Room for the Baby

During the first months of my pregnancy, I was wondering why I was not into baby stuff, yet. Now, I definitely know.
First of all, you do not know how far you will be going (you try not to think of the evil but you never know). Secondly, you are mostly interested in yourself, your mood, early transformation etc. Finally, you do not know what to buy exactly. I think there is a learning curve and like every other miraculous event there is a reason for the nine months spent during pregnancy.
Anyway, now we are into baby stuff without doubt. Less than 14 weeks are left and taking into consideration that I would not be able to move as comfortably as I do currently, say only 10 weeks are left. So, it's high time to take some action.
As it's not possible to fill a place that is already full, we decided to start with some decluttering Being able throw away things (either charity or thrash) is really an art. I can't say I'm very skilled at it but at least we have enough space now:)
It's Sunday and I'm already looking forward to the next weekend to have some rest!

Week 25

Right at this point of my pregnancy, 62.5% of the "works" is completed:) Our baby is presumably weighing around 700 gr. He is almost triple his weight since his last scan in Turkey on the 3rd of October. It is not yet enough to explain the recent 5 (five) kilos I gained since this day though, but at least it's a partial cover:)

During the first four months, it really did not occur to me that I would have gained this much weight within such a short period. How could I be this naive?

It's not that I make a big fuss about it, but I really cannot comprehend how it all happened to me. Although it's pretty normal, it still feels amazing to see your body transforming. I think as you do not see major external changes within your body during the early weeks of your pregnancy (mostly the first trimester) but being still very excited about the news you start exaggerating every small change. However, with the sudden acceleration on the pace of progress during the second trimester, you simply panic.

Despite searching through many internet sites, guidance books etc and being told by friends, I kind of had a resistance to understand what's gonna happen. I hope I won't have the same lethargic response when the baby is born as well!

Week 14: Me acting as if I have a bump:)

Week 25: No need to emphasize!

Saturday Night Fever

As you can see, things (i.e. my tummy:)) started to change pretty quickly. I now feel obliged to update my blog more frequently.

Anyway, my brother in law came over with his brand new BMW last weekend (unfortunately don't have a photo) and we have been to Mother India Cafe (it's more like a small curry restaurant) to find out about our boy's response to curry. Oh, btw this is me before the curry, not after!! He must have liked it as his mum slept really tight that night.

Eda-Orhan Wedding

The major event of our holiday was my cousin's wedding in Istanbul. Despite being a bit nervous about my inflated tummy, skin like feta cheese and me missing the heavenly hands of a beautician, it all went well. Actually, it could not have been better!

Sure it's not all about the positive feedback about my pictures from the wedding:) It's been a while since we have a wedding within the family. As we could not make it to the two engagement parties last year, it was almost the first big family gathering since our wedding. And as my hubby said all through the night, the best wedding is the one which you are not getting married!! It's not that we did not enjoy our wedding (it was the most fun btw:)) but you just go, relax and entertain yourself. No to-do lists, no worries for the cake or the music, you simply enjoy the moment and share the happiness of the newly weds.

As most of the family members are not living in Istanbul, we all stayed in a hotel in Taksim which made it very convenient to move around and get together easily. By all means of chance the weather was gorgeous mostly above 25 C with the sun shining most of the time. If you think that it's early October and the city was flooded just a couple of weeks ago, you will really call it a good luck. Although our hotel was less than 10 minutes away from the wedding venue, we had to leave about an hour earlier to get there. Thanks God it's Friday(!?)

The wedding was at Ciragan Palace, a 5 star hotel converted from a real Ottoman Palace. As we were led to the wrong section of the palace (thanks to my dear cousin), we were guided to the correct location by a bellboy all through the way. It took us only 2-3 minutes to get there, but we were not just given the directions, we were given a personal assistant! This was only the first sign about the style and the level of care throughout the night.

We were met by my uncle and their in-laws at the gate and was led to outside to join the coctail party. Going down the stairs, stunned by the spectacular Bosphorus, I was glad that I did not have very high heels and a long dress! Grabbing a juice (rewards of pregnancy), we mingled with the crowd. Exchanging compliments (mine mostly about the little bunny), posing and smiling; finally came the bride and the groom. Greeting the guests from the top of the stairs with the charm of a prince and a princess, they took their place for the official ceremony.

It's not traditional to make a speech during the wedding ceremonies in Turkey. You simply confirm your identity and say yes or no unless the wedding officer is a good presenter and adds some fancy talk mostly a cliche. This one was no exception. The only remarkable incident was my cousin's sound check before saying Yes:)

Immediately after tying the knot, fireworks went off. Cool, huh?

It's all in little details: Service napkins, carpets and many other things I can't remember now embroidered with the first letters of the couple, laser show of the couple's name, exquisite dinner (perfecto!), celebrity singer (Ferhat Gocer) with a band, belly dancers, an after party provided with amusing accessories (colourful wigs, feathery scarves and false moustaches etc.)

Oh, it is taking longer than I expected! So you must have realised I'm stopping at this point.

Wishing the best of all to Eda and Orhan!

It's a Boy!!

It has been so long since my last post and so much has happened that it will take some time to catch up with you. Anyway, we have been on holiday in Turkey for three weeks and it's my excuse.

We had our doctor's appointment on Oct 3. As my pregnancy was diagnosed as low risk, I have not been to an obstetrician until that time here in the UK. It was just the dating scan by the 13th week, blood and urine tests and midwife's examination. So, decided to see my obstetrician during the holiday.

Despite feeling all right, you become nervous and start thinking of all the bad things can happen right before the scan. This time, we were all quite excited as we were going to find out about the gender of the baby. I did not have any kind of instinct or guestimations or such whether it'd be a boy or a girl. Some mum-2bs say so. Almost everybody except my dear hubby wished it to be a girl. I don't know why maybe they think baby girls are prettier, you can buy various accessories etc.

The doctor began the scan identifiying the number of fingers on his hands and feet and came to a pause at some point. He told us that there was something which was not desired to be there. Everybody in the room became curious and worried and asked what it was.

Oh, it was my little boy's willy:)

Until that time I always believed that it was good and practical to learn about the gender before the baby is born. It is really difficult to translate my feelings into words. But I felt as if something magical has been disturbed. I think I would do the same if I were to have another baby just for practicality (being able to decide on the colours is really nice).

Finding out about the gender, everybody is asking about the name. Human nature:) We decided to not to tell anybody until the baby is born even if we were to decide on the name. It will be a surprise:)