39 Weeks

Great photography skills again, with an intruder added in for good measure!

This week has been a tough one, although from all my moaning I think I make it seem like every week has been! The pains getting out of bed have got even stronger so I can't get out of bed without moaning anymore! Coupled with the fact that the sun has finally decided  to make a semi permanent appearance and you have one grouchy mumma! I have for this reason tried to spend as much of my time in my pants as possible! Having said this, Callum had three days annual leave this week, so it was nice to be able to enjoy the sunshine together! We took a walk into town every day, went to the cinema and went to a few pubs that we had been meaning to visit for some time. On Thursday Callum had a job interview so I spent some time in the sunshine on the Old Steine, even though I was surrounded by foreign students it was quite peaceful and relaxing.  Usually, despite getting up numerous times a night, I sleep fairly well and easily, tending to fall asleep in a matter or minutes, but last night was very odd.  I went to go to bed around midnight, as I usually do, but I felt suddenly really energised and could tell I wasn't going to sleep.  I decided to try to force myself anyway, because I knew I would regret it otherwise.  When I lay down I started feeling some tightening around my pelvis which I had experienced on a smaller scale previously but not as consistently.  I tried not to panic and instead just lay there.  They carried on consistently for five hours but then stopped.  So goodness knows what that was about! COME ON BABY! 

Bump Update: Week 38

GETTHISBABYOUTOFME pretty much sums up how i'm feeling about now!  

• Bump size: Well the bump size is apparently bang on the measurement it should be at this stage, although it does feel massive! Thankfully, people continue to tell me that from behind I don't look pregnant but the weight of baby is taking its toll.I find it particularly uncomfortable being in bed or trying to get up from the sofa.  Turning over in bed has gone from uncomfortable to downright painful on both the bump, my hips and my pelvis. 
• Leg cramps: Strangely the leg cramps APPEAR to have decreased in regularity although remain present, however they have not been every night.  Having said that, i'm so uncomfortable that this could be taking the brain space over leg cramp head space?!
• Heartburn/acid reflex: This last week has seen a dramatic increase in the sick-in-my-mouth situations so a few times i've just taken my Boots replica Gaviscon to prevent it happening.  Unfortunately I've still had a few times where it's worn off in the middle of the night
• Toileting: I have noticed a big increase in my weeing habits this last week.  It first became apparent when I walked to town (a 30 minute waddle) and I had to stop four times! Since then, I seem to need to go every few minutes! Still no constipation.
• Movements: She continues to be a fidget quite a lot of the day! The last few days she has been particularly active at night time! She also decides to move her whole body from side to side, one day lying head down facing to the left but on the right side and then before I know it she has switched over to the left! Should make labour fun !! 
• Boobs: They don't seem to have grown much but continue to leak. ALL. THE. TIME.  It'll be a miracle if there's anything left by the time baby comes!
• Mood: My mood has become noticeably irritable and frustrated this last week, whereas before I was managing fairly well to control my stress over money/Callum's possible unemployment/my discomfort/anxiety over the birth  etc etc, now, I seem unable to stop these things getting to me.  I also don't think i'm coping with maternity leave particularly well! I have managed to have plans every day so far and still managed to nap sometimes or lay in, but I think having so much time on my hands on my own has led to me getting frustrated re her arrival quickly.  

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. 

30 week update

Goodness gracious the 30 mark scares me a little! How mad it is to think we have got this far.  I've had lots more people notice i'm pregnant this week, especially when I turn to the front! Being in the third trimester has definitely seen the return of some of my first trimester issues; namely exhaustion, nausea and being put off food! Today I couldn't stomach a normal lunch and desperately craved sausage and mini waffles! Unfortunately facilities to meet such needs aren't available at work so I had to make do with a ridiculous amount of micro chips. 
 Also this week, I have struggled to function at all when I get in from work, it's pretty heartbreaking! Yesterday was particularly bad; I spent a while bending down and over either playing with Inara or looking for things that I had put in odd places which resulted in dizziness, nausea and the evening spent in bed/on the sofa without food! The last few days have also seen an increase in the alienesque movements.  She has always been quite the fidget but the movements have been getting stronger and weirder! This last week she has started to make my bump move in such odd ways, the only way I can describe it is like a ripple! Today in particular, she has been such a mover all over the shop!

My aches and pains have also been really quite bad this last week or so; i've pretty much ached literally from head to toe everyday.  It seems to be particularly bad if I either stand or sit for too long, as well as whenever I sleep.

Sleep has generally become a rather awful occurrence for me, which, for anyone that knows me, will know how devastating that is! I bloody love sleep! In between needing to go to the toilet and trying to get comfortable, I then have the problem of getting cramp in my calf and then getting a really intense ache in my back which then lasts all day.  I've tried cushions but it isn't really making much difference and then the cat wakes me up at 4am!

