7 months & Kate's wedding

6 months

Length: 69cm
Weight: 8.8kgs

By Francis Thompson and William Blake

Know you what it is to be a child? ... It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, - for each child has a fairy god-mother in his/her own soul; it is to live in a nutshell and count yourself the king/queen of infinite space; it is:
To see the World in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A video diary of Amandinho from 3 to almost 6 months.

4 months

Weight: 7.2kgs
Heigth: 66cms

2-3 months

This past month was mostly spent with Amandinho's avos who doted over him and made my days much easier. He went on the plane for the first time to Krabi, behaving exceptionally well which is very much in keeping with his good humoured spirit. He rarely cries, except when he is hungry and then he is unconsolable. Mornings are my favourite time of day as he always wakes up with a huge smile and then spends some time lying on the bed between both of us, talking, laughing and playing. Last month we managed to establish a routine which suits all of us: (feedings at 6am,9am,12,4pm,8pm and 11pm... having baths at 8:30 in the mornings and 7.30 in the evenings) meaning that we reduced the number of feedings from 7 to 6 per day. Sleepless nights are a thing of the past now as he sleeps from 9ish to 6am, with only one bottle feed at 11pm during which he usually doesn't wake up.. only enought to suck on the bottle :-) Of course, as is natural in a sleeping cycle, he wakes up a few times at night, but now doesn't need me to fall asleep again. We've been training him to fall asleep alone after his evening bath to get him used to this. He is also not afraid to lie in his cot or plaly on his own, which I think is a real blessing!

3 months: 63cm and 6.8kgs

He is developing very well and during his monthly check up the doctor was impressed with the muscles in his legs (he doesn't stop kicking!!) and the strength of his neck. He is extremely alert, actively plays, responds to voices, repeats sounds, uses both hands, can hold his own bottle, has found his feet, rolls to one side, is now used to lying on his stomach, pushes himself around his playmat with his feet and is constantly in a good mood and smiling! Lucky or what!! :-)
He has taken to sucking his hands though and I often find him trying to push both fists into his little mouth, which I am trying to stop. Every time I say 'A Mama ralha' (mama will get angry) he quickly removes them .. which is funny to see. However, his Papa doesn't seem to mind and even encourages him by letting him slober on his arm! Funny to see how he can already distinguish what he can get away with with each parent. Despite my efforts not to let him use his dummy too much, he has started needing it to fall asleep and asks for it often during the day (something that sneaked in while his grandparents were here). Now, I have 'settled on an agreement' with him that he can use it to fall asleep at night time only when he is alone in his bed. I always take it with me for emergencies if we are out in public and he starts acting up.. though, I have never really needed it as he always acts like the angel that he is :-)
This may seem a bit odd, with my little rules and routines.. but well, no 1. I am Dutch (need organisation! LOL!).. No, I strongly believe that it is good to have some structure to make life easier for all of us (ie. not have a screaming baby on our hands if he is alone, one that needs to be carried to fall asleep, dependent on a dummy to be calm, wakes up and needs constant attention at night etc). So far it is working really well.. though I don't know if that is thanks to what I am doing, or that he is just a really good baby. Either way, I am in love and really enjoy his personality for now - independent, social, intelligent, playful, understanding, tender but with very masculine and strong manner and movements.... and most of all extremely determined!

Click here and here and here to see some photos of the third month of his life.


http://www.dailymotion.com/user/footprint-s/video/xaf8oi_15-to-3months_people
link to a video diary I made of his life from 1.5 - 3 months.

1-2 Months

1 month: 56cms + 4.6 kgs
2 months: 60cms + 5.7kgs

He spent most of this month with his Oma and Opa Sprangers and travelled by car to Pattaya. He didn't sleep through the night, having two feedings at 2am and 5am which was torture for me :-(. He learnt how to do many exercises from his Oma and didn't stop kicking his legs. He started seeing us at the end of this month and trying to reach out to toys (the red monkey in his crib was the first one he touched). His smiles while sleeping developed into full blown smiles very early on, delighting everyone around him. BAthing time was fast becoming his favourite time of day as he learnt that kicking led to water being splashed out of the tub and onto his mama :-) He loved being held by papa in a belly down (monkey) position on his arms. Mama tried desperately this month to put some kind of routine to make him distinguish days from nights. My main aim was to keep him upstairs in the bedroom after his evening bath. Previously, we had always taken him downstairs to be with us if he cried and only really went to bed when we did at 11/12. Then, naturally he slept a lot during the day (which didn't help me, cause I find that impossible, no matter how tired I feel). The doctor suggested using a dummy to help keep him quiet at night time (had some cholics at the end of his first month)which I agreed to, but was also wary of as I hate seeing babies who cannot calm themselves without sucking on one.
What was cool this month is that Oma,Mama and Amandinho all had 31 years between them (62,31 and 0 respectively which is also double our ages) that is until Oma had her birthday on 2nd June and Mama on 30th July.

