36 week update

Here we are, well into my 36th week and boy did shit just get real!

In the last few weeks I've definitely felt a transition from just feeling like I was going to be pregnant forever, to realising I won't be carrying around this bowling ball for heaps longer.   I feel like the third trimester has been the worst one so far, the others have been a dream in comparison!  The first trimester I had lots of sickness and tiredness but I felt this was largely manageable as you can still force yourself to function.  The second trimester was the easiest for me, symptoms decreased and the belly hadn't grown too big yet so no discomfort in that way.  The third however, uncomfortable to the core!

Tiredness:
The tiredness reached a peak about 34 weeks which I think correlates to when the discomfort started increasing.  In light of this, I decided to use some of my annual leave to have an afternoon off a week in order to attempt to nap before combating the house work, which really helped make things more manageable for me.  Now i'm on maternity leave i've found the extra sleep is doing me wonders, funny that!! On my first day off I slept in until 11am and did nothing for most of the day which in turn meant that I actually had the energy to put washing on and do the washing up!

Bump size:
The old belly is quite gigantic nowadays which has become quite the irritant! Due to the size, it now makes doing most things unbearable, e.g. washing up for longer than ten minutes at a time starts to get painful because the bump is so big that I can't lean right up to the bowl, so instead have to bend over, thus leading to bump ache and then leading to back ache!  It also means that bending down has become horrible, as has trying to get out of bed! When I turn onto my side to try to get out of bed, the weight of the bump causes such a pain, it's just horrible! Oh, and I can no longer walk fast/run without the bump hurting...which I guess is obvious really but annoying!

Leg cramps:
These have been persistently atrocious for many a week now and mean that on a bad night they wake me numerous times every hour! Poor cat gets scared to death when I suddenly have to start jiggling my legs around! Callum's mum has always suffered with them and I could never understand how something like that could be that painful, well now I do! She recommended having tonic water as it's meant to help, although does make heartburn worse! Typical.

Heart burn/acid reflux:
I had a few tough weeks where I would wake up with sick in my mouth (lovely!) and finally bought some high street equivilant of gaviscon.  It seems to have helped although it is so rank that I still try to have it as little as possible! I find it really hard to swallow (in a literal sense) because the consistency is so thick!

Toilet:
 I think my need to wee has probably increased and I now have to get up in the night probably twice, but I still don't consider this to be too bad.  I still haven't had any problems with constipation and if anything, the bowels seem to verge more towards the other way! Oh yes, delightful!

Movements:
A few weeks ago her movements decreased dramatically, to the extent that I was vaguely worried although not enough to warrant doing anything about it.  It turns out that I had nothing to worry about, as she is now back to being a right fidget! In fact, when we were at the cinema on Monday, I felt her do a massive move and was pretty sure she had changed sides.  Up until now, she has been consistently laying head down on the right side of the bump (when I look down at her) and her movements are usually around my belly button.  Not after the big movement though! I was pretty certain I could feel her on the left side of the bump and the midwife confirmed this when I went to my appointment on Tuesday.  At the appointment, the midwife said that if the baby's head isn't engaged in two weeks, we'll need to go to the hospital.  Ive never heard of this before, have you? I'll only be 38 weeks so it surprised me and annoyingly Callum seemed to zone out at this point so has no recollection of her saying that!

Mood:
I think I would describe my mood as "fed up", because I am now unable to do much of what I used to be able to and we are nearing the end, I feel like I have definitely entered the "just get her outta me" stage.  Having said that, I generally find myself in good spirits so hopefully that'll continue!

Boobs:
I'm hoping they've stopped growing but realistically I don't think they have! Unfortunately they continue to leak at a rate of knots too! Oh well, at least the leakage is nothing new to me!

If you're interested in my other updates, you can find them here.