Missing Mum *** EDITED VERSION ***

There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think about my dearest Mum but the milestones and 'major life events' have to be the hardest. GSCEs, A Levels, flunking Uni (!!), my first proper job in London, moving to Australia, getting engaged & then married have all been bittersweet without Mum being here to share in them but I have to say that my newest journey - pregnancy - is definitely proving the most challenging.

Don't get me wrong - I have limitless love, amazing support, kindness and generosity from Adam, my fabulous extended family & wonderful friends - but there are times when I would give anything for Mum to still be here so I could ask her the odd question or hear first-hand how she found pregnancy, childbirth & motherhood.

Luckily for me, Mum was a writer... just like I am now (although I must say I'm not nearly as good as she was) - and she wrote the most beautiful diary when she was pregnant with me and during my first years. My fantastic Dad very kindly dug this out for me the other day and posted it out for me to read - which I have - with great interest, a few tears and a lot of laughs. It seems silly but by just looking at Mum's beautiful hand-writing and reading the words in my head it's almost as if I can hear her voice which is a lovely, comforting feeling.

At lot of things Mum wrote about in her diary I knew already - the 'fertility dance' with the Morris Men shortly before she found out she was pregnant with me, the incident where Mark accidently tipped me out of my cot (thanks Bro!) and tumbling down the stairs during one of my inquisitive adventures - that could explain a lot - ha ha - but there were also other little bits and pieces which I didn't know and which I found absolutely fascinating. 

My previous post included a few excerpts from Mum's diary but I've realised that perhaps it wasn't the best thing to share such intimate, private thoughts & words that don't belong to me with such a wide audience so I've edited this post to remove them. I will, however, leave you with my own words above as  I really wanted to share my sentiments with you all.


I'll leave you with a photo of me & my beloved Mum - I hope she's looking down on us...

Telling work...

Once the scan was out of the way & the results were good the next thing on my agenda was to tell work...

I had already told 4 close friends at work who I knew I could trust - just in case they had to cover for me -  being late, the frequent trips to the ladies etc - but I was itching to tell my boss and get it out in the open once & for all - then I'd be able to stop trying to squeeze into my now-too-tight work trousers and having to wear layers to conceal my little bump (which I actually think is more flab than bump to be fair).

Just my luck, however, that my boss was in an all-day meeting on the Wednesday after the scan and wasn't due out til 5pm - unbelievable!

Usually this wouldn't be so much of a problem - I would just wait til the next day - but the next day I was on annual leave and then it was the 5-day Easter weekend (we get an extra day cos ANZAC Day falls on Easter Monday so we get the Tuesday too!)  - so I was really keen to tell her as I was planning to go 'official' to family/friends and the facebook community over the weekend and I didn't want her to hear 2nd hand from someone who may be 'friends' with us both on facebook...

I also wanted to tell my team before the Easter break but unfortunately at lot of them leave earlier than 5pm so in the end I had to hold a 'secret squirrel' meeting with them and swear them to keep their mouths shut. Ever the drama queen I waited til I had their attention of the team and announced quite solemnly - "I have some news... I'm leaving". You should have seen their faces:-

Don't worry - I didn't leave them in suspense for too long - I soon added "to have a baby!" which was met with a round of applause and a room of smiling faces. They were all very happy & I assured them that I was sure my boss would try and find someone as fabulous as me to cover whilst I'm on mat leave!!!

The rest of the afternoon dragged and I sent an e-mail to my boss reminding her that I had to see her before she left for the day - even if only for 2 minutes.

She eventually came out of the meeting and came over to my desk where I was talking to one of my team members about a difficult file. I said to her again that I had to see her and she was like "oh no, you're not going to resign are you?!" - too funny! I said no but that I did have some other news and could we go to a room to talk - out loud she said "are you pregnant?!" and my instant blush gave the game away immediately! Eventually we walked into the printer room and I confirmed her suspicion - she was really excited and kissed me and hugged me and asked how I had been feeling. I said I was a bit nervous about telling her as she's only just recently had to replace another Team Manager - but she said not to worry and that she was really pleased for us!

She then proceeded to tell anyone & everyone still left in the office - I think she was more excited than me!!

