The next phase

Today marks the start of the third trimester, so six months down, three to go. The first batch of wedding photos also arrived today so herewith a few pictures of the proud parents.

Parental development:

Julie has expanded visibly since the wedding and can't believe she still has three more months growing time. She's lost the feeling that she's wearing someone else's body and instead feels as though she's wearing a small rucksack strapped to her front.

Ian has a new hobby - watching Julie's stomach as The Bean now kicks so hard he raises the surface of his mummy's tummy sometimes.

Gok Wan felt my bump!

...and very charming he was too.

The Demi Moore Thing

We've been meaning to post some bump porn for a few days, but finally got round to taking a photo after the wedding when we were knackered but very happy.

Julie has visibly expanded in the last week and the dressmakers had to include an extra fitting for the wedding dress.

The Bean had another scan a few days ago with the nice people at the Silver Star unit. Unfortunately no pretty pics this time, but the scan to examine blood flow was absolutely fine. Clever boy.

The Missing Link?

A few days ago Julie was in Turl Street, Oxford with some of her fellow authors from The Turl Street Writers:

http://www.turlstreetwriters.com/

doing a photo shoot for the cover of their next book, the follow-up volume to 'Turl Street Tales'.

Turl Street has a new cafe, The Missing Bean:

http://www.themissingbean.co.uk/

He's not missing! Look - he's in Julie's tummy!

Halloween Bean

The Bean enjoyed his first Halloween tonight. There are two pumpkins in this picture - the one Julie's holding and the one she appears to have swallowed.

Ian and Julie were visited by a procession of (not very) scary fairies, witches, cats, astronauts and superheroes so they could judge the costume competition for neighbour Kelli's annual Halloween party. But next year the Bean will be attending the party too, and Julie and Kelli have already chosen his costume.

Empirical research

The Bean made an early start on a possible research career today by accompanying his mummy to the Pregnancy Biobank research project. He didn't say a lot, but he did kick a few times which probably means, "That would be an epistemological matter." (Apologies to Father Ted for that joke.)

Julie will be giving blood and urine samples at least once a month for the rest of the pregnancy to help researchers investigate further the causes of pre-eclampsia. This is about the fifth or sixth medical research project Ian and Julie have volunteered for.

Bergfest!

Bergfest is the German for a halfway party; it's the celebration you have at the top of the mountain. Today marks the start of the 20th week, exactly halfway through the pregnancy. Hurray! Ian took Julie out for an ice-cream at G & D's to celebrate.

Earlier this week we had the 20-week anomaly scan, and everything was fine. In the top two pictures you can see The Bean's head on the right, with his face in profile looking upwards, and a hand. He had his hand balled into a little fist, but it wasn't clear enough to see if he had his thumb locked across his fingers, crane kung-fu style.

In the bottom photo he's the other way round facing away. After the sonographer had completed the long, very detailed scan a trainee doctor did the same thing all over again, so we think The Bean got fed up with posing for photos.

Parental development:

People keep asking Julie what her cravings are. Food, just food. And plenty of it, please.

Several times a day Ian tries to feel The Bean move. He waits until Julie feels a little kick, then sits her on his lap with his hand clamped to her bump. They sit there for about 20 minutes and The Bean moves not a jot. Eventually they both get bored and give up, and The Bean moves again as soon as Ian removes his hand.

It's a ...

Today marks the beginning of the fifth month.

If you don't want to know the sex of the baby, look away now! It's a boy!!!!!!! (Julie's acupuncturist was right.) So the Bean should probably now be called Mr Bean. Or Heinz.

We had our second appointment at the Silver Star unit today, and we got excellent care again. The consultant happens to be young, female and good-looking, so the Bean did not waste the opportunity to wave his private parts in her general direction. Like father, like son.

In the top photo, the Bean is partly looking away from the camera, and we think that's an arm on the right. In the bottom photo he's facing down, and he has one hand in front of his face. You can clearly see his spine and the thickness of his skull. His movements look much more definite and intentional now, rather than jerky.


Parental development:
Julie has had indigestion three days running. Hardly surprising because her first thought when she saw herself in the mirror this morning was that she had indeed eaten all the pies.

Ian: "That's my boy!"

Baby Om

Julie went to her first Pregnancy Yoga class the other night and enjoyed it. (The Bean hasn't expressed an opinion.) She was hoping it would be a bit like Kung Fu but no one hit each other unfortunately. OTOH there's an awful lot of loafing around on cushions listening to tinkly music which Kung Fu instructors would never allow.

http://www.sacredspaceyoga.co.uk/antenatal_pregnancy_yoga_11.html

Disadvantages: Julie is the oldest person in the room (but she's used to that at any ante-natal event now).
Advantages: She's not the fattest person in the room! (Yet)

More photos

Yesterday we had our first appointment with the Silver Star ante-natal unit. The Bean posed for photos and now measures 8.5cm from bonce to bum. In the top photo the baby's head is on the right, looking upwards and you can see the face in profile. There's a lot less room in there now but the Bean still threw some impressive shapes.

