Ollie Phlrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ollie blowing raspberries in his little Star Trek uniform.
He is just over 4 months old now and has just discovered how to blow raspberries and its one of his favorite things to do, after eating his fingers.

My mom in Australia (2009)

Soon after we took Oliver Jack home my mom flew over from the Netherlands.
She stayed with us for 2 weeks and had a great time. Because Oliver was still very young we did not dare take him out yet. So one day I took my mom out to the city. It was going to be a full day. First we took the bus to Abbotsford and the Ferry to Circular Quay. I don't think there is a better way to enter Sydney CBD.
It was a nice day not too warm and not too cold but enough to get sunburnt. We then had a stroll around the Opera House and through the Royal Botanical Gardens.The fruitbats were all flying about. Which was great. Never seen so many fly around during the day other than at dusk. And of course, my mom had camera issues...something to do with the batteries. Fortunately we managed to work it out.
Then we walked back to the Opera House and I treated my mom to a glass of sparkling at the Opera Bar.

For some reason I did not think I would ever be there with her, showing her the restaurants Caroline and I have been to around Circular Quay, Aria, Cafe Sydney, Wildfire, Ocean Room to name a few. I would have liked to show her where we lived down Martin Place but knew we would not have the time. Maybe next time she comes back. Then we jumped back on the ferry and off to Darling Harbour. We walked around a bit and we sat outside for lunch at the Watershed Hotel and watched the world go by. And from there we went to the Sydney Wildlife World and Sydney Aquarium. This way she could at least encounter some of the exotic wildlife we have here in Australia before she had to go back home again.

After a Very Long Wait....

After a very long wait ...
 

Oliver Jack Thoma
"the Pea"

...entered our lives

and we can't wait to tell you a little bit more about him...

He was born:
17th of September 2009
At:18.15
Weighing: 4.585Kg / 10.11 Lbs
Measuring: 53.5 Cm

More after the jump

Pea Wk34

Today we went to the hospital for another look at Pea. This was mainly to see if the placenta had moved up as it was low-lying on our previous scans. Normally it will move up over time, but until it does, you don't know. If it had not moved on this scan Caroline would have needed bedrest until his birth.
Fortunately for her it is not low-lying and the Pea has grown alot since our last scan. Pea has grown so much that for the untrained eye, you could hardly see what you were looking at on the screen. He filled up so much of the screen. (This is why we dont have any new photos to show off.) All seemed well, all the measurements and things they check seemed to be okay. And again he would not show his face... Caroline also had a little shock, our little Pea is not soo little afterall. Apparently he is already quite a big boy. At the moment his weight is estimated to be around 3Kg!!! So he is doing well but so is Caroline. She has little discomforts here and there but overall she is doing great.

Now if you will excuse me I have 6 more weeks to get through.....

Instructions for the new Dad

The Pea 20wk

Yesterday we had another look at our Pea.
Because Pea is a very naughty pea, he was not in the right spot for the scan apparently.
And now we have to come back next week, hooray for another scan. Hopefully he will be well behaved then.

Foot and leg

Caroline is doing well as her tummy grows bigger and bigger. Pea what are you doing to your mother? Fortunately she has not had any discomfort with morning sickness or any other ailments. The only thing she does notice now is that she is a lot more tired in the evenings and that she is growing out of her clothes.

Spine and arm

Luckily for us I had my memory stick with me because the photo printer wasn't working at the RPA, I was able to download these onto it.

Update: The Pea was fine all fine at the 21 Week scan, unfortunately no other pictures from what we already had.

Week 16

The Pea is 13 weeks here and that means another scan. And since it is 3 months generally speaking all should be okay and you can announce the good news to the rest of the world. So when the dr said it all appeared good we soon told everyone. It was a weird feeling going back to work that afternoon with a big smile on my face. First I told my manager, when I asked to have a private conversation with him he thought I had been for a job interview and wanted to give my notice and he was pleasantly surprised when I told him we had just seen our unborn baby. Next it was my turn to tell everyone else. A bit hesitant at first...how often do you say you are going to be a dad,..... and the more I said it, the easier it became...... Anyhoo the 'secret' was out. Finally after 6-7 weeks of telling the occasional white lie.
Here Pea is finely looking more like a little person.

The Pea at 13 weeks

When you do the 13 week scan they measure the ambionic fluid in the baby's neck to detect if your baby possibly has Down Syndrome and it appeared not to be so in our case. With a relieved heart we left the hospital, pleased to have seen Pea.
The scan looked fine....however on Wednesday Caroline called me at work. Quite upset....I didn't know for sure what had happened....but knew I had to go home. Caroline received a call from a nurse at our hospital, a genetic counsellor. From the blood test they could tell we had an increased chance of Trisomy 18/Edwards Syndrome. And if both of us could come in to the hospital and meet her straight away the next day. And that it was better not to go on the Internet to look what that meant........

