Vallentiny update number two: 20 weeks (aka alien dinosaur baby)

So it seems like Vallentiny had a bit of a growth spurt recently because, to me at least, the bump is looking a bit bigger.



On Wednesday I had my 20 week ultrasound. It went really well - brain, heart, kidneys, bladder, spine, hands, legs, stomach and everything else all looked good. We were very, very pleased, despite the fact that of course we couldn't really "see" much of anything our very nice ultrasound lady (nurse? doctor? technician?) was pointing out. We could see/understand the brain and heart (it was pretty cool to see the four chambers clearly), and of course the skeletal structure. Everything else was blobs and grey patches. She did a color overlay at a couple of angles to look at blood flow; to me it just looked like some kind of 70s experimental film. But she was pleased with what she saw, which is the important thing. She was really pleased with Vallentiny's feet. So get the baby sandals ready, people.

At the end, we did find out the gender, but we've decided to keep that information to ourselves. Our plan is to use both pronouns interchangeably, so if I refer to Vallentiny as "he" or "she," know that it's all part of the plan to try to keep that bit a surprise for everyone. I'll probably also keep using "it" for a time as well - "it" just still kind of fits. Especially while Vallentiny still looks like an alien.








I'm next booked in for an ultrasound at 32 weeks, on November 16th. We may still do one of those "4D" scans - we haven't really talked about it - but I guess that's typically done around 28-30 weeks.

I'm still not feeling any movement (that I can distinguish) and the ultrasound lady explained why. Apparently, the placenta is at the back, which means that it's in-between Vallentiny and my tummy, which of course is where you start to feel any movement. So Vallentiny's going to need to be a bit bigger (or really rambunctious) before I really start to feel anything. I wasn't concerned about it, but it was interesting to hear the explanation.

All's well with Team Vallentine!

Vallentiny update number one: 15-17 weeks.

So I'm going to just go ahead and play the pregnancy tiredness card right up front, which is the main reason why this is so late...

Everything's going well, though. I do have some energy back now that I'm into the second trimester, but definitely still feel run down, especially by the afternoon and definitely by the time I get home from work. I am showing a bit more, though it doesn't seem to show up on the picture very well.

A couple of weeks ago I had a visit with the consultant, who was just checking in but mainly to talk through Meniere's and pregnancy. We decided that I would come off the furosemide, which is relatively safe, but she recommended that if I could do with out it that it would be better. Since my Meniere's isn't that bad, I decided to stop taking it. I'm a bit dizzy a bit more often, I get the 'fullness' feeling from time to time, and my tinnitus is louder - but some of that could just be due to the pregnancy itself, rather than being off the medication. So all in all, everything's fine.

I've also had another appointment with my midwife since getting back. This time I met with a different midwife since "my" midwife (Louise) was on vacation, but the new lady (Joy? I think I've already forgotten) was super nice. We talked about travelling (in case Mark and I want to go away "one last time"), and going past the due date. Over here, they induce once you go 12 days over. So obviously the days of Mark's mum when they let you go practically a month are over (phew).

We also listened to Vallentiny's heartbeat. She said it's not always possible to hear on her equipment and this early on, but she found it, and we heard a kick as well. So it's all sounding good.

The other main thing we talked about was the variance in my due dates - the dating ultrasound I had over here originally put my date at January 14, but then my misremembering and the ultrasound I had in the States put my date at January 12. But she said to go with the January 14 date, so that's what we'll do.

But the thing I need to alert you all to is that my "new" due date is two days after the date you all (Hornucopia attendees) used for your predictions. So the big question is: do you want me to shift your predicted delivery date two days into the future, or keep it where it is?

Besides all that, nothing else exciting is going on. My next ultrasound is the 20 week scan on August 24th. I haven't felt any movement yet. A couple people I know start to feel some movement around this time, but the midwife and other sources tell me that kicks and things usually aren't felt until some time between 20 to 24 weeks.

Until then, I'll just keep eating and sleeping!

Hornucopia 2011 - the draft schedule.

Thanks to Mom for pulling together a draft schedule now that we have a few things that need to happen on specific days. I'm pasting it here for easy reference. I've also updated the lists to the right, and separated out the food. Let me know if there's any food I'm missing.

sat - pennas arrive at bedtime /vallentines here/smiths at the colony day events - anyone welcome.....

sun - odd and end items as everyone settle ins - jenny church coming over later - local japanese steak house kid friendly

mon - fireworks - bbq - group pictures in shirts and maybe with g dad

tues - spa time in afternoon for julie jessica and mom while chris takes nap - dinner for group - mexican

wed. - brazilan steakhouse - 6 pm + ????????? during the day

thurs - rock climbing 3-6pm

fri - downtown dallas - butterfly gardens (indoors AC) plus other possibilities and lunch (via van or train)

sat - gdad's party at noon - at his place - dickey's brought in - ice cream and cake and balloons etc. group picture with g dad

sun - pennas leave - church and rest

mon - free for last minute vallentine stuff

tues - vallentines leave

misc activities as needed: water balloons, CARS 2, wii competition and awards, penny ceremony, bowling

Hornucopia 2011 - the planning continues.

I've added all the latest activities Julie has come up with - not sure if I'm missing anything?

Do we need to separate out the eating activies from the activity activities?

Hornucopia 2011 - look to the right.

Hooray - the countdown to Hornucopia 2011 begins! We're now just over a month away so I think we're all agreed that it's a good time to starting thinking about what we want to do. I've created a list over on the righthand side of the blog based on the various suggestions people have made. What else do I need to add?

Also - do we want to revive the Hornucopia Yahoo group?

Portugal: the sights - Sintra.

I'm finally getting round to posting some Portugal pictures. And we have a lot. So I thought I might as well group them into themes/days.

So here's Sintra - a UNESCO protected site, for its architecture (Lord Byron apparently liked it). There are a lot of palaces, including this one (Palácio Nacional de Sintra), which we drove by, but didn't visit:


There is a really great castle, originally built by the moors (it's called Castelo dos Mouros), and then adapted and expanded by others. It has some nice intact features and has a real castle-y feel:





We also visited a palace - the Palácio Nacional da Pena (in my head I always added an extra 'n'), which you can walk to from the castle. Here it is from the castle:



And here's the entrace. It's all pretty colorful throughout.




If you look closely, that middle building with the archway, is kind of blue-ish. It's actually covered in tiles that look like this:

The level of intricate detail on a lot of the palace was crazy. And we found out that Portugal has a lot of tiles. We walked around inside, where you weren't allowed to take pictures, and they made you wear your bags on your front, I guess so you don't accidentally knock into anything. But sometimes you ended up on the outside, where we could take pictures.



We also stayed in a nice hotel in Sintra. An old converted villa, in lovely grounds, with a pool, and views of the castle in the distance. Very nice!

First BBQ of the season.

The weather has turned warm here, at least for the past couple of days, so we got out the two grills and cleaned them up.

Yesterday we had cheeseburgers. Today we had pulled pork, smoked with pecan wood chips.

Hooray for warm weather!