Bump Update - Week 36

What can I tell you this week? Physically I feel great - well ok, maybe that is an exageration, but better than I have in a while. I had the cold from hell last week and obviously couldn't take anything for it (anyone notice someone just keeps dumping on me from a great height??!!) but I have managed to fob it off and onto James now, so I feel better!! I have some pregnancy aches and pains, but nothing I wouldn't expect at this stage. Waddling like a duck and can't go far, but apart from that, seem ok. Even my feet look more normal!

The only real thing getting to me now is my work. In the year I have been there, I haven't got stressed about anything really, and they go and choose an 8 month pregnant moment to p*** me around. I can't be doing with it and I won't stand back and let them. James and I saw citizens advice people today and now know exactly where I stand, so they had better not try and screw me over! If anything you'd think they'd be being especially careful with a pregnancy situation as it can so easily go wrong, but nope! So that is getting to me now, very anxious about the whole thing and really could do without it.

This weekend Jenni came up for the day on Saturday and went to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was lovely to see her (again at our house, we really must go to hers!) and she brought a lovely box of goodies with her, a bib, socks, vests, bunny photo frame, along with lots of essentials like wipes, cotton wool, disposable knickers, breast pads and baby rash cream and nasal drops for when he gets a cold! Oooh and the cutest little baby nail clippers!! It was a really fab and thoughtful present.

She had also gone into Ikea on her way up and picked up a chair I had my eyes on for the baby room. James built it up and it looks great and is well comfy for those nightime feeds. Jenni - if you read this, thanks a million for both things! Think I've waffled enough now, until next week.....

Julie.xx

The Pram Arrived!!

Finally!

We have a pram and carseat and pushchair for Bunny. Thanks Mum!!

After 8 weeks waiting and eventually a chat with the managing director of the company I ordered from (Two Left Feet) who had seen posts online of me moaning about bad customer service they had given me, the pram has arrived! The wait was kind of worth it, because I love it!

For those of you not in "the know" it's a Jane Matrix Powertrack 360 in Titanium! It's basically like a transformer, a carseat that turns into a pram!

The top picture is of the carseat, lying flat with hood and cover clipped on making it a pram. The picture on the right is the carseat on the wheels lying flat. It can be used in the car like this, meaning baby isn't all scrunched up for long periods of time.

The pic on the left is of the carseat sitting upright for when he is bigger and the below is just the same but with the cover on. We forgot to take a photo of the pushchair before we pulled it apart!

They say that Dysons are hoovers for men, well this is definatly the Dyson of the pram world! James has spent the evening playing with the suspension, front/rear braking system!! Reading through the manual, you'd think it was a car!

Not quite sure where it's going to live yet, but it's a nice "feature" in the living room for now.

On another note, midwife appointment went ok this week, blood pressure is up again, my feet grow by the day but on the whole it's all ok. Nothing too unexpected for 4 weeks to go, ARGH! I still have this stinky awful cold, can't smell or taste anything and it's driving me nuts!

Julie.xx

Mango & Chicken

Here's a strangely-yummy recipe which one of the guys at work managed to get from the restaurant we went to for our Xmas party. It makes loads of sauce, probably enough for 3 or 4 chicken breasts, so do the top part for EACH chicken breast but only do one lot of sauce, or you'll be eating mango sauce forever! I've put below what the recipe says, but I only used 1 leek and it was more than enough, but I'll let you decide!

----

1 chicken breast
1 streaky bacon rasher
2 slices fresh mango
4 x leaves fresh basil

- Stuff chicken with bacon , mango and basil

- Butter a piece of tinfoil season the chicken with pepper and roll in the tinfoil.

- Cook in 180 degree oven for 15 minutes (or until chicken cooked)

Sauce - 250 ml. good chicken stock
250 ml double cream
2 leeks chopped finely
1 fresh mango sliced
cook the leeks and the mango in stock and cream for 15 minutes (do not boil) then blitz in a processor.

It's a really strange combination of ingredients which actually works quite well. God knows who thought of this one though.

If you give it a shot let us know what you think.

James

Bump Update - Week 35

If it weren't for all the non pregnancy things wrong with me, I think for the first time I feel ok! However, I have thrush (from the antibiotics I had for last weeks toothache!) which is driving me nuts, I have a bloomin' cold now, my filling is verging on coming out now, the heartburn is still kind of lingering and my work are stressing me out about maternity pay - if you don't know already, it's too long a story for here! Oh and the pram company are messing me about too, so I have cancelled my order with them and found another company.

Pregnancy-wise, I'm knackered, my blood pressure is high and being checked again tomorrow, have protein in my urine, and am swollen up. In fact I can't get most of my shoes on now, my feet are so huge! Sleeping is a nightmare, I have one leg that twitches, ARGH!

