Mat leave week eight: 38 weeks pregnant

The time draws near! I can't believe my due date is next friday. And it seems I have slipped into terrible late blogging habits as I actually turn 39 weeks in two days but oh well! The hotter the weather gets I'm going out less and less just because its so unbearable so I don't have all that much to report on these days. Although every little symptom or twinge is suddenly very interesting to EVERYONE around me, I'm constantly being asked if I have any signs yet. Rob was convinced baby would of been here last friday, and is now saying baby will be here by the end of this week but theres no way of knowing! Theres no sense of impending doom or anything like that yet anyway...

I had a couple of funny moments in the past week where I thought maybe something would happen but nothing did. Whenever I do start feeling sick or twingy the one thing that makes me feel better is leaning forwards or getting on all fours, so thats probably an indication of what I'll be doing in labour. Despite all the rubbishy bits,  I think I have been lucky with a smooth pregnancy and have actually really enjoyed being pregnant (except first trimester. Yuck.) And when people ask if I'm fed up of being pregnant yet or don't I just want it out by now I can happily say no I'm quite happy as things are thanks! The only thing that bugs me is knowing that baby could come at any time and not knowing when that time will be. It's exciting but the suspense is killing me!

So baby is the size of a leek this week. I really can't tell,  people keep telling me how large I am but I actually feel like I have stopped growing now. The fact that my belly has dropped actually makes it feel smaller than before, and I have earned my first proper belly stretchmarks now!

Mat leave week seven: 37 weeks pregnant

It's another late post this week... oops! It's just so ridiculously hot right now that I can't be bothered to do anything at all, I spent half of yesterday napping!  I heard on the telly this morning that this heatwave is set to last until mid August. On the one hand, THERE IS AN END IN SIGHT! But on the other, we have to wait at least another four weeks or so for it to happen. Blah. But hopefully by the time baby is here things will have improved.

I'm feeling larger than ever at the moment, moving about quickly is just impossible now and I feel so slow and awkward! But only 3 weeks to go! (Five tops). I'm not exactly feeling miserable and fed up of being pregnant,  maybe just a bit bored of it now. I just want baby to be here! Since Rob only recently admitted he didn't really like the main girl's name that we picked out for baby, I have been frantically pulling all sorts of baby name lists off of the internet and bombarding him with them for him to say yes or no. Only, he just keeps saying no. He doesn't like ANY. It's really really frustrating,  and I'm worried if we have a baby girl she will end up with no name at all! He even had a funny five minutes of the number one boys name we had picked, but luckily I managed to talk him out of that one, he picked it in the first place! So some serious last minute brain storming is in order. I want something really different and unusual,  maybe a little gothic sounding, it doesn't have to be but that will make me more inclined to like it ;) and it's funny because I tend to lean towards monosyllabic names most, or names with no more than two syllables.  And the girls name I had previously set my heart on was actually three syllables.  So there, I like simple, yet unusual.

Just lately it also seems that everyone is watching me with their beady eyes. I can't sigh or huff or puff or even put my hand on my belly without somebody saying, 'Are you ok??' As if I am going into labour or something.  It's funny. But annoying. Although I have been getting alot of braxton hicks, especially when I exert myself too much ( which doesn't take alot. Could be something as stupid as getting up off of the sofa). And little twinges of cramps in my back. But still, nothing dramatic yet.

I know this is going to sound really really weird,  but I miss wearing socks at the moment.  The weather is so hot all I wear is flip flops or nothing on my feet, but sometimes I really miss socks. And even if it was cool enough to wear them, I would have to wear Rob's socks, because mine are too tight now! Well, they feel pretty uncomfortable if I put them on, but maybe thats just because it's been so long since I have actually worn any that I can't remember what it's supposed to feel like.

Aside from a lazy weekend with Rob and dinner out on Friday night, I haven't actually done anything interesting this week. And yet I have still managed to ramble on about socks and the weather for this long! But to the point, it was our second anniversary on Saturday,  so we just spent lots of quality time to celebrate.  The past two years have gone really fast, especially the last nine months! It's amazing to think about where we are now and how much things have changed since then!

Baby is apparently the size of a swiss chard this week,  what do you think??