Julie cried again, but probably because her bladder was so full (for the scan) her eyes were leaking.

Parental development:

Julie has discovered Booja Booja Stuff in a Tub, which is non-dairy ice cream (but they're not allowed to call it ice cream because it's got no dairy in it). It's free of refined sugar but contains a lot of fructose from agave syrup. Agave is a plant so surely this counts towards your five-a-day?

Ian has been drinking the banana smoothies every day as Julie has been too busy eating Booja Booja.

Hurray!

The baby's due date is 1st March, so today is officially the start of the second trimester. Hurray! There should be a special ceremony to mark it, like the first time you cross the equator. Smear the parents-to-be with baby lotion in the middle of Mothercare, perhaps?

Parental development:
Julie's routine for the last 3 weeks - Eat. Sleep. Wee. Repeat until bedtime.
About twice a day Ian asks, "Are we really pregnant? Are you sure?"

Another milestone

Since 10th April Julie has been sniffing, swallowing or inserting fertility drugs. (When you do IVF, no orifice is spared.) Now that the placenta has formed she has come off most of them apart from a multivitamin, thyroxine and an iron tonic (delicious Floradix!). Ian feels like he has been living in a re-make of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers since Easter, when the real Julie was taken and replaced with a weepy, chocolate-munching psychopath. Now a slightly sleepier version of the original Julie seems to be back, and she doesn't seem to want to stab Ian all the time.

Baby names

Sir Bob's daughter, Peaches Geldof, was on TV the other day. Now, 20 years down the line, Peaches seems like a perfectly reasonable name. "Peaches Page"? Hmm, not so keen. What if she grows up to be an academic like Mummy and Daddy? "Professor Peaches Page"? Definitely not.

The acupuncturist reckons it's a boy anyway.

Nesting

You have a baby on the way, so you resolve to sort out the house. Where do you start - the spare/soon-to-be-baby's room? Your bedroom? Storage areas? No, if the baby's father is an engineer you start with the garage. Now everything is beautifully tidy with technically exact labels such as "sticky stuff" or "whirly things". Only an engineer (or those who love them) would understand.

The baby waved at us!

Today was our final scan with the fertility clinic. The Bean now measures just over an inch and actually looks like a baby. It kicked its little legs, and Julie cried. It waved its little arms, and Julie cried. Then it did it all over again and Julie cried again. In the top photo you can see the head on the left and the feet on the right, and the arms and hands just below the head. In the bottom photo you get a slightly better view of its feet. We also saw its spine, its fingers, some facial features and the placenta.

Parental development: Julie is eating, drinking, sleeping and has now gone off evaporated milk. During the scan Ian said: "I might have to start believing in it."

Meeting the Midwife

Yesterday we had the first appointment with the midwife. Having a baby seems more to do with bureaucracy than biology. Julie thought it very funny that the midwife made Ian fill in all the forms and blood test cards. Ian thought the 90-minute appointment could have been done in 20 with a decent computer.

Parental development: Julie is still thirsty thirsty thirsty. Ian still can't quite believe it, but he distracts himself by looking at this kind of thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4

The Bean Grows

Wednesday 22nd July - the third scan

The Baked Bean is now 9.7 mm long so has tripled in size within a week. Clearly a high-achiever. In the top photo you can still see the yolk sac, but the Bean now has a lumpy appearance. The nurse thinks these are the developing limbs. In both photos you can see a tiny white dash at the top and this might be the start of the umbilical cord.

Parental development: Julie is thirsty all the time and still wants dairy products at every meal. Still no morning sickness (touch wood). Ian still can't quite believe it, but has dreamt about babies a few times.

We're having a Baked Bean!

Tuesday 14th July - the second scan

The nurse finds a heartbeat and shows us a picture of a baked bean. We also hear the heartbeat. The Bean is 3.5 mm long at this stage and we can't tell yet which college it's going to go to (but it'll probably be St Hugh's and St Cross anyway).

When the nurse is out of the room speaking to the doctor we hold each other very tight for a very long time. This is the best birthday present ever.

In these two pictures the black blob is again the amniotic fluid, and the little white bean inside is The Baked Bean.

Parental development: Now it's all about dairy products; Julie buys things which haven't seen the inside of her fridge in years - fromage frais, creme fraiche, paneer, goat's milk, halloumi, mozzarella, as well as evaporated milk straight out of the tin and sterilised cream in tins. Banana smoothies still a daily special. Ian still can't quite believe it.

The Baked Bean has a blog!

Friday 10th July - the first scan

The nurse at the fertility clinic suspected that 6 weeks (4 weeks after the embryo transfer) might be a bit early, and she was right. In this ultrasound scan you can clearly see the amniotic fluid (black blob) and the yolk sac which feeds the baby until the placenta forms (looks like a wedding ring inside the amniotic fluid). However, the baby itself isn't visible, so another scan is booked for the following week.

Parental development: Julie is over the vinegar and sauerkraut stage and is marginally off her food. However, she is often thirsty and wants at least one banana smoothie per day. Ian still can't quite believe it.