Dear Boobs,

Dear Boobs,

I'm glad you are functioning for what you are designed to do, apart from attracting men. I know I haven't always been nice to you; you've been pierced repeatedly, squished into corsets and I am constantly threatening a reduction.

However, leaking all over me without warning? Come on, don't be petty.

Have to go and change my shirt now. Gah.

Drippy.

Leaky nipples leak. Yay?

I looked down today to find the front of my shirt saturated with colostrum. Fun times.

My baby shower is October 17th. :) More to report on that front as things take shape -- right now, the only definite is that I am having my goat cheese croquettes!!

Been A While...

Just to update, for myself really since all of the ladies who started blogs with me seem to have drifted off in the vastness of the Internet!

We are 23 weeks this Sunday. Despite months of uncertainty, the final decision was to come back to the U.S. after Mum's estate was settled so I could have the support of my family during the final half of this pregnancy. It was quite daunting to pack and move the house while pregnant but it did get done. Now we're unpacking the old place and preparing for baby's arrival, slowly.

I had my 20 week scan done at almost exactly 20 weeks, about 3 weeks ago on Monday. The baby looks fantastic and we chose not to get a gender determination -- I still want the "It's a xxxxx!" surprise in delivery. :) I will probably have another another anomaly scan done on this side of the pond at the nice place that did the NT; if not, I'll pay for a private one in a few weeks.

I haven't really had much time to sit back and enjoy being pregnant, like all of the magazine articles tell me to do. It's just been too busy. I hope that we're at the tail end of that now and that once the last boxes are cleared away, I can start relaxing. Maybe. I have yet to go back to work and that is a bit disconcerting. I'd hoped to do it Monday, but looks like that won't happen and I'll be relying on the Foxy Stoat in whole for yet another month.

Still, things are moving along well and for the kicky Stoatling in there, I am very grateful. Baby shower planning has started and that is very exciting too! :D

Goodbye, Mum.

We love you.

14 weeks

Can't get the last ultrasound out of my mind. Can't wait to meet my baby, kiss that adorable little belleh, play with those tiny feets. :)

13 weeks. Welcome to Trimester 2!

A part of me can't believe we made it here. A part of me is pretty smug. A part of me, though, is terrified something is about to happen -- always.

Lots has changed in the last three weeks since the previous update. For one, I'm in another country. This was *not* a part of the plan. I'll be giving birth here. That was *not* a part of the plan, either!

The Foxy Stoat has worked very hard to make sure I am as non-stressed as possible about the whole thing, but really, giving up the swish new birthing suite I'd booked for in the US for the hospital over here was not in the plan. Very little can change that.

However, I must say that the prenatal care has been absolutely top notch. If one was to be tallying up whether we were getting value for money out of the NHS in the last three weeks, one would be forced to admit that the NHS is absolutely spot on with prenatal care. In the last three weeks I have had two ultrasounds and been booked in for a consultant's appointment for my thyroid issues, another ultrasound, a midwife appointment (which was yesterday) and an endocrinologist's appointment. I've been put under the care of every type of doctor possible to cover every angle of the pregnancy where there might need to be any monitoring at all and it's been done with pretty much what I would be inclined to call blazing speed.

I've been to a walk-in prenatal clinic where all you have to do is walk in and you can have an ultrasound whenever you like.

I've been to the emergency room (yes, that wasn't fun) and had everyone jumping to take care of me, including a ward sister walking down and hauling a sonographer up bodily to get my scan done.

I've met with a midwife and have just about managed to come to terms with *how* to give birth in the UK, been given my choice of birthing suites (not as nice as Morristown, admittedly!) and given all sorts of options for the birth.

This doesn't count the other things I haven't even had a chance to take advantage of yet, like the tax breaks we get for my being pregnant (those come later), free prescriptions and free dental work for a year after the birth. It also doesn't count the care they're giving the very ill relative we're here to care for or the great optometrist I visited yesterday which cost all of £40 -- and that was for the contacts!

I'm feeling well cared for, which is good because it looks like we'll be here for the foreseeable future due to family obligations.

Now I just have to get past three Foxy Stoat-less weeks, packing up all of our belongings and two more flights, one of which is today. That's the hard part.

9w 4d -- life marches on

Only this time, life is punctuated by every flat surface in my house being covered by pregnancy, baby and parenting magazines, scrapbook paraphernalia that I don't know how to use, and bills.

I've been feeling very much like I'm in over my head lately, but at least I'm not alone. The Foxy Stoat has impressed me with his very realistic and pragmatic views on what life with the Baby Stoat around will be like, although this could just be that he wants to justify the purchase of a new Macbook and another bass.

It's not helped by the fact that we received some disturbing (non baby related) news yesterday which doesn't change our situation immediately but has the potential to affect things in the medium to long term, including where the baby is born. I am finding this idea more copacetic now that I'm released to a regular OB but still, I would hate to have to go through the process of birth abroad and not in my hospital of choice. I have plans, damnit!

We're going to spend the day together sorting out the massive mounds of bills, going grocery shopping, and making as many future plans as is possible given the current situation.

I'm ready to see the baby again -- I wish the doppler would work well but as of yet, the baby's too small and I'm too fat. The next scan is probably going to be the nuchal translucency, which I have to schedule soon. I've debated going to a private scan place, the kind of places that do 3d scans - some of them have regular ultrasounds, too, but they won't do a scan until the NT scanning is done and they have the doctor's consent so it looks like that will have to wait. DH looked at me like I had two heads when I suggested this!