Pregnancy Diaries: Week 34 Breech Baby?!

This week I had a routine check-up with the midwife. She asked all the usual questions, am I feeling ok, is the baby moving etc, then took my blood pressure. All good. When it came to having a feel of my tummy to work out what body parts were where, it appeared that the baby wasn't head down yet. She explained that whilst it isn't unusual for babies to be breech at this stage, she would still like to see me at 36 weeks instead of the normal 38 week check up. That way, if there hasn't been any change, plans would need to be made for another scan and possibly a c-section.

Now at this point, it is only a possibility, however I have never had the mention of this with my previous two pregnancies so the idea of it this time has me freaked out.

To be clear, I am not someone who believes delivering a baby should be done any one way as the main priority is the safety of mother and baby. Plus no one gets a medal for doing it cave man style and your child will not thank you any more so for doing it au naturel. The problem is that my mind runs over time and the thought of something becomes a lot worse than the reality.

Yes the baby can still turn but what if it doesn't?  What if I have to be awake (albeit pain free) and get cut open? How will I react to not feeling my legs? How sore will it be afterwards? What if my stitches burst open? You see where I'm going with this. This list of questions in my head goes on forever despite the fact the I know if the times does come, the worst probably won't happen and I won't care about any of it as long as I have a healthy baby.

There are many pros and cons to both natural and c-section deliveries, however other than the pain of a natural delivery (it hurts bad!), the recovery time is minimal versus an operation. I am aware that thousands of women every day have sections, whether they choose to or not, and it all works out fine. For me,  it will just take a bit of time to get my head around the idea that it could happen and deal with it. I simply need to stop thinking, it shouldn't really be that hard for me at the moment as my brain doesn't seem to retaining anything just now anyway. Get a grip woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of the bump that is causing me this worry.

Something else which has been keeping me awake at night, is the start of Restless Leg Syndrome. Described as the urge to move your legs to relieve crawling, tingling or burning sensations it can be common in later pregnancy and unfortunately there isn't a whole lot that can be done. I have had it for a couple of weeks now but seems to be getting worse. Despite its name, I get it mainly in my feet and hands and find that running them under cold water can help sometimes. Thank goodness I only have about 5 weeks as its driving me crazy. 

That's about all for this week, lets see what week 35 has to offer.

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries Vlog: 33 Weeks - Weight Gain Stretch Marks & Braxton H...

Pregnancy Diaries: Week 30 (Prenatal Listening System Review)

There has been no real changes to report this week so I thought I would review the Prenatal Listening System which my mum kindly bought for me. It is not something I would have purchased myself as it isn't a necessity in pregnancy however, since I was given it, I thought it would be fun to try out with the kids as a way of including them in their new siblings journey. 

The instructions suggest using it from 28 weeks to ensure there is a strong enough heartbeat, so as not to panic a mum to be who may not hear something in the earlier weeks of pregnancy.

It comes with two sets of ear phones and a band which you fix the monitor onto so it can be strapped to your tummy. It is pretty self explanatory when it comes to working the device.

Was it as good as I expected it to be? Disappointingly, no.

I thought it would sound similar to what I hear when the midwife listens for the baby's heartbeat at my regular check ups. However instead it sounds like a very faint drum beat which I can just about make out and I can tell the kids can barely make sense of what they are hearing, if at all. That being said, they still ask if they can listen in on the baby every couple of days so I think the idea of hearing the baby is exciting enough for them and makes them feel like they are part of what is going on in mummy's tummy.

Would I buy it myself? Quite simply, the answer is no.

Having read other reviews on it only reiterates the problem of poor sound quality, which some mothers may find distressing if they think they can't find their baby's heartbeat. Depending where you buy, it retails at around £24.99 (£12.99 in TK MAXX), it hardly breaks the bank although I think the money could be better spent on something else.

Has anyone else tried using one of these? What were your thoughts on the device? I would love to know. 

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries: Week 29

As someone who has been fond of piercings over the years, other than my ears, the only one I refuse to say goodbye to is my belly button piercing. Not because I want to show it of in mid-riff bearing clothes but more so because I think it distracts from the shape of belly button I have been left with after two children. I used to love what I call my full moon belly button which was perfectly round and formed but found that while my stomach returned to normal after both pregnancies my belly button did not do the same and was left with what I now call my half moon. Fast forward to pregnancy number three as my innie has become an outie and am no longer able to wear my belly bar. There are large flexible ones you can buy for pregnancy but am scared it would catch on something so am just putting in my normal bar every couple of days for a few minutes. I find that if I don't do this it starts to close up and really don't want to have to get it redone once I've had the baby. The older I get, the less tolerant I am to pain!

