Gavin and Louisa's little surprise!

Hi Everybody! Here's some details for the Family and Friends about the recent exciting news.

	Between Anzac Day and Easter	Home is invaded by storks, birds and bees bearing sacks of cabbages. Gavin maintains he had no idea of what was going on... discussions with parents prove inconclusive...
	May	Louisa starts feeling dodgy
Week 6	Wed, 4th June.	Louisa shows Gavin the home test kit result. Well, the Teddies do. (see Gallery)
Week 8	Fri, 20th June	First ultrasound, and first photographic evidence of 'Junior'.
Week 14	Fri, 18th July	Second ultrasound. Gavin nearly hyperventilates at combined miracle of life/ miracle of technology experience.
Week 16	Saturday, 2nd August	First nursery purchase - got a nice stroller. (Snapped up a bargain!)
Week 19	August, 29th	Third ultrasound. Saw Junior moving. Wow. Could clearly make out little hands and feet and legs and arms. Double wow. Heard a little heartbeat going like a rabbit. Man, I nearly lost it there and then - its so amazing. Everything looks great and is well within acceptable parameters. Junior's doing just fine!
Week 20	8th September	Second Trimester consultation. All is good.
Week 24	4th October	Another nursery milestone! The cot is selected and a deposit put down.
	The past few weeks, really.	Little Junior is kicking along! Literally! I'm amazed at how much movement I can feel. Louisa is discovering that Junior doesn't seem to like the car, the lounge, loud movies, sitting in bed, and having to share space with Louisa's dinner.
Week 25	10th October	First of 3 three Rhesus Anti-D shots
Week 28	1st November	Glucose tolerance test. All went well.
Week 31	21st November	Check up with the obstetrician.
Week 33	5th December	A checkup ultrasound, and a checkup with the obstetrician. Check ups become weekly now as the EDD rapidly approaches.	Everything looks just fine. Junior is smaller than average at this point, but the doctors don't seem surprised or concerned.
Week 33	6th December	Nursery milestone! The SX is replaced with a family sized car.	It had to happen, the SX was too small for anything other than two adults and a little luggage. It was traumatic, but the new X-Trail is great!
Week 33	7th December	Another milestone hit! The cot and feeding chair come home.	The new X-Trail allows us to bring bulky things home now. Including, eventually, a baby from the hospital. hmmm ...that reminds me... baby capsule....hmmm...
Week 34	11th December	Milestone! Mum and Dad give us a really nice Baby Capsule/Seat for the car.
Week 34	11th December	A baby checkup called a... OK, I can't remember what it's called. It measures the baby's movements to make sure Junior is active enough.	The test proves that baby is moving around very well. (like we couldn't have just told them that!) Looks like Junior is progressing very nicely - but is small.
Week 35	18th December	Weekly CTG and AFI. Close monitoring of baby	Tests to monitor size and condition of baby
Week 35	20th December	Gavin gets crafty and builds the change-table for the nursery.
Week 36	24th December	At Gyno for more observations. Baby is smaller than expected at 37 weeks	Reasons to be alert but not alarmed.
Christmas Eve	24th December	Midnight	1 pressy teaser only
Christmas Day	25th December	It's tradition- Chocolates and books, and the Christmas stocking at the end of the bed. Christmas Lunch with Louisa's Uncle in Geelong	Louisa is off and running first thing sunrise, but Bowman's are harder to get started. see piccies.
Week 37	26th December	Huge cleanup in spare room, now its really starting to look like a nursery.	see piccies.
Week 37	30th December	Had an ultrasound, CTG, AFI and a chat with the Ob-Gyn. CTG: Cardio Tachograph AFI: Amnionic Fluid Index	The jury's in, and they reckon it's time for Junior to make a show. We're booked in for an induction. Louisa's not happy with the idea of the pharmacological roller-coaster coming up. Gotta get the nursery finished now, in a hurry - like ... next week! Spent that evening painting the cot, assembling the baby bath and put the car seat in the X-Trail at 10.30pm.
Week 37	New Years Eve / New Years Day	Great time in excellent company - superb hosts, incredible food!	mmmmmm... ribs and prawns....
Week 37	1st January 2004	New Years Day and we've finally got the nursery done!
Week 38	3rd January	Another CTG and AFI	We'll also do a dress rehersal for the trip to hospital. Thanks to 'Nanny' for sewing nursing-gown and Gerry and Kelly for premmy baby wear.
Week 38	5th January	Today we go to the hospital at 3pm for the 'gel' at 4pm. Then we sit around for a couple of hours while Louisa is on the CTG test machine, then we see what happens from there...	Maybe we go home tonight and go back to the hospital at 7.30 am tomorrow - or maybe the gel will kick the whole sheebang off.
Week 38	Tuesday 6th January 2004	We go to the hospital, the doctors work some modern (chemical) magic - and Junior will have arrived!
	Wed, 21st Jan	Estimated Due Date (ha! yeah - right!...)	Was the 26th of January - but it got adjusted after the following checkups and ultrasounds. I guess this is the start of us planning less and reacting more... Update: Forget the planning, the EDD is right out the window now!

