A never ending list of ‘stuff’

When I first found out that I was pregnant, I had no idea how much ‘stuff’ I would have to accumulate. We are not particularly struggling for money, but we have to be careful having just bought a house, so I had to do quite a lot of baby collecting rather thriftily. A friend at school who has had two babies in the last three years and was getting rid of everything proved incredibly useful. She gave me a huge stash of maternity clothes, as well as lots of baby essentials such as sleepsuits and vests for free, and sold me a vast array of baby items for absolute bargain prices. I think most things I have came from her!

My cousin has also been very helpful – giving me a few things, such as a cot mobile, a couple of baby carriers and a door frame bouncer thing. She had just given the majority of her baby things to a friend about a week before I announced my pregnancy – typical!

And luckily a family friend is moving and wanted to get rid of lots of big things, so we were more than happy to take them off his hands!

But we are starting to get organised now.

So far we have got the following all either free or bought second hand:

• A cot and cot-top changer – given to us by a family friend. Very lucky with this as it’s a really good quality Mamas and Papas one
• A Moses basket and stand – bought for £20 from my friend
• A crib – a total bargain on ebay. M thinks I’ve gone overboard on sleeping arrangements – he might be right!
• A travel cot –from family friend again (seems to be a Hauck all singing-all dancing one too!)
• A travel carrycot – £5 from my friend – packs up ridiculously small – very useful!
• 2 stairgates – from the family friend
• A Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix car seat and isofix base bought for £50 from a friend
• A Baby Bjorn carrier, bought from a friend for £15
• A Mamas and Papas bouncer/rocker thing which is adorable – bought from a friend
• A baby gym and a separate play mat bought very cheaply from a friend
• A Bababing changing bag – £5 from a friend
• A baby bath seat to go in the normal bath – from a friend, although not sure how much we’ll use this
• A car mirror to see the baby in the back – £3 from a friend
• A cot mobile free from my cousin
• A baby donut – to sit the baby in before he can sit up – £5 from a friend
• A huge array of clothes, all either free, or about £5 for a bundle of 10 things
• 2 Mamas and Papas sleeping bags for £5
• A wide collection of towels, muslins and flannels for free

 

And we have bought the following things new (although the first two were bought for us):

• A Baby Jogger City Mini GT pushchair – bought by my mum from John Lewis – I’m in love with it already.
• A Baby Jogger Compact Plus Carrycot. The pushchair is forward facing and has a huge seat, so I wanted something for the early months when he’s really small. It was tough to get hold of, but a very important 3cms wider than their standard compact carrycot
• A mattress for the Moses basket – I had no idea you had to buy new mattresses! From Kiddicare
• A new mattress for the crib – from Mothercare
• A steriliser and breast pump set – half price in Mothercare
• A changing mat
• A baby bath
• A collection of sleepsuits, vests, a few ‘outfits’, some leggings and T-shirts and a few bigger things like snowsuits in sales ready for next winter
• Some swaddling muslins from Aden and Anais
• 2 gro-bags
• 1 gro swaddle

We still need to get

• A baby monitor – I think I’m going to go for the Angelcare sensor mat one. Unless anyone has any suggestions of a better one! I got a John Lewis voucher from my department at school when I went on maternity leave, so that will cover most of it.
• Decorating things for the nursery – some curtains, a cot set, a lampshade and some wall stickers. My mother in law wants to buy all of this, so we should be able to get it in the next week or so.

I obviously haven’t included all of the maternity bits and pieces and hospital bag items that I’ve bought. I’m also now starting to collect some clothes that I can breastfeed in – some nursing tops and some vests with buttons down the front. I’d like to get a few loose shirts to go over the top, although I think the big muslin swaddles will be really useful for discreet breastfeeding. If I can be bothered to be discreet!

