Meet Big Foot!

What a great way to end 3 months of pregnancy with meeting my new gynae at Kingsbury Life Hospital as well as our properly formed baby! We went for our second scan on Friday and this time it was an external ultra sound, not an internal scan like the first one. At first the Cronje’tjie seemed to be sleeping, lying on its back with its legs curled up and arm up with its fingers in its mouth (yes you can really see fingers and toes now!). The little muscle at the top of its big belly was pulsating steadily, indicating that he / she was alive and well. Gynae however was not satisfied with this inactivity and decided we needed to meet our little one while it was awake and moving around. She proceeded to press my stomach quite firmly to ‘wake’ it up. Oh wow! It started moving around and responding to my voice as I was speaking. It has the longest legs I have ever seen with big feet to match just like its mom! We saw it waving its arms and arching its back before turning on its side and settling down again to sleep. I think it was saying, ”Leave me alone while I have my morning nap.” It was so amazing to see it being so active (just like its dad), even though I couldn’t feel anything. I was inquisitive to know if we could tell the sex so the gynae kept pressing my tummy to see if it would open its legs. Did we see a boy?? Is that something between its legs? Sigh, just a big toe in the way!

Cronje'tjie chilling on its back sucking its thumb

So I’m 13 weeks tomorrow and very impatient to start growing and maturing this little Cronje’tjie inside me. My tummy is starting to show a little, but I think it’s just because I’ve stopped holding it in. I told Jaco that for 32 years of my life, I’ve had to hold my stomach in (I blame it on the Schonfeldt genes!) and now for once it can all hang out, much to his disgust. But I think he’s still fascinated by this tummy thing and some mornings places his ear on my belly to test if he can hear anything……….only to hear the sounds of it groaning for food. I think I’m growing an eating monster! Which I have no problem with, since I love food. But my husband has a problem with the two of us eating him out of house and home! I haven’t had any strange cravings yet, although I don’t enjoy chocolates or ice-cream…….which is VERY strange! Anything too creamy makes me feel ill. And the evening sickness is persisting but less so. I really hope that I’m on the home straight in that regard. However, I seem to be having the most bizarre and creative dreams which are so vivid and real. We always have a good giggle in the morning, when after waking up I recite the weird and wonderful stories that have been going on in my head during the night.


Luckily for me, but unluckily for Jaco, we happened to walk past a preggie shop, CherryMelon, in Canal Walk on the weekend while Christmas Shopping. We discovered that everything in the store was half price, so he was subjected to an hour long fashion show of me trying on preggie clothes with elastic stomachs. I must say, he was very good and just plonked himself down on the floor and patiently waited for me to parade around in my very comfortable and flattering preggie jeans and pants. So in preparation for the big bump, I ended up buying 3 pairs of pants and may even start wearing them before the big bump makes its appearance. There is nothing like being organised ……to the point where hubby has already bought himself a 2011 year planner! So hopefully our little one takes all the good traits from both his parents to become a good looking, intelligent, athletic, organised and long legged big foot!


Cronje’tjie is about the size of a peach now and its hands and feet are fully developed. The head is still relatively large and the face looks more human, with the eyes moving closing together and the ears where they should be. The baby is beginning to be quite active as messages pass from the spinal cord to the muscles. Little baba is also sprouting fine hair over his while body. The baby’s bone marrow, liver and spleen can produce red blood cells now.


Our next scan is booked just before we leave for the States on our month long holiday. I really hope we can find out the sex then so we can do some shopping while we’re away. In the meantime, Jaco has nicknamed the little one “Petronella”. I’m not sure where he got that from but I think it’s because he knows I’d love a little girl……just not with that name!