The 20 Week Scan

Here's our little baby at 20 weeks and 1 day old - the pic is a pic of a pic so it's not so clear. It was a thorough appointment today at the hospital, measuring different bits and bobs of baby's brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and bladder, checking for cleft lip etc. All was given the OK and no problems with anything, which was a relief.

We had Louise's mam there with us too, as Colin and Pam came down from Scotland for a few days over her birthday, and they kindly bought the nursery furniture which is coming on the 7th January, so DIY Dan has to be on form to get the painting done in there and make it look nice before the new furniture arrives.

It was really exciting seeing the baby again. We saw the baby putting his/her hand in his/her mouth and kicking legs, and its little button nose :)

10 Days and a Kick!

Although there's Chrimbo in the way, Jonny (uncle Jonny) is coming to see us on Boxing Day, there's something extra we're excited about as the year ends. We get our 20 week scan on the 30th December, at 2:30pm, so we get to see the baby's face again :)

We can't wait. It feels like ages ago that we had a scan.

The baby has been moving about a lot but I haven't been able to feel it from the outside. Louise can feel it, obviously, but as the baby is getting bigger and bigger, the kicks are getting stronger, and this morning I felt a kick!!! It was amazing!

Quite light like a flick or a prod with a finger, but I'm sure there will be some bigger ninja kicks soon. We are both so impatient and just want to see our baby NOW :)

Bed Time :)

It's starting to get REALLY real now. Very exciting times. Louise is getting bigger and bigger, which is hilarious, and I'm getting so impatient, just want to see baby's little face now. We're 17 weeks today. Sunday is when we click over to a new week, and the weeks are starting to go really fast.

We bought a Moses basket the other day, then yesterday we got the stand. Before that, we had the Moses basket in the living room and as our backs were turned for 2 minutes, Daisy Moo decided it looked a comfy place to go to sleep.....Hence why the stand is a good idea. Wish I'd taken a photo...

Last night I put the Moses basket stand together, so we have somewhere for the little one to sleep. Here's me organising the parts (excuse the beard and hair, it's been a long few weeks and am getting it cut on Tuesday):

Here's me getting annoyed that the pilot (pirate, arrhgh) holes were drilled too large so the screws wouldn't fit in, thankfully the "Garage from the 50s" has a myriad (ooh, fancy word) of things in there and some larger ones found.

Ta-dah! All done. Check out the wonky, bushy Christmas tree.

We feel quite prepared, we even practiced swaddling a teddy the other day, which was surprisingly easier than we thought.

Three more weeks until we see the little one's face again!! Can't wait!

Baby's Room

Not much going on at the moment as we are still unpacking etc, but though we would share a quick video of what will be the nursery. We chose this room for the little one as it's at the back of the house, so very quiet, as is the front but this just felt best for them. Also there is plenty of storage as the wardrobes are built in so we will just be adding a cot bed, set of drawers and maybe get Dan to show his diy skills??? and fit some shelves lol.  We will hopefully be decorating it in February once we have decided on colours/ theme etc :)

We have also started getting a few little things for baby, as has Gran :) so it's starting to pile up nicely, looking forward to the January sales, as we will hopefully be able to make use of any special offers, as well as start to work our way through the baby list x

Moving House and Growing Tums!

The past week we have been moving everything out of our little flat and into our new house right next to the sea, which will be great for baby, and great for Daddy as the pub is right opposite ;)

Our new home is lovely, and is perfect for our little family and I'm sure we will have plenty of happy times to look forward to here as we have both really settled into the area so it feels like home.

The past week saw my morning sickness fade a little, and my energy levels go up...woohoo 2nd trimester...or so I thought.... until yesterday when our tiny baby, who is around 10cm from head to bum thought he or she would make their presence well and truly known again, so much so Mummy-to-be spent some valuable time getting acquainted with our new bathroom thanks to the return of my good old morning sickness, whilst Daddy-to-be kindly awaited with a glass of water.