Looking back at this list, I’m actually pretty pleased with myself. I don’t think I’ve actually spent that much and have succeeded in keeping the costs right down. It helps having very generous friends, but I know NCT sales and ebay are also great for picking things up really cheaply. It does mean that over the next few weeks I have a lot of cleaning and washing to do. I’ve done most of the clothes, but all of the baby equipment that’s second hand will need wiping down with Milton fluid and the fabric on things like the bouncer will need to be washed.

I haven’t included things that we’ve been given as presents, and we actually don’t have very many toys at all – I’m kind of hoping that if people want to give us things when he’s born then toys might be the thing!

Can you think of anything else that we will need? I am starting to collect nappies and cotton wool when I go shopping, and have got a few bathing bits, although I don’t really know which are good makes so not getting too much of this.

If you have any products or items that you could not have lived without in the first few months, I’d love to hear them.

Review: Pregnancy+ App

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I’d like to try the Pregnancy+ app for my phone from Health & Parenting. I spend a ridiculous amount of time on my phone and also a ridiculous amount of time reading about babies and learning about what’s in store, so it seemed like a no-brainer! I jumped at the chance!

I do already have a few pregnancy apps and one in particular has been my go-to place throughout my whole pregnancy. So, although I was looking forward to trying it, I didn’t know if I needed a new one, per se. I’d give it a go, but wasn’t sure I’d get into the habit of checking it daily.

But I did. I really like this app. There are so many features that I haven’t found on others I’ve tried. I like that the welcome page immediately tells you how many days you have left and that the most useful links are all there on the first page. There are the usual pages that tell you how big your baby is and what it’s up to this week – and of course the obligatory fruit/vegetable comparison! But the feature I like best is the daily blog. These seem really relevant and are always well written and interesting. I genuinely go to the app each day to read the blog; they are personal, well-researched and entertaining. I haven’t found that on any other site – they so often seem a bit generic and dull.

The app also has a calendar function where you can input any important appointments and events – I’ve found this really useful as it helps me remember when my various midwife and hospital appointments are. Since getting gestational diabetes, I have had a lot more appointments, so the fact that it has reminders that come up to tell you when they are is great. I can be pretty disorganised and this just gives another layer of organisation to help me out!

I like the weight gain chart (although dislike seeing it rise so rapidly!) and there’s a feature for looking up baby names and recording your favourites in a short list, which is really useful. I also really like the movement counter, as if I’m concerned at all that I haven’t been feeling as much movement one day, I put that on and just reassure myself. There is a contraction timer too – obviously I haven’t had to use that yet, but it might be useful!

This app doesn’t do anything (that I’ve found) that other apps don’t do, but I like that it’s all in one place. I have a baby names app, a baby size app, a daily progress app and a weight gain app already, but the fact that this records everything very accessibly and clearly, all in one place is great. There is a check list for virtually everything, including what to pack in hospital bags, much of which I hadn’t thought of or seen on various other lists there are. It seems to take you right through labour too, with different positions suggested and breathing techniques. There really isn’t room in a blog post to tell you everything the app does – it’s really very impressive and seems to cover everything you could possibly want.

I don’t think it will entirely replace the app that has been my favourite all along. I like the forum feature on that other app, where you are immediately in touch with everyone due in the same month as you, and Pregnancy+ doesn’t have this. But it’s a shame that the other app doesn’t take a few lessons in user-friendly design and functionality from Pregnancy+ – it’s so easy to navigate and feels intuitive and simple, with all the features easy to find and exactly where you would expect them to be.

I was given the app free to try, but would definitely spend the money on it. The iTunes link is here. It really does give you all the information you need right from day one of your pregnancy.

Week 36 (eek!)

I used to find it really irritating when blogs that I read began with ‘I can’t believe I’m ‘x number’ of weeks already – that’s crazy’! But I definitely feel that way now. I always thought pregnancy would go slowly and would really drag. The first 12 weeks did and perhaps it was in those weeks, where I watched endless youtube vlogs and read lots of pregnancy blogs, that I couldn’t imagine it going fast. But fast it has gone.

