The "Twinkle" Diaries 

February 25th - Saffron has her own homepage!             Click here to go to Saffron's Homepage

Tommy and I went on honeymoon to India in May 2005 for 3 1/2 weeks and by the end of the holiday when I was sprinting for the toilet at the slightest whiff of curry we knew something very, very dodgy was up!!!

  On arrival back in HK Tommy checked the "Twinkle Test" not once (oh yes, I was too nervous to pee properly so that wasted the first HK$68), not twice (well it could have been wrong couldn't it?) but three times and found a blue line........ and a cross.....

What can I say to sum this up... shock, horror, excitement, nerves, crazed panic? All seem to be relevant! You know that you want this but at the same time there's a standstill moment in time as the penny drops that things just won't be quite the same from now on!  The special delivery Tandoori Takeaway is due 20th January 2006 at Queen Mary's Hospital in Hong Kong.

Twelve weeks......

We reached the twelve week mark - I spent the whole time cursing every woman who had ever told me pregnancy was enjoyable; I spent days huddled over the toilet in disbelief that women ever do this more than once; I spent literally full weeks of my first trimester fast asleep as the world passed me by!!! Pregnancy makes you bloom? Yeah right!!!

  The first 3 months were pretty hairy with weekly scans because of ovarian cysts which could have popped - by this point I'd had more scans than most women had in a whole pregnancy and I'd still not even seen my baby, so believe me, it was with huge relief that we got the picture of the blob on the right!!

It was at this stage that we decided to tell our families - which was met with sheer delight, ear splitting screaming, gobsmacked silence and an "oh my god how will you cope for 9 months without alcohol?" exclamation!!!

   Somewhere between 18 and 20 weeks we started telling friends in HK and across the world which met with a lot of "I knew it's" from the HK hockey crowd, and other ranging reactions from jumping up and down and lots of hugs to OMG you've both lost your marbles!!! The marbles reaction seems particularly severe when we tell people we're moving to China as soon as the baby is born!

Twenty weeks...

This is the scan when you can find out the sex........ After spending a couple of months of 'yes we want to know - no we want a surprise' debates my main rational for not finding out was that it'd stop me from spending the whole of Tommy's salary! Have you seen how cute some of the baby stuff out there is??? Me, a credit card and knowledge of which colour to be buying? We could soon have the debt of a small 3rd world country on our hands.... so best not to!!

The result at the hospital was one slightly hysterical Kirsty screaming at the nurse "Don't go near it's bits" any time she moved the scanner lower than poor Twinkle's neck!!! Hence picture of only head and shoulders on the right!! 

Anyway, all the important stuff seems to be there - spine, feet, hands, with fingers, kidneys, heart and a fairly sizable brain!! Oh, and they didn't mention the nose this time - which was a relief as when the nurse said "look at the size of it's nose" at the 12 week scan I was thinking it had very prominent Brewis family genes!!!

So, at the 22 weeks stage I was starting to sprout a bump but think I was still at the "did Kirsty eat all the pies?" stage rather than the obviously pregnant stage. I can still just about fit in my favourite going out jeans but think I'm going to have to make the move to maternity gear sometime soon!

Picture from Hayley's baby shower - she's due start of October so is 3 1/2 months ahead of me - so this is the size I'll be at Christmas - and just think how I'll pork out then!!!

Pictures from Eamonn and Kara's wedding (11 Sept '05) - me wearing the dress I had for my Goddaughter Rebecca's christening the week after my wedding so very chuffed at still being able to fit into that!!!

With work colleagues from Green Valley

 I've just started going to ante natal classes which are a bit freaky - decisions made so far:

1. Tommy is very definitely staying well up the head end (they showed a video! aarrgghh!) - I mean the end where MY head is!

2. The mad American woman who got stroppy when the nurse said no video cameras in the delivery room clearly needs shooting (was she asleep during the video?)

3. Drugs are good

4. The physio should not have put her hand in my crotch to test my pelvic floor muscles - my defensive child realised how wrong Mummy having a lady's hand in her crotch  was and kicked her - much to her surprise!!!!

5. Breathing exercises don't just make you relax - they make you fall asleep and dribble - in a room full of people!!!

6. If I shout at Tommy during the pain of labour it's his own fault. I have been banned from taking the "birth ball" class. Now I have no idea what a birth ball is but apparently it provides a form of pain relief - and at my hospital if your partner can not attend the class with you you're not allowed to take it...... therefore as Tommy can't attend I conclude that any pain I will be feeling will be his fault!!! (I have a feeling he's going to want to start up a counter webpage after that one!!!)

7. I think I've failed ante natal.....  the breathing exercises are complicated - who knew there were so many different ways of breathing? So what's going to happen now... maybe they won't let me have the baby...????

Week 24 (Left) - this is our practice child "lamby" in it's car seat after I'd practiced clothing it an a little babygro that I could no longer resist. It was just sooo appropriate because it says "the Twinkle in Daddy's eye" on it! Now you understand the comment above about 3rd world debt!!

Also Week 24 (right) - me and Gina hit Lan Kwai Fong - all those beers belong to other people - honest!

This was a very sad night - it was the last night I could truly, honestly fit into my going out jeans! It's maternity clothing all the way now!!!

