Any day now… and retrospection

We’re 37 weeks along now, and that means full term.  Blimey, never thought I’d see the day!  I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, 9 months is a lot longer than you think it is when every day counts and you don’t get to go on any benders!  Watching what you eat, do, and to a certain extent think for the past 259 days is hard!

So, our due date is 31st October, however, I’ve always had a feeling we’ll be 2 weeks early.  I’m not sure why, I just have.  So, that would mean a small baby girl appearing next weekend, I wonder if it’ll turn out to be true?

I’m really really heavy now, and simple things like turning over in bed to get up, putting socks on, tying up shoes laces, walking about and bending down are really hard.  Walking up stairs is enough to make me sound like an asthmatic, and apparently I am now snoring louder than a Harley.  Poor Jake.  He has to wear ear plugs.

I had a few reflections in the last week, so I wanted to share them.

NOTABLE CRAVINGS:

• Early days, fruit fruit fruit, especially pineapple.
• Chocolate has been throughout – but then I’ve always loved chocolate, so is this just an excuse to eat some everyday?
• Middle of the pregnancy – Fruit n Fibre cereal.  OMG, there were days when I got through whole boxes.
• There was a strange week of shortbread addiction, thankfully just the one week.
• Later stages, MILK.  It’s all about the milk right now.

On the whole I’ve managed to eat very well, plenty of variation, lots of healthy foods, and the only aversion has been garlic.  Which is a pain as I normally love it and it’s in EVERYTHING.  I mean serioulsy, crisps, most meals out, every single commuters breath.. you name it, it’s got garlic in it.

On the whole the pregnancy has run very smoothly, and although it is definitely tough going, I feel like I’ve coped really well compared to a lot of people I’ve been watching on forums and blogs.  Also, I’ve not had any notable preggo problems, so I’m really happy and thankful about that.

So now we’re just waiting for labour, which could happen any day now.  I’m really looking forward to it (no, seriously!) and can’t wait to find out what my birth story will be.  It’s going to be such an exciting and life changing day, and of course, to meet my daughter for the first time will be breathtaking.  Bring it on

Oh, and last minute update on the little lady herself, her measurements were taken by a sonographer on Monday (2 days ago) and she weighs 7lbs already, and measures above average for height and weight for someone of her age.  But then, she’s my daughter, what did anyone expect!

What a palava! Baby bumps, pains and emergency rooms

It’s been two weeks since I updated. Week 8 went by without much change from week 7 – essentially more sickness, quite a lot of food aversions, and even the beloved pineapple vanished from my enjoyment. Thankfully it was replaced by a new found love of jacket potatoes and cottage cheese. Yum.

Week 9 on the other hand… Woah momma. We started off week 9 really rather tired – bed by 9pm every night, and still feeling snoozy 10 hours later at 7.30am! The nausea got a whole lot worse at the beginning of week 9, to the point where one morning I was so scared I would be sick on the train I took a plastic bag with me. Thankfully, it didn’t get used. Towards the weekend just gone, everything seemed to be getting a bit easier, a bit less sickness, food aversions getting less, and generally feeling physically better. Mentally though, it was all starting to get a bit weepy come Sunday. I felt really rather low, and withdrawn. Nothing in particular getting me down, must just be the hormones going for gold in my system. When you start feeling like crying during an episode of Eastenders or somesuch, you know it’s your lady’mones.

Yesterday was by far and above the worst day of pregnancy so far. Absolutely terrifying. Around 8.20pm I started getting some rather painful stomach cramps and dull aches. It spread to my lower back within about ten minutes. About half an hour later I was shaking and crying on my bed, hot water bottle clamped to my tummy as waves of pain scorched through my pelvis and down my legs. I was so scared. I really felt like this Wasn’t Right. Another 20 minutes in, the pain had subsided and we decided it was just one of those weird things that your body does sometimes.

My body had other ideas. Within an hour, the same pain returned; this time even more ferocious and nauseating. It got so bad within about 15 minutes that I could hardly breath, and felt as though I was about to pass out. I could hardly see anymore, and my hearing started to go. I was lost in a world of physical pain and mental anguish. At this point, Jake called an ambulance. They arrived very quickly, within 5 minutes, and as the second wave of hell started to pass over, I was rushed to A&E. We had to wait for 2.5hrs to see the doctor, but thankfully no more pain had come in that time. Also, I hadn’t bled at all, which seems to be the big thing everyone was concerned about.

At 1am we made our way home, after lots of prodding and questions from the doctor. She booked an emergency scan for today, and so finally hitting the pillow at 2am, we both attempted sleep. I think it’s safe to say we both had one of the worst night’s sleep we’ve had in ages. Not knowing if you’ve still got the little one is a really rubbish experience.

Finally, some good news. We got a scan at 11am today, and after no waiting at all we were shown our rather cute looking blob on the monitor. There s/he was, minding her/his own business without a care in the world. Little heart beating away, oblivious to all the fuss and bother the rest of the family had been going through. Hehe, well done little bump, very good April Fool.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my Prime baby, aged 9.5 weeks and a whole 2.6 cms big from crown to rump

Seven & a half weeks pregnant

So one thing I’ve really noticed is how s-l-o-w-l-y pregnancy seems to go by. Especially trying to get the the 12 week part, so I can breath a sigh of relief and know we’re through the most worrying phase. I think just getting to the ultrasound will really help, but everyday I think about it it feels like a month has gone by!

I’m having some really odd sensory stuff happen now, that’s really just started in the last week. It started with an extraordinary sense of smell – even someone just opening up a sandwich across a room is detectable, along with perfume, aftershave and sadly for my commute, bad breath. This then progressed to cravings, which started with anything fresh, and have now developed over the last few days into only being able to stomach pineapples, bread, cheese and yogurt. And small amounts of chocolate. Cooking is starting to get harder now too, as smells and the thought of foods makes me feel really nauseus.

Cooking roast today was particularly tricky, as I couldn’t handle the thought of the vegetarian nut roast we usually have, and by the time I’d finished preparing and cooking the veg, the only thing I could eat was a few roast spuds. Didn’t put Baby Dad off though, he finished off his giant stuffed Yorkshire with no problems

Other than the nausea, it’s all going well. I am anxious how the growing nausea will affect my work, as I currently have a very hectic consultancy job that involves lots and lots of face to face meetings, with little time for breaks or food hunting. I shall report back.

We noticed a very small but visible bump this weekend in the photos we’ve been taking. That could be down to the rather amazing amount of chocolate I managed to pack away during weeks 5-7 though