Pregnancy Diaries: Week 25

A number of pregnancy sites state that nesting (the urge to clean, tidy and organise excessively in pregnancy) tends to begin just before a woman goes into labour, however at 25 weeks I have taken a notion to do those things already. Now anyone who knows me would be quick to point out this is not my normal behaviour so I can only put it down to nesting. While cleaning has been high on the agenda, I have also been looking at what extra storage we will need and working out where everything is going to go once baby arrives. My pre-pregnancy clothes have been put away in a suitcase to create more space in my wardrobe for any new purchases in the next 3 and a half months.

I had in excess of 20 pairs of jeans in different colours, sizes and styles so took this as an opportunity get rid of some items all together whilst the rest are stored away until I regain my pre-pregnancy size.

All apparent nesting aside, I have been experiencing some discomfort at the top of my bump which feels like my skin pulling rather than cramps or braxton hicks. I think this is due to everything stretching as the baby grows bigger and am definitely more aware of it third time round. Unfortunately there is nothing I know of to relieve this feeling, it is simply another symptom of pregnancy which means I am another step closer to the end.

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries Up To Date!

My diary entries will be on a weekly basis from now on as we are up to date. 

I am currently 25 weeks pregnant and everything is going great. With 15 weeks left to go (potentially less!) it feels like I still have a while left. However on the other hand, I have started thinking about what stuff I need to buy and the panic sets in as the only thing I have bought so far is a pack of nappies. 

Not exactly fun shopping but necessary!

It is only now that I am realising I will be a mother of three quite soon and I have to say whilst the thought is daunting, the excitement is kicking in. 

As each pregnancy week end falls mid-week for me, new posts will be around then.

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries; Catch Up weeks 23 & 24

Week 23

Whilst I have had a bad flare up of eczema the entire pregnancy, it is really starting to get to me now. I've been given a couple of steroid creams which I have reluctantly been using but have made no difference. I have to keep reminding my self that there are worse things I could have and it's all for a good cause but this doesn't help my being paranoid of them showing or help with the pain. This should go once baby arrives however as it's likely hormones have triggered it, I'm worried this will continue when breastfeeding. I am finding this is slightly over-shadowing the pregnancy however am mindful not to wish the time away and try to focus on the good bits.

Week 24

So I'm 6 months this week and pregnancy wise I'm doing good. The baby kicks consistently throughout the day and at night it doesn't stop. I swear it was punching and kicking away for an hour and a half, non-stop the other night, I guess there's not much else to do in there. I'm finding myself getting full really quickly now and even struggled to finish a Happy Meal of all things. This is something I previously experienced towards the end in pregnancy yet I still have 16 weeks to go until the big day. Now I'm scared the reason there is no room for food is because I'm going to have a gigantic baby and am wondering how I'm supposed to get it out! Here is the big bubba this week.

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 21 & 22

Week 21

Since the scan last week, I have been constantly thinking about the sex of the baby. I was so proud of myself for resisting the urge to find out the gender, knowing I would regret it afterwards as I am set on having a surprise this time. However now it seems like the birth is so far away and I have all this time to wonder if it's a boy or girl. I am forever browsing the baby clothes when shopping and don't know whether I should be looking at the pink or blue section which means I can't buy anything unless it's white or cream. This also makes the naming process more difficult as we can't even narrow down the names and concentrate on one gender. It is proving to be a problem as hubby and I  have a few girls names we like but can't agree on a boys name which panics me a little as this convinces me it's going to be a boy! I also don't feel quite as connected to this baby as with my other two (I knew their sex in pregnancy) with not being able to say him or her, which makes me worry how I will feel when it arrives.

On the flip side, I am aware there is no need to buy an obscene amount of pick or blue items before the birth as long as I have a few plain baby grows for the first few days. We will have six weeks to name the baby once its here which gives us plenty of time with only one gender related list to chose from. And I will have all the time in the world to gain a close bond with what is currently known as 'the bump' when I am holding my latest bundle of joy in my arms.

