Hi All.



We have big news on the baby front! No not twins! NO NO NO!

Really! No NO NO!



This evening the baby kicked for the first time properly and I actually got
to feel it.



For the last month or so Gems been able to feel our little one swimming
round and moving but until now you haven't been able to feel or see it from
the out side but tonight we actually got an elbow or foot pushing and making
a bump on the surface of Gems stomach.



It happened once and Gem went WOW! Then she told me to put my hand on the
bump and our little one kicked again! It's truly amazing and very exciting.



In other news we had a great holiday. Really relaxing. It's a shame to come
back to work. Also we think Charlie my guide dog is a little bit poorly.
During his last vets check he was very overweight. He's meant to be just
about 5 stone and he was 7. The people from guide dogs said to put him on
this very low calorie diet, Yes, dogs have weight watchers too. But he's
been on it for 3 weeks and hasn't lost a thing so he's had blood tests to
see if it's a thyroid problem. We get the results in a week or so.



Enough for now as I'm meant to be in work pretty early tomorrow.



Take care.

Nick.

Hi All.

Just a quick one to say this is probably going to be the last post for a
week or so.
Gem and I are going away on holiday and I doubt if we're going to have an
internet connection.

So seeya on the other side!
Take care.
nick.

Hi All.
I've been playing the blog again and now we've gone interactive.
At the top of the page you may be able to find a guess the due date.
We'll keep this running write up until the baby comes along, so come on
then, put your mystic meg hat on and have a guess.

That's it for now.
Nick.

Hi All.

Today is a momentous occasion! (I've been reading word of the day again!)

Today marks the probable half way point of the pregnancy. We now have less
time to go until our little one comes along than we've already done. Soon
enough the man in the UPS truck will knock on our door and present us with
our baby. (I'm sure that's how it works.) Well I may have got some of the
details wrong.



In away the half way point is good and not so good. Good in the fact that
both Gem and I are looking forward to holding our little one and showing her
just how amazing the world is. But also a little worrying as it doesn't seem
that long ago when we found out that we were going to be parents and we've
still got a lot of stuff to sort out. The nursery being the major thing.
Currently it's our junk room and you can't even get in it. Before September
we've got to get it emptied, wall paper stripped, re-plastered and painted.
I say September but actually we've got to get it done by the beginning of
July as Alex, My little brother, and his mate John are coming to stay with
us for a week as they're both working in Cardiff.



The baby had quite an active weekend last weekend but has seemed to go quite
quiet for the last couple of days. Gem says she feels it move some times but
not quite as much as it was. I'm not sure if this is normal as the baby
moves in to its growing position. I guess we'll just have to see. If we're
still worried we'll contact the midwife.



As the little one is our first we don't really know what to expect.



Anyway, that's all the news for today.

I'm going to take a look at the blog and see if I can do some sort of count
down timer to the due date.



Take care.

Nick.

I've just got home from work and I had a quick look at the blog to see if
anyone had left any comments.



I re-read last nights post and I was a little bit disturbed! When did I
start classing myself as disabled? Probably a bit of an odd question from a
blind bloke but honestly I don't feel disabled, it's just my eyes don't
work.



I'll have you know I've never weaved a basket, or been to Lourdes. Come on,
I own a drill and know how to use it and can be found every month or so
during the summer cutting the grass!



So sorry about the disable ish type post last night. I'm tempted to remove
it however the thoughts behind the post are still applicable. It was just
the way I said it. So I'll leave it up.



That's all. We'll try to return to normal next post.



Take Care.

Nick.

A discussion I’ve often seen on message boards and email lists for disabled and blind people is about if a cure became available for your disability would you take it. I think if a non disabled person was asked that question it’s a bit of a no-brainer.  The answer would always be yes, every time but it’s not so clear cut for disabled people. I would think This is hard to believe for a non disabled person. Do you believe me? Check out the following link from the fantastic BBC ouch website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/b1tch/130407.shtml

 

Now I wouldn’t say I completely agree with all of the statements in the link above but I understand the points and also used to share the opinions.

