Photos

Lastest photos are up on Facebook, as this blog takes too long to load photos at dial-up speed.

See the following link to check them out
http://www.facebook.com/tobias.tohill

Dunedin - The Southern Capital

Day Six of our journey, and we've made it to Dunedin!

It's been a long and winding road here, through snowy mountain passes, blustery gorges and dry, rolling high country. We've seen some amazing places and have been having a ball!

Arrived in thick fog, drizzle and rolling clouds to Dunedin via Mosgiel and the Taieri Gorge road. Weather has been clear and gorgeous most of the way down, and only now have we hit wintry low clouds and rain.

Last night we stayed at a motorcamp by the beach, and splurged on a tiny cabin with a fan heater to keep us out of the rain, and so we could share warmth in bed for the night, without being separated by sleeping bags under our duvets (as is usually the case when sleeping in the van).  

Internet has been harder to hook-in to than expected, so this blog isn't quite as up-to-date as I had hoped. Will have to back log a few posts before we leave this town.

Off to the Dunedin Art Gallery, Settlers Museum, Aquarium, Olverston House, and a walking tour around the University and central city. Will camp out somewhere in Port Chalmers this evening, and go to a Yakiniku Restaurant (Japanese style charcoal-grilled steak house) out there. Chiharu has been having Yakiniku cravings for the last several weeks.

And it's a ...... !

Here are the scan photos from Week 12.

You can see the baby really clearly. All the hands and feet seem to be there. It spun and twirled, pirouetted and pranced as the radiologist tried to take the scan images. The most amazing part was seeing the tiny heartbeat knocking away. 

The whole experience made the reality of impending fatherhood solidify and sink in. I have no idea how first time fathers prepared for fatherhood back in the old days before scans. Perhaps they just didn't eh?

The wee one gave us a wave as we took this one. If you look carefully, you can see it is actually doing the 'peace' sign for the camera, just to show us it's Japanese heritage.

Chiharu has been very excited about the baby's high bridge. Apparently a strong bridge on one's nose is considered better looking in Japan, and her mother actually used to squeeze the bridge between her eyes when she was an infant, to help raise it up. Hopefully none of that lark will be necessary with our child.
It looks like Baby T is poking it's tongue out at us in this one, though actually that is probably just the umbilical cord. In reality babies in the womb are very much like a cross between that scene in The Matrix when he wakes up covered in gel, fed by tubes, in a human incubator, and the first Alien film up until the alien bursts out of its hosts abdomen.

Skip forward 10 weeks

This is the baby today. It is a lot bigger, we couldn't see all of it at once, just parts at a time.

In this photo the face really does resemble something out of Alien, however when we were watching the scan occasionally we could see the face, and it looked like Chiharu! Seems like it has her nose and cheeks. It was very exciting for me, more so than the last scan.

A hand, with all the digits and the opposing thumb clearly visible.

 All four ventricles of the heart. Incredible to see them beating.








And finally, the news. It's a BOY!
Can you see the evidence? Just in the middle there.

I'm thrilled. Chiharu reckoned she could sense that it was a girl, I think she was kind of hoping for a girl, but she's always said she doesn't mind. I'm simply overjoyed!
Now to just find a name for a boy....???

Travel plans

You can see our travel plans for the next two weeks on our Google Map below. We will be uploading photos from the tour of the southern winter and writing about our journey.


View South Island Trip　南島の旅路２０１０年 in a larger map

Please send us your comments about the photos. Any suggestions for good places to visit and things to do will be warmly appreciated.

Stages

Time flies, and the baby is growing fast. We've moved house, settled in, had two meetings with the midwife and spent a lot of time hanging out and having fun together. It's been a really special time for us.  

あっという間にお腹の赤ちゃんが大きくなりました！最近、私たちは引越ししたし、助産婦さんと会ったり、二人きりでよくしゃべったり、ゆっくりしました。特別な時間を過ごしました。

Everything has been going really well, there haven't been any dramas, besides the usual ins and outs with family and the such like. Baby T seems to be very healthy, and the pregnancy isn't half as hard as I thought it might be. Worry about money from time to time, but I guess that's all part of becoming responsible for other human beings、 and their welfare.

 特に問題はなく、まー普通にある家族ドラマのよう。ベビーTはとっても元気そうで、妊娠の生活は思ったよりきつくない。時々お金を心配してしまうが、人間、人生に責任を持つと心配がでるものだ。

Over this time, Chiharu's belly has been getting bigger and bigger. This doesn't sound like a big deal, until it happens to you or to someone beside you. It's the strangest damn thing! Her stomach gets shunted out of the way, her bladder gets squeezed, everything starts to expand, and suddenly you can feel the little chap bouncing around in there whenever Chiharu slows down a bit for a rest. Truly bizarre! 

前のブログからチハルちゃんのお腹がどんどん大きくなちゃった。
’赤ちゃんが育つにつれて、内臓が押し上げられたり、膀胱が押さえられたりしてトイレが近くなる。寝る前になるとお腹にポコポコと刺激を感じる！赤ちゃんが動いている証拠だよねっ！！’
こういう話しは驚かないかもしれないけど、実際自分が見たり、触ったりすると、ほんまにすっごく変で不思議だっ！

Chiharu has been very excited about how big she's getting, and thought she is really big - until she went to pre-natal yoga class and saw women who are 8-months pregnant! She's a bit shocked, she can't believe she'll be that big in just 12 weeks' time. Parts of me doubt if she really will - will keep you posted. 

チハルちゃんは最近身体が大きくなっていって、『自分って大きいなー』と思ったんだけど、妊婦さんのヨガクラスに参加すると、妊娠９ヶ月の女性を見て『自分はまだまだ小さいんだ』と知った。『１２週間経ったらあんなにでかくなるか』と、少し信じられないチハルです。ちょっとショック受けたみたい。私も少し信じられない気分です。
またブログに近日報告します。

Planning on going on a Babymoon from next week - a trip to celebrate not quite having a baby yet, and being able to travel about  (almost) unencumbered, enjoy a last trip as just the two of us.

来週からベビームーンに行きます。ベビームーンと言うのは赤ちゃんを産んで二人きりの旅行に行くってことだけど、私たちはその代わりに子供がまだ出てないうちに旅をします。