It's a boy!

It’s been a while since I last blogged as after getting married we went straight back to work and then to Thailand for our honeymoon for two weeks.

I had intended to write a blog last week but we got back late on Tuesday night and then my legs swelled up like balloons so I spent most of the following day on the sofa with them raised to try and get them to go down.

Thursday was spent catching up with everything we needed to and then I went back to work on Friday and was working in London at the weekend so it’s all been a bit hectic.

Baby Parfitt is as wriggly as ever, although that wasn’t the case so much while we were away, which led to a trip to the hospital in Koh Samui and also to us inadvertently finding out the sex of our little one.

It turns out that Baby Parfitt is a boy, which is a good job really because we were struggling with girls’ names and have been referring to it as he most of the time anyway.

I don’t know why but as soon as I found out I was expecting I had a feeling it was a boy. Neither of us minded what we had but Johnny has started referring to the bump as “my boy” and is already working out when he can buy him his first Brighton and Hove Albion shirt and take him to his first match at The Amex.

Our honeymoon was lovely and relaxing. We were in Bangkok for the first four days and met up with our friends Liza and Dave who have been travelling around Asia since September last year. It was so lovely to see them and as they had been to Thailand before they took us to places they had been to which they loved.

The discomfort with baby started on our third day there. It felt like he’d wedged his head under my ribs and my right side was really tight and uncomfortable.

It got to the point where we had to go back to the hotel on a night out so I could lie down and I was really uncomfortable for about a day before it calmed down.

We flew to Samui for the rest of our honeymoon but five days after we arrived we decided we had better visit the hospital as I hadn’t really felt him move for a couple of days and I was getting really worried.

The taxi journey there was awful. We both sat in silence holding hands while I cried quietly all the way there.

The staff at the hospital were lovely and despite the language barrier were brilliant at explaining everything. I was taken in for a scan almost immediately and they turned the sound on so we could hear is heartbeat straight away.

I cannot describe the relief we both felt as soon as we heard his heart. I’m not a religious person but the first thing I said was “thank you god” before bursting into tears. The thought of anything having happened to him was absolutely horrific.

He’s not even here yet and we both love him so much already.

However, the doctor then said she could feel me having a contraction, which scared the crap out of us both.

We asked her if they were going to get any worse and she said they could be down to a Strep B infection or they might disappear if I started walking around.

Thankfully, an infection was ruled out and it turns out the contractions she was talking about were Braxton Hicks.

I now realise this is what I had experienced in Bangkok. In fact, as I type this my right side has been tightening up. Now I know what they are I am not worried as I know they will go away.

There is also the relief of being back at home and knowing I’m not far from a hospital should I need to go to one.

Baby Parfitt now weighs just over two pounds and my bump is steadily growing outwards. Sleep is becoming increasingly difficult and I spend much of my time while I am in bed feeling pretty uncomfortable.

On my return from honeymoon I had an appointment with the midwife for my 28-week gestational diabetes test and she gave me a pretty strong lecture about breastfeeding.

Of course it is something I want to do but I also know that not all women can if the milk doesn’t come, or they find it very difficult. She was almost militant about it which made me feel like I’d be failing my son if I couldn’t provide for him.

We also saw the obstetrician at the hospital on Monday to discuss getting the baby tested for coeliac’s disease as Johnny is a coeliac and it is a hereditary condition which runs in his family.

We should be able to get him tested once he’s been born and then if he is a coeliac we will be able to manage it properly through diet.

While we were there they gave me another scan just to check everything was ok and it turns out his tummy is further on in growth than his bones by two weeks.

They didn’t seem too worried but we have to go back for another scan a week on Monday to check his growth and then to the antenatal clinic the next day to discuss the results. I’m hoping everything will be fine but it is a bit worrying. But we’ll just have to wait and see.