Pea had a 1 in 300 chance of Edwards Syndrome it meant basically that Pea would have a very slim chance of being born alive. 95% of babies diagnosed die within the womb and if they don't die within the womb half will certainly not survive past the first two months after being born.

So from being happy expectant parents we hit rock bottom thinking we might lose Pea either before it being born or not soon after.........
And we had to think the unthinkable of what to do? I did go on the Internet and learnt more then you probably want to know, but I thought I wanted to be prepared. Learn more at Wikipedia which from what we described to the Genetic Counsellor had it pretty much correct.

We had a few options she said.
One: Do nothing. 1 in 306 was our odds (Caroline's obstetrician who we called before going to the counsellor said if it was a race horse you would not bet on it)
The councellor also said we were borderline, whether for the hospital to let us know or not. Another hospital, she said might not have even bothered to tell us until it was 1 in 250 perhaps.
Two: Have further testing done in the form of a CVS. Unfortunately the risks involved of miscarriage by performing CVS are the same as our chances for Edwards Syndrome. The first test result would come in 3-4 days and the final and definitive result in 2 weeks.
Three: Have another foetal anomaly scan done at 18 weeks.
Four: Based on the outcome of options two and three.......

From what we discussed already the previous evening and a long night we decided to go for the CVS. And the genetic counsellor and Caroline's obstetrician supported us in our choice. Our reasoning being was it had upset us this much already that Pea had now become a time-bomb for us. Not knowing what could happen to it and when tomorrow, next week, 2 months from now......??? The emotions associated with it, you don't wish on anyone.

They booked us in for the CVS, that Monday after the weekend...It was quite hard staying positive and strong and we both had our moments, but I think we did well supporting each other. So on Monday we saw another specialist and Pea again. Pea was bouncing around literally. I was allowed to stay with Caroline while they performed the transabdominal CVS. And holding my breath most of the time. Caroline did good, it hurt quite a bit I think for the next few days. From having seen the needle they put in her I can only imagine how much....

Luckily for us the preliminary test came back after a long long long wait 'negative' as no Edwards Syndrome detected. The genetic counsellor had said she had never seen a first test result that was negative be positive on the definitive test. The weight of the world had lifted somewhat from our shoulders......The stress that week was unbelievable, meanwhile the world goes on you both still have your work to go to and evening classes for me and each other you try to be positive for.

The final result came in Tuesday the 17th of March. They haven't found anything abnormal. We can finally enjoy being pregnant again!!!

And because they did a test where they look at the chromosomes they could tell what sex it is going to be..................................................................and is it a boy????....or a girl????
It's a BOY!!!!

We have always said we didn't really care either way a boy or a girl as long as it was going to be healthy. Coincidently we already had a girl's name we liked but no boy's name yet. Although in one of the name books I came across the boy's name Dont which could make things interesting.
- Dont eat your veggies!
- Dont go to bed!
- Dont eat with your mouth closed!
- Dont have a shower!
- Dont do your homework!

the "Pea"

It has been a while since my last post and a lot has happened since..... A whole lot has happened.
And we had to keep it a secret. I'll backdate the following posts as much as I can. Monday the 12th of January was like most Mondays. And when I came home from work I was first welcomed by Sam...our neighbour's cat, who thinks she still lives here. So I sat down in the doorway and stroked her for a bit. Caroline must have finished early and she came from upstairs. "I've got something to show you." I didn't know what to say.... We had been trying so it wasn't a complete surprise but when you do see it spelt out right in front of you ....Pregnant..... it changes everything.

Pregnant!!! =)

On Wednesday Caroline went to her GP and after another wee on a stick, it was confirmed we were pregnant. We were asked whether we wanted to have an early scan made to check if it was looking okay and to give us a preliminary due date......and the answer was Yes!!!

The Pea at 7 weeks and 4 days (11.5mm)

It was a mere 11.5 mm here, but that enabled them to estimate the due date.
Pea should be due on the 10th of September which is MY birthday....of all the days in the year it could have chosen. It is only an estimation but considering my Dad had to share his birthday with mine (four days apart), I can sympathise now. Anyway still early days the due date might still change.

We were excited and very pleased and still are, but now the hard bit came as Caroline was only 7 weeks pregnant we still had another 6-7 weeks before we could announce it to everyone. You'll be surprised how often pregnancy and babies come up in general conversations with colleagues and friends when you can't tell.

Funnily enough Caroline's sister Sue is pregnant as well and almost 2 months ahead of us. So when Caroline called her parents to tell them the good news Caroline said: "You know you wait for ages at a bus stop and all of a sudden 2 come at once, well......."

Razorlight

Razorlight were playing at the Metro Theatre and we had tickets!!!
Needless to say it was great.

....and now that we can finally tell everyone Pea's first ever concert.
It was 'jumping' Caroline assures me.