33 Weeks Pregnant

Its July and I'm having my baby in August! It's surreal but I am so happy we are this close to meeting baby Paicey! It's all I think about now. Mostly these are my thoughts... I wonder if we have a little boy or girl? What will our baby look like? How will the birth go? How much bigger can my bump get? When will I go into labour? Do we have everything we need? But mostly I just feel grateful and blessed to be carrying this baby and think positive thoughts that we have a beautiful, healthy baby.

I have a huge list of things I want to get through in the next couple of weeks. I am slowly getting through it but finding it rather exhausting despite it being a pretty usual list for me. Lots of things home and life related but other things baby related like buying things for our hospital bags and then packing them and batch cooking at least a week to two weeks worth of food for the freezer for when baby arrives. I've also been holding off booking an appointment to get my hair coloured as I think just a few weeks out til babies birthday will be best. I want to go lighter instead of the balayage dip dye I've been wearing. Going lighter will be more maintenance which doesn't really go hand in hand with a new baby but I'm feeling like a change. Im going to hold off cutting it as I can imagine Ill have an image crisis a couple of months after having the baby while I'm trying to shed the baby weight and a trip to the hairdressers for a new haircut might be handy at that point! I also need to wash the babies clothes, sheets and blankets and have gone as far as buying non bio, sensitive skin washing powder and fabric softener but thats as far as I have gotten!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to get the Whooping Cough vaccine. I had this last week as my midwife recommended I have it between 28 and 32 weeks.  In the UK, America and New Zealand this is offered to woman whilst they are pregnant as the vaccine passes through the placenta and gives the baby some immunity. From what I am aware It may also transfer through breast milk once the baby is born to provide your baby with further immunity until the baby is 8 weeks old and can have its first injections. Whooping Cough can be carried by adults who don't know that they have it and it can be fatal to babies. Some woman are cautious of the vaccine as it has only been given to pregnant woman for a few years. In Australia I'm fairly sure they don't offer this while pregnant but recommend the parents, grandparents and anyone else who will be around the new born have the vaccination to protect the baby until he or she has their first jabs at 8 weeks old. I know some people are also simply for or against vaccinations for their own reasons so I am not forcing an opinion, but baby Paicey will be getting immunised as were my bother, sister and I based on my Mums choices. Anyway, the injection took all of 3 seconds and was quite a sharp scratch to my arm. I had a sore arm for around 2 days, only to the touch or if I slept on it and I didn't have any other side effects which some people get such as feeling unwell.

I did a post on our travel system/ pram when we ordered it (which you can view Here) but it finally arrived! It was a pretty fun day I have to admit putting it all together despite Mr P wanting to leave it in the box for a few more weeks! I must have looked pretty funny to the neighbours taking it outside and seeing how to manoeuvre through our front doorway, as its a very small entrance with a staircase directly in front of the door, its quite tricky and I thought I would have to use the door at the back of the house, but it fits. We also ordered the Maxi-cosi Pebble carseat and Iso fix base for our car which arrived with our order and is all fitted and ready to go in the back of our car! Mainly as I didn't want it taking up the space in the house or our very hairy cat Archie sitting in it, but also because I was just very excited. So far we love the pram and can't wait to use it.

I think everything I'm feeling is pretty normal for this point. Im getting really tired in the afternoon but waking up early in the morning to go to the bathroom. My upper back has been really hurting me for the past few days which is new. Im guessing its the added weight and the way I am carrying myself now so I have been doing some of the yoga stretches we do in the pregnancy class and also laying down on my side with my pregnancy pillow to try to stretch it out. A friend of mine has told me it is my body's way of telling me to slow down but I honestly feel if I slow down ill be stationary!

Weight wise, I've put on 13 kg or 29 lbs so far in the pregnancy and I can't believe the number staring back at me on the scales. I feel less hungry than I was in the second trimester and just sticking to 3 fairly healthy meals with snacks of nuts, apples and berries. I said to my husband the other night that our baby will be addicted to berries as I eat them morning and night! Every few days I have an ice-cream or piece of cake from the shops too which is my guilty pleasure. 

I should be finished packing my hospital bag very soon and will do a little post on what I have packed for myself and for baby Paicey, as i found other posts on this helpful when making my own list.  My bump is getting bigger by the day and the movement is phenomenal. I still love the movement and you will find me happily sitting back with my hands on my belly feeling a little foot sticking right out and pressing back on it. Here is the bump at the end of week 33.

31 Weeks Pregnant

With only 9 weeks to go we are in single digit weeks til my due date! It was a slow week for us Paice's and at 31 weeks pregnant it was just what I needed. Ive started to slow down in the speed I go about things and if I drop something its definitely getting hard to bend down and pick it up! Im feeling good mostly and getting more and more excited by the day. Im sleeping fairly well and rarely wake up to go to the toilet which is good, but worrying for my bladder as most of the pregnancy books I read say that I should be needing the loo several times a night by this stage. I had a bad night of heart burn and couldn't get to sleep and woke up really early with it too so Im taking Gaviscon before bed each night at this point.

I had a morning coffee date with a couple of friends and one had her little boy with her who is around 4 months old. She was breastfeeding and I was able to ask her a few questions about feeding and also about leaking. I even asked about going swimming while breastfeeding (as I can't wait to take our little one swimming and for lessons) and she assured me its fine and if I'm worried about leaking just to feed before going in the water.  When we went to leave Starbucks, a lovely man came over and said that I was a very beautiful pregnant lady and had a beautiful glow and smile. It was really kind of him and he really made my day! I took a few snaps once I got home to share how I was looking with a bit of tinted moisturiser, a slick of mascara and unbrushed hair. Perhaps he has a pregnant wife at home and knew it would really lift me up! Thank you to the kind gentleman! 