Mentally I haven't really got any better prepared in the last few weeks! I have had peaks of good days and bad days, although I am handling the bad days a lot better and don't think they are anything more than what any other pregnant woman experiences to be honest. 

At my last midwife appointment she took bloods for iron and the good olde lucozade test, neither of which I have had phone calls about so I shall assume everything is a okay.  Also at the last midwife appointment she said I had a trace of protein in my urine so we need to keep an eye on it at my next appointment.  Thankfully my blood pressure was normal so fingers crossed no signs of pre-eclampsia shall rear its ugly head!

28 Week update

Maternity dress from ASOS

Ola! So here we are, somewhere nearing the 30 week mark (i've lost count), eeek!   Things have got tougher on the olde bod of late:

Aches and pains:
The numbness in my hips and legs has continued and has now developed into cramp in my right calf, so that everyday I am awoken by it at 4am...or maybe that's the baby and cat waking me up?  My back ache has got worse, so now it hurts if I do anything for a certain period of time.  For example, at work sitting at the computer it aches and at home I don't have to do much washing up before the ache takes over.

Needing the toilet:
This has probably stayed roughly the same, I generally need to go once during the night although this tends to correlate with my cat waking me up! During the day I go fairly regularly, but I don't feel like it is impeding!

Apetite:
My first trimester I found I went through a stage of being put off food but when I entered the second trimester this seemed to diminish.  It seems to have returned and I am finding my apetite has both decreased and I find it hard to bring myself to actually want any of the food I have planned.  I continue to love fruit though!

Boobs:
I don't think they have grown much more recently, not that I've noticed anyway. 

Indigestion:
A few weeks ago this was ridiculously bad and this last week I have been suffering with IBS type symptoms again, which is the first time its been this bad since before I was pregnant.

Tiredness:
My tiredness fluctuates; last week I found it hard to do anything at all, whether it was work or just attempting to do anything once in from work.  Incidentally, this seemed to correlate with my body deciding to then not be able to sleep when I tried to! How unhelpful! This week, I have found it slightly more manageable in that I have managed to do a few household tasks when i have got in from work. 

Bump:
The last few weeks I've had clients asking when she is due and people at work saying "Haven't you suddenly popped out recently!" so it seems I have become more obviously pregnant now, rather than just looking fat! I think the midwife is going to measure the bump this week and i'm hoping she'll weigh me so we have an idea of if I am on track or bigger than I should be!

23 week update

To be honest, I have no idea where i'm up to with my weeks, but figure i'd just post my latest picture although not currently 23 weeks! I think little Baby Grantham has definitely started making her presence both seen, known and felt! I went to see my Midwife Dillie this week and she said I looked like I was carrying a girl as the bump is quite high up.  She said this tends to be the case because girlies tennnnnd to like to lie traverse and high.  She got rather excited, saying I looked really well and was desperate to measure the bump, however she instead decided we shall wait until next time.  She got the instrument out and we got to hear girly's heart a beating again, which was lucky really because five minutes prior I had scared myself shitless by reading an article about stillborn babies! I don't know why I had worried really, this little madam is a wriggler like me! Rather than the average feeling of once a day at this stage, baby Grantham is moving often throughout the day.  This feeling has definitely changed when she kicks, up til now it has been the classic fluttering, however this week it has started to feel more like a punch! I even grabbed Callum to see if he could feel although I'm not sure if he did.  Health wise, i'm carrying on a ok!

Sciatica + Hip and back pain: The main issues continue to be my sciatica which causes hip and back pain mainly at night, this is still carrying on into the day and sitting at my desk has become a pain! I had the first of my Maternity Risk Assessments at work this week and it was so so helpful, as you would expect from a business run by OTs! My manager basically problem solved any possible problem I might come across, preempting issues before they come, so that we are prepared.  A result of that, is that i'm hoping to get a lumbar support and we've also scheduled in that I take regular walks around the block to ease the pain.

Heartburn/Indigestion: My indigestion has increased over the past month, I find that i'm often hiccupy after eating anything and sometimes refluxy.  I have taken rennies on one occasion, although I think I need to get better at doing this most of the time, it would save me so much trouble!

Exhaustion: Generally I think this tends to have improved, although maybe i'm now just used to functioning like it?! Due to afore mentioned sciatica and the fact my cat likes to wake me up by lying on my side at 4am I have not been getting great amounts of sleep, and I tend to find by 2pm i'm no good to anyone! I've got a lot better at pacing myself, which is mainly because i'm making sure I leave enough time to do all the things I HAVE to do. Of an evening I get in from work and do as much housework as I can until I get tired (usually washing up, put the washing on, put washing out , play with cat), I then have a short break and then do very small bits of  tasks (e.g. put clean clothes away), have another break, then do dinner, another break, then make lunch, then go to bed.  Although this sounds depressing, it allows me to function and complete the things I need to.