I am now 35+2 weeks and have finished work. We broke up for Easter on Friday, so I have three weeks of Easter holidays, then my maternity leave starts on the 22^nd April. It is very odd to think that I won’t be going back after the holidays. Particularly when I think about my A level students preparing for their exams!

My gestational diabetes means that I will probably be induced on or around my due date. As my due date is a Sunday, it is likely to be before the weekend, as it’s a bank holiday weekend and it might be leaving it too long to wait until after that. So in my head, I’m preparing myself to be induced on around the 1^st or 2^nd of May. This may change, and I have another scan and appointment with my consultant and obstetrician next week, where I am really hoping they might be able to give me a few more concrete details. After last time, I won’t get my hopes up. It was so incredibly vague and not terribly helpful.

I’m getting on alright with the diabetes though – last week I made this lemon drizzle cake, which was surprisingly good. I could tell it was genuinely good and not just ‘I have diabetes and am so deprived of sugar that I’ll eat anything’ good, as Mark ate it – voluntarily!

At my midwife appointment on Monday last week, the midwife scared me a little by telling me the baby’s head is very low down. As Mark has gone skiing for a week this weekend, it made me a little nervous. So I packed my hospital bags and got contingency plans in place in case baby decides to put in a (very) early appearance before Mark’s back from the school ski trip.

I’ve been getting a few symptoms this last week too – my Braxton Hicks seem to have intensified and can be really uncomfortable at times, particularly when I have a full bladder! I’ve been feeling quite a lot of pressure too, which I guess is to be expected if the baby’s head is engaged, as the midwife said. I have also been nesting like a maniac – washing and ironing all the baby’s clothes up to 3 months, then organising them into his drawers (after obsessively scrubbing these within an inch of their lives!) and getting the room a bit more ready.

My pram has arrived, which is ridiculously exciting, and apparently the carrycot has now come too – although I haven’t seen it yet, as I’ve come up to my parents’ house for a few days’ relaxation (to get me away from the nesting!) and will have to wait until I get home to play with that! I did put the pram up the other day though – obviously to check that it was all there and all worked (not at all to get uber excited and push it round my kitchen with a teddy in it!)

And next week we are getting a few bits to decorate the nursery. I don’t want to go overboard, but we’re getting some curtains and a cot set, with a matching lamp shade and perhaps some wall stickers to liven it up a little. I can’t wait now – I absolutely love spending time in the room, imagining what it will be like to be in there with our baby. It shouldn’t be too long!

So here is my 35+2 week bump – I feel enormous now! I’ve gone from everyone telling me how tiny I am, to everyone saying ‘Gosh, you’ve really grown!’ I have lots of posts to come in the next few days – including a review of an amazing pregnancy app I’ve been using, and a review of my Lazy Daisy hypnobirthing classes I’ve been going to. I start them again next week and am so glad. The NCT classes have been great, but all the technical details are quite alarming; I’m looking forward to relaxing about the whole process again.

Gestational Diabetes

When I had my initial booking appointment with the midwife and had to answer that incredibly long family history questionnaire, which seems to ask you every question under the sun, I answered ‘yes’ to a close family member having diabetes and then thought very little more about it. I knew that as a precaution I would probably have a Glucose Tolerance Test at around 28 weeks, just to be sure, but it seemed very unlikely that I would have any problem. I’m healthy, have a low BMI and my dad has Type 2 diabetes due to his size and lifestyle. I really didn’t think there was much chance I would get it.

At 30 weeks, I went for my GTT – which was horrible, I might add, as it made me feel awful and really sick – and the results came back the following week at my midwife appointment and were fine. As I expected. But at that same appointment, the trainee midwife, who was assisting in the appointment, found sugar in my urine test. That was odd – I’d never had that before. My midwife wasn’t worried – I was measuring fine and my GTT was fine, so she said it was probably just a blip. But to be on the safe side, she said she’d send a community midwife round to my house the next day, an hour after I’d eaten, to do a finger pin-prick blood test. She was very confident it would be fine.