Other than all this, I feel great - know that sounds odd, but I actually do. I think I'm just getting used to all this stuff at once. Thankfully only 3 days left at work, yippee! I just can't wait till bunny is out and I no longer solve one illness to cause another 2. And then I won't be pregnant any more, woohoo! Had an ante-natal class today on breastfeeding....was quite interesting.

That's all my moans for this week folks, tune in next week for another installment!! I'll maybe put an update on after midwife this week.

Julie.xx

Bump Update - Week 34

It's not been a good week...in fact it's been the week from hell! I had a filling come out last Wednesday after dinner, which hurt, so I went to dentist to get him to top it up on Thursday. On Friday is was very sensitive and a bit wobbly but I thought I could cope with it till Bunny arrives. I spent half the weekend crying and the other half popping paracetamol, and on Sunday night I was in the most pain I have ever been in.

Went back to dentist yesterday and he gave me injections, much to his dislike and drilled in and cleaned out the inside and put in a temp filling to last 3 weeks. Unfortunately, it was rather more temporary than that and it came out last night! So I was back today and now have a yummy (not!) clove filling in it. Hopefully it'll stay put and not cause me pain till I have this baby. If it hurts now, I've to get the tooth out.....

So anyway, not done a whole lot else, just work and dentist, oh and I squeezed in an Anne Summers party on Saturday night!

Julie.xx

Buckingham Blog Version 1.1

I've added some new features to our Blog this weekend. Here's a quick run down on what's what:

Fun & Games - I've added an extra section under the "Previous Posts" called Fun & Games. We've mentioned a few online games on here in the past but to make them a bit easier to find in the future I've put them all together in one complete list. That way you don't need to trawl the archives to find them ;)

Your Thoughts - One of the major problems of the blog just now is that you can't pop on to say "Hello" and tell us how you're doing. I've added a section called "Your Thoughts" under Fun & Games.

You can tell us any news instead of it being all about us or tell us what you'd like us to post. To use it simply put in your name and a little message and it will be added to site. You can still comment on each post as before.

Email article to a friend - You'll now find at the bottom of each article a little white icon. This allows you to send that particular article to an email address. Don't know how useful this is but I thought I'd add it anyway :)

James

Bump Update - Week 33

Here we have Sunday's picture. We have been having internet problems and I've been very tired so not got round to doing this until now.

Not a lot to report, we had our visit to the labour ward last Tueday night, thankfully no noises to be heard, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Still not planning on hanging around any longer than is medically necessary! Saw my midwife on Wednesday, who decided I was showing signs of pre-eclampsia due to protein showing up and me going up like a balloon. However I saw her again today and all seems to have settled down again, which is great news.

I have changed my maternity leave dates, I now finish work one week earlier than I was planning to, but due to work politics, I've had to move the date my actual maternity leave starts on by 2 weeks. I now finish on 2nd March, only 8.5 working days, yippee!! I'm even doing a handover tomorrow just in case I vanish early!

Had my 3rd ante-natal class today, which was girls only, and apart from getting to know them a bit, it was a waste of time, all just common sense really!

Julie.xx

Another addictive game

Games seems to be quite popular on here so we've found another one to get your teeth into.

It's called Gold Strike and can be found at: http://www.flasharcade.com/game.php?goldstrike&1. We've both been playing it for a couple of weeks now and it's VERY addictive (would you expect anything else from us :) ).

Julie's managed to get to Level 9 and I've got to Level 7 once or twice. We've not been watching the scores but let us know how you get on and we'll see if we can beat it ;)

James

Midwife Update!

Just thought I'd post here as I know everyone reads this instead of emailing loads of different times!

As you know I have been off work this week with "tummy problems" Well I am going back on Monday, which is the good news (??), but doc still wants to keep an eye on me in 2 weeks time as it's really running me down.

Had a routine midwife appointment today...and I am showing signs of pre-eclampsia and have to see her on Tuesday and again the following Wednesday just to keep an eye on things!

But on the plus side, we have a clever Bunny, he's managed to ask for directions (very un-male like!) and got himself round the right way. Now so long as he stays put, we'll be fine!!

Baby's heartbeat is good as well, 156bpm.

That's all folks ;o)
Julie.xx

Baby Update - Week 32

Here's this weeks pic. Sorry it's late for those who noticed! Not been well, still am not. I've been signed off work for this week to try and get myself some rest so that I (in docs words) "don't end up like a wrung out shammy" by the end. Not eating and not sleeping obviously isn't good at the best of times but not good for baby. This all stems from stomach problems that I have. Have to see doc again today and see what he says.