It was such a relief to get it out in the open - I also sent an e-mail to the rest of the management team I work with - most of them are early starters - and when I go back next Wednesday I will be wearing my preggy trousers with the comfy elastic waistbands & loose-fitting dresses with pride!!!

Image courtesy of pamsclipart.com

The 12-week scan - Nuchal Translucency

As many of you know, I am a bit of an anxious creature (to say the least) so this milestone within my pregnancy came with its own highs and lows...

The 12-week scan is where they assess the baby's risk of having Down's Syndrome when born and this is measured using 2 steps - blood tests (which I had on Weds 13th) and an ultrasound scan (which I had on Weds 20th).

Thankfully the blood test was only 1 vial this time although I did get lost on my way there from work!!

The next thing to happen was on the Monday before the scan - I received a call from the ultrasound office to say that unfortunately their Dr had gone away for a few weeks unexpectedly! I couldn't believe it - I had looked forward to this moment for so long and now it was going to be delayed. But no - I could still go - the sonographer would be there - I'd just have to receive the results by telephone later in the afternoon - phew - this was fine!

Tuesday came and with it my anxiety began to increase... by the time I got to bed my head was racing with all kinds of thoughts - what if something was wrong, what would we do etc - and I ended up having a terrible night's sleep and a horrific nightmare which eventually led to me waking up in a cold sweat with an upset stomach to boot - oh great.

To make matters worse I had to do the whole 'full bladder' thing again. Luckily I'm not feeling as sick now so the water stayed down but then I ended up over-compensating after my last experience where my bladder was empty and ended up drinking about 2 litres of water in about 45 mins... oops! Needless to say by the time we got to the hospital - early - I was pretty close to having an accident and sat with my legs crossed tightly whilst Adam had a coffee to bide time. He took pity on me in the end and we headed up to the ultrasound rooms early - luckily our sonographer arrived just after we did and took us straight in - what a relief!

As soon as she had put the cold gel on my tummy and started pressing down she laughed at the image that came up on her screen and the TV in front of us - my bladder was full to bursting! She had a quick look at bub - who seemed very still & quiet much to my distress (although there was very clearly a little heart beating away) - and then sent me to the toilet (the FIRST trip of the day).

I came back and the whole process started again. But my bladder was still too full. Oops - she had said to empty it a bit but leave a bit in there - this is a very hard thing to do when you are nervous and have an upset stomach let me tell you. So off I went again (the SECOND trip of the day). This time I was pretty sure it was empty empty!

3rd time lucky? This time my bladder was much less full but still not empty - to my complete surprise - but she was able to go ahead and start taking the measurements she required!

Baby Read remained quite calm and still whilst she looked at the uterus, placenta, cord insert and crown to rump length (which was 5.4cm in case you're wondering - about the size of a prawn!)

In this pic the white arrows towards the middle of the screen point to where the cord runs from the placenta to the bub:-

She also measured the heart beat - and we heard it for ourselves - and it was beating a very healthy 157 beats per minute. The old wive's tale says that the faster the heart beat the more likely it is a girl!!!

  

Next up the sonographer needed to measure the nuchal translucency - which is the amount of fluid in the 'nuchal fold' behind the baby's neck - this measurement is used to assess the risk of Down's syndrome. At this point Baby Read decided to perk up and gave us a little salute or wave with his/her left hand - or 'claw' as Adam said... the pics aren't very clear but I think you can see the little hook of a hand (let's hope it comes out a bit more human) in the following pic. This pic also shows the NT measurement (1.46mm) at the bottom with 2 yellow stars joined by a dotted line:-

The sonographer has to do 3 NT measurements to obtain an 'average' range to be used and she was also qualified to look at the nasal bone. Not all sonographers can do this but we were lucky. If the bub has a clear nasal bone the chances of Down's decrease even further as most children with Down's syndrome don't have a nasal bone at all. In the following pic the white arrow points at the nasal bone. I am hoping Baby Read gets Adam's nose not mine - his is much cuter!

Once the NT measurements were done the sonographer decided to have a bit of a 'play around' with Baby Read -this was my favourite part of the scan although the method of making Baby Read move was quite disconcerting - by wiggling my flabby tummy quite vigorously with the ultrasound machine handset. Baby Read was most obliging and promptly decided to do a head stand with his/her back towards my back which resulted us being able to see the head & brain in much more detail - in particular the choroids which are the bits which are right behind the eyes - the stomach (which looked much like Daddy's beer belly) and - my favourite bit of all - a beautiful pair of little legs, crossed neatly at the ankle - I think I fell in love at this point!