Week 26 (Left) - Doing my Auntie Kirsty act and getting in some practice with Hayley's new baby Jalen

Week 28 (right) - here's me at my friend Sharon's baby shower - Sharon is 38 weeks and I was 27+ weeks - so again, this is an indication of what I'll look like at Christmas!

Week 32 - trip to Hanoi

Hanoi was lovely - we didn't do much. A little bit of sight seeing, some nice meals out, some lazing by the pool and a decent amount of shopping for our new flat!!! It was a beautiful old colonial town though and fear not - we didn't bump into a single sneezing chicken!!!

Kirsty becomes an instant millionaire - 1,000,000 dong being about 35 pounds!

Just to prove that Tommy came to Vietnam too

Hanoi transport - leisurely cyclo (above) or crazy moto (below)

OK, so now I look pregnant

So, on arrival back from Hanoi (midnight sunday) we packed up to move to a whole different country at 9am on the Monday - I still think we've possibly lost our marbles but everything's gone. I now live in an empty shell of a flat in HK, Tommy lives in an empty shell of a flat in China and all our possessions are somewhere half way up the Pearl River and potentially being nicked by corrupt Chinese customs officials!

All our possessions reached Guangzhou safely so we have a lovely flat up there and meanwhile I live in a flat with skeletal furniture and the most comfy thing to sit on is a computer chair!!

                                           Tommy getting in some practice with Sharon and Steve's new baby Kyle!

Me tarted up for the hockey black tie Christmas dinner - the foxiest pregnant lady at the party!!!

Note the 3.5 inch heels that the woman in the shop almost wouldn't sell me as she didn't think pregnant women should be able to walk in heels as high as that!!

Tommy and me at the Hockey dinner (35 weeks pregnant)

8th January, 2006 - 39 weeks pregnant - Kirsty's Baby Shower!

My baby shower was FAB. I was so pampered, or at least Twinkle was - it is a very lucky baby having so many Aunties who bought it so many fabulous pressies. We got a changing mat, steriliser, cot mobile, clothes, bottles, and all sorts of other useful bits and bobs so we're finally set up to have a baby!!  Lots of babies there to give me practice - and Mum some Grandma practice too as you can see!! Lots of silly games were played too! Thanks so much to all the girls who made it such a special afternoon and to everyone who sent or contributed presents!

There's me at 39 weeks pregnant on the right for those who wanted to see how large I am!!! Black is flattering though - I feel elephantile!!!

Twinkle update - My tummy has definitely got an alien in it! Limbs now poke out in random dance sequences from Saturday night Fever.  Besides failing the antenatal classes (see above) I also realised during a particularly bumpy flight that my visual distraction techniques don't work either - I could not get that sunset over the Taj Mahal image into my head for love nor money.... so goodness knows what my poor Mum and Tommy have in for them in that labour room!!!! 

Week 42 - The completely unbearable stage. At 40 plus weeks I'm really waddling sometimes as the bump has "dropped" and I'm just playing the waiting game now I seem to be quite organised. I'm seriously fed up of the pain of carrying all this excess weight and Twinkle being seemingly unaware that it's birthday has passed.  Having a sofa to slob on and watch videos might make life easier but that's in GZ!!!

I'm enjoying having mum over and doing last things like having a pedicure, afternoon teas and a bit of shopping, though I can not wait till I can go and buy a pair of normal jeans and fit into them - the sales are pure torture!!!! Dad has now arrived too which was totally not the plan - Twinkle was supposed to be born and we were supposed to know how to deal with a baby before he rocked up!!  Just to really add insult to injury in the "could I be any more fed up with pregnancy" stakes - I managed all the way to 41 weeks without a stretchmark and suddenly Twinkle has made me develop some purple beauties - does it not realise had it been born on time I would have been back in a bikini this summer and it has cruelly taken that away from me???

This week Mum and I have done a 6 mile walk up a steep mountain, eaten a dozen curries, consumed large amounts of pineapple juice. I've also drunk untold cups of raspberry leaf tea, ingested evening primrose oil and tried numerous other old wives takes but Twinkle seems immune!!

There is also now a chance Twinkle will selfishly decide it wants to share my birthday!! But if we get past that date (which will be celebrated with lots of champagne - another old wives tale!) then I have a hospital appointment on the 31st Jan and possible induction on 1st February - so watch this space! In the meantime Kung Hei Fat Choi - Happy New Year of the Dog!

The Name Game - Everyone keeps asking about the name... well as we have no idea of the sex we currently have few ideas on the names. Some of you may be aware that I've often said I'd call any children after flowers but I'm finding it a little tricky to find a boys flower name that I like!!! So we may extend this category to cover all aspects of nature.... animal, vegetable, mineral anyone????

FEBRUARY 4th 2006 - Twinkle, now known as Saffron Anna Marie Larmour landed a mere 15 days late at 1:37am after Kirsty spending 4 days in hospital trying to get her moving! She weighed in at a very healthy 9lb 4oz and is blonde haired and blue eyed just like her Daddy!  No posting of gorey birth details as it'd put people off ever having a child - needless to say though it was all worth it and we're totally in love with her. More details and photos once we move to China - planned move date 9th Feb - could we do things any faster!!!????

Saffron now has her own homepage with lots more photos on - click here to go to www.saffronlarmour.com