The midwife came the next day and did the test. And it was high. Anything about 7.8 is considered too high, and this was 8.6. I was gobsmacked. She told me that this probably meant I have gestational diabetes and that she’d book me in for another GTT and get the local specialist diabetes midwife to call me. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t help it – I burst into tears and sobbed on the midwife. I didn’t know much about gestational diabetes, but I knew that it meant my baby could grow too big, and I knew it meant I would have to be consultant led. And probably be induced. I didn’t want any of these things.

Through my tears, I read up on what I should eat and duly panicked – no sugar, including very little fruit and as few carbohydrates as possible. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. I had my first NCT class that evening too and was really not in the mood, but at least on the way home we went to Tesco and bought some snacks for me to take to school with me – that was what I was most worried about.

My GTT was booked for Friday, so I missed a day of school, and by then I was pretty certain I did have it. So on Monday, when I had another midwife appointment, she phoned up and found that the result was positive. My fasting levels were fine, but after the sugary drink, my body hadn’t got rid of all the sugar. I cried again. I don’t really know why – I had come to terms with it by then; I think I was just hoping they would say it had just been a funny couple of days. But no, I have gestational diabetes.

I got an appointment to see the diabetes specialist midwife on the Wednesday (another day off school) and was given a blood testing kit so that I can check my own levels. I have to do this first thing in the morning, where the score has to be below 6, and an hour after each meal, where the score has to be below 7.8. So far, I have managed to keep them in the required zones, but it is taking some considerable effort. I seem to think about food all day and it totally occupies my mind – what I can and can’t eat; when I need to eat so that I can be free to check my blood sugar (in the middle of a lesson is not ideal!). The biggest challenge is at school, where I eat three meals a day in the school canteen on the days that I’m there. I find that I get quite hungry, as I have to cut out anything with carbohydrates in, as at school it’s all quite stodgy white carbs.

{my blood-testing kit}

But there are positives. We caught it very early, as there were only two weeks between my two GTTs and this means that we caught it pretty much as soon as I got it. This should hopefully mean the baby hasn’t grown too big. Additionally, I have lost somewhere close to 1kg in weight in the last two weeks by cutting out sugar. And I get to have another scan tomorrow morning which I absolutely can’t wait for. They are scanning to measure him and make sure he hasn’t grown too big. I’m just excited to see him again. I won’t be able to have quite the birth I had hoped – a water birth is pretty much out of the question, as I will need to be monitored a lot. And I will probably have to be induced unless I can persuade the little one to come a bit early. But at least I know I will get amazing care and no stone will be left unturned. I’m trying to look on the bright side.

And there’s only 7 weeks to go!

{a gorgeous sunny walk on Sunday morning (apologies for the lack of make up and unbrushed hair – it was early! But look at that gorgeous blue sky!}

Week 27 Pregnancy Update

I haven’t done one of these updates for a while, so I thought it would be nice to catch up on how my pregnancy is going and what’s changed.

26 weeks and 3 days

Weight gain:
Oh I don’t know. More than I’d like, but it could be worse. I don’t weigh myself, so I’ll keep myself in the dark!

Maternity clothes:
…are pretty much all I fit into now! I have lots of pairs of jeans and a couple of pairs of jeggings from Sainsbury’s (I went to get some more in another colour as I love them so much!). I bought a pair of work trousers from a rather dubious website, which, when I received them, had all the labels cut out. I’d be more concerned if I didn’t really like them – but they’re great! Smart and over the bump, so I can stay comfortable at all times. I’ve also bought a couple of maternity tops in the Jojo Maman Bebe sale (and a few cheeky baby clothes while I was there too!) – one is a wraparound top which is lovely but  a little low cut – too much so for school anyway! The other is a smart shirt style patterned top which is really comfortable and has loads of room for me to grow. Other than that, and a couple of jumpers for school from H&M, I think everything else is the same as it was.

Stretch marks:
None so far – fingers crossed! I’m using Palmers Cocoa Butter Stretch Mark cream at night, as it’s really thick and takes a while to dry, then Bert’s Bees Mama Bee Tummy Butter in the morning, as it’s so light and easily-absorbed. These seem to be working well so far.