Here is my fave pic from the scan - Baby Read looking like a frog with his/her legs crossed - I have been squinting at the space in-between the legs (!!!) to see if there is any hint of gender but I think it's too early to tell yet. Roll on the 19-week scan - I CAN'T WAIT!!!

 Isn't this pic the cutest?!

A few more bits & bobs were looked at but I won't bore you with any more pics. If you want to see the whole set - I think there are about 20 in total - please take a look at this slideshow:-

 12-week slideshow

The scan came to an end and the lovely sonographer encouraged me to visit the WC once again so I wasn't in any discomfort (THIRD trip of the day) and then we went out to the waiting room whilst she burned the images to a CD for us. Adam had to leave at this point as he had to get to work but I was so happy to have had him there to support me and he had a great view this time with the big TV up on the wall! The receptionists joked that he was doing a runner before he had to pay!!

As I waited, an older gentleman walked in and it turned out to be Professor Morris - a Dr who was filling in for the absentee - and he would be able to see me after all - I was thrilled to bits!

He called me in after a few minutes and provided me with the results which were FANTASTIC!

Based on my blood tests and the measurements taken by the sonographer earlier that morning, it was assessed that the risk of Baby Read having Down's Syndrome is 1 in 12,485! I nearly fell off my chair. The usual 'range' for someone of my age is 1 in 600 - what a relief. And only if your odds are 1 in 300 or higher then you would be referred for further investigation.

Here is the pic lovely Professor Morris drew for me & gave me to keep - I could have kissed him:-

The weird blob in the middle next to the words 'Blood tests' is his interpretation of what a baby looks like in utero - not bad!

I left the scan feeling as though I was floating on cloud nine and couldn't stop smiling - after all my worries, the nightmare, the bad stomach & bladder issues, Baby Read was healthy and gorgeous. Let's just hope it stays that way for the rest of this pregnancy!

Time for class!

I noticed on the NSP website that they have an in-house Childbirth & Parenting Education Program and I was very keen to take up some of the classes on offer given that we're first-timers! I checked out the timetable and was immediately drawn to the 'Early Pregnancy Class' for those between 6-14 weeks and was also impressed that this class is complimentary. I booked us in for a Saturday morning - 16th April 2011 - and looked forward to widening my knowledge past the books & websites/forums I have relied on thus far.

Saturday morning proved to be grey & rainy so the perfect time to attend a class although we ended up being a little late due to bad traffic on the motorway. I had to chuckle when we arrived though - we were the last but one couple and there were 4 name tags left - the midwife running the course looked us up & down & said "so you must be Kelly & Lee" - what a coincidence! We put her right with a smile on our faces and took our seats at the front of the class - that's the price you have to pay for being late!!

The class was 2-hours long with a brief tea-break at 11:00am. We learnt about symptoms, nutrition, hazards, travel, exercise and many other interesting topics. We also watched a fascinating video which showed how a baby grows during the 40-wk gestation period.

One thing I learnt and that I was absolutely fascinated (& also a bit grossed out) by was that in about the 2nd trimester - around 5 months - the fetus grows a fine, downy hair or fur called lanugo - it literally makes the fetus look like an old man (or a monkey as Adam said). Hope this pic doesn't gross you out too much but I had to show you what I mean:-

The even grosser part is that in the 3rd trimester the lanugo is shed from the skin and floats around in the amniotic fluid which is then swallowed by the fetus and urinated back out into its environment - lovely!!!

Anyway, enough of my scientific facts... the class was brill & we both learnt a lot - did you know you're not supposed to eat pineapple in pregnancy - can bring on early labour - or so the Pacific Islanders believe!

We were also lucky enough to meet another Pommie couple who are due the day after us and are also delivering at NSP - we had a good chat during the tea break and at the end they gave me their mobile number so we can try & co-ordinate when we go to our next class -  the Childbirth & Parenting Class - which we will attend over a course of 2 Saturdays at about the 32-week stage. It will be nice to know someone who is new to having babies in Australia & I am definitely going to text them. Maybe we'll end up being hospital buddies too!