See link below:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124825&id=725682937&l=f8b0dbdf91
Photos

D- Day

After a restless sleep, at 6:00 am the alarm clock marked the beginning of the day when Amandio Gabriel was born. Apprehensive yet strangly calm, I went through the motions of preparing for our departure to the hospital. The taxi ride there was excruciating. I hated that we were sitting in morning traffic when we could already be there and starting the process of finally getting to meet our son. With a cheery 'good luck' from the nurses in the Fertility reception area as we passed by, we entered the labour room. The staff there sprang into action, urine test, blood pressure check, temperature, blood tests, hospital gown on, IV inserted and hooked up to the fetal heartrate and contraction monitor. Lying in the bed with Amandio sitting beside me, the labour process was induced. 60ml.. then 80 mil of oxytocin. Wham.. my stomach tightened, sharp pains but still manageable when I focused on my breathing. I distracted myself successfully by reading 'Country Living' magazine and its peaceful garden photos and beautiful home renovation projects transported me to a very calm place.. which particularly helped when the time between each contraction shortened to 2minutes and the pain intensified. After almost five hours of this, I decided to lie down to get some rest (relatively speaking!) to conserve my energy for delivery. Imagine my letdown when after 10 hours of battling with the pain and being 'courageous' knowing that the end would come and was worth it, when the doctor informed us that I was still only 1cm dilated. Knowing of my preference for natural birth, he suggested we continue for another few hours to see how things progress. However, when I questioned him in detail about what he anticipated would happen, we decided to throw all my notions of natural birth and its benefits out the window and not delay the birth any longer. The doctor thought that at that rate I could be in labour for at least another 10 hours, but still may only reach 8cm max.. by which point the baby could be so distressed (my blood pressure soaring) that we would have to go for c-section anyway. Put that way..operating room!! I insisted on showering first..I guess as a kind of way to mark the end of one idea/stage and prepare for a new one. 15 minutes later the operating team was ready. Then, lower body numb, legs like heavy rocks, suction sounds, kisses from Amandio (who was wonderful and not at all phased by what was going on), eight hands on my abdomen, a heavy pushing feeling on my stomach (people say this lasts only a few seconds.. well, for me it was two minutes cause the doctor had been so careful to make a small incision that it took four people to push the baby out) and out he popped. FIrst thing I heard wasn't his cry but 'look at his big scrotum'! LOL! Needless to say, I know of someone who was pleased :-) Then, came the cry... weird feeling but beautiful too. The doctor placed Amandinho next to my head, photos were taken. The whole thing was magical, but in a surreal sense (hard to describe really as it all happened in a total of 15 minutes with plenty of jovial chatter in the room - hard to take it all in. I did feel my eyes well up when I saw him and it was probably Amandio's face while looking at his son that touched me most. For him it must have been easier to really 'live' the experience.

One of my concerns about c-section was the fact that I would only see Amandinho again after two hours in recovery and one hour in my room. This posed a huge problem for me and was one of the main things we discussed with the doctor prior to making the decision to go ahead with the surgery. It is proven that a baby who doesn't start breastfeeding within half an hour of the birth may have problems with breastfeeding. True to his word, the doctor made sure that as an exception Amandinho could be taken to me in recovery (depending on my condition of course). I requested them to 'send me to sleep' while they sewed up my insides as the feeling made me extremely nauseas. I woke up to find hands and faces above me, holding Amandinho to my breast which was being poked and squeezed at vigorously. It was actually quite comical :-) I just went with the flow, all inhibitions lost.

So, Master (the title printed on his Birth Cert and all other hospital documents)Amandio Gabriel Martins was born on Tuesday, May 19th, at 18:37 with the 11th Waning moon in the year of the Ox (also on his Birth Cert!). He weighed 3.43Kgs and measures 52cms.