Sleep:
I’ve just written a post on sleep for the blog that I contribute to over at Mummy & Little Me. It’s not too bad, but I’m having to be propped up with lots of pillows and have to sleep with a pillow between my knees to ease the pelvic pain I’m getting. Also – THE craziest dreams. EVER.

Exercise:
Still mainly walking the dog, but I’m enjoying my fitness DVDs and mostly do the 10 minute solutions Pilates one when I’m at school and therefore not getting out dog-walking. I’d still like to do more, but swimming is less appealing now that I have pelvic pain as I’m not allowed to do breast-stroke and I’m appalling at all other strokes.

Best moment this week:
My Lazy Daisy class. It was the fourth week of a six week course, but things just seemed to click this time. I was able to breathe more naturally and then at the end, we do a sort of hypnobirthing relaxation session, with lots of positive mental images. This week, for the first time, I felt myself slipping into true relaxation. In the past, it’s always seemed a bit forced and awkward and I could never fully relax. They’re absolutely brilliant and I’ve signed up for another term of them. I fully recommend them if you have them near you. It’s a quarter of the price of hypnobirthing and I think it’s brilliant.

Worst moment this week:
Having to have time off work from my pelvic pain. It’s really debilitating. Having said that, a really interesting physio session, some careful management, an amazing Anita Maternity Babybelt and some specific exercises (and some rest) have helped a lot.

Miss anything?
Not especially. Again, running and riding my horse have been regular features on the list of things I miss since I stopped doing them. I’d say proper, get your heart pumping, make you red in the face, hardcore exercise would be high up this week.

Movement:
Lots! Baby is moving consistently every day now, although he likes to scare me every now and again and have a quiet day. As I type this, with my laptop on my legs and resting against the bottom of my bump, I can feel him wriggling and squirming away. Sometimes the kicks feel really low down, almost as if he is trampolining on my cervix. That’s a little unpleasant, but mostly I just find all the movements a little ticklish and quite funny. I love that Mark can feel them regularly now too. And we even saw some kicks yesterday – Baby was doing very odd things to my belly!

Food cravings:
Not particularly. I still love bacon and salty foods, but am wanting a lot more chocolate again now. Not helping with the weight gain!

Symptoms:
Pelvic pain (sorry to go on about it!) Also being very forgetful and feeling very tired. I also feel like my heart rate is quite fast – I’m going to ask the midwife about that at my next appointment.

Mood:
Good, generally! I find that I get stressed and emotional much more easily than I would normally though. Something fairly trivial will cause a huge stress and have me in floods of tears. Which is odd.

Looking forward to:
Half term! Mark and I are going to have a few days away. I don’t know if you can call it a Babymoon – although it will be the last time we go away just as a couple. We’re going up to Yorkshire for a few days and staying with his aunt and uncle (saving pennies!!). The plan is to do a bit of walking in the Dales, spend a day in York and generally do some touristy stuff, like go to some museums etc. I can’t wait!

I’m going to do a proper post on my Lazy Daisy classes and how I’ve found those. So I’ll be back soon!

Sorry the picture’s so dark – I don’t really have the facilities to take bump pictures when I’m away! But here’s my very low, slightly pointy boy bump!

A baby haul! (24+3 weeks)

The amazing clothes I picked up second hand today – they are several layers deep in this photo!

I have so many posts that I’m longing to write, but this week has been utterly chaotic and I just haven’t had any time. We are moving house at the weekend, having spent the last couple of weeks finalising very awkward details in the purchase. It’s our first house, so we are so so excited to be moving in on Saturday!

But that meant coming to school this morning was really frustrating. I desperately want to be at home, getting organised for the move. There’s definitely a reason I’ve always moved in school holidays in the past!

Baby-wise, I had a very exciting evening tonight. I went to see a friend whose youngest baby is 9 months now, so she is selling all her baby stuff. She has two boys and a house full of brilliant things.