 

I used to say that if a cure came out for my eye condition that I would have to think very carefully about taking it. The reason being that it would change everything for me. My whole life I’ve been blind. Everything I’ve learnt from being a little child I’ve learnt to do as a blind person. I’d be worried about how it would affect my life, would I be able to cope and being able to see things. Would it affect my professional life? Would I still be able to use a computer to the same level using the screen compared to using speech to name just a few. Again if you’re not in my position you probably find that quite hard to understand however it is a small sub set of the questions I’d have to look at before accepting a cure.

 

I’m probably going to not make my self very popular with in the disabled pride community but since getting married about a year ago and certainly since I found out I was going to be a dad my opinions have now changed. There is no doubt that I would find it tuff to adjust to being able to see and I would have to learn to do things from a sighted paspective but now I think I probably would take the cure. (there isn’t a cure  at the moment so this is a theoretical discussion anyway.)

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely happy with my blindness, to use a phrase I hate with a passion “I’ve accepted my blindness”. But let’s be honest, the majority of things I can do as well or better than a sighted person however there is some stuff that I simply can’t do. Off the top of my head something as simple as driving would completely change how mobile I would be. Driving is a big issue for me. I would love to be able to drive.

 

I guess the reason that I’m talking about this tonight is because of the scan today. I did feel a bit left out as although Gem described what the scan looked like I feel like I’ve missed something by not directly being able to see it. The midwife was using an ultrasound machine which couldn’t play the heartbeat which means I wasn’t really able to get involved with the scan.

 

I’m not saying that I’m not happy with my blindness or the scan, I am. But I’m being realistic there are things I’m going to miss and particularly now with the little one on the way.

 

I’m not even sure if I’m making sense and I’m certainly not saying this to be pitied, in fact if I’m being pitied you’ve completely missed the point of the post. All I’m really trying to do or explain is how I’m feeling at the moment.

 

So the question for tonight is in a couple of parts.

1. If your disabled would you take a cure if one was available. If so why, if not why not.
2. If you’re not disabled can you understand the views of disabled people about cures?

 

Views and answers in the comments or by email to BLOG@NDAdamson.com.

Sorry again for a serious post. More proof again that I shouldn’t blog too late at night but hopefully it’s made you think.

 

Take care.

A slightly confused Nick.

 

Hi All.



Well we had the scan today and the great news is that Mother and Baby are
both absolutely fine and baby is developing normally.



We have picks of the baby and it's just a bit cute as our little one seems
to be having a good suck on a thumb.



So what's the big answer? The way the baby was lying it was hard to tell
however to quote the midwife: "I see no sign of a willy!" so the likelihood
is that our little one is a girl. She did say though that because of the
position it's not as solid a statement as they normally can make and that we
shouldn't depend too much on that statement.



The end result is that everything's well and the likelihood is that we've
got a girl on the way.



That's it for now.

Take Care.

Nick.

Hi Everyone.



Well the predictions are in.

It is a pretty close thing but with a score of 8 to 6 (not including Gem or
me) the majority opinion thinks our little one is going to be a girl.



There was a couple of rebels out there, mostly my brother and sister, (Alex,
"an hermaphrodite" and Vicki, "a Boy or Girl".)



We'll hopefully find out later today when we go for the scan. As I said in
the last post we don't mind as long as he or she is healthy.



More interesting is the different views on weather you'd find out the sex
before the birth or not. It did seem like there was a bit of a trend towards
the older people I asked wouldn't find out but the younger would. Not sure
if that means anything but I can only tell you what I observed.



I suppose the big question is what Gem and I think.



Write at the beginning of the pregnancy both Gem and I thought it was going
to be a girl, Gems not sure now. As for me it's like watching the
swingomiter on election night. Although in my head I think the babies going
to be a girl when ever I think about the baby or talk about him/her I refer
to a him. So just call me a fence sitter. (And how comfortable it is up here
to!)