My bump is blossoming and the baby is moving, somersaulting and pressing into my sides all the time which is really nice and the thing that I will miss the most about being pregnant. Secret little movements that only I can feel. Its really special and something I will always remember.

Im still lathering on the Mama Mio stretch mark and boob tube creams from the top of my chest to my thighs every day, and have noticed a pesky little strechmark on my hip where I have old ones from my teenage years. None on my tummy and I'm crossing my fingers and toes it stays that way! I thought I would include a 'naked' pic of the bump as its at a really round and tidy stage. 

Excuse the bra!

At the end of the week I was booked in to see the GP for my 32 week checkup and we were given a clean bill of health. The fundal height of my uterus was measuring 33.5 weeks, only 1.5 weeks ahead, which isn't considered to be unusual as it can just be the way the baby is lying or how much amniotic fluid you are holding. The doctor speculated from the heart beat that it may be a girl but then the heart rate slowed slightly and we both just laughed as its really no way to tell. But it is fun having people suggest what they think we are having. We went to a friends house after their sons christening on Saturday and all of the women at the BBQ were saying they thought it was a boy for various reasons. When I got home and was brushing my teeth before bed, I said to Mr P 'What if it is a boy?' because he really thinks it is a girl and doesn't really discuss the possibility of a boy. Only time will tell! And time is moving along quite nicely!

28 Weeks - Welcome to the Third Trimester!

I've hit the third and final trimester! Woohoo! Theres something so great about reaching milestones and it feels like we are on the home stretch to meeting our little baby in August! We've had a great week with an action packed weekend which has made this week fly by which is exactly what I want at this point. 

On Thursday we had our 28 week appointment with my midwife which entailed a blood test to check for anaemia, a urine sample to test for protein and glucose and a blood pressure reading. Happy to report all was well. Mr P came to this appointment as he was home from rugby training and got to listen to baby Paicey's heartbeat which was cool for him. The midwife felt around my belly and pushed and pressed really hard and was able to tell that our little one was head down and feet up at this point which made me happy. But she did say that the baby still has a lot of room and could turn out of position at any point. The student midwife measured my bump from the pubic bone to the top of the fundus and got 28 centimetres which was spot on for 28 weeks and then the midwife did a quick measurement and got 32 centimetres, which could mean that we have a huge baby! They both agreed to disagree and said either way, baby Paicey is measuring on target and was a nice size. So it will be interesting to see at my 32 week appointment with the GP what the measurement is coming in at, as they say that everyone takes the measurement differently. Plus its not all baby in there, maybe theres lots of fluid!

On Friday evening we had an end of season awards dinner for Mr P's rugby club held at the Hilton, Heathrow terminal 5. It was really nice to get all glammed up for the evening. I spent the afternoon doing my nails and makeup and went for a blowdry at the hairdressers which was nice. I wore a twobirds floor length dress that covered my bump beautifully. I borrowed it from my friend Shauna as I didn't want to buy anything that I wouldn't wear again. Shauna is much taller than me so I had to wear the highest heels that I own due to the length of the dress, which happened to be my 5 inch Jimmy Choos that Mr P brought me for our wedding day. It was nice to pull these beauties out for the night nearly a year after our wedding. Nice until 2am when we were leaving and my poor feet were in agony.. worth the pain though! I was worried about my feet swelling but I haven't experienced this symptom yet. We were really rubbish with taking photos except for a few that I insisted were taken in our living room before we left. I intended to get a few of me and my hubby all dressed up in his tuxedo when we arrived but we were too busy having fun. I was actually really disappointed we didn't get one of the two of us as it was a perfect occasion to show off the bump and would have been a nice momento.

I was so shattered when we woke up on Saturday morning after a 3am bedtime on Friday night so I stayed in bed til around midday before getting up to get ready for another day out. We were off for a day in the sunshine to watch the last game to be played at our rugby club before they knock it down and the team moves into the new state of the art training centre they have built for next season. My hubby has played for the same professional club for 10 years now so we have seen a lot of players and there families come and go over the years, and many of our old friends came from near and far to say goodbye to the old club ground that has been there for 80 or so years. We had a great day, lots of food and plenty to drink for Mr P and it was another big day, finishing up at 11pm. I had to grab a seat from inside and bring it out as my legs and back were starting to ache and sitting on the floor was only good in short periods as my legs were getting pins and needles. Lots of babies and bumps were out and I got a few snaps with my friend Lindsay who is pregnant and just 1 week behind me. She has a bigger bump than me and looks great!

On Sunday we needed to make the most of the glorious weather so we walked along the river from Kingston to Hampton which took about an hour and thirty minutes and had lunch in a cafe in Hampton. We've done this walk before and managed it a bit quicker and also walked the return journey, but it was a bit much for this pregnant mummy to be so we caught a boat home which was so lovely! 

All in all, week 28 and entering the third trimester was a fantastic week. Plenty of relaxing days at the start of the week, a good midwife appointment and an action packed weekend. The bump is starting to get very big now and I get lots of comments and people wanting to feel it. Im not one to mind this, but I am aware that some pregnant ladies don't like people touching their bumps. I've been chugging back the gaviscon before bed as i've had some heartburn but nothing too serious. I weighed myself at the midwife appointment and I am still 9kg heavier than pre pregnancy. Everyone has an opinion on the gender of baby Paicey with most saying they think its a girl. A few bets have been placed and Im just too excited to think of the moment we find out! Oh and we brought a baby book called The baby whisperer. I'm about a third of the way through it and I'm liking it a lot so far but I will let you know once I'm finished it whether I recommend it. Its about a structured eating, sleeping and activity routine for when baby arrives. I hope you had a lovely week too! X