Mood: I surprise even myself by how good my mood has been during pregnancy til now (touch wood), especially as it was an unexpected surprise at quite frankly bad timing.  I've had a few hiccups along the way but have generally managed to remain focused and positive.  My mindfulness training has been especially helpful in reducing my initial anxieties I was getting constantly; how will we afford everything, my life is over, i'm shitscared to actually give birth/that my baby will be poorly etc etc.  I've since been refocusing my mind to stay present rather than think ahead, but acknowledging those issues and trying to reduce the impact of those as much as possible through preparation.  Alongside this I have tried to tackle the issues practically, for example rather than moaning about the lack of space, I sat and worked out how we could utilize the space and what we needed to buy in order to do that.  By doing that and simple things like buying a bookcase and chest of drawers, I feel happier with myself that I am making a difference to my life rather than sitting and worrying.  Of course, things are only going to get tougher and i'm sure i'll crack at many points!

Breasts: My boobs continue to grow cupwise, so I need to buy more bras! They have also started to leak which is lovely jubbly and not at all embarassing! So i'm now wearing breast pads pretty near constantly.  It's not all that bad though now i'm used to it!

My sister has decided to throw us a Baby Shower, which, I actually wasn't going to bother with, sounds a bit mental to me, alas she insisted and is organising the whole thing.  Plus, I figure it's a great opportunity to get all the people I love in one place before i'm in hibernation for months years!

21 week update

 At this stage, we have less time left of the pregnancy than the time that has passed! EEEK! I had my first stranger ask if I was pregnant the other day and I have noticed a sudden spurt of the belly this past week.  My new bras have been a God's send, they are two cup sizes bigger than my normal size and the width is still the same. I have found they make heaps of difference to my comfort throughout the day and there is still room for if the boobs continue to grow! The sciatica seems to come and go, although I continuously feel stiff whenever I wake up now.  The peeing through the night and regularity through the day seems to have increased in the last few days; today I had one cup of tea at my Mum's and I actually had to pee 10 times in the space of half an hour! I found it quite hilarious! This is the approach i'm trying to take with most of the "quirks" of pregnancy, because at the end of the day, nothing is worth upsetting yourself about! Pregnancy so far has taught me how I am stronger than I realise, and specifically that I appear to cope best with things when they just land on my doorstep ala surprise.  It seems to force me to find a way to cope, rather than my usual technique of worrying over things that may never happen! I hope I can take this forward post pregnancy, it really does affect my life so positively to my previous approach! Of course, things get tough and things go wrong and I don't cope all the time, but such is life and we all find a way through eventually.  Things are by no means easy or perfect for our little family, neither myself nor Callum are in the place physically, emotionally or financially that we would liked to have been when having children, however, life does not work out the way we want, it's the way we deal with the hand we are given that shapes us as individuals. 

Callum and I have still yet to buy anything for the child, however my Mother has already begun getting carried away! She called me whilst in Toys R Us with her Goddaughter the other day, squealing with delight at x y and z things! These are things she has bought so far...



  



 

 


Names:
Edith
Audrey
Cordelia
Dahlia
Iona
Ionie
Eilidh

Bump update: Week 18

Since I passed into the second trimester, symptoms have been a lot better! The nausea has reduced from constantly to intermittently and the tiredness has lulled a bit.  About two weeks ago I caught a cold which then inevitably led to a cough, having asthma (and not taking inhalers) doesn't bode well for a cough, let alone when pregnant.  After a week of coughing so much I was straining my stomach and throwing up food, I decided I should probably see the doctor.  She was pretty concerned and said if it didn't improve over night I would have to go to hospital and go on a drip! Thankfully, she prescribed me inhalers and the difference they made was very rapid.  She did wonder if it was due to acid reflex associated with pregnancy and told me to keep an eye on it.  Otherwise, I have been relishing this trimester and really using my time wisely.  Although I cannot be anywhere near as productive as I am usually, I have become a pro pacer of doing things in short bursts, and am still managing to keep the flat vaguely in shape, which I am insanely proud about! I have noticed the belly growing quicker recently and my boobs have grown so much that my bras which were previous cups too big are now too small! I have also noticed my tights are just too tight now and really do get uncomfortable when wearing them.  I have yet to tell work yet, I'm going to tell them after the scan next week, although i'm slightly concerned they have an inkling already because people keep looking at my stomach (even when im wearing baggy things)! People have been so supportive and I really feel truely blessed to know such beautiful people.  Friends, including my male friend, have been  really great for advice (his daughter is nearly one) and support, and I can't wait to hang out with our kids together.  Other friends have  said they have things that I can have first refusal of and my mum has been amazing already.  I cannot tell you how lucky I feel! This in itself makes up for those times that I feel isolated or out of the loop, reminding me of the goodness of life.  What i've particularly liked about the afore mentioned people, is that they have not been condescending,nor have they spoke to me like the process is black or white for all of us, they have simply shared THEIR experience in a way that is difficult for most people to do.