can only do a little bit and then need to sit down again.

I had my Mum to Be Treat at the spa and it was absolutely heavenly!  It was also quite a coincidence as the lady massaging me was called Lindsay and getting married the next Saturday, just a week after I went to my pal Lyndsay’s wedding!  So we had an excited girlie chat about babies and weddings as she massaged me - I actually quite enjoyed being totally girlie for 75 minutes!

I also tried online grocery shopping.  Asda put a voucher through the door for £10 off when you spent £50 and free delivery so we tried that last week and got lots of the big heavy stuff like cat litter and washing powder delivered.  Can’t be running out of the essentials when I’m busy having a baby so this was nice and helpful!  Have now tried Tesco so they will deliver tomorrow, also had a voucher for £10 off £50 worth of shopping.  Might as well take advantage of all these offers whilst I have time to try these things out.  Have always been against the idea of paying for someone else to pick our groceries and deliver them but maybe its helpful and nice - especially at the moment when I’m stuck on the sofa anyway!

Various visitors have come by and helped me pass the time, many of them with ickle kiddies so the cats and I are getting a bit more used to having wee ones in the house.  Still think it will be a shock for us all when there’s one of our very own here and no one comes to take it away!  I just wish I knew when it was going to arrive, I hate not being in control of things and it could be any time in the next 4 weeks really.

On Friday I had my last ante natal class so supposedly I am now ready for baby.  It was on breastfeeding and they showed us a video that was filmed in Sweden.  I had to giggle a bit when she said that as Sweden has a reputation for producing good pornography, so I’ve heard, and there was me needing to watch a Swedish movie about boobs!  Was very educational though.

This week I have 2 major plans - tomorrow I’m meeting a couple of local Mum’s at our local cake shop for a natter - and hopefully a massive bit of cake!!  And then on Thursday I have a midwife appointment to check everything is going to plan, I get appointments every 2 weeks now that I’m due soon so they can check everything is progressing as it should.  Quite reassuring to see a professional regularly and run things past them.  So many strange things happen with a pregnant body it raises various questions - mainly “is this normal?” over and over again!

Hopefully I’ll get more bits and bobs from my To Do list sorted out as well before the baby comes, I keep getting told I won’t have any time once baby arrives.  Trying to make the most of sofa time to do some of the wee things that I’ve always meant to get onto!

If I missed any FAQs let me know and I’ll add them in!  Will keep you posted when there’s baby news obviously! Oh and this is me at 37 weeks -

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