I have to say I am really enjoying pregnancy so far & I'm keen to soak up all the knowledge & experience I can throughout the process.

'Baby Brain' and our 2nd appointment with Dr Boyce

We had scheduled our 2nd appointment with Dr Boyce for Friday 8th April 2011 at 11:50am but somewhere between the clocks changing & being overtired = baby brain, I managed to get a bit confused and didn't actually end up leaving home to drive to NSP until 11:45pm - oops! There was no way I was going to make it in time.

A couple of embarrassed calls later - to Adam & Dr B's secretary - I got on the road - and only ended up being about 20 mins or so late.

Our 2nd appt was way more relaxed than the the first and much quicker and - MUCH TO MY DELIGHT - Dr B has his own ultrasound machine in his rooms so I got to hop up on the bed and take a quick peek at Baby Read who was bouncing around & high-kicking like a dancer/footballer! It was so nice to see him/her again and know that he/she is still healthy & doing well in there - I felt a bit tearful...

Dr B is such a gentleman too - after my scan he put his arm straight out in front of me, told me to grab on with both hands and then he lifted me to a sitting position - I was a bit confused at first but it was so nice!

As for next steps... more blood tests and another scan to be peformed at 12 weeks - the Nuchal Translucency scan - this is a screening test for assessing the risk of Baby Read having Down's Syndrome. What they do is test the amount of fluid behind the neck of the fetus - also known as the 'Nuchal Fold' - fetuses at higher risk of Down's tend to have a higher amount of fluid around the neck.

Dr B has already reassured me that someone of my age and height/weight and health should be at low risk but I guess we'll have to wait to see on Wednesday.

Hopefully I'll get a picture too which I'll be sure to post on here if so!

I can't wait for the magical 12-week milestone - I can finally tell everyone and publish this blog - as I type this there's only a few days to go...

North Shore Private - Maternity Unit Open Day

On Sunday 3rd April 2011 I dragged Adam along to the open day at the hospital - here is a link to the flyer in case any of you are interested:

Maternity Open Day Flyer

Upon arrival we completed a questionnaire & were given a goodie bag packed with promotional items such as an NSP water bottle, lip balm, moisturiser, post-it notes, pen and other branded goodies not to mention a few leaflets! We had a wander around the various displays then listened to a lecture on epidurals by one of the hospital's anaesthetists which was a bit grim... I think I'll be trying to push Baby Read out as naturally as possible... (well, I say that now but who knows what will happen when the time comes!!!)

After the lecture we went on a wonderful tour with one of the midwives - this was my favourite part of the day - we got to see the delivery suites or birthing rooms which are where you actually give birth - they're bright, spacious and full of mod-cons and then the rooms you stay in afterwards which are seriously more like a hotel than a hospital.


Click the link below for a virtual tour of the 'parenting suite':-

Virtual Tour

I think I'll be very comfortable and happy at NSP - I'm not the biggest fan of hospitals after spending a fair amount of time in my early teens visiting my dear Mum which are some pretty sad memories - but the maternity unit seemed clean, bright, well-equipped & the staff friendly.

Also, you get to stay for 4 days and have loads of help from the midwives, you can attend classes, have one-on-one sessions with the lactation consultant and even the menu looks pretty good too with a fair amount of choice.

It was at this point I started to get really excited...!!!

Meeting Dr Boyce

We booked our first appointment with Dr Boyce for Friday 25th March 2011 at 12:30pm. I actually decided to take the day off - they owed me a 'day in lieu' for some overtime I did - so it worked out quite well.

Dr Boyce is based at North Shore Private in St Leonard's which is where Baby Read will be delivered in November.

Adam got a taxi from work to be at the appointment with me - a short hop from his North Sydney office - which was I was grateful for as I was a bit nervous!!

We got there just on time and had to fill out the obligatory first-timers questionnaire - I remember scratching my head in response to the last question which asked which symptoms or issues of pregnancy were troubling me most & how would I like them to be resolved. As I mentioned in the 'Early Pregnancy Symptoms' post, I've been pretty lucky, so this was one box on the questionnaire I was able to leave blank!