I think as women we want everything to be planned, organised and ready for lift off as this gives us peace of mind but sometimes it's nice to go with the flow and see what happens.

Weeks 22

I am definitely finding it to hard to get into any of my pre-pregnancy jeans without a wrestling match so went out and got a couple of things to make getting dressed in the morning less of a challenge. The one thing I have been mindful of is not spending a fortune on maternity clothes when I will only get 4 months wear out them so am going for items which I will be able to use post pregnancy as well. I will obviously still need to wear some of my pregnancy wardrobe for a bit once the baby comes and I think personally I will feel better if those clothes don't have the name 'maternity' attached to them.

I don't want to go down the route of wearing black leggings with everything as we are coming into nicer weather so I picked up blue and grey leggings from River Island which imitate the look of jeans. They also come in other colours and materials for different looks and the waist band is perfect for expanding tummies which doesn't dig in like some other leggings I have.

Here are the grey ones I got along with some other colours. These range in cost from £15 to £22.

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Week 20 Half Way There!

The best part of getting to week 20 was having our second scan. We took the kids along with us so they could be part of the experience, which I was super excited about. However, whilst they understood that what they were seeing on the screen was the baby, I think they found it hard to make out what was what. Other than the heart and feet, it was all a bit of a blur to them but to be fair, the hospital was short staffed and it did feel like the sonographer whizzed through everything. The main thing though, is that the baby is healthy and growing as it should.

We decided not to find out the sex, unlike with our last two, as I would like to have a surprise at the end, even though my husband is to keen to know. I just feel that this is the last time we are going to do this and want to make the most of every moment. I would like to know what it feels like to be in labour and have the excitement of wondering whether we are going to be handed a boy or girl and thankfully my darling better half was happy to go along with my preference.

Having had two children already, means that I know what items we need straight away and what things can wait a couple of weeks or months after the baby arrives. So whilst I do want to go down the route of dressing or co-ordinating colours to suit the gender, I know that I don't necessarily need to have everything the baby will use in it's first six months of life, before it is born. This makes my decision for a surprise less stressful however I do understand why people feel they need to know so they can be more organised before the kaos begins.
Having said all of this, it hasn't stopped myself or everyone else trying to have guess at what we may be having. The majority say it's a boy, guess we'll find out in 20 weeks time!

Pregnancy: Catch Up Weeks 18 & 19

Week 18

This has been a fun week in terms of the babies progress. I felt the odd kick last week, maybe once every couple of days, however now I can feel kicks and movement every day which is more reassuring that everything is going as it should. Even though this is my third child, I still worry about some of the same things I did with my first so these small things make all the difference. The kids are also getting more excited now as my tummy is more obvious so there is something for them to see. However unfortunately whenever I try to let them feel the baby moving, it seems to stop. I swear I have seen my tummy doing small ripples but whenever I go to show someone, everything goes still. I think this little one likes a game of hide and seek.

Week 19

Well the day finally came this week when I had to admit defeat with my favourite pair of jeans *sad face*. Whilst I have had to employ the loop the hair bobble through my jeans to continue wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans, so far I had manged to fit my butt into my usual clothes. That was until now when I got my jeans up to my thighs and even with some pulling, jumping and lunging they would not budge. In fact my efforts to get them up were so impressive that I could not get them off without the help of my daughter pulling them at the legs whilst I lay flat on the bed! My epic fail was made all the worse with the kids laughing whilst shouting that mummy has a fat bottom. Don't you just love children?

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 16 &17

Week 16

These last couple of weeks I have noticed the exhaustion returning. I did suffer from fatigue in the very beginning of this pregnancy and maybe the sickness then made me less aware of the tiredness but recently I've felt floored again. Everybody has been saying how they had so much energy in their second trimester, well I'm still waiting!

16wks + 7days

On the up side though my bump is slowly starting to appear. It starts off small in the morning and doubles in size by the evening. I'm used to having a strong abdomen so the strangest part for me is losing my centre of balance. My husband laughs at me struggling to go from lying down to sitting up as he reminds me I still have a long way to go and am only going to get bigger. Oh the joys :)

Week 17

I am ashamed to say that this week I have conformed to such an obvious stereotype in pregnancy, a craving for gherkins. I saw them on television one night and went to buy them the following day. Thinking a small jar would be sufficient was a mistake as they were gone in one sitting. They were followed by subsequent large jars which I have munched on in an evening to stop me from reaching for things from the naughty cupboard.

