The Bathroom Project

Whilst Kisun has been away warming her pregnant toes with underfloor heating in cosy Korean apartments, I have been slaving away, cough!!, at putting in a brand spanking new bathroom with Seán.

I have been taking pictures of progress as we have been going along and will update the Picasa gallery as we go along.

Almost everything has been bought now, including tiles, taps fittings and so on.

There are a few more things to get, mirror, bog seat, and maybe storage units. But that requires the feminine touch.....

Scanned in Korea

Kisun went for a scan in Korea on Saturday 18th October. Found out that she was 8 weeks pregnant and not 11 weeks, this was a bit of a surprise. The video is amazing, we can hear the heartbeat, and see the doctor making the measurement on screen as the date of birth of is being calculated.

Incredible!!

The moaning has started

Kisun went for a blood test today, and is complaining that she has no idea why there is a need for 3 samples to be filled.

Moan, Moan, Moan.....

Kisun is Hungry.

Kisun Feels Sick.

Kisun is still moaning....... -_-

Booking In Appointment - 29th Sept 2008

Kisun and I visited the Midwife in the clinic today.

Seemed fairly bog standard stuff with lots of form to fill in and the routine questions regarding personal health history.

Kisun seems to be following the right diet at the moment as all items that are on the excluded food list discussed we seem to have deliberately avoided anyway.

Yes!....Kisun has has it confirmed that she will definitely not be allowed to eat sushi in Korea. The answer to that question has not changed no matter how many people she has asked or how many times Google has been used. -_-

The next steps are to sort out the blood work - probably tomorrow, and then book a dating scan with the antenatal clinic.

Yeah!! I have started to learn Korean.

Thats it really. On Saturday 27th Sept 2008 I attended my very first Korean Language class at the Korean Culture Centre UK very near Trafalgar Square right in the centre of London.

I will need to attend it for 11 weeks and hopefully pass the beginners 1 lever qualification. I will probably take a few pics of classmates and general wanderings around London on these few Saturdays during the leadup to the mad panic that will become Christmas.

Should be fun!

21st September '08 - A walk in the park

We went to Fairlands Valley Park yesterday morning. It is quite nice and within easy reach of our house.

I knew the morning was a nice one and I took our digital camera with me. I have already uploaded these onto Picasa - here is a link to the slideshow

17 Sept 2008 - A&E Ward, Lister Hospital Stevenage

Right then, here is the lowdown on how Kisun and I found out we were expecting our little golden nugget. In summary, this story is terrifying, awful, disgusting, worrying, relieving, and joyous all at the same time. At least that is a the sequence of emotions I felt during the night.

Football on 5Live

I was listening to the football on BBC Radio 5live and as usual Alan Greens commentary was worth the listen. It was near the end of the Manchester United Champions League so the time must have been about 21:40 or so. I heard Kisun come upstairs to go to the loo. Kisun had been asleep on the couch downstairs after another hard day at work where her back played up again and she had to leave early.

From the loo I heard Kisun call for a bag and saying that she felt sick. I was a bit slow in responding, but I went to the bathroom to see what was up. Kisun was sitting on the Loo and as soon I went opened the door I remember Kisuns head rolling to one side and it looked as if she just fell asleep or something. It was a lot worse than that. Kisun was making a snarling, groaning, snoring sound - her eyes were rolling in her head and she was also frothing at the mouth.

I panicked.

Somehow I was determined to remember all these symptoms. I knew that if she came round I would need to describe them accurately to someone. I was also shouting, screaming and calling Kisun to respond to me. I tried to lift her from the loo. I didn't care about any mess that might have been. Who would, right? It was at this time that I noticed that Kisuns arms were really stiff and would not relax even when not supported - Think Dr. Frankenstein's creation.

I was really panicking now.

I did not know if I would do more harm than good by trying to lift Kisun from the seated position on the loo. I ran downstairs, picked up the cordless phone and ran straight back to Kisun. With Phone in hand I wrapped my arms around the back of Kisun and again tried to lift

Here's the funny bit.

I dropped the bloody phone into the toilet bowl. Straight away the thing was knackered. Useless! This time I did manage to lift Kisun and layed her flat on the ground. Still behaving as before, Kisun is really starting to worry me, and I must admit I thought she was having a stroke, or something in terms of Kisuns back was hitting a nerve and this was a really really bad situation.

Relief

Kisun started to come round. The frothing ceased and the eyes came into focus. Kisun later described feeling as though I was waking her from a deep sleep and what the hell was I doing disturbing her. Then came the realisation that she was not staring at the ceiling in the bedroom. Then she started to respond...... I was so relieved beyond belief.

After explaining what had happened, about which Kisun had no memory, we were both still really worried. I felt the emergency had passed and anyway, the phone still didn't work. Of course I have a mobile. I checked out NHS direct on the Internet, found the number and relayed everything to the duty nurse that I have described here. The nurse didn't feel that there was an emergency but was concerned enough to send us to the A&E. It seemed as though Kisun had had a 'seizure type event'. It needed to be checked out.

I had never been so concerned as I was then. From the time I first opened to bathroom door to Kisun finally coming round, it was only 2 minutes give or take a few seconds.

22:00

Booked into the A&E, got given one of those Urine sample things. Kisun felt completely nauseous and wrecked tired.

The registration nurse described the way the body wanted to shut itself down and reboot and this was why Kisun felt so tired.

The baby bit is coming soon.

After a long stint in the waiting room we were moved to a treatment cubicle in a different room. Guess what, different room - same waiting. Eventually a doctor came over to us and once again I described the nights events.

Cue lots of tests
- hooked up lots of electrode things all over and got a print out of electrical activity
- blood sugar tests
- Blood tests, to large vials filled quickly. Needed to determine magnesium levels in blood

Initial Diagnosis

The doctor stated again that Kisun had had a 'seizure' type event but stressed it was not an actual seizure. There was no way to tell what exactly had happened or what the trigger was. We needed to wait until the blood work came back then they would decide if Kisun needed to stay for observation or could go home

Now we are getting bored but still worried.

Kisun needed to go to the loo, but couldn't be bothered, then could be bothered, then couldn't until finally - she could. After a few minutes, Kisun came back and called a nurse over to hand the filled urine sample vial to the nurse. On come the latex gloves, and the nurse accepts the gift and disappears with it

02:00

Within a few minutes the same nurse comes back, she is acting a bit strange. She whispered something to Kisun (asking the obvious questions). Then held up a pregnancy test.

IT WAS POSITIVE!!!!

We were amazed. Kisun had only used two supermarket tests a couple of weeks before. The nurses were all giggling. The doctor came over and sent us on our way....smiling of course. We both gave the nurse a big hug.

I asked the nurse if it was normal for a seizure like this to happen. Had about 4 nurses laughing at me then. I knew I would have to get used to being patronized by women now!!!!


So we both left happy and Kisun was pregnant. What are chances of finding out like that?

The next day Kisun went to the GP. Arranged Midwife - and also an appointment with a Neurologist.

Its strange how the A&E doctor's opinion was to initially suggest an appointment with a Neurologist, but then dismiss this upon receipt of the pregnancy result. Whilst the next day the GP did not consider this event to be a typical symptom of pregnancy and was concerned enough to arrange for the brain scan.

I hope all is okay and it was a one-off, but at least we will find out one way or another.

Whatever happens, I am sure exciting times are ahead.....