02/11/2008 - Eithne's first birthday has come and gone and we have passed many milestones since the last update. Eithne's been walking now for almost 4 months - and not only does she walk, but she runs and climbs as well. She says a few words - and a lot more words that aren't quite clear. The past couple of weeks she has started to sing "Row row row" when she wants us to sing Row Row Row Your Boat - which is far too frequent sometimes!

Eithne eats pretty well everything we eat - though some days she doesn't particularly want to eat very much. She has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom with more coming through (she is teething a lot right now and isn't very happy about it).

She is an absolute joy and brings sunshine to our lives every single day.

12/03/2008 - A lot has been happening with Eithne since the last update. We started her on baby rice at lunch time on the 23rd of February and it went really well. We had a good week of her gobbling down 1 tsp of baby rice. She was then sick for a week so I was nervous about giving her anything, but we started again on the weekend and introduced her to carrots mixed with baby rice (1/2 tbsp of each), and she loves it! She gobbles it up soo quickly and today even had 1tbsp of baby rice and 1/2 tbsp of carrots. She loves her spoon and helps us feed her - though it results in a very large mess. I didn't know babies could get carrots in their ears. :-) Eithne loves watching us eat and has even grabbed an empty glass and proceeded to drink from it. She is a character. She found her toes a few weeks ago, but on Monday evening she discovered that she can put them in her mouth! She now takes her socks off at every opportunity to eat her toes.

17/02/2008 - Eithne is changing and developing in leaps and bounds every day. This weekend she seems to be wanting to only hold
our fingers and tries to pull herself up.  She can sort of sit on her own for about 5 seconds, then she gets distracted and falls over. LOL  I had her giggling loads this afternoon as I was tickling her. It's so cute to listen to her. :-)  She has also started to be able to roll from her back to her front with a bit of help.  She has started to really become interested in her surroundings.  Like today when Michael was standing in the doorway saying good bye to Lisa and I, she grabbed onto the door knocker and started knocking it!  She can also hold her head forward now when she's in her car seat and she's become very interested in my face - touching it, pinching it, scratching it.  She's able to grasp things and hold them - like one of her teethers she can hold onto it until she
gets distracted.  Let's see - she loves to scratch her hands on different
materials/textures to hear the sounds and feel them and she seems to love Michael's watch.  She now seems to be able to differentiate between things and knows when something is different to something else. Oh and when she was at home today with Michael he had to
give her a bottle and she drank 10 fl ounces. LOL  So she is changing in many many ways.

15/01/2008 - Eithne is growing so much! Within the past 48 hours she has changed so much. She started making sounds awhile ago but she has started to make a lot of sounds almost constantly. Eithne now also smiles and giggles and laughs a lot. There is nothing better than hearing a baby's laugh. Our daughter is also teething and since last night we have been able to see very clearly the outline of the 2 bottom front teeth and the top 2 front teeth. This evening while getting her ready for bed we discovered that we can also very clearly see the outline of one of her top left teeth that she shouldn't even get for awhile yet!

Eithne also showed us another one of her new tricks tonight while playing with her....she rolls over from her front to her back - deliberately! Michael has captured this on video so we will put that online as soon as we get it! She hadn't showed any sign of trying to roll over since she did it before Christmas, but tonight she started to roll onto her side on her change mat, so we put her on the floor and she rolled onto her back. She tried to roll from her back to her front, but she hasn't quite figured that one out.

Eithne is growing so fast - soon she won't be our little baby girl anymore.

24/12/2007 - For awhile now Eithne has been making motions of moving - crawling, rolling etc. Well this morning she was lying on the bathroom floor while I washed my hands and she rolled over onto the left side, stayed there, then back onto her back, and then did it all over again! This weekend she crawled up her change mat on her tummy!! Eithne loves to have you hold her under the arms and she walks around. Our little girl is growing up very quickly! It's hard to believe that she is only 10 weeks old.

18/12/2007 - Eithne had her first set of injections today and her 8 week check (even though she was 9 weeks old). The HV measured her and weighed her. She weighs 10 lbs 1 ounce and is 22 inches long. She also measured the circumference of her head and it was 38 cms. The HV told us that she has not seen such a perfectly proportioned baby in a very very long time. Her weight gain and everything is exactly as it should be.

The doctor saw her and said that she is doing just fine. She is advanced by several weeks for her age as she is able to hold her head above her body for quite a long period of time. Eithne does have a bit of a clicky hip but he said it is a ligament that is clicking as he was unable to dislocate the hip.

She was a bit fussy for a couple of days after her injections but paracetamol helped.

05/12/2007 - A lot has happened since the last update. Eithne is now 7.5 weeks old and is changing every day. She is now wearing 0 to 3 month sizes as she is too long for the newborn clothes. She smiles more and more each day and interacts with us. Eithne enjoys smiling and cooing at her toys, but becomes most upset when her toys do not reciprocate.

I've uploaded a lot of new photos and there will be more added in the next few weeks.

03/11/2007 - Eithne is now 3 weeks old and we cannot believe how much she has changed already. She is growing quickly and no longer fits into her Tiny Baby clothes, she has moved onto the next size - though she still can't wear 0 - 3 month size yet as it's still too big. Her little arms and legs get lost inside the clothes. Eithne already holds her head up and is very strong. We can't wait for her to be able to play with us, though I'm sad that she's growing so quickly.