Cravings aside, I made the decision to slot in some kind of workout into daily life again. Walking has been a great way for me to feel active and listening to up tempo music helps me to keep to a pace that is fast enough to get my heart rate up whilst not being too vigorous at the same time. There are also a couple of channels on Sky TV that airs numerous workout programs that I have recorded and done when I felt like doing something different. This is a great way to workout in the privacy of the living room with variety rather than buying one of the many workout dvd's on the market which I would be likely to do once or twice before getting bored. However it is important that certain movements are adapted to suit the different stages of pregnancy so if anyone is thinking of doing this make sure you know what is safe for you before starting a workout.

xxx

Pregnancy: Catch Up Weeks 14 & 15

Week 14

I have been feeling a lot more human these last few days which is a relief, I'm only feeling dodgy in the evenings now and as a result, I can't stop eating! I am thinking about food constantly and am having something every hour or less. At my 12 week scan they took my height and weight and found I had lost half a stone so all this munching away will have me back to my usual weight in no time. I have changed my diet slightly since my appetite has increased as when I was struggling to eat I made sure to have higher calorie foods so am making a conscious effort to eat better. It's simple things like going back to brown bread, pasta and rice which I ate before my morning sickness began and eating meat again as I had more or less gone of it unless I was eating out. My diet is by no means perfect but at least now I'm consuming the good with the bad, whereas before (other than grapes) I felt I was eating mostly rubbish just to survive.

Week 15

Things are slightly expanding this week and have bought my first pair of maternity jeans from Zara. I wasn't expecting to get anything, however they had a sale on so I picked up the jeans, two longer jumpers and tops for just under £50 (I love a bargain!). The only down side to the jeans is that they don't have an adjustable waist band so I am having to wear a belt with them until my tummy fills out some more but for £12.99 I can't really complain too much. For the top half  I either went up one size or chose box cut tops which allow plenty of room for a growing belly. If you notice I have a thing for black and grey but have promised myself I will introduce colour when we get some sun.

All from Zara excluding the grey striped tee from Topshop

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 12 &13

Week 12

My appetite has improved slightly this week and my main cravings are still red grapes along with Mc Donald's cheese burgers as the latest addition. At this point, as I am not able to eat much, I will eat what ever my body is able to handle even if it may not be the healthiest thing.
We had our scan this week which was surreal. I think the combination of me not having a bump so far and the reality of having a third child not hitting home yet meant that it has't felt real so getting to see the baby up on screen made it all come to life. As the first scan is a dating one,  I was desperately hoping to find out that I would at least be as far along as I had thought and not behind, just so the sickness would be over sooner rather than later. It turns out that I gained a day and was bang on 12 weeks so I was over the moon. After finding about that everything looked as it should at this point, my husband and I have decided that we will keep the news to ourselves just a little longer.

Here is a picture of baby :)

Week 13

Well the secret didn't last very long! Two days after the scan a couple of people had guessed, due to me being so sick. We were worried that the kids might hear our news from someone else, we wanted to be able to tell them ourselves and see the look on their faces. So we sat down as I showed them the scan and told them it was a picture of the baby in mummies tummy.

Naima was so happy and Camron asked if we would be having any more after that, the answer was a firm no, haha. Since then I have been bombarded with questions from them and get nightly kisses on the tummy for baby which is sweet.

My mum was surprised given that in previous pregnancies, she had been told almost as soon as I found out however was happy that I was further along as she wont have to wait as long for baby to appear. It has definitely been a relief to be able to tell people who have been asking if I'm all right but at the same time we are not broadcasting the news just yet until we have had the 20 week scan, which is when more health issues can be picked up. I am officially in the second trimester now so let the weeks roll in on quickly from now on.

xxx