24 weeks. Time is going by so quickly!

We are coming into 6 months now and i cant believe it!
This week, statistically baby is considered viable and if he were to come early would carry at least 10-15% chance of surviving (that's both scary and comforting at the same time!)
Best case Carter will be here in 14 weeks!? Its starting to feel like we wont, and haven't gotten anything done. I think this is normal panic that all first time mums have though speaking to others. I think the panic has started because we just dont know if he is going to make this easy or not and stay in there for the time he is meant to.
Either way, i fly down to Sydney this coming week, for a weeks little holiday away and to attend my baby shower that my Aunt has so kindly thrown for me for my family in Sydney.
I'm very excited to go, its only a small event approx 15 people, but everyone that will be there is very special and will be a big part of Carters life.I will be seeing a few people i haven't seen in a long while and cannot wait.
My mum is also flying down, just for the night though and its good for her too as all of her sisters live down there and so she gets to spend time with them and see some old family friends who will be coming too that she has not seen since her and Dad split 4 years ago.
All in all it should really make for a good day, good company, some nice food, and of course...PRESENTS!! hehe.
I hope we get some nice things from people, anything will help us out in any way possible.You just dont know doing this for the first time how much of anything you are really going to need.
Its also exciting that we can finally organise to have the cot and change table moved up here that i purchased a few months ago, since it has been sitting at my dads, waiting.
Then Carters room will start to take shape and we will really see the things we will need more.

We had a fortnightly check up with the OB this week and my cervix is still doing really well and Carter looked to be fine as well :) So s far everything is going alot smoother than expected for this stage.Hopefully it continues that way too.
Week 24
Bring on the bulk! Baby gains about 6 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs.
His body begins to fill out with his appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn.
Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his distaste.
Little creases have appeared on his palms. The muscular coordination of his hands has improved as he sucks his thumb.
Over the next seven days the sweat glands will be forming in the skin.
His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.
This week your baby is officially considered viable.
Baby weighs 1.3 pound (600gm) and is 11.8 inches (30cm) long -- almost the length of a ruler!

Week 23

We are getting really big now! there is nothing at all i can posssibly wear now that hides the fact that this little boy is coming in a few months.lol.
My belly button has officially vanished, i had a serious innie which is now, becomming an outie, it completely flush with my skin and is starting to raise depending on the time of the day and if i have eaten.
Everyday i battle with itchy stretching skin on my stomach which can be really annoying if it doesnt stop. I am trying everything i can to make it stop though! I think i will inevitably end up with stretch marks, my mum got them, and i just feel like my skin is not going to handle it at all. I have never been any kind of "weighty" and even putting on a few kgs when we moved to Golburn i got tiny faint lines on my hips...my stomach now is taking a beating i'm sure and it will be obvious soon enough. ugh :(
Aaron is always talking to Carter (well mumbling something at least) haha. I'm sure they know whats going on even though i dont half the time. Daddy secrets!
Carter is kicking up a storm now days! It seems like he never stops to sleep sometimes.I still love it though, its so comforting every time he makes a movement because it reminds me he is there, alive and doing at least something.lol.The kicks are very strong now and can be felt by anyone whenever he starts up.
He has clearly moved up inside too because my poor ribs and lungs have had so much pressure on them all the time and its getting very hard to wear a bra, or even sit on the couch without reclining at least a little.
I am up to 60kgs, so i have put on in total maybe 6kgs so far. This is quite good and doesn't worry me in the least since its so far along into the pregnancy.
Things are getting organised for my baby shower as we speak.Everything got 'effed up with the first plans due to a certain person and her drama, but its coming together again now and should be worked out soon!
Family still arent being talked to, or heard from which is quite upsetting for us both. I guess alot of the time we just wonder how there are going to be decent role models in Carters life when people are too stubborn, or peeved off about anything and everything to reflect on him well and teach him how things are and how they work and how people should be towards one another.
In so many ways, a few of the people in our lives are making things so hard and making us both so miserable, and not to mention confused by their actions.
Hopefully things will settle and go back to normal and we can really enjoy this time with EVERYONE, not just the ones who are involving themselves directly (which BTW thank you, for those who are, it means alot!).
I keep getting told this is meant to be the happiest time of our lives...whoever first said that...i really think they may have been on crack.heh.