Tonight we have antenatal class number 2 which is at the hospital for a look round the labour ward and to find out about pain relief. If it's anything like last weeks class it'll be a real eye opener!

Had James' mum up for the weekend just passed - she brought loads of clothes for baby, mostly from Monsoon, yummy! We didn't do very much, went a wonder round the Winter Gardens and a drive out Deeside then to Stonehaven. She headed back home on Sunday afternoon, then we went to Mothercare and that was our weekend!

Julie.xx

Baby Update - Week 31

James here again with our weekly baby update. I've been a bit quiet on the old blog recently so I thought it was about time that I popped back on and said "Yes, I'm still alive". It just so happens that I've not really had a lot of news, nothing that Julie hasn't mentioned already.

Anyway, not a lot to report on the bump-front apart from the fact that it's quite literally now sitting at the front of Julie. If you were to look at her from behind now you wouldn't know that she's actually pregnant. Quite a neat little package really.

The baby is still kicking and punching away and we think we've started to feel a few limbs sticking out now. All quite exciting actually!!!

We're a bit worried about the fact that he seems to be sitting across her stomach rather than pointing down now. Not that I know a lot about this but he should have been pointing down the way by now. Being that he's been two weeks ahead with everything else it's strange that he's now three weeks behind on this one.

Bit of a reality check coming up this week; for me especially. We've the first ante-natal class coming up on Tuesday night. There are five in total with daddy coming to two of them. I'm guessing that we just meet the other mums & dads this week, get a bit of a prep talk from the midwife and practice our breathing. Correct me if I'm wrong on this one because nobody has told us anything apart from where to go and what time.

Anyway, think this blog is getting a bit too long. We'll let you know how we get on later in the week.

James

All We Need Now Is A Baby!

Well thanks to James and his hard work yesterday, Bunny's Room is finished!! The carpet was fitted in the morning and then James came home from work and built the furniture, and it is complete! I am so delighted with it, that tonight (yes I know, Saturday night!!) I went and sorted out all his things and put away his clothes and folded all blankets etc. It seems so much more real - very scary and exciting!

I've popped some pics on so you can all see what's what!

We'd also like to thank eveyone below who contibuted to this room looking so fab (this is going to sound like an awards acceptance speech!)

Carpet - My Mum, Sheila

Bedding, Curtains & Border - My sister, Laura

Cot & Matress - James' parents, Chad & Coral

Chest of Drawers & Wardrobe - My Dad, Jim & Tricia

Thanks to you all - it's very much appreciated and I'm sure Bunny Boy will be happy in his room!

Julie.xx

Bump Update - Week 30!!

Well that's me hit the 30 week mark in pregnancy and also hit the 26 mark in life as it was my birthday last week!! Laura and Colin were here for that, and the 4 of us went out for an indian. It was really yum....at the time!! The baby got the hiccups afterwards (poor Bunny!!) and I had heartburn and was up half the night. So think that'll be my last indian till after he gets here.

I had a midwife appointment on Wednesday last week, hadn't seen her for ages! Blood pressure is still "shockingly healthy" and had blood tests and wee samples taken which seem fine. Laura came in with me and was able to hear baby's heartbeat - she cried!!!

The midwife had a squeeze about my tummy and said baby is currently lying breech, but still plenty of time to move him around. He is now measuring pnly 2 weeks ahead of what he should be, which is a big improvment on 4 weeks!! His heartbeat is 130bpm.

She also says I have RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) in my left leg, which has been driving me nuts in bed at night, and sciatica in my right leg. Feel like I am falling apart! Finding it very difficult to sleep with all these ailments!

We ordered the carpet for baby's room at the weekend (thanks mum!) so that is being fitted on Friday. I am so excited as then we can build the furniture and then I can sort out the cot and see what clothes I have for him instead of them all being in bags everywhere.

This week we have Kelly Pete and Jasmine coming to visit (James sister, hubby and kid!). They arrive on Thursday night and go home on Monday. Not sure yet what we're going to do though, so watch this space!

Julie.xx

Bump Update - Week 29

I feel like I should probably write something good this week, but really there isn't much good to say! Still feel yuck most of the time. Have the midwife this week (Wednesday) for more blood samples and an update. Not seen her for ages, but after this I think it's every 2 weeks. I also got the times through this week for our ante-natal classes and our hospital visit. So we're looking forward to that, they start on the 25th for 5 weeks. Hopefully time will seem to pass faster then!

Baby's movements have changed from kicks to more wriggles now, think space must be getting tight! And despite plastering myself in all sorts of lotions and oils - I have stretchmarks - wonderful!! My dolphin has also officially become a killer whale, having grown from 6.5cm to 9cm since I've been pregnant. ARGH!!