What was also interesting this week is I suddenly have a little bump! its not huge, and some may not notice it yet, but we can definitely see a difference, and it feels solid especially on the left. The other day, I was using my laptop and looked down and saw this....

Admittedly the angle that it was taken does make it look much bigger, but even still we found it funny as something really has popped out this week, which is very exciting. Baby weight gain has been minimal too so far at only two pounds since pre-pregnancy weight, but no doubt that will soon go up, which is fine as long a baby is happy and healthy.

No kicks yet but every now and then I have felt little bubble like feelings but not sure if that is baby or just my tummy, so maybe in the next few weeks I may feel something x

4th November: Dating Scan...and breathe :)

Today we are 12 weeks + 1 day and finally we feel like we can breathe and relax a little as things have progressed the way the should.

Our scan wasn't until 12:40pm so it was an anxious morning just hoping everything would be ok. Luckily though the sonographer quickly revealed a healthy happy baby! She counted 2 arms, 2 legs and everything seemed to be in the right place, we were both just so relieved, and had the biggest cheesy grins on our faces. It is just so amazing that we have created a little person, and that finally it is our turn to be a mum and dad!
Again we got to see their arms and legs kicking around, but this time we wernt allowed to hear the heartbeat, as the NHS machines at 12 weeks couldn't. We did however get a nice little wave!

We also had bloods taken and a scan to check for downs syndrome, which we now know is low risk. So all is well...apart from morning sickness lol in the Martin household x

17th October: An impatiant Dad-to-be and the private scan

Those of you who know us well, will know that usually it is me who is the impatiant one! Christmas presents, surprises I don't usually do well with as the anticipation simply gets too much, so it was a surprise when Dad to Be - Dan wanted to get us a private scan, as he couldn't wait either till our official 12 week scan lol.

I am very very glad he did, as he was as we got to see our baby again, bit this time looking alot more like a baby, with little arm and leg buds waving around and now measuring a healthy 3cm compared to the teeny 3mm it was a few weeks back!

To the left we could see baby's head and to the right it's little feet kicking. As they kept nodding off to sleep the scanner told me to cough and baby woke up for a little move around. Also we got to listen to their heartbeat! which was the best sound of our lives, and the lady said she thought it sounded like galloping horses, which means a girl! However we both think we are having a boy...only time will tell on that one though! Unless the the impatient (but excited) Dad to be gets his way and finds out early! xxx

Friday 11th October: Booking In Appointment

Today we are 8 weeks + 5 days pregnant, and as well as being over the moon we have got this far, today is also quite exciting for us as it's the day we meet our midwife for our official booking in appointment.

We filled in lots of forms, answered loads of questions and made it official that we are having baby martin at South Tyneside Hospital, the same place baby's Daddy was born.

Morning sickness has kicked in over the past week too, so another sign everything is going just the way it should, and both of us are now starting to get excited x

25 September - Early Scan

Today we were booked in for an early pregnancy scan, just to make sure everything was ok with baby. We knew from the previous days' blood results that my hcg levels were over 20,000 miu so all was rising and progressing as it should be. It was an anxious wait at the antenatal unit, not knowing what, if anything we would see. However the nurses were lovely, and made me feel at ease especially when they revealed this ....

Not that it looks very much like a baby here, but we knew that for 5-6 weeks this was perfect as the sonographer pointed out the yolk sack, fetal pole (which is essentially the baby!) and best of all we could see a tiny little flicker on the screen which we were told was our little ones heartbeat :)

September 5th...We're Pregnant

After the best weekend of our lives getting married just a few weeks earlier, today I found out we're pregnant!


As having a baby is something we both wanted for so long it was a little hard to believe, and we were admittedly both a little scared to get too excited, however after, what became a quick obsession of testing every day for a few weeks, it all started to feel real and seemed that this time our little one was sticking around :)

Only 8 months to go xx