Week 23
Proportions of the body are now quite similar to a newborn although thinner since he hasn't begun to form body fat.
Bones located in the middle ear harden.
Your baby is able to hear. (Dads, did you know: low-frequency sounds mimicking a male voice penetrate the abdomen and uterine wall better than the higher frequencies of the female voice?)
The eyes are formed, though the iris still lacks pigmentation.
The pancreas, essential in the production of hormones, is developing steadily. She has begun producing insulin, important for the breakdown of sugars.
If born now, your baby has a 15% chance of survival, his odds going up with each passing day.
The average baby at this stage weighs 1.1 pound (501gm) and is 11.38 inches (28.9cm) long.

22 weeks.

We moved house this week. We are still living with mum and Iain but we moved into a nice house with more space etc.
Carter now has his own little room, which hopefully we can set up in the next month or so to see what we still need to buy.
We no longer have our massive TV in our bedroom either which is fantastic.
I am happy and pleased to have a wonderful kitchen to cook in since i prefer doing that to just knocking stuff up or going out to eat.
We should have some good times here.
But of course, its still only temporary for us, in our minds at least. Once Carter is here and i am doing better after the c-section and we know what its like to have a newborn etc, the search will be on for our own place and a decision on where we want to move our little family to.
But for now, we are here and making things work :)

Aside from that, there has been nothing but drama with my Dad and his GF this week! Plans got fucked around because "she" isnt happy with a few situations (that in everyone who knows abouts, opinion, she shouldnt even have an opinion as yet).
I mean its been bad enough that Aaron has had a hard time with a few things on his side that he is still very very upset and angry about, but now mine had to start too?? It seems like it never ends, and it seems like people will never change.
It seems like really, that's life, like it or not.
Anyways, we have our baby on the way, and all we really care about is his health and the health of both of us. I think so much of either of us thought we would need more help than we have gotten, not financially, but emotionally through this as we haven't stepped foot in these new waters before ever.
But it turns out, the more and more that Aaron and i talk, that we realise we can do this alot more on our own. I think we are going to be great parents, i really do, we are forever discussing how we would like things to be, what sort of an upbringing we are going to try and give him, and certain goals we would like to achieve that we consider to make good parents.
I'm very excited to be doing this with him, and he is getting more and more excited as the days go by which is even more exciting for me again! lol.
I think our little boy is going to go ok, i think he is going to get all the knowledge he needs for life from both of our experiences. we have both had very different upbringings, and very different childhoods and teen years, different friends and interests. He is going to get alot from both of us and i hope he loves us for it all.
Some cute cothes we have ought for him, he will look like such a little man.

Week 22
Your baby weighs close to a pound at this point!
Your baby can now hear your conversations more clearly than before!. When you talk, read, or sing, expect her to hear you. Studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero.
Eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed.
Fingernails have grown to the end of the fingers.
Be prepared for all those "Why" questions coming! Your baby's brain has entered a stage of rapid growth, especially in what's called the germinal matrix. This structure deep in the middle of the brain serves as a kind of factory for brain cells and disappears shortly before birth. But the brain's amazing expansion program continues until around the five birthday.
With some help from mom, baby's liver is starting to break down bilirubin, a substance produced by red blood cells.
If your baby is male his testes begin their descent to the scrotum.
Primitive sperm have formed and he is producing testosterone.
Length is 10.94 inches (27.8cm); weight is nearly 1 pound (430gm).

21 weeks.

