Itty's Trip to Melbourne

Itty, Paul and I just returned from a fabulous week in Melbourne where we visited the famous and gorgeous Great Ocean Road (and saw echidnas, koalas, and carnivorous snails), oohed and aahed at the stunning beaches and coastline of Victoria, bicycled around the peaceful parks and botanic gardens of Melbourne, and window shopped and nibbled our way through the laneways and alleyways that Melbourne is famous for (while admiring all the cool grafitti and architecture that Melbourne is also famous for along the way). We also ate a lot of ice creams. Itty is really liking ice cream at the moment.

My mom has been urging us to post some more belly shots. Hopefully Itty's photos around the sites of Melbourne will make her happy!

Healthy Baby

After a bit of a stressful day waiting for our 3 o'clock appointment, I can happily report that the doc saw no reason for concern for either the placenta thingie or the 97th percentile whopper growing inside me.

But the doc, didn't start out our visit with such a comforting approach. When I mentioned that I was a bit concerned/alarmed/really freaked out about the size of bub, he had a little guffaw/giggle/snort and exclaimed "Oh, is that you? I was reading that report this morning . . . (opening up the envelope from the radiologist and skimming my report) . . . "Yep, that was you. What a whopper!" Okay I don't think he really said the bit about the whopper, but it was definitely implied.

Happily, he readjusted his approach and assured me that a big baby was a healthy baby and that I had no need to fear that something was wrong. He said the only possibility of any concern is if I'm developing a bit of gestational diabetes which we'll test for next visit and at worst means I'll have a big baby that might be a bit more jaundiced than a "normal" baby for a few days.

Phew . . . but what about the delivery? After persuading me in earnest that the size of the baby has very little to do with increased pain or difficulty in birth nor increased likelihood of the need for a caesarian, Doc casually shifted the conversation to my allergies to the local anesthetics used in epidurals and caesarians and suggested the need for me to get tested to see what could be used. Hmm . . . maybe not so convincing after all, but at least Itty Bitty is healthy!

Next up, Doc took a look at my placenta in the films and then had another sneakie peak with his office ultrasound (I'm beginning to feel like Katie Holmes with all of these ultrasounds) and was quite confident that there shouldn't be a problem. We'll have another looksie in about eight weeks, but for now it's nice not to worry about it.

So there you go . . . all that worrying all week and everything is fine. I really need to try to chill out about all this. I'm sure the stress isn't the best thing for Itty Bitty. Now . . . if only the laundry and bathroom renos get finished in time . . .

. . . but finally came out of his/her shell

Itty wasn't so sure about this photo business . . .

Not so little . . .

So we got the radiologist's report and happily everything is normal except the placenta thingie which we already knew about. But there was one little surprise. We were looking over the measurements and thought they seemed a bit big for how far along we are and then we got to the end of the report and were downright gobsmacked to read that Itty's size (while healthily in proportion) is at the 97th percentile for his dates. Gulp. 97th percentile is a great thing to see when it comes to SAT test results and stuff but maybe not in reference to the size of a still growing being that has to make its way out of a rather petite doorway some day. Maybe a caesarian doesn't sound so bad afterall.

We go see the doc on Monday so perhaps he'll help put me at ease a bit. Hey, maybe my dates are wrong (although I am pretty certain . . .). We'll let you know how it goes.

If nothing else, knowing that Itty is a bit of an Amazonian makes me feel a tad better. This lady at work was giving me a bit of a complex about the size of my stomach staring at it at shrugging and making comments like "Y'know it's quite healthy to continue exercising while pregnant." Big dummy, I am exercising. It's just that I'm giving birth to a sumo wrestler!