Mat leave week six: 36 weeks pregnant

This week I am getting quite impatient. Obviously B-day is getting closer and closer, and random people I don't know keep asking my due date when I tell them they act startled and step back as if my waters are about to break over their shoes. Haha! I really would just like to meet baby now and to see what that little person who's been kicking me from the inside out the past few months really looks like. We finally have the crib set up in our bedroom, and although it hasn't got any bedding in it yet and the mattress is still wrapped in plastic,  I stuck a little giraffe teddy in there to look cute. My dad bought it for the baby and I really love it! I have a weird attachment thing about teddies and stuffed toys.... I cuddle them and talk to them like they're people. I get really sad when I see them discarded or abused.... I just want to rescue them all! And don't worry, this isn't another weird pregnancy thing, I have always been this strange.

See my little giraffe in the crib! I love him. Me and Rob had an argument because he says that giraffey looks nothing like a giraffe,  because he has no neck. So now we have started calling him No-Neck.

I also just finished de-tagging and unwrapping the rest of the baby clothes and blankets and general paraphernalia.  I really wanted to put a wash on and do the hoovering but its half past nine at night... just lately I always end up my most productive at night time. In the evenings I go into hyper nesting mode!

Physically I'm feeling pretty tired, and moving about is awkward because I feel like I have a bowling ball strapped to my belly. Despite this I actually really love my big round belly and will be sad to see it go (or not.... haha) when baby is born. But having only gained 8 kilos so far in the pregnancy I'm feeling quite positive about this. This week baby is the size of a romaine lettuce. In length I hope. But I forgot to include in last weeks post that baby was roughly the weight of a honeydew melon, so sorry about that guys!

I seem to have developed a new thing for lemons and citrus fruits and flavours. I have been into sour things (infamously pineapple) for a while but now it is definitely lemon. Today I went shopping with my gran and my cousin,  and when we went to the Yankee Candle shop we were smelling everything,  and I had to keep smelling the lemon and citrus ones over and over until I had to leave the shop because I just wanted to eat everything.  So then we went to get lunch and I had raspberry lemonade (because it was super sharp) and a lemon cupcake. Then after our dinner this evening Rob's mum bought a lemon meringue (spelling?!) pie for dessert. I don't even like it that much usually,  but this pie was the most amazing thing ever. Funny thing was, nobody else could eat theirs because the curd was way too sour! It took some serious self control not to finish the thing off it was so nice!!

So this week I'm all about teddies and lemons it seems... yum! I think I might make some lemon curd now...

Until next week! My 36 week belly photo.

Mat leave week five: 35 weeks pregnant

So this past week I have mostly just been chilling out and catching up on resting rather than socialising. I've also used the quiet time to get back into crafting more, and have made a few hair accessories.  I had to sew a couple of bows by hand because somehow I have lost the power cable and foot pedal for my sewing machine.

Little pink bows with crocodile hair grips

Alice band with lilac foam roses

I'm getting heart burn horrendously at the moment, and it's making me grumpy sometimes, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good. Maybe gradually more tired than a few weeks ago but not noticeably so. I do keep having very vivid dreams though. I have always had quite strange dreams that usually I do remember more often than not, but lately I keep dreaming about baby. In the past week I've had one dream that baby is a girl and one dream that baby is a boy. So who knows!

Our dog Inca has also been behaving differently lately. She is becoming increasingly more attached to me, especially when we are home alone. She is needy and whiny and just wants to be near me all the time, and when I'm sat on the sofa or on the living room floor crafting she has to sit between me and the windows and doors,  like she is guarding me haha!

Inca guarding her mummy!

We had some friends over for a barbeque on Sunday,  something which we haven't really been able to do much at all since we moved in with Rob's parents, and I can't wait to have our own place to do things like that much more. A couple of friends also brought their new baby with them, and it was the first time Inca has gotten to meet a baby, which was interesting.  She kept wanting to sniff and lick him all the time, especially when I was holding him! She seemed to want to stay quite close until the food was brought out, and she was then more interested in begging for scraps, which is pretty typical of her!

I have a midwife appointment later on this week, and at the last appointment baby was head down and 4/5 engaged. Until I came home and told Rob's mum this I didn't know that it can be an indicator as to how ready baby is for birth, although obviously this can change as baby moves around anyway. She panicked a bit because she was due to go on holiday this week and doesn't come back until Thursday,  she was worried I would go into labour early! I know that baby has been in the same position for quite a few weeks now; head down, bum at my belly button height, and feet up in my left ribs. Quite often I feel tiny hands moving around in my lower abdomen,  which is really cool but also weird and sometimes really tickly. And when baby stretches out I quite often get a stitch on the left side of my ribs.

