Dressing A Boy - Part 2

In July last year, when I was 5 months pregnant, I wrote a post about my thoughts on dressing a boy.
I spoke about my disappointment at the lack of comfortable and flexible clothing out there for boys and asked for advice of brands that did provide the type of clothing I was after.

Here I am, 9 months later, with a 4 month old bouncing baby boy and clothing him is proving an interesting experience.  Not least because of his size!
At his last weigh in baby B was 20lb and he is just growing out of his 6-9 months clothes.
The few 9-12 months clothes I bought him are going to be completely useless as I bought them to fit him next autumn/winter, not spring/summer.  I also bought them with an almost toddler in mind not a young baby.

31 Weeks Pregnant - 4D Scan

Today I am 31 weeks pregnant.  The countdown is really on now as only 9 weeks to go to until my due date.

Hubby and I went for a 4D scan yesterday.  We had a similar scan at 32 weeks with C.
As well as obviously checking all was well with baby, I wanted to check he was still a "he" and I also check his growth as I really feel HUGE this time around.  I know women are often bigger in subsiquent pregnancies compared to their first but I really am quite a lot bigger!

Dressing A Boy

So yesterday we found out we are expecting a little boy.
I am trying not to go overboard buying too many things at this stage as there is still a long way to go however I am aware that many companies are currently running their Summer Sales and therefore I am keeping an eye out for any good bargains.

The thing that has always struck me about boys clothes is how uncomfortable many of them look.  In my opinion babies and toddlers need plenty of flexibility for sitting, rolling, crawling and eventually walking and should not be couped up in stiff jeans and inflexible waste bands.  Little girls are lucky as they have the option of both tights and leggings but where is the alternative for boys?

20 Weeks Pregnant

This week I am 20 weeks pregnant and today was my Anomaly Scan.
My appointment was at 4pm, the latest I have ever had scan, which meant a long wait beforehand.

I suspected by this time there would be a long delay to be seen however it was actually only about 20 minutes.  We made the wise decision to leave C with my parents as a fractious, hungry toddler would not make for a pleasant experience.
We were ushered into the room and informed that there would be two sonographers carrying out the scan, one trainee, one trainer.  This was fine with us and the trainee began the scan.

13 Weeks Pregnant

Last Thursday was my 12 Week NT Scan.

I was very good that morning and didn’t check baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. I had nothing to gain from doing so.  The scan was going to happen regardless and the result would be what it was.

The scan was at lunchtime and luckily the morning passed quite quickly.

We entered the hospital and checked in at the X Ray department to be directed to the correct ultrasound room.  We were directed to Foetal Medicine, the main department of the hospital where all things pre-labour are done.  We sat down at in the waiting room. It felt very strange to be back here. Last time I was sat there was 24^th February 2012. I was waiting to be examined after my waters had unexpectedly broken at 35 weeks pregnant. What I did not know at the time was that less than 24 hours later I would be holding my little preterm baby in my arms. It was very surreal to be back.

Unlike the last visit, we did not have to wait long to be seen.  We were ushered into the ultrasound room and I made myself comfy on the table.  The sonographer put the wand to my stomach and there on the screen was baby bopping around.

Everything looked good and after a bit of wiggling on my part, the sonographer managed to get an NT length of 1.6mm.  She concluded that I was measuring not 12 weeks 4 days as per my normal cycle length, but 13 weeks 4 days! If I am honest I think the reality is probably somewhere in the middle.  I do not think it is possible for me to be a whole week ahead as I am pretty sure I know when I ovulated, give or take a couple of days.   Of course it doesn’t really matter.  This baby will arrive when he or she is ready. It just makes it more complicated when people ask how far along you are.  For the time being I have decided to go somewhere in the middle and say I was 13 weeks exactly on scan day.  This would give me an estimated due date of 27^th/28^th November.

We then went round to have my NT bloods taken.  Being lunchtime I expected it to be packed and have a long wait, however I was astonished to see the waiting area almost empty and when we took a ticket from the machine we were the next ones to be seen.  I must have been in and out within 5 minutes which is unheard of!

In the car, I could tell that hubby was unnerved by the change in my pregnancy dates.  As I have previously mentioned, he was convinced this baby was going to be another girl based on a variety of factors, including dates.  If my dates were wrong it would mean the odds of being a girl were considerably less.  I am not sure why the thought of having a boy terrifies him so much.  Maybe he feels there will be more responsibility on him with regards to his upbringing.  I really don't think this is the case as the majority of little girls I know are "daddy's girls" and the boys "mummy's boys".  In any case, what we be will be and we will find out at my 20 week scan in the middle of July.

It has to be a Girl

DH is convinced this new baby will be a girl. He has numerous theories for this:

1. We only BDd once that cycle, about 3 days before ovulation.  There are various theories that "girl" sperm can survive longer than "boy" sperm, while "boy" sperm can swim faster. The Shettles Method suggests if you BD just before ovulation you are more likely to have a boy as this sperm gets to the egg faster, while if you only BD a few days before ovulation, only the "girl" sperm has survived to fertilise the egg.
2. C is a girl and as his sperm has a low count and low morphology, he thinks the only good ones must be "girls".
3. Some men and more likely to have girls, others boys. The fact he has fathered one girl statistically increase the odds of him fathering another.
4. He is used to C and can't imagine having a boy :-)

Is he talking sense or in cloud cuckoo land?.... watch this space...