Last Updated: 15/01/06 - Reorganised picture directories and links. Added navigation.


Louisa let me 'discover' the teddies discussing the potential addition to the family	Ultrasound from 18th July	Ultrasound from 18th July	Portrait of Louisa at about 11 weeks (or so)

Gavin assembling the new stroller	The stroller is given a trial run with the test-crash dummy (volunteer)	Louisa and Gavin at about 16 weeks	Escher at about 17 weeks... umm I mean Escher on Louisa at about 17 weeks.

The doc was a bit stingy with the photos this time around - so these are photos of the TV playing the video we got. This is a full shot of Junior, who decided to hide upside down for the visit.	This is a neat trick of the ultrasound, showing blood flow and direction through the heart. Red for up-screen and Blue for down-screen. This kids got plenty of 'ticker'!	Then the doc zoomed in a little and brought up this. It kinda goes "Bish-bish-bish-bish..." ...kinda...	Junior was moving around a lot, so this is one of the better looks we got at little feet. That's five toes at the bottom of the screen.

Here's another full shot of Junior. (a little blurry, sorry) "Smile, Junior! Smile!"	Strangely enough, Louisa has found that much of her wardrobe doesn't fit anymore. So we've been enjoying the shopping opportunities around Melbourne lately. This is a nice little number with enough give that should last for at least a few more months.	Just a shot of Louisa at the Botanic Gardens, near the Sydney Myer bowl. We had just spent the day looking and test driving 'family' cars.	Louisa at a friends place one evening. The new red top shows off 'the bump' proudly.

I get in on the act. Louisa's 'bump' is not so visible here. (and the suit covers mine as well) :)	So then we go shopping for a cot... We look around a bit...	Actually, we look around a lot. A lot 'o' cot!	But, we have a winner! We decide that we'll buy it white and paint it ourselves to suit our nursery ideas.

Anybody who has ever accused cats of not being affectionate, has never met Escher. Good shot of the 'bump'!	Louisa and 'Junior' at, ummm... (add 3 and carry the four...) about 24 weeks.	We took a road trip down to Apollo Bay. Stayed at Cape Otway lighthouse. More photos here... (Louisa at 26 weeks)	We're painting up the chest of drawers and the bookshelves for the nursery. The weather has not been helping lately though.

A quick snap of Louisa at 29-30 weeks.	Liz visited for a week in November and brought a present for Junior.	The moment I saw it I immediately thought of an episode of 'The Simpsons'	...and so 'JubJub' was duly christened. He and Escher seems to get on well.

We went to the night markets at the Victoria Markets. Louisa tried out one of the hammocks. Getting out was fun.	On Friday we had another ultrasound to check on "Junior's" progress. This shot is amazing. You can see a little face here. Mouth, nose and eyes tightly shut.	Another ultrasound. A profile shot of "Junior". Chin, lips, nose, and forehead are clearly visible. Baby's hand is above the forehead.	Then, on Saturday, the day had arrived.

The process had to be worked through...	...	...	...

...	"So, tell us all about it, Gavin!!!"	...	...

...	Trish gave us this beautiful hand made blanket/rug. It is so soft! Somehow I suspect it may get called "Blanky".	While Mum and Dad were down we had an early Christmas dinner. Great roast pork and vegies!	Mum bought a cute center-piece for the table for some fun. Meet 'Rusty Reindeer'.

They also insisted on contributing to the rise of the Dynasty. So they shouted us the car seat we could now get for the car.	It fits perfectly and looks great! Thanks Mum and Dad!	I get to use a router! So cool!	Also, it results in a nice change table for the nursery. Bought the mattress and made the base.

We're kinda in a transition stage here - between spare room a nursery.	Christmas Eve - well, 5 minutes into Christmas.	Christmas morning and Weis gets her stocking.	Gav gets a kewl T-Shirt and some good books.

Escher gets into the Christmas spirit	Escher's present - Yay! A new toy!	Christmas lunch was in Geelong with Vernon	We co-ordinated Christmas via phone link-up from Geelong to Canberra.

Had a great Christmas with Vernon.	This is the most recent ultrasound of Junior. Thats Juniors face on the right - think of a pink torch being shone on a baby's face from above.	Had a great breakfast on New Years Day	Then finished the cot... with some help...

...and assembled it!	Now to decorate the nursery! The baby mat comes from the Lamaze range of educational toys. They have a great range!	How cute is this fish bowl ?!? A great Christmas present for Junior from Nanny and Gramps	One view of the mostly completed nursery. Only some small final touches to be done now.
		(No picture)
Another shot of the nursery	Gav and the porta-cot, a gift from Vernon. In the bassinet of the cot is the cute white bunny that Trish sent down for Junior.	The colours for the nursery is mango, grape and lime. The principle theme is animal/insect/wildlife	Big thanks to Mum/Mrs B for the gown! That'll get a lot of use in the hospital!

That's what you get for being prepared and fore-warned... now with hours before we go to the hospital... we're waiting...	and waiting...	...and then we're off! Might be back this evening, might not be.