week 24

Had my scheduled check-up with the gynae this morning. Happy to note all's fine and dandy with both baby and me.

It was the longest ultrasound scan performed since the start of this pregnancy. Can't say I wasn't the least bit anxious as Dr G went through each section of the baby meticulously, explaining the growth of each part in detail. Alhamdulillah, all's growing normally and at the right rate for this stage of the pregnancy (24th week). Despite me whining and complaining that I'm feeling incredibly huge, Dr G assured me it's all OK and that I'm doing just fine. He says it's a natural thing and concern for many second-time moms-to-be to be feeling larger than life. I'm thinking now, he could be all honest there, or he could have sugar-coated it (his reassurance) a wee bit. Haha . . . Whadya think?

Back to the scan - it was all normal and good ticks across the major organs. I was most concerned when he closed in on the brain, spine and the heart. Which is expected, I suppose. It's only natural to be that bit worried, no? So it was such a relief when all was found to be in the right place and growing accordingly. Nothing abnormal noted.

My next appointment will be a month from now. We've yet to buy anything for the baby. It's Baby Z, by the way. We've decided to pick Z names for all our kids. Did I say 'all'?? How many AM I expecting to have? *LOL* Hubs has said he'd love 4 kids, ideally. I'm happy to stop at 2. But we'll see. If rezeki comes knocking on my door, or rather, my belly, I'd definitely answer and welcome in the good news.

Speaking of knocking, Baby Z's been pretty active past couple of weeks. The most movements are felt from late afternoon (3pm onwards) right up till about midnight. But last night, probably in anticipation of today's scan, there was a whole lot more acrobatic moves going on. It's at that funny, ticklish stage now where the slightest of nudge, turn of even a hiccup leaves me in awe of the funny wave-like shape my tummy turns into, followed by a quick rush to the loo (this, the less-exciting part though). *LOL*

As far as my 'nesting' instincts are concerned, I'm currently thinking up and rearranging things a bit around the house to utilise our living spaces as best as we can to accommodate a second child in the house. The rate I'm growing, I should (in a perfectly-orchestrated world) get most things done by year end before I triple in size and can only afford to supervise from afar. I've paintings and little prints lined up to dress up the lil nook in our room which will be 'converted' to Baby Z's corner.

Until the next update then, here's a couple of images from the scan this morning.

:: a very shy Baby Z kept covering her face with her hands ::

:: after much nudging by Dr G, she finally moved her hands ... but ever so slightly; these images show both Baby Z and Big Z having the same full lips ... like brother, like sister, ey? ::

Oh, and yes, it's a girl. Yippie!! It's the 5th time the doc has confirmed it, so technically, it should be right, yes? We'd love to think so, as he's told us we're safe to start buying all things pink for the baby now. :-)