Tis the season........

5+ months preggo in the festive season

It's mid December and the Christmas festivities are in full swing. My desk at work is decked out in tinsel and the Christmas tunes have been on the lab radio for a good couple of weeks. This time of year is always particularly manic, and 2011 is no different for me, with 6 Xmas meals and a wedding lined up over the space of 14 days! Unusually for me though, this year I will be completely sober for the entire party season. With the two biggest work parties coming up this week, I've become a bit despondent at the thought of another evening as the sober one in the corner getting fed up while everyone else staggers around blind drunk laughing at their own jokes that are only comprehensible to other pissed-up people. So to cheer myself up I've tried to think of some of the good points about being pregnant and sober at the office Christmas party..

• No expensive taxi ride home - you can just drive home whenever you want to leave
• Soft drinks are cheaper! I'm spending so much money at the moment on all these meals out, so it's good to keep the bar bill down
• You won't be the source of any office gossip for your embarrassing drunken behaviour
• No hangovers!

Happy Christmas to all the mums and bumps out there!

The 20 week scan - team pink or team blue?

Bumpy at 20 weeks

Monday 21st November

We headed back to Whipps Cross for a second time today for the 20 week scan, another chance to see how little bumpy is growing. The first thing the sonographer asked as I laid down was whether we wanted to find out the sex, and just a few seconds later she said 'It's a baby boy!'. She showed us on the screen and there is no mistaking that we are in team blue! The baby had at least doubled in size since the last scan, and everything was so much clearer. We could see the little heart beating, count all the fingers and toes, and watch him wriggling and kicking away contentedly. I was quite jealous of Jon being able to see the screen for the whole time while I had to lie back and let the sonographer do her measurements. Everything looked perfectly healthy again, and all of bumpy's measurements were right on track! I had trying to stop myself from doing too much shopping before now, but I think I will go out and treat myself to some cute little boy clothes this weekend :o)

Pushchair dilemmas

I'm currently facing a dilemma which I'm sure will be very familiar to other first-time mum-to-be's: which pushchair to buy for the new baby? There is an absolutely overwhelming choice available; three-wheelers, off-roaders, lightweight buggies and fully functional travel systems that convert into different shapes at the press of a few buttons. Do I want a forward, parent-facing or reversible seat? Does the price include the optional carrycot/footmuff/raincover? How easy is it to fold? Will it fit in my car boot and my hallway? And why is everything so expensive???? AAAH! I find myself staring at other mums as they walk past trying to subtly check out what brand of pushchair they have. To try and help me decide I've come up with my wishlist for my perfect pushchair.

Must haves:

• Lightweight - I will be using public transport a lot so need something I can get onto buses and up the stairs at tube stations
• Very easy to fold - when not in use the pushchair will be mainly living folded up in my hallway. A simple fold mechanism without having to remove the seat or wheels everytime would be ideal

Nice to have:

• Removable carrycot option - I have a couple of weddings to go to soon after the baby is born and it would be ideal if the carrycot clipped onto the pushchair base so that the baby will have a comfortable cot to sleep in rather than being stuck in the pushchair seat all day.

Here are my current top three choices!

Baby Jogger City Mini GT

Baby Jogger City Mini GT:

A new updated version of the very popular baby jogger city mini is due out in spring 2012. It promises to have solved all the little issues of the 2011 version with new features such as an adjustable handle, bigger storage basket and improved tyres. The one handed fold looks amazing! The biggest problem for me: will it be out in time for my April 9th due date?

Maxi-Cosi Elea:

Maxi-Cosi Elea

A great looking pushchair, and as it is made by Maxi-Cosi the car seat can click straight in without the need for fiddling around with adapters. Cons: at just over 13kg, it is a bit on the heavy side

Bugaboo Bee

Bugaboo Bee:

I see these all over London, they are definitely the must-have stylish pushchair for urban yummy mummies. They come in a range of vibrant colours, and look small enough to easily fit in my doorway. Cons: very expensive! To get the full set including the optional footmuff and newborn cocoon will set you back in the region of £650-700. I would be reluctant to buy a second-hand version after to the recent recall of the 2011 edition due to safety issues with the wheels. 

I think I really need a trip to somewhere like Babies'R'us to see them all in the flesh and have a bit of a test drive. In the meantime - any suggestions or recommendations would be  happily welcomed!

Week 13: the first scan

Wednesday 5th October, 3.30pm

After a stressful first visit to Whipps Cross Hospital, eventually finding a parking space near the main entrance only to discover that the maternity unit is about half a mile away on the other side of the site, and an uncomfortably long wait in the too hot waiting area full of frazzled looking pregnant women, Jon and I finally found ourselves in the relative peace and tranquillity of the ultrasound room, staring delightedly at the blurry image on the screen. The 12 (or in our case 13 and a half) week scan is such a milestone for parents-to-be, the first time you see your little baby on the screen, and you can finally tell the world the happy secret you may have been keeping for the past couple of months. In my case, most of my work colleagues had figured it out long ago, as I had already moved from my normal job in the lab to a desk-based role to keep me and the little bump safe from potentially harmful lab chemicals. It was still nice to make it all official, and I brought in some cakes the day after the scan to celebrate, laughing at the bemused faces trying to figure out where the baby's head was on my scan photo.

Bumpy at 13 weeks, 2 days

We were so relieved to hear that everything looked normal with the baby, my due date was put back three days to April 9th 2012, and the little one was measuring in at 7.1cm from crown-to rump. Everything seems a lot more real now!