We're Back Online with a New Addition!

Ok so you may have noticed that it was a little over ONE YEAR AGO that I last blogged and being a self-confessed social networking junkie, this absolutely unforgivable. BUT, I can redeem myself a little bit by referring you to http://www.cancerfightingjourney.blogspot.com/ where we documented our fundraising cycle from Cape Town to JHB in December last year. So I haven't been all that lazy!

So some highlights over the last 12 months include camping and rafting down the Orange River over Easter, selling a new car and buying an older car (my husband has strange thoughts), many trips up to JHB and Seychelles for business, partying at Mzoli's in Gugulethu for Jaco's 27th Birthday, Christie resigning from PAG after 4 years and starting at Frost & Sullivan, a growth consulting company, sailing with Jaco's folks at Saldhana Bay up the West Coast, hiking up Table mountain, some crazy cycling trips including a 360kms return trip to Hermanus in 2 days and many many more fun and adventurous things!

So you are probably wondering why I would be so interested in getting back to my blogging NOW??? Well, I thought I’d tell you a little story about what happens when your husband stops cycling, starts drinking wine and staying up late – especially on his birthday! In a nutshell, conception happens which as you know leads to pregnancy! So the big news is that I am 10 weeks pregnant. Our lives changed that one fateful night on 26th August without us even knowing about it. And what an unexpected surprise that was!

I thought something was suspicious when, between me changing jobs, I had a week off and we went to my parents in law’s farm. It was 10am in the morning and suddenly I was so exhausted that I had to go back to bed. Jaco didn’t know what to do with himself so he ended up mowing the lawn, baking bread, sending a few emails and washing the dogs just to pass time. Then on the way home that afternoon, I suddenly felt very nauseous which I thought unusual. This continued until the next day, which happened to be the first day of my new job! Goodness, not a great time to suspect that you are pregnant! I decided to have a blood test at Vincent Palloti Hospital just to make sure that I wasn’t making it up. They said I could phone the next day to find out the results. I definitely couldn’t wait that long and managed to get the 24 hour number for the laboratory itself and said I’d phone them after 3 hours. So, later that evening, Jaco and I sat together on the couch with the phone in between our 2 heads and called them.

‘Yes’, they said, ‘your blood count is 35,600.’

Huh?? What does that mean?’

It means you’re 4 weeks pregnant. Congratulations!’

SILENCE.

Nervous laugh from Jaco.

‘Are you serious?’

Nervous laugh from Christie, gasp and hand over mouth.

Oh wow! What have we done!!

So it has taken a little while to get used to the idea and it is slowly sinking in. Jaco was in denial at first and said he’d only believe it when he could see the baby and hear its heartbeat. Last Friday, the scan showed us a perfectly healthy baby and only 1 of them which disappointed Jaco a little since he was hoping for twins! They measured the fetus from head to tail (literally) and the measurement indicated that I was 9 weeks and 4 days pregnant. The healthy heart rate of 166 beats per minute was a good sign and rumour has it that higher heart rates indicate it’s a girl – but who knows!

We were very fortunate to have the whole Schonfeldt family down in Franschoek last weekend and were able to finally break the news! Do you know how hard it is to keep such a secret from everyone for 9 weeks? It nearly killed me! At dinner that evening, Jaco asked to make a toast, in which he mentioned that he was very pleased to have all THREE generations of family round one table! Of course, my family was a bit slow to realize that only 2 generations were actually sitting round the table and after a while they corrected Jaco. But he dug his heels in and firmly said there were 3 generations which left everyone a little puzzled. I just couldn’t hold it in any longer and blurted it out!! With screams and tears, they all jumped up and squealed and oohed and aaahed – it was so lovely to receive such a delightful response!




So this pregnant fairy already has a small boep, bigger boobs and the biggest appetite ever, with me having to eat every 2 hours! I’ve also been experiencing ‘evening’ sickness rather than morning sickness, have no motivation to do any exercise and just love my bed too much these days!

Amazing to think that little baba is now the size of a Labello and has the ability to kick, swallow and move (although I cannot feel anything). The structure of the brain is complete, although the cells continue to multiply. The palate of the mouth is forming and tooth sockets have formed in the gums. The stomach and intestines are developed and the muscles of the digestive tract are functional and starting to contract. We won’t know the sex of the baby yet as the genitals are not fully formed yet but male and female characteristics are starting to show. The little one is floating in about 50ml of amniotic fluid as she continues grow, but this will start to increase as the baby excretes urine. I am amazed at all the activity happening inside of me while I go about my daily life. Thank you Lord that you are in control and I can be assured of a perfect little baby ……….(sex to be inserted here soon!).