Hopefully this week we will be moving the bedroom around and putting up baby's crib, I can't wait!

Until then ;) heres my 35 week belly photo.

And this funny snapchat that Rob took the other day. Ignore my icky scarred belly button!

Mat leave week four: 34 weeks pregnant

Thirty four weeks! This means that in definitely 8 weeks or less baby will be here! It's so exciting and I think I'm getting a bit impatient now. Now I have pretty much finished lining my drawers with paper I have started to sort through all of the baby clothes and wash them ready to be put away, the fact that I managed to wash clothes that aren't black and not ruin them is quite an achievement for me.

I also packed my baby changing bag, which I got as a gift from my mum, it's huge and sturdy with lots of pockets and compartments. When I started packing the newborn nappies into it I couldn't resist opening one up for a look. It was soo tiny! And I liked how thin it was (the Naty eco disposable nappies), it didn't feel like it was stuffed with that yucky stuff that goes into most nappies. I mentioned previously how I intend to use cloth nappies eventually, but they aren't recommended until baby is about 8 weeks or older. Until then I'm just going to use whatever,  as a new parent I'm going to have enough on my hands without thinking about that too!

So here is my changing bag :) the front bit that looks like an envelope is the fold out changing mat, attached by two metal clips.

And here is a little peek of what's inside. It comes with the pink fleece blanket you see here, as well as a pink polka dot bottle holder thing too. It doesn't feel like I have an awful lot packed into it yet, but by the time it's in use I suppose it's going to be full of things like bottles and dummies and spare clothes etc.

I also packed my hospital bag this week! Yay! I feel at ease knowing that if I were to suddenly go into labour I am as prepared as I can be. As much as I do love being pregnant,  I am beginning to get excited for me not being pregnant anymore. I would quite like to go back on omeprazole for my heartburn (which also means I can DRINK! Without pain or regrets afterwards!) And cannot wait to bleach my hair again after all this waiting and growing out business. I'm wondering if my skin is going to change much after the birth too, as pregnancy has brought on eczema and really exacerbated my dry skin. I have to exfoliate my face twice a day sometimes, it's hard work!

Plus, I can eat whatever I want too!! Mmmm blue steak....

Baby is the size (weight) of a cantaloupe melon this week, and I can really tell! I was told that baby's movements can slow down at this stage, but not this one! Since I first started feeling baby move at about sixteen or seventeen weeks baby has always been very active, never more than two hours without movement.  We now get hiccups every day too, sometimes twice a day! I heard a rumour (there are so many strange things people say about pregnancy that aren't true) that lots of hiccups means baby will suffer from reflux and/or colic after birth. I doubt it's true, I really hope it isn't anyway!

Here are the two 'homecoming outfits' I have packed for baby to come home in, one in case the weather is really really hot.

Baby grow with matching bib and hat

Little romper incase the weather is hot

I am also packing a baby grow in a slightly bigger size, just in case baby is on the large side! Speaking of large, I will leave you with my 34 week belly photo ;)

Mat leave week three: 33 weeks pregnant

Apologies that I'm a tad late on the preggo

diary post this week, but it's just been soo busy! I had my baby shower on Saturday (thanks again to everyone who came/helped etc. Love you all) and I have also been on two day trips since then. I thought I would be bored and lonely on maternity leave, but my calendar seems to be full at the moment!

So. General achievements this week.
Baby shower. Check.

Look what my family made! ITS MY PRAM ! <3 and half the cakes had been eaten by the time I got to take this...

Stool reupholstering. Check.

So proud of this! I am also still rather trigger happy from using the staple gun.

Quality family time. Check. Trip One with other half's mum and sister to the charming Axeminster fair, where I may have purchased a new teacup. And milk jug. And restrained myself from buying at least two whole teasets. Mama is broke yknow!

 Trip two was with Rob to stay at my mums house overnight, and then today we went to Bird Land gardens in the Cotswolds. Lovely.

My little sister loving the penguins! It was mad how close they were. Feel a bit sorry for them in this hot weather though.