Talking of pain, I had my whooping cough jab this week. Whilst the jab itself wasn't sore, by the end of the day my arm was killing me, with it hurting to lift away from my side or lying on whilst sleeping. So a word of warning, if you choose to have this done (its usually between 28 & 32 weeks pregnant I think) make sure it's done in the arm you use the least.

I also thought I would share some pics of the pram I ordered last week. In the end I went for the Bugaboo Cameleon3 with a silver chassis, black base and the hood/apron in petrol blue. The name petrol blue initially put me off the colour especially when looking at the samples but when you see it on the pram it actually looks more of a turquoise, teal colour which I thought would be nice with either pink or grey accessories depending on the sex of the baby.

Image credit: Polyvore

I took inspiration for my colours from this swatch on pinterest and have decided on the pink or greys with pastel tones to add some colour to white baby furniture I want to get.

After 7 months of looking at prams this is what I went for

After much deliberating I ended up choosing the Maxi Cosi Pebble car seat (on the right) in the colour Graphic Crystal (on the left). 

Thats it for this week. Keep an eye out for my next Pregnacy Diaries Vlog on YouTube. Here is my first ever one from last week if you missed it.

xxx

Pregnancy Diaries: Week 28 - 3rd Trimester!???

We are officially in the third trimester... I think! If you look on line you will find differing opinions on when the third trimester actually begins. Some say it's anywhere between 25-28 weeks and others state around 27-29 weeks pregnant. I'm going with 28 weeks, not that it matters a great deal.

The tummy is starting to get in the way is week. Bending down to put on socks and shoes can be tricky as by the time I lean forward, boobs rest on the belly, belly on the thighs, there is no where left to go. So rather than go to the feet, I bring the feet up to me when sitting down, sooo much easier! I have also begun belly bashing my way around with me mis-judging spaces I have to squeeze through versus the actual size of my ever expanding middle. I'm getting good at apologising for bumping into people, telling them it wasn't me, it was the belly honestly. Life was so much easier when I had a waist!

28 weeks

I had a routine appointment for a check up with the midwife and all was fine until it came to getting blood taken. It was going well until she accidentally pulled out the needle before she got enough blood so began again. Nothing was coming out despite, and I quote my 'beautiful veins' (there are other things I'd rather be praised for but hey). All in all it took five attempts before the job was done by which point I was left feeling a bit like a pin cushion. Good job I don't have a phobia of needles.

On a more pleasant note, an exciting part of this week was ordering my pram. I won't go into detail now as I may do a separate post on that but it was the first step in making the baby's arrival a reality, scary stuff!

That's all for now. xxx

Pregnancy Diaries: Week 27

This week I have been experiencing the start of braxton hicks contractions. At 27 weeks these are happening a little earlier than I expected. The feeling is hard to describe if you haven't had them before but I would say they feel a bit like someone is tightening a belt around the middle of your stomach and it goes hard. To look at,  it's like the baby has curled into a ball and everything is more compact. I have found myself breathing through the braxton hicks, which does feel a bit silly considering it's not as if I'm in full labour with the pain taking it's toll. However they can be uncomfortable and the deep, controlled breathing gives me something else to focus on instead of thinking about the tightening's. These have been happening most days so I'm hoping they don't get more intense just yet. With the baby only being the size of a cauliflower, 14.5 inches long and weighing around 2 lbs, there is still some cooking left to be done in there!

In the last few days I have also noticed a feeling like the babies foot coming out! Obviously this is not the case but sometimes when I'm standing, there is the sensation of this little one lying low as if something is going to appear. I did have this in my last pregnancy so I know there is nothing wrong, it just feels really weird *pulls strange face*.

I initially thought this was the first week of my third trimester but turns out that's not until next week, oops, so as this is the LAST week of my SECOND trimester I have put together some pictures of my growing bump side by side to compare the weeks. A lot can change in 27 weeks.

Week 5 * Week 17 * Week 23

Week 25 * Week 26 * Week 27

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: 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?