We have moved. I am shattered. We have so much space we don't know what to do with ourselves just now. That will change as we get used to it no doubt we will think it cramped. It feels wonderful to have my things around me again we are using my bedframe and Simon's mattress in the 'master bedroom' as that's the best combination sir looks and comfort.

We've got so much space in the living room that we have my oversized sofa and simon's three piece suite spread out and we still have more than enough room for a dining room table and chairs if we had them. The danger is that we buy extra furniture to fill the space but we are only renting this house, there is no guarentee that we will buy anything with such big rooms

We are hard by a very busy road and in a small hamlet with bigger all aminties so it's not all perfect but it will more than do for the moment.

House Hunting

As regular readers will know we've been trying to sell our properties in order to buy something bigger and more suited to a family. And as every bugger knows, the bottom dropped out of the housing market last year, first time buyers either can't get a mortgage, worried about their jobs or keeping their powder dry until the market bottoms out.

Instead we decided to rent out our flats, we've got mine rented and the next step is to find somewhere for the 2 and a half of us to live before we rent out Simon's. We looked a great house today, a good size, with a garden, a dishwasher, two loos which is always good and a wood burner in the living room which will be great at Christmas. It isn't where I would want to live long term as it is in the countryside rather than urban bustle that is King's Lynn but we just wouldn't get the same space in 'Lynn. There are just some temporary transport niggles to square away, we know now we can do it, it's just how and then I think we'll say yes please on Monday.

Health In Pregnancy Grant

I had another midwife appointment today, everything is tickity boo so nothing to report. However as a public information notice for almost everyone who lives in Britain and is thinking of popping a sprog after the 6th April 09; there is a new one off grant called the Health In Pregnancy Grant - it’s a one off payment of £190, not means tested, or taxable and there is much more information about it on the Revenue's website. Health In Pregnancy

The Inauguration

photo from Boston.com

I can't remember an inauguration that has caused so much excitement and good feelings, especially here in the UK where we tend to be interested, often very interested, in the goings on of American politics but not fussed about the pomp and ceremony side of it. The BBC had almost as many correspondants covering the event as they did the Olympics last year.

Obama has a hell of a job on his hands to restore US financial fortunes and to get out of Iraq with dignity intact and it not all turning into a nastier mess that it already is. I don't think that all the US forces will be withdrawing though, I doubt they will be handing over all those multi million dollar bases that have been built in the last 5 years quite so quickly.

He has many things that he needs to look at; Gitmo, Afghanistan, healthcare system, infrastructure, education, international relations the list is possibly endless.

I feel very chuffed about Barack's win, I remember seeing him on CNN during the 2004 Democratic convention and boy did he shine, he just oozed charisma, intelligence and that wow I-want-to-be-able-for-you factor, but even then I thought, he won't be able to become president because he's black. I am so glad that I was so wrong.

21 week scan

I had my 21 week scan today, I’ve not got a picture to show you I’m afraid, as Junior was being non co-operate and was most definitely not presenting his or her best side to the ultrasound. Because the baby was lying in an awkward position the ultrasound operator was not able to get all the measurements she wanted so I have to go back in 2 weeks time for another go at it.

The operator tried to get Jr to move into a more “photogenic” position, first she made me lie on my right side then on my left, finally she had me lie flat again. She raised the foot end of the bed I was on by about 10 degrees which did feel odd and even with all this maternal movement it still didn’t make the baby turn over though it did wiggle its head.

What she did measure was good and I am not worried. I have to go back in a fortnight, if they had any concerns they would not let me wait a fortnight before having a second opinion. We got to see Junior's face full on, although I am gearing up to be Jr's doting mother right now my future offspring looks like an alien as filmed on the camera that Armstrong and Aldrin used to send live pictures back to Earth.

We saw the baby wave its arms about like a good un and the hands moves and the toes, Simon says basically my child was doing an impression of me and refusing to turn over when prodded.

The heart was beating merrily away but she couldn’t do all the measurements she wanted on it, as the spine was in the way. And it stayed like that because Jr wouldn't move even with all my shifting about. So as I said I've got to go back in a fortnight. I think I might have a full fat, caffeine soaked espresso before my scan.

Baby on the Move

Finally I felt junior move and more than once, so it wasn’t wind. It is a most odd feeling, like being gently kneaded from the inside. Just as I was beginning to think I was having a sloth, due to the lack of movement.

Odd Side Effects

I had my six monthly check up for my glaucoma today. I seem to be developing a strong aversion to the fields test machine they use at the hospital, the eye nurse did her best to be reassuring but I my stress levels rose as I was doing the test. It makes me feel claustrophobic and I find the beeps and whirling unsettling, which makes it harder to do the test which means it takes more time and so I have to listen to more bleeps and whirls and stick my head into a machine that makes me feel claustrophobic for longer and so it goes in an unvirtuous circle.

After the field test and a quick and dirty eye test I saw the consultant. I immediately had to fess up to have been bad about using my eye drops recently, erm like not actually have taken them for the last *cough* two and a half months. Anyway I didn't get slapping from the consultant but after he checked the pressure in each eye he asked me how pregnant I was. Then he spent a while consulting his bumper big book of medicines which probably did not give him much assurance. He told me that as the pressure in each eye was just borderline high that it would be best to carry on without treatment for the moment and he would check the pressure again in about ten weeks time.

It's good that the pressure in the eye seems to have dropped for now, because as far as I am aware there aren't any recommended treatments for glaucoma that have been checked for side effects in pregnancy, that doesn't mean that they are necessarily unsafe it's just they do not have evidence to say that they are definitely safe. And that's because most glaucoma sufferers are far older than I am and there isn't really a need for checking against pregnancy. The first consultant I saw back when my glaucoma was diagnosed told me this when I told him that we were hoping to start a family once we were married.

Hopefully next time I will not have to stick my head into the fields machine. And the time after next Simon will have to look after Junior I don't think he'll complain too much unless he's stuck in a meeting.

Testing testing

1... 2... 3...

Trying out a blogging app on my iPod Touch. It is a thing of loveliness my iTouch and the app works off line as well which means you might get a few more blogs from me this year as I'll be able to write down stuff as the blogging groove grabs me.



-- Post From My iPod

Happy New Year

Sorry I have not blogged in a while, for once it has not been blog ennui but rather because we have been rat arsed busy and I've not had the time/energy to do so. It has been all I can do to read other people's blogs and occasionally think of a pithy one liner, let alone conjure up several paragraphs for my own blog.

With the current lack of decent mortgages available to first time buyers and the increasing uncertainty a lot of people have about the jobs it is not surprising that we haven't been able to sell either of our flats so reluctantly we are heading down the renting them out and then finding somewhere for us to rent for when Junior makes an appearance. I say reluctantly because we would rather not have the faff of dealing with letting agents and the rest of the palaver. I've got a tenant moving in next week so we have spent all our time since the New Year getting it into a rentable state as opposed to a sellable state. It is now almost all over bar the carpet cleaning which we will do tomorrow, everything of mine is out of the flat except the white goods, a large bookcase and a step ladder which the tenant will need to change the light bulbs. Georgian building have high ceilings, the spiders get altitude sickness up there.