Dr Boyce eventually emerged from his rooms and greeted us both warmly. The first thing I noticed was that he was wearing a bow-tie - I liked him already!

I won't bore you too much with the detail of the appointment except to say he gave us what seemed like a million handouts - some light reading for the weekend - and had a look over my scan & the blood tests ordered by Dr Tran. He also referred me for another set of blood tests which he would review when he saw us again in a fortnight's time.

At the end of the appointment he asked how I had found him and I told him about my search of his credentials on MDA and that I picked him because of his past work experience at the John Radcliffe Hospital. He was absolutely tickled pink and had fond memories of his time there!

We left the appointment, paid our first instalment of his management fee (OUCH - $$$), booked our next appointment and then I stopped for a quick 'comfort break' before Adam left me to go back to work and I proceeded downstairs to the pathology collection clinic.

Now, I don't mind having blood taken - as long as I don't have to look - but 10 vials later - yes 10 - and having to check every vial for the correct name and date of birth left me feeling a bit pale!! A trip to the servo for some Lucozade & a Boost bar on the way home fixed me up in no time at all though!!!

Getting a referral...

My usual GP was on leave for a few weeks shortly after my BFP (Big Fat Positive) but I needed to go back for someone to have a look at my dating scan, check my blood results and write me a referral to the OB.

I booked in with Dr Sarah Barrand who turned out to be almost as lovely as Dr Tran and she did all of the above quickly & efficiently.

Bloods were looking fine - nothing of concern - although I did learn something new - my blood type! And apparently I have a rare blood type - AB Positive - this is the blood that absolutely ANYONE can accept as a transfusion... shame I can't give blood out here given my possible exposure to Mad Cow Disease in the UK between 1981 and 1996!!

This revelation did, however, throw Dr Barrand into a bit of a spin because she thought if I was an AB positive and Adam was a negative of any type that we may encounter problems if Baby Read was also a negative... cue me making frantic phone calls to Adam & e-mails to Glynis trying to find out what blood type he is - more on this in a later post.

Dr Barrand kindly wrote my referral to Dr Boyce and then I was off on my way to work - the last working day of the week for me as I had decided to take the following day off for my 1st OB appt - exciting!

p.s. I think I should get one of these hats!

The joys of early pregnancy symptoms

I'm about 10.5 weeks pregnant now and apparently I should be moving into the 'glowing' stage of pregnancy soon - the all-hallowed 2nd trimester. I thought it might be a good opportunity to reflect on some of my early pregnancy signs & symptoms now whilst I remember them!

I have to say, I think I've been pretty lucky all in all - yes there's been times when I've felt seedy & tired & emotional - but it's just a good reminder that there's a little being in there, fully dependent on me and growing away faster than you can imagine.

My top 3 symptoms have been as follows, for those who don't mind a little too much info!

1. Frequent urination

I think my trips to the WC must have increased about ten-fold since conceiving Baby Read - it's crazy - and when you need to go you need to go - there's no hanging around - long gone are the days where my trusty bladder could 'hang on' until a convenient time to pee - now it's make time to go or have an accident!
The 'medical' reason for this is as follows:-

 "It's mostly because the amount of blood in your body increases dramatically when you get pregnant, which leads to a lot of extra fluid getting processed through your kidneys and ending up in your bladder. Eventually, you may also feel pressure on your bladder from your growing uterus.

You may notice that you need to get up to pee more often during the night in particular. That's because when you lie down, some of the fluid that you retained in your legs and feet during the day makes its way back into your bloodstream and eventually into your bladder"

Ahhhhh... so that explains my blurry-eyed dashes to the toilet in the early hours of the morning!!!

2. 24/7 nausea

According to online stats, approximately 75% of women get morning sickness in the early stages of pregnancy. Also, I think morning sickness should be renamed because believe me - it's not just during the morning that you feel sick!

I'm extremely lucky in that I've only physically been sick twice - on the morning of the dating scan when I had to drink all of that water - and one near miss when I was brushing my teeth but the constant nausea isn't much fun.

I find that I get most nauseous if I don't eat frequently so I have taken to always having a little snack available - a  muesli bar, some ginger biscuits, fruit & nut mix, even the occasional Boost bar - who am I kidding - the chocolate is great!!! Once I have eaten I seem to feel better for a while - until I get hungry again - it's a vicious cycle!

