18 weeks ago today I was still reeling with the stunning, joyful and extraordinary news that my darling girl, my beloved daughter was expecting her first baby!!!
To say that the news came out of the blue like a bolt of lightening would be an understatement. I was hysterical with joy unbounded. They were over the moon, and very emotional. We cried and we rejoiced and cried some more. They’re going to be parents, and I’m going to be a Granny
The baby was just on 4 weeks and 2 days from conception, and according to the chart, just the size of a poppy seed!!
At this stage Peanut was developing what would become his/her brain; the neural tube is forming and the spinal cord.
4 weeks and 2 days 🙂
We shared the news with some VIP people and I started knitting.
Books on pregnancy littered the house and where at first there was none, suddenly there was a lot…..of baby clothes!!! LOL All the baby clothes that I had kept from when my daughter was a baby, as well as the gorgeous little items I had bought over the years (just because I loved them), made an appearance. I’m delighted that Peanut (baby’s nickname) will be wearing some of the same clothes that Mummy wore when she was a baby.
baby will be wearing some of Mummy’s baby clothes….
The next scan came on 29 June 2018 and yes!!!! it’s a real baby 🙂
its a real baby 🙂 extraordinarily tiny
Since then the weeks have flown by, and on 9th July, when baby was just 14 weeks, we went for a private scan and saw this precious little soul on an ultrasound scan
and heard baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It is truly the most extraordinary experience….to hear the heartbeat of a baby from the womb. Look how tiny those little feet and hands were!! ❤
I got so excited (and impatient) I immediately set about sorting the nursery. Simon set up the crib and I unpacked whatever I had to hand 🙂 Soon we had the basics set up and I started the long process of washing all the baby clothes we had bought, the South African baby clothes and the clothes they had been gifted from friends and colleagues.
Mummy & Daddy and the first stages of the nursery
Over these 18 weeks, all baby’s internal organs have developed (healthy and normal), fully formed arms and legs, fingers and toes. Baby has developed ear buds and eyes, can yawn & swallow and has started giving Mummy a few ooofffs in the belly…as this still tiny little creature, weighing just over 500grams, bounces around and flexes legs and arms….a right little gymnast, Peanut is very active LOL
Just 10 days ago I had the most stunning experience of feeling baby kicking…albeit not yet very strong, it was very distinct. I was singing “you are my sunshine” to Peanut at the time and perhaps it was an objection to, or an appreciation of my singing talents!! LOL Not sure yet which.
Baby is now 23 weeks and 5 days from conception and the changes have been phenomenal.
Not only is Peanut now a fully formed little human being, but over the last 18 weeks has been a bit of a shape-shifter; changing from (the size of) a poppy seed to a sweetpea, a raspberry, a blackberry, a hamster, a peach, a lemon, a clownfish, a custard slice, a beet and an avocado pear!!! LOL Peanut is now the size of a juicy bunch of grapes, or a grapefruit…depending on which app you’re reading 🙂
Baby has now formed the air sacs in h/h lungs that will soon be used to breathe!!
With only 16 weeks to go till birth, there are now less weeks till B-Day than there are weeks since I heard the news OMG ❤ ❤ ❤ Truly, if I say I am excited…..that would be the understatement of 2018!!!!
As mentioned in one of my previous blogs, once I returned to earth off cloud 9, I downloaded the Ovia app (a pregnancy app) and started monitoring baby’s progress.
It’s been absolutely amazing to watch how many changes there are each week; body, feet and hands. I’ve read how baby has developed during each & every stage in the last 18 weeks, its truly a miracle of life. Baby didn’t have legs and feet or arms and hands till 8 weeks, but since then they’ve gone from the tiniest little hands and feet you could imagine to now – almost full size……
I wish they would share the type of information that I’ve read on the various pregnancy app in schools alongside of the basic bland practical biological information. Each week has revealed a new level of amazing information.
I remember my Mother always used to say that loved her daughters dearly, and yet the love she felt for her grandchildren was on a different level altogether….I now understand what she meant
I love my Granny – and Granny loves you little Peanut. Can’t wait to meet you ❤