Pre-eclampsia

It is official.. my pregnancy-induced hypertension has now a high risk of becoming pre-eclampsia with traces of protein in my urine and blood pressure of 160/192. This is a disease occuring soley in 8-10% of end of term pregnancies and can be quite dangerous to both the mother and baby. The only known treatment is delivery (to rid the body of the placenta). It is related to a condition within the placenta which restricts blood flow and thus reduces oxygen and food supply to the baby. In my case it is only mild, but nonetheless the doctor is concerned because during the stress of labour it is likely to worsen. Therefore, the delivery date has been set - Tuesday 19th May - if it doesn't occur naturally prior to that day. Having a good look at my cervix today though indicates that this isn't likely to happen tomorrow.. but we are leaving a window of two days open for it to occur naturally.. hence the wait. This is due to the fact that though my cervix has softened and thinned (2cm to 1cm), it still hasn't lifted from a posterior to an anterior position nor has it started to dilate. The more time given for this to progress naturally, the easier labour could be.
How do I feel? Quite relieved to finally have a date to look forward to and definitely more relaxed. At the same time, I am sure that on Monday evening it'll be difficult to sleep in anticipation of what is to come. Sometimes it is better not to know .. :-). We have to be there at 7a.m and the doctor predicts that, provided there are no complications (blood pressure, oxygen levels) it could all be over in 8 hours. He will be keeping a watchful eye on the pre-eclampsia symptoms and did warn us that we may need to do c-section if labour doesn't progress as it should. I'm fine with this.. all notions of natural birth for me have blown out the window.. I just want our baby - with the least trauma possible :-)
As for the date, for some reason I was fixed on the 18th.. no real reason why, but it just 'felt right'. I like the fact that our baby will be Taurus and also the Chinese year of the Ox (highly compatible with Leos and the year of the Snake which both Amandio and I are).. of course, I don't read into astrology all that much but I do find it interesting. Amandio, forever the 'numbers man', made an interesting observation too; the 19th lies exactly in the middle of both his birthday (08th) and mine (30th) meaning that 11days separate all three of us. What is he like!!? In addition, 9 is also the luckiest number in Thailand. Right, now we know - Amandio Gabriel is due on 19-05-2009.

The journey so far

journey so far
Video sent by footprint-s

From 13-08-08 to 14-05-09

The above is a link to a movie I made with all the photos and ultrasounds from conception to now (lol.. I am bored of waiting!).

Did I mention that I am ready!?? All the baby clothes are washed and ironed, the bedding in the craddle, the nappies and all the baby products in place on the changing table, my hospital bag packed and mentally geared up for labour.

Amandio bought me three South Sea pearls (silver white) for the birth from a wholesaler/ jewel trader colleague friend. Despite 'birth presents' being a tradition in his family, I wasn't expecting anything seeing as we already invested a lot in the IVF treatment and I had already received the blue sapphire ring at the beginning of the pregnancy. My sweety had saved for it though and of course I was very chuffed! The next surprise was that I had to go to our jewellers and design the ring itself. That was fun and I am sooo pleased with the result. Now I just have to wait until I can actually wear it.. another reason (though, of course, not the main one) for Amandio Jr. to make an appearance!

Most of these past two weeks I have spent my time 'nesting' a medical term coining the period when the mother organises her house and decorates etc. In my case, I am permanently in this condition as I love making home :-) Preparing my parents room did take up quite a lot of my time. I had nothing else much to do anyway and as I was feeling good and mostly energetic, browsing through fabric shops (in the end I designed an embroidery pattern on Thai silk to create a frame and hang above the bed), bedding departments, plant nurseries etc was a perfect way to pass the time. I've also continued teaching private students at home and completed Season 6 of 24.