For the bargain price of £93, I picked up the following:

• A White Company Moses basket and stand, with a mattress
• A travel carry-cot
• a bouncing rocker chair thing
• A baby donut – to plonk him in to play when he’s bigger, but not able to fully support himself sitting up
• A musical baby gym
• A Baby Bjorn carrier
• A car mirror
• A changing bag
• Some teething toys
• A huge bag full of muslins, towels and flannels
• Loads of baby socks
• A big stash of baby clothes ranging from 0-6 months
• Two gro-bag style sleeping bags

Writing it here now, I can’t quite believe how lucky I’ve been. We’re buying a maxi-cosi cabriofix car seat and base from a friend too for just £50, so we really are doing rather well for stuff now. My mum also announced this evening that she would like to buy our pushchair for us, which I really wasn’t expecting. Everyone is just being so generous. It’s already making me think that when I’m in the position that my friends are in and have finished with all my stuff, I desperately want to help someone else out, as we have been helped.

So it’s been a pretty productive day!

I’ve been doing my pregnancy pilates most days this last week, so I will post a review of my opinions of the DVD as soon as I can.

Week 23+3

Today I am exhausted. Totally and utterly. I’m sure I have worse yet to come and I have no idea what sleepless nights with a baby are like, but right now, this evening, I feel shattered.

Today was my first day back at school after Christmas. I only work three days a week in school but it always feels as though I cram a full five day week into those days so it’s still pretty hard work. And on a Wednesday, I get up at 5am to drive here – then stay in a school flat on Wednesday and Thursday nights and drive back home after school on Friday.

But I counted today that I only have 10 more Wednesday morning ‘get-ups’ until I go on maternity leave. Which is crazy.

It’s been a rocky end to the holiday. We were supposed to be completing on our new house last week and moving in at the weekend. Due to some professional cock ups we didn’t. But we’re still aiming for next weekend – which, being in the middle of term time, when I spend most of my weekends private tutoring, is far from ideal…but I’m desperate to be in!

Additionally, on Saturday I had my first real pregnancy related scare. Mark gave me some beautiful long leather boots for Christmas and after a tutoring session on Saturday, I put them on and noticed one was much tighter than the other. I thought it was odd as it definitely hadn’t been before. I got home, felt again, and found the same thing. Just out of interest, I got a tape measure out and measured both of my calves. My left one was over a centimetre bigger than the right.

Normally I would just ignore this and see if it went away, but I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, and I remembered my midwife giving me a leaflet on the increased chance of blood clots in pregnancy. I ummed and ahhed and consulted google –  never a good idea, as that would have had me believing that I definitely had DVT. In the end, I rang NHS direct, who were great and asked me dozens of questions. Answering them made me think that probably it was nothing, as I said no to nearly everything they asked. But as I am pregnant and one leg was swollen, they wanted me to see an out of hours GP to have it checked out.

That meant that at 9.30 on a Saturday evening, when my poor boyfriend was supposed to be out having a drink with his best friend, we were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, wondering whether or not I had a blood clot. This and the added alarm of the woman who marched out of the doctor’s room and her friend said ‘So you’re in quarrantine then?’ and she replied – ‘No – I’m not in quarrantine – only if someone’s pregnant!’ I felt myself shrink into my coat, clutching my little bump protectively. I kept well away!

To cut a long story short, the doctor prodded and poked my legs, measured them (having had my feet up all evening the difference in measurements had gone down a lot) and took my blood pressure. All seemed fine, and I’m pretty sure he thought I was a hyperchondriac. I’m really not. But this pregnancy thing makes little worries into big worries, as it’s not just my health to think about.

Also this week – I attended my first Lazy Daisy birthing class. I’ll do a proper post about it another time, but I really really loved it and would recommend it to anyone. It’s a mixture of hypnobirthing techniques and yoga, with some movement repetition and deep relaxation. It was so informative as well – I learnt things about labour and the experience of giving birth that I had never considered and we were given techniques on how to prepare our bodies for labour through stretching. It feels a bit early to be doing it, but they recommend starting early as your body will naturally perform the movements and slip into the relaxed state more easily.