I must say I'm feeling much better now - at week 10 - than I was a couple of weeks ago - and this sickness/nausea is supposed to abate at around the 12-week stage... fingers crossed huh?!

I found this little cartoon online & loved it - especially given my prior penchant for a tipple or two!!

3. Tiredness

And last but not least the tiredness - it's hard work growing a human being don't you know?!

I have found since becoming pregnant that it is extremely challenging to stay awake past 9pm and there have been many a night when I've fallen asleep on the sofa downstairs & missed the end of yet another 'Boardwalk Empire' - poor Adam must get incredibly bored with my sleepiness but there's nothing I can do - I promise - apart from perhaps drink some strong coffee - which is a no no!!!

I also quite often fancy a nap in the middle of the afternoon - this is obviously challenging whilst at work - I find that a breath of fresh air & a snack seem to perk me up a bit though!

Luckily my mate Rocky shares my love of a nap too... here he is tucked up in bed...

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my symptoms - they're really not that bad are they?!

The Dating Scan - Friday 18th March 2011

Probably one of the most exciting medical appointments of this pregnancy so far was my dating scan which was at 8:30am on Friday 18th March 2011 at Norwest Medical Imaging. Whilst exciting, this scan didn't go without a little bit of drama - mainly due to the 'preparation' required.

To ensure clear images can be obtained by the sonographer, you have to attend with a full bladder... the instructions are as follows:-

"This is achieved by emptying your bladder 2 hours before your appointment and then immediately drinking 600ml of water. Do not empty your bladder again before the procedure."

Now this is all very well and good but try throwing a little morning sickness into the mix and this 'preparation' can be challenging to say the least! No sooner had I started to drink my 600ml of water then it came straight back out again - unbelievable!

We got to the appointment on time - Adam came with me for moral support - and were soon called into the room with the sonographer - I explained that I had had a challenging morning with regards to keeping the required water down & my bladder full - and she said we'd have to see how we went but that I may be sent back out to the waiting room to drink more - oh no - as if I wasn't feeling sick enough already!!

Luckily for me she gave it a shot and was able to find our little peanut - that's literally how big Baby Read was at this stage - straight away - it was such an amazing moment! I got quite teary!!

Then she started doing all the required measurements - crown to rump (as the baby tends to be a bit curled up until it grows more) - and she ended up placing us a day further ahead than we thought - moving the due date from 03/11/2011 to 02/11/2011.

Here is a pic of our blob - the crosses are where they take the CRL measurements from:-

Next up she measured the heart beat which was also pretty amazing - I had to lie as still as I possibly could so she could get a clear recording. Baby Read's heart was beating at 133 beats per minute which is an excellent rate for a 7 week old bub I am assured. Babies hearts beat much faster than adults as they are still developing and are not as fully advanced and connected to all the other things that effect the heart rate at that stage.

It was an amazing appointment for me - poor Adam couldn't see much because the sonographer was in the way - and I was able to pic up all the films later that day which I am sure I will bore you with at some point... I wonder if I can bring them home in my suitcase in July?!

My overall feeling in relation to the scan was, however, that it was so great to actually see that there was really something 'living' in me - sometimes you forget because you feel so normal - and to actually see it with your own eyes and the little flicker of the heartbeat - like an aeroplane's lights going across a night sky - was such an experience - I'll never forget it!

Choosing an Obstetrician...

It's pretty hard choosing an OB (Obstetrician) when your local GP doesn't know anyone who works from the hospital you have selected & you don't have anyone with past experience who you can ask, let me tell you!

The OB is going to be with you the whole way through your pregnancy, during labour and for a fair amount of time thereafter and you may even choose to go with them again for any future pregnancies so it is really important to find someone you connect with - someone experienced, someone you feel comfortable with, someone with a good reputation etc.