I've uploaded a few new photos, I'll add more as and when I get them. We've also uploaded a video that Michael put together of Eithne. The video is quite large so it may take time for it to start playing if you are on dialup.

25/10/2007 - Eithne Brianna was born on the 13th at 4:59am after a very long latent phase and stressful labour. I have put several photos of Eithne online as well as her birth story.

01/10/2007 - 38 Weeks along! I've added some new pictures that Michael took today. I've also added a new video that you can watch. The video is again quite large so it may take time for it to start playing if you are on dialup.

I think I am beyond being uncomfortable now. Experiencing a lot of very long and painful braxton hicks so I am hoping it won't be much longer before this baby is born, especially since for some reason Baby Helm hasn't quite grasped that my ribs are not something that it's feet can go through.

23/09/2007 - We are getting very close to finally meeting our little bundle. I've added some new pictures - apologies for the delay in getting more recent photos online. We've also added some videos that you can watch - click on the link to and it should open a new window for you to view them on your pc. Video 1 Video 2 The videos are quite large so it may take time for them to start playing if you are on a dialup connection.

I am starting to get more and more uncomfortable as well as the baby starts to engage. Getting a bit anxious to finally meet our baby, but am also happy that we are coming to the end but sad at the same time.

04/09/2007 - I am now 34 weeks and 1 day along - just less than 6 weeks to go! The baby is still moving around a lot and over the past week and a bit I have been getting a lot of Braxton Hicks. It's a good sign that my body is starting to prepare for labour. We still have quite a bit to get ready for the baby, but not as much as we did before.

15/08/2007 - I'm now 31 weeks and 2 days along. So just less than 9 weeks to go! The baby is still constantly moving around and is still breech. We need to start getting ready for the baby to arrive in case it arrives early.

06/08/2007 - Well we're at the 30 week mark and I'm getting quite big. I waddle around the house now and getting out of the bath is very difficult. I am having a hard time sleeping as I just cannot get comfortable. Baby Helm is constantly moving around and doesn't seem to stop for anything. At our checkup with the consultant we were told that everything is fine and we go back in 4 weeks time.

21/07/2007 - The baby's movements are getting very strong now - sometimes they are quite painful. Michael can see my tummy move and is quite amazed by it. He has been able to feel the baby kick etc as well when he rubs my tummy. I will be 28 weeks on 23/07/2007 so not long to go now really - only 12 more weeks and we will get to meet our little bundle.

22/06/2007 - The baby is moving around quite a bit and I love sitting and watching my tummy move. Michael still can't see it yet but hopefully he will be able to soon.

13/06/2007 - Our little baby is definitely a very active little thing when they want to be. I think they must have learned how to do somersaults a few days ago as I keep feeling kicks/punches, but there's also another feeling. It also loves chocolate! It goes crazy when I've had chocolate. Michael felt the baby for the first time last night as it was kicking/moving when we went to bed so I got him to put his hand on my tummy and he felt it. We've been trying this for the past week but the baby has always stopped as soon as Michael's hand touched my tummy, but last night it wanted to make it's presence known to Daddy. It was the most amazing thing. :-) Everytime I feel our baby move, I can't help but smile and I put my hand on my tummy to feel it with my hands. I can't believe I'll be 23 weeks on Monday!

30/05/2007 - I think I felt the baby move earlier today but I'm not 100% sure. It was the most strangest sensation I have ever felt in my tummy before, sort of fluttering - 3 times in a row. I guess we shall wait and see if the feeling happens more regularly so I can be sure it was the baby.

24/05/2007 - We had our anomaly scan today and it was so great to see our little baby!!! Baby Helm is a happy, healthy little baby who appears to like using my bladder as a pillow. LOL I am still measuring spot on for my EDD. We got the test results from all the blood tests and they were all fine. The triple test results came today as well and we are a low risk.

We couldn't believe how much the baby has grown and changed.

We saw the 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, the spine, the ribs, its legs and arms. Baby Helm wasn't cooperating so at the moment we don't know what sex the baby is.

I have another appt with the consultant in 4 weeks time for a checkup.

09/05/2007 - A friend from a forum I use has lent her doppler to us so that we could listen to the heartbeat. When she dropped it off this morning, I had a listen and it was so amazing! When Michael got home I sorted it all out and he heard the Baby's heartbeat for the first time. Michael also recorded it to his phone and you can listen to the baby's heartbeat by clicking here. If you wish to download the file, simply right click on the link and go to Save As and save the file to your pc, otherwise you can open it straight away in Media Player.

19/04/2007 - I had an antenatal appointment this morning to just make sure everything is going well with the Baby. The midwife asked if I would like her to try to see if she could find the heartbeat so I said yes. She used the doppler and I got to listen to our Baby's heartbeating away! It was such a fantastic experience and it's a shame that Michael missed it, but the midwife said to ask the next time we're at St. Mary's and see if they will let us hear the heartbeat again.

15/04/2007 - We have launched the website for Baby Helm. We are nearing the end of our first 13 weeks of being pregnant - it has been a very emotional time with adjusting to changes in the body and hormones, as well as adjusting to the fact that we are going to be parents. Thankfully, the all-day sickness that Arianna was suffering has now passed and she is able to finally enjoy being pregnant.