It was a busy week for us this week.We had two appointments, first was with the GC hospital, to register in and to discuss a few options and my medical history from the operations etc.
WHAT A WASTE OF THE ENTIRE MORNING FOR US!!
I officially cannot stand the GC hospital, and really wish i had another choice of where to go to have this little boy.After sitting for about 2 hours, having some god awful jealous stares from other pregnant woman without partners there because we are quite close and have fun and smile and are genuinely excited, we were finally seen by a midwife (who had a medical student with her)...she got me on a table and tried to find Carter's heartbeat by the Doppler...she obviously had no idea for a while what was going on as there was nothing but gushing waters sounds...in my head i was laughing, because i could feel him kicking around and knew he was OK.She decided the machine was crap, and as soon as she did this there was the sound i had not heard yet...his little heart beating away.It was in a healthy range of the 150's and sounded so amazing.I had been waiting to hear it as none of my Dr's visits had my Dr used a Doppler at all as they are always u/s.
The med student then tried to get my fundal length and apparently it was spot on...again, not too sure he knew what he was doing let alone if it was right or not.
A long story short, she scheduled me in for 36 weeks to arrange the c-section and delivery...yes, nothing in between?? Apparently i just need to see my Dr as he is taking most of the care of me...We wont even go into just how pissed off both Aaron and i were about the whole situation and the way they were approaching it. I mean there are so many risks associated with this pregnancy, and they are dealing with it in a way of basically waiting until i am going into labour to decide what to do.No prep or reassurance for us beforehand, no, just hey, IF you make it to 36 weeks, we will see you then, if not, here is the emergency door, make your way there and we will deal with it then! ha!
Then we went up stair and had a little tour around, the lady that did this with us was so full of everything bean like it wasn't even funny, so.much.energy!
She then sat us down and discussed a little about what my history was, what i thought my options were....blah blah blah, then proceeded to tell me, or suggest to me that i try to have a normal vaginal birth????!!!
yes, yes....that's going to be wise now isn't it.
She asked me if that's what i would want, (which of course, yes, if i HAD A CHOICE that's what i would do, no correction IF I HAD A CHOICE i would have my baby at home without the hospital, without drugs and without a complication in the world), but no, i said, for 12 years i have been told, by 4 separate Dr's that i WILL NOT be having, nor should try to have, a vaginal birth as it is impossible.
She then proceeded to ask Aaron what his opinion was on the subject and of course, knowing my history also, he had the same things to say as i did.
She would not let up on this at all and even until we left was still in suggestion mode for it...clearly not understanding the situation, nor bothering to check my history to see that the option is not even there.UGH! M.O.R.O.N.S!
Anyway, we left the hospital completely dissatisfied, but at least have an idea of the way things may go down, that being of course, that we will probably not have the greatest time with these people when this baby boy is ready to come into the world.
The next day i had my regular appointment with my Dr, my cervix looked good, baby was doing his thing, and Dr Dunn was not at all surprised by the way we were treated at the hospital.
I now see him on the 20th, and then every 2 weeks after that until i hit 32 or so weeks, then weekly (unless something goes wrong beforehand), he will relay as much information as he can tot he morons at the hospital, and we will just keep our fingers crossed that Carter stays in there until he is Due so we don't have to deal with them in between.

Week 21
White blood cells are under production. Leukocytes (or white blood cells) form our body's defense system. They help fight infections and diseases. Your little one's skin has changed from translucent to become more opaque. Your infant's tongue is fully formed. If you were able to peek you might catch your son or daughter practicing giving you a raspberry! If your baby is a girl, her womb and vagina are formed. Unlike males, females have a limited supply of eggs in their lifetime. At this point your daughter will have 6 million eggs. This amount decreases to approximately one million by birth. Baby swallows more this week. After your baby takes in amniotic fluid, his body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel. This is good practice for his digestive system! Wake and sleep periods become more consistent. Some research suggests that baby sets her internal clock to match the outside world's even before birth! Your eating and sleeping habits as well levels of light and noise serve as her signals. Length is now measured crown to heel. Baby measures about 10.51 inches (26.7cm) and weighs nearly 12.7 ounces (360g).