26 weeks pregnant - Hello heartburn

I had been wondering at which point the baby and uterus would be heavy enough to start pressing on the vena cava. Well, it's this week. One morning I woke up on my back and my legs were numb and tingly.

The last few nights have been a bit painful - yet again one night I woke up and my hip, shoulder and ear were in agony. Particularly as I now definitely can't lie on my back, it's very annoying as I don't have any position to change to.

Heartburn - the worst I've experienced so far - crashed back into my life on Sunday evening and stayed all day on Monday so I didn't feel like going for my birthday curry at the Tamarind. Our shower also broke for the third time in two weeks - the water pressure suddenly dropped and started pouring out of the wall unit. It's currently in bits as my Dad works on it. Although the heartburn subsided it has randomly popped up again throughout the week, but thankfully not as bad as it was.

Walking for any distance outside is getting a little painful. I have to keep reminding myself to set a slower pace, otherwise I keep getting what I can only describe as 'front stitch' which occurs not in my obliques like normal stitch but in my lower abdominals near my hips. I assume baby must have had a growth spurt. I've also noticed that I have a muscle/tendon in the underside of my right foot that twangs whenever I walk. It feels like the precursor to cramp, which makes me nervous.

25 weeks pregnant - aka The Bereft Banana, The Nocturnal Babel Fish and Where Are My Feet?

"Welcome to your third trimester."

...Eh?

.......What?....WHAT?

According to my Day-by-Day Pregnancy Book from DK publishers week 25 signals the start of  the third trimester. I didn't think it was for a couple of weeks but apparently it's all to do with how you work out the maths. If you work it out by days (which, unsurprisingly, my book does) week 25 is the third trimester but if you work it out by weeks it's week 27. Huh.

I think the 'pregnancy brain' may have started.... I made some banana oat bars for mid-morning snacks and the recipe calls for ripe bananas. Mine we still a little hard, which made mashing them difficult so I added a little oil and put them in the microwave to soften them a little.

It was the only the next morning, when I came to put my porridge in the microwave that I found this:

The Bereft Banana. Poor little thing.

My parents also took me on a shopping trip to Southampton to buy a few baby bits, which was very generous, however my mother seems to equate buying presents with love so I spent the majority of the trip resisting being pressurised into having unnecessary 'stuff'.
Two things that seemed to annoy my mother were A: I've been very organised so already purchased the cot bed, travel system, bouncer and storage items for the nursery in various sales and B: we live in a small house so don't have enough room to store unnecessary 'stuff'.
She was very upset that I refused her offer of having a baby wardrobe. I don't want to offend anyone that has bought a baby wardrobe but, personally, I think they're a bit pointless. She was also very enamoured with the various baby baths for sale. Again, I'm sure some people have found them handy but I don't have the room to store one and, as they only last a few months, I'd prefer something that has a little longevity.... And folds away (small bathroom).
Mum picked up a bath support that was almost a quarter of the size of the bath.
"That's lovely, Mum, but we don't have room for it."
"Sure you do. It will hang on the wall."
"Where?"
"In the bathroom."
"Yes, but where in the bathroom? It's too bulky. We don't have the space."
.....And so on.

But here are the very useful I items I was delighted they could buy for us:

Nappy bag and towel bale (Mothercare)

Baby carrier, two mattress protectors and Airwrap (John Lewis)

Cot mattress fitted sheets (Mamas & Papas)

They also bought a couple of sleeping bags and some cute clothes but Mum kept those to give me later in a special 'present box'.

This week was also my birthday so Mum and I went to the Lakeside Hotel for a spa afternoon and Afternoon Tea as a special treat.

Reception

The view

Unfortunately I couldn't use the jacuzzi, steam room or sauna but we had a nice swim before our facials.

This week I noticed that I can no longer see my feet when standing normally and I seem to have a nocturnal Babel Fish that likes to sing. Every night I have a song playing in my head that goes round and round through the night and is still with me when I wake up. Unfortunately it always seems to be songs I don't like.

My view

 Baby is starting to react to loud noises but luckily seems to only be awake when I am. However, whenever I get up in the night, baby takes that as a sign that it's time to wake up so gifts me with a bit of squirming and a few kicks before eventually deciding to settle down again.

24 weeks pregnant

Another quiet week this week although I have been suffering with a cold, which hasn't been pleasant. Being pregnant there's nothing I can take to ease the symptoms so it's been difficult trying to sleep and keep my head upright enough so I can breathe.

Baby's kicks keep getting stronger and I've started to notice a bit of a routine. Baby also seems to be most active when I am, which apparently is unusual. At the hypnobirthing classes I was the only woman to say that baby sleeps during the night and is awake during the day. While I was suffering with the cold I noticed that baby kept waking up whenever I got up in the middle of the night.

Itching is still hanging around - so I assume baby is experiencing a growth spurt. I haven't had any stretch marks yet so I'm keeping up with the creams.

23 weeks pregnant and confusing the petunias out of the midwife

(Still catching up with pregnancy updates)

Sleep is a bit hit and miss. Baby's schedule seems to be pretty much the same as mine - i.e. awake when I am - so it's not kicking that's keeping me awake, it's sleeping on my left side. I'm a front or right-side sleeper by habit so only being able to sleep on the left is sometimes uncomfortable. I've been coping well with a couple of standard pillows under the bump and against my back - rather than fork out for a pregnancy pillow - but sometimes simply lying in one position all night will make my shoulder ache. Or my hip. Or my ear. Argh....

We had our midwife appointment this week. It was brief. Then I confused both her and the HCA by asking about the dating of the pregnancy and the scans. The basis of my question was this:

During early pregnancy it's dated from the LMP - so technically you're already two weeks pregnant by the time you actually fall pregnant, then the 12 week scan is supposed to give a more accurate date.

HOWEVER

Working backwards from the age that the sonographer gave us the first day of my pregnancy was still in the midst of my period, which doesn't strike me as possible.

Now this may not seem like a big deal and at the moment it isn't but I don't want to reach the end of my pregnancy and get to 41 weeks pregnant and be pressured in to having an induction when actually the dating of the pregnancy is about 7-10 days out. It may not come to that but I wanted to ask the professionals to see if the dating was supposed to be like that.

They didn't know and I don't think they actually understood what I was asking. Unfortunately the more I tried to clarify, the more confused they became. So in the end I left it.

I also bought some stuff from Zulily - a few baby bits and a couple of pieces of maternity clothes. When it all arrives I'll post a couple of photos - namely because the baby pieces are adorable!

22 weeks pregnant

(Catching up with pregnancy updates)

The itching has returned this week. I've been doing my best to apply my cream every morning and the thicker bump oil/cream in the evening. My bump also got bigger - quite surprisingly so. In fact I just seemed to wake up one day and shazzam - there was a bigger bump.
I've started to experience the comments of 'ooh your bump is getting big!'. I appreciate for most people it's just something to say but, really, it's not like I haven't noticed and I am growing a small human - it's supposed to get bigger!

This week brought about another milestone. I was in the bath listening to my hypnobirthing tracks and I saw my belly move. It was a hefty kick and pretty amazing to watch. I called SBB in but he couldn't see it - probably because I only had a candle to light the room and it was pretty dark. It was a little unreasonable but I felt a annoyed at him as though he were being intentionally unobservant or something.

However, the next night I was lying in bed while SBB was reading and felt some massive kicks. I got SBB to put his hand on my belly and he finally felt the baby move. Then I lifted up my t-shirt, my belly moved again and he finally saw it!
At last!

I'm so glad that the baby's kicks are now strong enough that SBB can feel them - it's great that we can experience it together rather than me having it all to myself.