30 Weeks Pregnant (75% baked!)

At 30 weeks I am officially 3/4's or 75% of the way through my pregnancy! We are officially on the countdown to meeting baby and time is flying.

I haven't worked during pregnancy and I know I have been very lucky to have had this time to myself to relax and enjoy each day. During the first trimester I would have to say that time felt like it was moving very slowly, and I believe not working compounded this as I had nothing to take my mind off the growing secret inside of me that I was bursting to tell everyone about. That being said, I am so grateful that I didn't have to be on the packed train into London everyday and work through the nausea. I left my job as an accountant at the end of September last year due to many factors, two being the late nights and the travel into Leicester Square each day. The plan was to have a month or two off (as I was studying for two CIMA exams in November to become a chartered accountant) and apply for a new job closer to where we live. We found out I was pregnant in November and I never went back to work! I honestly know believe there would have been a lot of tears and stress for myself (and for Mr P) if I was still in that job, and when I say that so far I have had a wonderful pregnancy, I know a lot of it can be put down to the fact that each day has been at my own pace, waking up late and lounging around, holidaying or having a bath or a walk into town when I feel like it. So I'm very aware that I'm extremely lucky in that respect and I take my hat off to all pregnant women who get on with it and work whilst they are pregnant! 

Mums to be in the UK can take maternity leave from their job from 29 weeks pregnant, if they wish to go early or they can work up until they are ready to give birth. Despite my current unemployment status, I qualify for statutory Maternity Allowance as I worked for 26 weeks in a 66 week test period prior to the babies due date. The weekly amount is £138.18 which will not go far however I am extremely grateful that I qualify for this and this week I received my approval letter stating that my first payment will commence shortly. I have many little bits and pieces to pick up for baby Paicey, just small things like nappies, wipes, creams etc and I think I will even treat myself to a pedicure with my first payment! After not working it is very exciting to get a payment regardless of how small it may seem to some!

This week I caught up with some of my girlfriends from Australia for a lovely dinner cooked by my gorgeous friend and foodie, Melodie who is about to set off filming a television series, cooking her way through Italy. If you like food and recipes,  be sure to check out her blog here. We had a truly lovely evening catching up and the bump seriously received the most rubs and hands on it than its ever had! The girls where trying to feel kicks but I had to tell them that baby Paicey wasn't moving at that moment and I would tell them when he or she did! They loved my big tummy and I felt the love. We were celebrating my friend Jess's 30th birthday and I must have eaten about 36 cupcakes at the end of the meal. They were gluten and dairy free and as I was assured they were apparently healthy, that was enough for me!

Lots of pregnant woman go through a 'nesting' faze at some point, and this week I think it started to happen in our house. Our house is small but quaint and our living room is not very big. Our sofa is on the extremely large size, so it takes up a lot of space. We don't have a coffee table as we think it would take up too much precious floor space but I've started to think about the logistics of having a baby and trying to have a cup of tea/coffee or even a bite to eat and also a place to put the babies bottles, dummy, infacol (if needed) etc. So we hit Ebay to look at our options and settled on a 'nest of tables'. We didn't win the first set that we bid on but we are now the proud owners of these refurbished beauties that tuck away in our bay window. I think they will be perfect.

Archie clearly didn't get the memo and thought we brought them for him.

Just enjoying a decaf perched on the littlest table.

We also upgraded the cushions on our sofa as I was never entirely happy with the browns and greens that we originally had and went for a mix of blues, cream and grey. We got them from M&S and they brighten the room just nicely. Now I just need to get the sofa cleaned before the baby comes along. Unfortunately we had a huge water leak causing damage to our bathroom, spare bedroom, kitchen and dining room, but I won't go into that. Hopefully it will all be fixed up soon because I hate to look at the damage. Lucky I like taking baths as our shower is definitely a no go zone at the moment!

New cushions!

This week on Saturday it was raining so went to a boutique cinema in Walton called Everyman cinemas. Its a small screen that seats around 40 and every seat is a comfy couch with a little side table for yummy snacks! We seen X-Men and took a moment to think it may be our last or close to last trip to the cinema before we have a little one keeping us at home! We had lunch in Nandos prior to the movie and I couldn't tell if it was just me or if I was sitting in the smallest booth seat in the world! I was so squished I felt I could barely get in or out. Mr P said it was OK for him so the expanding bump was just taking up all my space. I snapped a pic below when I thought no one was watching.

The bump closing the gap between table and me!

Well that was our quiet-ish week at 30 weeks pregnant with a trip to the cinema, a good girly catch up dinner and my first bout of nesting. I've got plenty of bump photos lined up for my 31 week post as I wasn't very good at taking them this week. I hope you enjoyed reading xx