I also went out with Rob's mum for some more baby things. She bought us a crib so baby now has somewhere to sleep! Yay!

The crib we got.  It rocks and also has a locking mechanism and is small enough to fit down the side of our bed. And its preeeetty!

I am so glad we finally bought the crib, it was really put my mind at ease in being that little bit more prepared for baby's arrival. Not to mention all the wonderful baby shower gifts! I have now sorted those into 'ready for iminent use' - clothes, blankets and a couple of toiletry type bits, and 'save for laters' - toys, teddies, larger bits and bobs, because we just don't have the space for much at thr moment. The save for laters are going to join my pram in storage at my gran's house for now.

So after such a busy week I am pretty tired out! Which doesn't take much these days. At my ante natal class on Thursday we had this scary physio lady come to tell us about pelvic floor exercises (don't ask this part was traumatising), posture and labour positions.  She basically made us all feel bad for not doing our pelvic floor exercises and then even worse about pregnancy posture (turns out EVERYTHING that is remotely comfortable is now banned. It is bad for your pelvis don't you know). Getting comfy is difficult enough these days, but now I have Scary Physio Lady echoing in my ears whenever I do something she told us not to do. Baby is now the weight of a pineapple apparently, so its not easy!

I also got to have a sneaky peak at the ages of all the other women in my ante natal class which was interesting.  At the first class I did get the feeling I was the youngest person present and the list of names confirmed my suspisions. I'm the youngest at 20, the next youngest woman is 23, then 29, and everyone else is in their 30s and a couple in their 40s. I think maybe it's some sort of new thing to have babies at an older age? Cosmopolitan would have us beleive that we are all feminist career women these days and this seems to prove that. Maybe it's just the area I live in,  but it seemed that a few years ago everyone was starting young. I don't know.

Enough of my waffling any how... I must wander in search of food... pregnant woman must feed every two hours.

33 week belly photo!

Mat leave week two: 32 weeks pregnant

I can't believe I have been out of work for two weeks already, the time is flying by at an alarming rate. I'm really hoping all this hot weather doesn't continue,  as I dislike hot weather at the best of times and I don't like the thought of caring for a newborn in the midst of a heatwave.

We spent the day at Download Festival yesterday, and although we were disappointed we weren't getting to camp out this year I was very glad to come home at the end of the day. Things tire me out easily these days, and by 7pm I was feeling like I'd had enough and wanted to go to bed! During the day the sun was scorching hot so I spent alot of it watching the main stage from the comfort of a camping chair beneath my umbrella.  When I wasn't trecking back and forth to the toilets that is.

Skindred were the best performance of the day although headliners Avnenged Sevenfold certainly didn't disappoint. 

Not used to people's reactions when I wear this top, most people just want to compliment me on it but I end up getting annoyed and thinking WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE WHY WON'T THEY STOP POINTING AT ME. I'm not that huge,  am I? ;)

Its getting quite difficult to spend much time in certain positions now, like standing up and walking (resulting in breathless bouts of Brackston hicks, sore back/pelvis and sciatic nerve pain) sitting upright (for some reason really hurts my ribs) or just sitting on flat seats (numb bum!). Not that I'm complaining actually,  because I feel pretty great. For the first time in my pregnancy I have actually started to feel really excited and impatient for baby's arrival and just want cuddles with baby now. Who, by the way is getting quite large (apparently the size of a kale. What?!) And very very active although baby always has been, the movements are now quite monumental and even painful at times.

But I started my DIY projects! The first one is lining my dresser drawers with wall paper, because all of baby's things are in those drawers and as it's old the wood is a bit rough and splintery in places.

I managed to get some really pretty paper from B&Q, so I'm quite pleased with it. I will have to find more uses for this paper because I definitely have more than I need and it's too lovely not to use. I also bought some fabric for reupholstering my little stool, but its not thick and hardy like I originally planned. I found a lovely black embroidered chinese silk and fell in love with it, I not only bought more than I need (for other purposes I haven't decided on yet...) but I am going to have to be careful on how much the stool gets used now because the fabric is quite thin and delicate. Pics of that one soon!

And lastly my 32 week belly photo :) think I will make a GIF with these once baby is born. Shame I haven't done them for the whole pregnancy but I'm only actually just feeling confident enough to do it!