I know I'm a geek and all but it still amazes me how by using audio waves
the midwives can get a picture of the baby. And be able to do it in enough
detail to be able to sometimes determine the sex.



We've heard that some hospitals won't tell you the sex until you sign
something to say you won't sue them if it's wrong. How crazy is that!



Anyway. I'll write again with the results later today after the Scan.

Take care.

Nick.

Hi All.



Firstly. Sorry, today's post has nothing to do with the baby. In actual fact
the whole baby is quite quiet at the moment, we're just looking forward to
the scan on Thursday.



Today's post is a bit of a rant about the way blind people are portrayed in
the media.



Gem and I have just finished watching this documentary on channel 4 called
"Blind Young Things". It was a program about 3 blind students at RNC in
Hereford. (It's a college for the blind). I thought the program wasn't bad
but it wasn't that good.



I have a bit of a fundamental problem with a college like RNC as it doesn't
prepare a blind person for the real world. In the real world people aren't
going to get you out of bed in the morning. There not going to take excuses
like some of the students were giving on the program and it doesn't teach
you how to interact with sighted people in the real world.



I went to a main stream school where there were maybe 7 or 8 blind students
in a school of way over a thousand. I was the only blind student on my
courses at college and at university. I'm not saying this to be bragging or
anything but just so you might be able to see where I'm coming from. In
these environments, particularly at college and university, I had to learn
to be independent. When I was 18 I moved away to university and lived on my
own.



1 of the students, Daniel, featured on the show was 18 and was so proud that
he'd made a cheese sandwich independently for the first time. Not being
funny but that's just weird. I don't think this was his fault however it
seemed quite obvious to me that it was his family that should have taken
some of the responsibility for this situation. I'm not having a go at anyone
and each person and group of people deal with situations in different ways
but it was clear to me that his family had completely rapped him in cotton
wool and had done everything for him, he'd then just taken it as read that
he couldn't do much. I think it was his sister that actually said something
like "even though he can't do very much he's still a great person."



I think I have a lot to thank my parents for. I'm the only blinky out of us
3 children and My Mum and Dad didn't really treat me any different from Alex
or Vicki and this is why I would say I am relatively normal.



It's got to be said I really felt for Salina another one of the students
featured as she was going through a pretty rough time as she was losing her
sight. She didn't put a brave face on it and told it like it was. I say she
showed real guts. She also got the best line in the show. She was walking
back to her digs and she got a little lost and frustrated and the Camera man
or producer or someone said to her "But you did really well" and her
response was basically don't be so patronising, you wouldn't say that to any
other 18 year old girl for walking down a road so don't say it to me.



This brings up another point. The makers of the show didn't seem to think
about there possible audience. Considering the show was about blind people
there was a fair bit of stuff with just music and no sort of description. I
guess there was an audio described channel we could have watched however I'm
not sure with a program like this we should have had to.



Generally this program could have been much much worse but could have been
so much better. Why focus on a place like RNC, why not on a blind student in
the real world. And focus more on what us blinkies can do rather than what
we can't. I've got a mate, Joe, who would be a great candidate. Joe, you up
for it?



Write. I'm off the soap box now and we'll be back to talking about baby
stuff soon.



Take care.

Nick.

As I mentioned in my last post in just over a week we go for the next major
Scan. At this the medical people can probably tell what Sex the babies going
to be. They can't tell for certain and they can't always tell at all.



The question I'm throwing out is:

Would you find out or not?

Some people want to know and some don't.



I don't really mind but Gem wants to find out so we'll be finding out next
Thursday.

For extra bonus points do you think our little one is going to be a Boy or a
Girl?



We don't really mind as long as she or he is healthy.



We'll report on how many of you would and wouldn't find out and your gender
predictions next Thursday night when we let you all know about the scan.



So come on then. Answers in the comments or by email to Blog@NDAdamson.com