I’ve also been doing my pregnancy exercise DVDs and will do reviews of those too. I have done one of them more than the others, as it’s a quicker workout, although I’ve brought a 10 minute solutions pregnancy pilates dvd with me to school, so I might have a go at one of those in a minute and see if it gives me a little more energy.

And at 23+3 weeks, I finally told the kids at school about my pregnancy. The sixth formers were pretty indifferent, although one of the girls stayed behind to congratulate me afterwards, and the year 7s and 8s were wildly excitied, demanding to know lots of details and quickly asking if I would name the baby after them. It was very sweet.

But this is why I had to tell the children – this is me in my school outfit today – eek!

Excuse the slippers – it’s been a long day!

20+6

Tomorrow I will be 21 weeks pregnant and thought I would just do a little update on how I am finding everything.

Weight gain:
I don’t weigh myself on principle, but I am slightly dreading being weighed at my midwife appointment on Monday. Last time, at 16 weeks, I had put on 4kgs since becoming pregnant. I put that down to stopping running at around week 7/8 and one of my early symptoms which was having to eat every hour! The midwife said my weight gain should probably slow down after that, but I feel like I’ve been eating like a horse!

Maternity clothes:
I’m mainly wearing the ones I was given by a friend from school – lots of comfy jeans! I like the over bump ones best, but bought myself a pair of jeggings from Sainsburys yesterday as they are quite thick and look like proper jeans, as well as being quite smart. But they have a lovely stretchy waistband – perfect!

Stretch marks:
None yet. I’m using the Palmers cocoa butter stretch mark cream but I don’t know how good it is. Might have a look after Christmas and see which others people recommend.

Sleep:
Sleep has been fine until the last couple of days. I find I’m quite uncomfortable when I go to bed, then wake up at about 4am and can’t sleep again for at least an hour. I’m having to pee in the night now too which I’ve never had to do before.

Exercise:
Mostly dog-walking. Although saying that, I feel like I am doing myself down, as it’s hardly a dog walk and more of a dog march! I keep meaning to go swimming. I definitely will next week. I have been walking for about 45 minutes FAST each day, and really enjoying this. It’s no substitute for running or riding, but it’ll do for now!

Best moment this week:
Of course the scan and seeing our little boy. Still can’t get used to saying ‘him’ rather than ‘it’! Also, feeling lots of movement and kicks – and Mark feeling them too. It really does make it more real.

Worst moment this week:
Having a Christmas dinner on Wednesday but feeling full after about a quarter of it. Since I had cooked it, I ploughed on to the end, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as I had hoped and that was really disappointing. I wish the baby would grow out a bit more as he’s clearly taking up a lot if room inside rather than pushing out into a proper bump!

Miss anything?
Riding my horse, mainly 😦 but also running.
And brie. And this week, with lots of Christmas celebrating, I’m really missing having a drink. I haven’t missed it at all up to now, but was quite jealous of friends this week!

Movement:
Mostly in the evenings. Although when I was hungry the other day, the baby was really protesting and letting me know that he did NOT appreciate me leaving it that long between meals!

Food cravings:
Bacon. Actually any relatively unhealthy meat products like sausage rolls and bacon sandwiches yummm…

Symptoms:
None really – other than having to pee more frequently and getting out if breath more easily.

Mood:
Pretty good. I do have a quicker temper than usual though and get quite irrationally angry at Mark. This week I accidentally shut the car boot in Mark’s head. He (obviously) shouted in pain and I got really cross at him for shouting at me. Totally irrational. Crazy pregnant lady.

Looking forward to:
Christmas! And seeing my sister who lives in Palestine and I haven’t seen since the summer. Baby related – I’m looking forward to shopping in the January sales!

Excuse the wet hair and the mess – but here’s the (sort of) bump at 20+6!