Pregnant

Well pretty much everyone should know by now that Peter and I are expecting a baby. It is due on or around 13 January 2006. I am currently 25 weeks pregnant, that's a bit over 5 1/2 months. The picture below was taken 2 weeks ago.

So far so good, everything has gone amazing well. I have had no morning sickness at all, although I have lost my appetite in a big way. Not from feeling ill, but just getting full really quickly. The worst thing about being pregnant has been all the restrictions - no drinking, no eating cold meats or soft cheese, cutting back on exercise, etc, and having to do certain things I'm not so keen on like eating lots of red meat and healthy bread. I like red meat, but just not every night of the week!

We had our first scan a few weeks ago, the 20-week anatomical scan. It was really amazing to see the detail and to see the baby moving around. The scan confirmed everything is completely normal and the correct size and the right bits. We specifically asked not to find out the gender as we want to be surprised.

We also began our ante-natal classes this week at North Shore Hospital. There were about 10 or 12 couples. Most due in December so with bumps a bit bigger than mine. Mostly women in their 30's with one or two who could be older. The first class was pretty general and covered a lot of topics briefly. I'm hoping they go back into more detail for some of it.

My bump is now poking out noticeably. Baby is quite active and kicks a lot, especially at work when I'm in meetings! In the last week I've noticed that you can actually see my tummy moving now when it kicks, it's quite neat to watch.

Apart from that life goes on pretty much as normal. My last day at work is Friday 2 December. Peter is currently looking for a job in Wellington and if all goes well we will move down there before the baby is born. Lou and Caliope left Auckland this week to move to Palmerston North, so there is really nothing keeping us in Auckland any more. But we will just have to wait and see what happens...

-Megz

Weekend in Taupo

At the beginning of September I spent an enjoyable weekend away in Taupo with my three best friends from High School and their families.

Tina and Wayne have just moved back to New Zealand after six years living overseas. They are now living in Palmerston North as is Zaneta and her daughters Sapphire and Brittany. Whereas both Lou & Caliope, and Peter & I, live in Auckland (well for now). So we all met up in Taupo which is pretty much halfway between the two cities. We stayed in one of the Railways staff flats which was pretty awesome, really modern and clean and comfortable.

We all arrived late Saturday afternoon and spent Saturday night catching up and playing a great game of Pictionary. Sunday morning Tina and Wayne cooked us all a huge English breakfast and then we went out and saw some of the sights of Taupo and topped it all off with a swim at the local pool.

Attached is a photo of all the girls at the Craters of the Moon DOC reserve just north of Taupo.

- Megz

Triathlon

WOW!!! I actually did it!! I completed a triathlon!! I am so proud of myself. I never would have thought I’d do something like this. If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be living in Auckland, going to the gym and entering runs and triathlons, I’d have laughed in your face. But it’s real and I really did it!!!!!

Today I successfully completed the 2005 Special K Women's Triathlon at Okahu Bay, Auckland, a women's only triathlon consisting of a 300m swim, a 10km cycle ride and a 3km run.

I competed along with my colleague Tess Hattingh - it was initially Tess's idea but I actually went and entered us into it, which she later said she didn't think she'd really do it but then had no choice once I'd entered us.

I completed the course in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 45 seconds, with the split being Swim 11:55, Cycle 24:58, Run 25:56. Tess followed close behind at 1:05:57.

I was so nervous to start with but once we actually got going it was good. We had to wait about an hour after the start before it was our turn - there were thousands of women there. Although I'm a good swimmer I'm not very fast so I immediately fell behind the group but easily caught up on the cycle leg and passed heaps of people (not bad considering I probably haven't ridden in 10 years and didn't do any cycle training beforehand apart from at the gym). By the time the run came I was pretty exhausted but managed to run most of it (albeit very slowly but at least I didn't get passed by any walkers!).

The feeling when crossing the finish line was incredible. This has got to be one of my top 5 achievements in my life. I just can't believe I actually did it!!!

Unfortunately Peter had paintball practice in Wellington this weekend so he was unable to be there to support us or to take any photos. Attached is a photo of Tess and I at a music concert last year.

-Megz