I therefore did my research by doing the following:

1. Went on to my private health insurance provider's website and ran a search of all OBs that are registered with them, who practice with our hospital of choice (North Shore Private - NSP) and participate in their 'Access Gap' scheme (this is a facility where the OB sends their bill directly to the insurance provider rather than you having to pay the bill upfront, sort out the Medicare part and then send the rest on) - I think this narrowed it down to about 3 or 4

2. I then went on to NSP's website to check these Drs still worked there and to read their online profiles and have a nose at their pictures - if they had one! For those of you who are interested to learn a little more about the hospital please feel free to take a look at their website - it's great!

http://www.northshoreprivate.com.au/Maternity/default.aspx

3. I then continued my research by searching each OB's name on various pregnancy/childbirth/parenting forums that are floating around on the web here in Australia to see if anyone had commented - positive or negative - on their services.

 The websites I used were as follows:-

• Bub Hub: http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/
• Essential Baby: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/

4. Finally, I used one of my resources at work - a database of Drs called 'MDA' - to look up each of the Drs and find out when they graduated, their work experience and specialities etc - this tool was recommended to me by a good friend at work and I will be forever in her debt because it was actually this search that found me 'the one'!

I'll skip forward a bit here to say that I ended up choosing Dr Stewart Boyce and the reason I chose him (which may seem a bit silly to those of you who are not as big a believer in fate as I am) was because when I searched him on MDA it turned out that he had previously worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford - which is where I was born!!! I knew then & there he had to be 'the one' and I'm pleased to say - looking back - that I'm glad I took this huge leap of faith & chose him because he's brill!

Click here to see his profile on the NSP website:-

http://www.northshoreprivate.com.au/maternity/obstetricians-details.aspx?ID=410

Next stop was to call & hope & pray he was available on my EDD - he was! And his lovely secretary arranged to send out a schedule of costs so we could have a look at it and call back to make an initial consultation if we were happy. These OBs tend to book up really quickly and I had already read on various forums that sometime you can be lucky to book an appointment if you don't book before you are 7 weeks pregnant...!

The schedule arrived and wow - this pregnancy malarkey is expensive - but the costs seemed reasonable compared to others we had seen and you are able to space the paymnent out in a number of instalments so I promptly called back & arranged our first appointment for the following week.

Things started to seem very 'real' at this point - just needed to get a referral letter from a GP first (& Dr Tran was on holiday) - so that was next on my list of things to do!

It was around this point I decided I needed to buy a small diary for my handbag - all these appointments were getting a bit out of control!!!

The first of many medical appointments...

It took me a while to get myself to the Dr's... it just wouldn't sink in... so my first appointment ended up being on Thursday 10th March 2011 at 8:30am at the Crestwood Family Practice in Bella Vista... a 5 min drive from our house.

Now then, here's for my first 'name & praise' on this blog - my wonderful, wonderful GP, Dr Anne Tran, without whom Little R may never have been conceived (long story - and probably too much information for my readers!!)

Dr Tran was delighted with my news and promptly filled out a pathology request for my urine & bloods to be tested. She also - much to my delight - referred me for a dating scan to be performed the following week... we'd get to see Little R for ourselves! How exciting!! She thought it was a good idea to do this as my cycles had been a bit irregular since coming off birth control and so there was no real way of telling when Little R might be due.

We then discussed what I was going to do with regards to the pregnancy & birth - public vs private, local vs not so local - and I explained to her that it was highly likely we'd be moving away from the Hills district before the EDD (estimated due date) therefore I thought it might be a good idea to choose a hospital and thus obstetrician somewhere halfway between the two.

The only difficulty with this was that Dr Tran didn't really know any Obstetricians apart from those practising locally therefore it would down to me to research and find some I felt happy with and then she would write me the necessary referral letter - no problem - mission accepted!

I finished up with Dr Tran and then went off to give my 'sample' - for those of you ladies who have been pregnant before you'll understand what I mean when I say this was no problem at all - frequent weeing is a peril of early pregnancy!!

I then had to sit in the waiting room - with my sample on my lap (gross) - whilst I waited for the nurse to finish up. Next it was the blood tests - check blood type, level of HCG (I think this is hormone that increases when you're pregnant) and although the other nasties such as HIV, Hep A, B, Syphilis and Rubella/Chicken pox immunity.

I already knew that I'd be in for quite a few blood tests throughout pregnancy so I was fine - just looked away and thought of sugar & spice & all things nice... then treated myself to a Decaf Skim Latte in Gloria Jean's on the way back to the car - a successful appointment indeed!