Still waiting...38.5weeks

The past three weeks my blood pressure readings have been high.. reaching a peak last Saturday of 153/80 along with low iron levels (slight anaemia). This coupled with two days of severe headaches last week has caused slight concern that I may have pregnancy-induced hypertension, which can happen at the end of term. The fact that the lower reading is still below 85 and that I don't have any signs of protein in my urine makes it less worrying (it isn't pre-eclampsia). However, we are watching this carefully and I did a NST test to monitor the fetal heartbeat and movement over one hour. Thankfully, the baby is healthy. During this test, the monitor also picked up on pre-labour contractions spaced 25 minutes apart!! This was very exciting and I could really feel them. Our doctor was also visibly pleased and expressed that he wouldn't be surprised if things didn't happen in the next week. Previously, I had been having the Braxton Hicks contractions which were more subtle and erratic. These were definitely stronger (to ripen the cervix) and continued for the rest of that day and into the night. Naturally, I started getting excited but knew to remain calm and just go about things normally as they could be false. The frustrating thing about these pre-labour contractions is that you never know if they are early-labour or false/pre-labour contractions until they actually stop! The best thing to do apparantely, is to change activity, but that night it didn't help - pretty persistant. I went to bed, keeping my head, knowing that even if they were real there was still a long road ahead and the best thing to do was to try and get some rest to prepare. That night, all signs pointed towards the coming of our baby. Imagine this, a full moon (which has strong significance in that both me and my brother were born on a full moon) and a raging thunderstorm, torrential rain and an orchestra of frogs outside my window. The whole scene was so dramatic, it just fitted perfectly with the exciting magic of childbirth. My bag was packed...
I woke up at 2:00am to go to the bathroom only to discover that the baby had changed his mind. This has been going on now every day this week, making the waiting game next to impossible! I feel ready now. Another thing is that my Vietnamese friend had her baby last week (36+ weeks) by c-section. She suffered a lot of pain in her pelvis when the baby dropped and decided to bring back her scheduled operation date from the 18th to 8th, despite doctors wanting her to wait a few more days. I suppose the fact that she is more petite in build and hadn't been doing any exercise throughout her pregnancy made the pain unbearable for her. We went to see the baby the same day as our doc visit.. well, I just want to have mine now :-)
The plan is that if by next Saturday I still haven't gone into labour, my blood pressure continues to be high, and the baby's weight is still the same or decreasing, we may need to induce. Only time will tell...

The Countdown

What was probably one of the easiest pregnancies has developed a few 'minor' (not sure yet) complications. Admittedly, getting pregnant in the first place was more of an ordeal for us with hormone injections and surgical proceedures. Therefore, I guess it was only fair that I didn't suffer from much nausea, and completely avoided vomitting, embarrassing flatulence, linea negra, hair growth, skin rashes, vaginal infections, body swelling, gestational diabetes, stomach upsets, cravings, ligament pains, major discomfort when sleeping etc.. and despite a 20kg weight gain (57-77kgs), my face, arms and legs look the same as before. Naturally, my stomach is big as are my upper thighs and hips.

The sudden drop in the position of the baby onto my pelvis alerted us to the approach to the final stretch. It was actually quite a relief to have more room for my lungs to fill properly and made finding a comfortable sleeping position much easier. It also meant that there is now more pressure on my pelvis and bladder again - night time bathroom visits have increased again. Another indication was the onset of slight contractions 'Braxton Hicks' to prepare my muscles for labour. I have also been religiously doing my pelvic muscle exercises to strengthen them.
Increased tiredness and the urge to go to bed early may also be a sign. I have continued swimming but less regularly and with less effort - enjoying the buoyancy more than anything else.

The past few weeks the frequency of visits to the doctor have also increased from once every three weeks/month to every week. I have been using these as a chance to ask all the questions I have about childbirth and his policy on labour. What I like is that he only administers the epidural when I request it and only minimal levels which can be regulated according to my pain. That way I can still feel the contractions and be actively involved in labour. Mobile epidurals are also standard here (I can still move about as it doesn't paralyse my lower body and I am attached to an IV). Episotomies are also not practised prior to delivery. It is a last minute decision made during crowning if the doctor sees that the head is too big and tearing will occur. Fingers crossed that neither one nor the other will happen.

The complications are related to my high blood pressure readings of late and further tests tomorrow will shed more light on the problem. Next post...

4D Ultrasound in colour

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/footprint-s/video/x91ad6_amandinho_people?hmz=7461626d656d626572

This was done on the 10th March.. 29weeks 1 day pregnant and probably one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen. It is amazing what today's technology can actually do. Imagine to be able to see your child in motion and colour inside the womb. Watching him slowly move his fingers, his hands across his face, his feet pushing against my womb was like magic. It really started hitting home that there is a living thing growing inside me.
As for the medical side of things.. our baby is big! 0.5kgs heavier than he should be :-) If he keeps growing on the same curve he will be over 4kgs at birth.. yikes! This means that the expected arrival date (according to the ultrasound) is a week earlier, 15th May, than the gestational calculation, 23rd May.
Thankfully the doctor thinks I will still be okay for natural birth. Interestingly, here it is more common for women (rich Asians or expats) to have cesareans. Most of my students and even friends are surprised to learn that I want a natural birth. I guess in modern times, convenience prevails over tradition.. and setting a date for birth is probably less of a headache (and of course less painful) than waiting for labour. Breastfeeding is the same. Despite all the obvious benefits and for me the special bonding of breastfeeding, most opt for formula feeding from the onset. My Vietnamese friend, who is also pregnant, has a completely different outlook on childbirth - cesarean, formula, nanny taking care of baby - but then again, culture and our differences make life interesting :-)

Amandio Gabriel Martins

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.