It IS a boy.. despite all my maternal instincts telling me it was a girl (or maybe that was a subconsious wish). We are both delighted.. this ultrasound was done December 18th, the day prior to leaving to Portugal. He (yes, now I can say.. he) was 17wks and three days at the time. This is an 'areal' view and his head, left arm and hand, right leg and part of right arm are visible. VEEERY prominent is his 'member' which truthfully was an image that came up numerous times in dreams and thoughts while adjusting. Not that there was much 'adjusting' to be done of course, I had just been visualising a girl :-) This ultasound was a screening prenatal test for several diseases and deformaties, taking 45 minutes in total, with plenty of prodding and close scrutinisation of all his organs and limbs. No cleft lip.. check, good nucal density.. check, 4 heart chambers.. check ..and so it continued. The next ultrasound will be in a month and will be in 3D!! isn't technology impressive! We have decided to name him Amandio Gabriel Martins. Yeah, I know.. Amandio the THIRD! Thankfully, I do like the name and also am very relieved that it is a rare name in Portuguese too. Of course, Amandio 1st was very chuffed too. Gabriel, because I love the name and also see this baby as a miracle.. so why not a name of an Archangel.. it seems appropriate. Amandinho (as we affectionally called him - diminutive), though unborn, seems to already be the centre of attention.. well, in Portugal anyway. Of course, for my mother he is a big novelty.. the first grandchild.. and me, the pregnant daughter was also a source of constant belly feeling and observing my changing body. Filipe, our nephew spent his days asking what Amandinho was doing at that moment, sleeping? eating? or smothering my belly (him) with kisses. Amandio 2nd is also enjoying feeling his son kicking (quite violently in bed at night), convincing him that we have a future football star on our hands!! The fact that he seems to respond to football games on tv doesn't help matters :-) Amandio does have a very soothing effect on him (both the touch of his hand and sound of his voice). 
Well, 'I' definitely ate for two over the holidays and my latest consultation this week proved as my doctor put it that "the Christmas holidays were GREAT". Erm... four kgs so far in the second trimester.. considering that I should only be putting on around 6kgs (I have five weeks left) it caused a few alarm bells to ring. I did overeat in Portugal and pigged out on all the deserts. I am now under strict orders to cut sugar out of my diet completely, especially in the lead up to a scheduled diabetes test in three weeks. It is actually quite easy.. just knowing that too much sugar can either lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) for me and most importantly either a baby that is too big or malnourished is enough to motivate me. So, I am back to freshly pressed fruit and veg juices and natural yoghurt with pumpkin, oat, flax cereal in the mornings, tuna or broccoli or beetroot salad for lunch, wholegrain bread and egg/cheese/ham for snack and fish/meat and veg for dinner. Thankfully, you can't really see the weight I have put on as it is all concentrated around the belly area and now, slowly.. my breasts (finally.. I was starting to think that an increase in size was all just a myth! :-) Well, I think that is enough baby talk (it does seem to dominate conversations with friends too.. much as I try to focus on other things too.. but it is just all soooo exciting and 'beautiful'.... Will do an update on other subjects this weekend.
I just had to include a pic of my other babies.. Alex and Rafael, Sandra and Antonio's beautiful children :-)
And.. today Amandinho is 5months and 2 weeks old.
