Past Halfway Already!

We went for the 20 weeks baby scan last week. Yep, that's 20 weeks already!!
I know I speak for Jen here too when I say that the whole pregnancy thing is obviously a lot more relaxed the second time around, but I seriously can't believe how quick it's going. Obviously not a bad thing like, because it means baba will soon be here.

Scan went really well. They normally only last about 15 minutes, but because there was a trainee guy there too it went for double the length of time which was a bonus for us.
Although we've chosen Wansbeck Hospital for the actual birth, you can literally be sent to any of the surrounding hospitals now for the routine scans. A lot of pregnant women around at the minute* so they're sharing the scan appointments around. I guess there's a lot of truth about how people are staying in more during the credit crunch!!

Another member to join the Cornell household

As most people will now know, and as briefly mentioned in an earlier post, Jen is pregnant again :o)
Our latest addition, still code named Button2 at the time of writing, is due around the 4th of January 2010. I say 'around' the 4th because we've had 2 scans (1 private and 1 NHS) and the predicated dates vary between the 4th and 6th of Jan. Also when we had the private scan they had the facility to do 4D images as well as the usual 2D. They're not that clear at this stage of the pregnancy but still interesting to see and extremely clever when you take into account how small baba is at this stage.

Jen's doing really well and touch wood no morning sickness this time either so far. Obviously there are days when she's absolutely shattered from running after Abigail etc but she never complains about it. Feel really sorry for her at the minute though because she's been suffering really bad with her hayfever. Normally a tablet tends to calm it down, but she doesn't have that option with being pregnant.

Timing wise Jen should start her maternity leave when she finishes work for Christmas so that works out quite nicely. And let's just say the usual question of "What we going to do for New Year", won't be getting asked in our house this year!!

There'll be 2 and a half years between Abigail and Button2 which is about what we'd always hoped for. Certainly different to the 8 years between me and my Brother! Abigail is fascinated with "Babas" and I can't wait to see her with a new baby in the house....

4D, - The Garlic Bread of scanning

We went to BabyView in Barnsley last Friday to have a 4D scan. Yeah ok, you could argue there are other things we could have done with the money but what the hell, money came from the sale of an old TV anyway!

I wasn't too sure what to expect because there are some less than impressive examples of this technique on the internet. It also depends which way the baby is lying. i.e. if it's back is facing forward (if you see what I mean), there isn't anything to see. As is happens, Button was facing forward and awake so we got some quite impressive results. We got a DVD film of the scan and also a cd with 30 odd photos on it, - the best of which I've flickr'd. The images are all rotated through 180 degrees, i.e. baby is acually upside down - as it should be during the pregnancy. Yes it is possible to again find out 100% what the sex is during the process, but we chose not to. (The person carrying out the process had actually identified 5 cases in the last year where the sex he determined was different to that given by doctors in the earlier 2D scan!). To clarify the difference, - the pictures are classed as 3D and the DVD film is classed as 4D.

After the scan we carried on down to London for the weekend and attended the Baby Show at the ExCeL, London on the Saturday. Got there quite early before the crowds started around lunchtime. Was quite an interesting day, - obviously there were freebies galore as you'd expect at these things, but there were also some good stage talks; There was one from St John's Ambulance about Baby first aid, then another from Annabel Karmel about Baby nutrition. Flickr'd some pics of the event.

Then seeing as the Saturday was also my Birthday we did a bit of London exploring! We decided to head to Hamley's via Piccadilly Circus for some photo's on the way. Quite a busy day really and Jen did amazingly well considering the miles we put in and the how far on she is!
I was surprised at how on every Tube journey there was always someone courteuos enough to offer Jen their seat! Not what I would have expected in London.
One of the most bizarre things we came across was a London transport employee who's job seemed to be to warn people about the dangers of standing under a ledge full of pigeons on one of the platforms....which was covered in their mess!

Went out for a meal with my family on the evening before heading home on Sunday to relax!

Last of the scheduled scans

Had the 20week scan last week, which is actually the last of the scheduled scans.
The baby is of such a size at this point that it doesn't all fit on the screen in one go!
During every scan we've had, the baby has been jumping all over the place! - Legs a kicking and arms a waving. It's certainly entertaining to watch and you never fail to get a view from all angles!
No, before you ask - we didn't ask to find out the sex which is offered as part of the scan.

Button's Latest Scan

Been a very stressful couple of weeks for us with Button as most of you will know. (Won't be going into that here).

We're back on track now, and the timing couldn't have been better. The best Christmas present we could have asked for :o)

This scan was taken after 15 weeks and 5 days but we've kept it to ourselves until now.

"Button" Scan pic

Here's a pic from Jen's recent scan at 12 weeks and 4 days into the pregnancy. It's probably worth mentioning at this point that the baby has been code named 'Button' from Day 1!!