Had my dad up to visit this week, although he only came for dinner and then stayed in a hotel overnight. He had visited Ikea for us (I STILL can't travel, grrr) and bought the furniture for the baby's room. As we still have not got the carpet for there, it's sitting in boxes waiting to be built. Getting itchy feet on it though as the cot currently looks like a dumping ground and I just want to put things away and be organised!!

We have Laura (my sister) and her new boyfriend coming tomorrow for a few days. He's brave coming to be interrogated by the big sis ;o) It's my birthday while they are here, so we're going out for a meal on Wednesday to allow me to get my corriander fix!!

Julie.xx

Bye Bye Froggies

It's a sad day in the Buckingham household today as we say good bye to two dear...dear friends, Georgie and Froogle. Our Racing Frogs.

With the help of Julie and me, we've seen them both grow over the past three months from tiny tadpole to lean-mean elite hopping machines. Never willing to take anything less than first place in their daily races, both have dominated their froggie groups and leagues since October last year.

After 240 frog days (3 days for every human day) both can now enjoy a happy retirement on the sunny banks of Lily Pond drinking their Frog Juice and eating their Chocolate bugs. Have fun guys, we'll miss you!!!

James

Baby Update - Week 28

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Not a lot to report on the baby front really, just thought I'd post a "before" picture as well this week, to remind myself and everyone that i didn't always look like this!! It was taken when I found out I was pregnant and started taking a weekly pic. Not been sleeping much this past couple of weeks, can't get comfy, keep waking up at strange times wide awake and can't get back to sleep, then feel like poo for the rest of the day. And my "morning" sickness is back too. Wonderful! Oh well 12 weeks to go (or being pessimistic, no more than 14!)

Our New Year was pretty uneventful to be honest, just a drunk neighbour we had to phone the police out to, that's it!! I haven't been feeling well, so we just got yummy food in and sat looking at each other :o) Oh well, we've never had New Year just the 2 of us before, and doubt we will for a long long time to come, so in a strange way it was nice.

Hope 2005 brings you all your wishes!
Julie.xx

Aberdeen's Big Brother

I was doing a bit of surfing around on our local council website tonight and came across something I'd almost forgotten about.

The council buildings have three cameras sitting on top of it. These are all connected to their website and point at three parts of the city centre Castlegate, Union Street & the Harbour.

They only update once a minute but they give you a good idea of what's in our part of the world.

James

Christmas!

It's been a few days since either of us posted, so here's the weekly baby bump picture first of all. I'm now 27 weeks, so hopefully on the downhill slope!

James and I had a nice white Christmas here in Aberdeen, it started snowing on Christmas Eve and snowed most of Christmas Day then thankfully (don't fancy falling again!) just melted on boxing day. We had a pretty quiet Christmas day - just the 2 of us in the house, but it was nice all the same, who knows when (if??) we'll ever be able to do that again!

On Boxing Day, my mum and her boyfriend came up to visit. We got more pressies, and lots of baby things! We went into town shopping yesterday, which is getting more and more exhausting for me, and annoying for others when I can't go much faster than a snail! (Those of you coming to visit over the next month, please note, shopping is NOT on the agenda!!)

Last night mum took us out for a meal. We went to our favourite restaurant so that I could get my corriander "fix". It's an Indian in Aberdeen called Shahbaaz. Afterwards we went to get ice-cream from Baskin Robbins, yummy!

Not done a lot today, got up and took mum to visit Hannah and Holly who is now 6 days old! She's soooo cute. Now mum and Tom have just headed off down the road. Next........

Julie.x

Passing the time

Well I'm currently sitting at work waiting for Julie to come and pick me up so I thought I'd pass the time by writing a wee entry.

Julie, Bunny and me would like to wish you all a great Christmas and a fantastic New Year. Lets hope Santa brings you all the presents you wished for ;)

(*whisper*) 42" Plasma, 42" Plasma, 42" Plasma (*whisper*)

James

Baby Update - Week 26

James here for a change.

We thought it was about time that I did a bit of a baby update on the blog as that role to date seems to have been given to Julie.

Emotionally this week seems to have been quite quiet. Saying that we've still had a few 'ups and downs', quite literally in fact. The infamous Scottish ice kicked off this weekend and has left most of Aberdeen as an ice rink.

Last night we decided since it was Saturday night to pop out and get a chinese take away. We also decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and drop off a christmas card on the way. Julie unfortunately had a bit of a fall on the way to the door. No damage done apart from a couple of a mud marks on her jeans and a few scratches on her mobile but still a bit of a hairy moment.

She was a bit shocked but it wasn't anything that the chinese couldn't sort out 30 minutes later ;)

James