Pregnancy diaries || Week 37 - Nesting

Week 37

I think nesting has officially started this weekend. No, I have not become a cleaning freak just yet, in fact I resent bending over so much now, that anything that lands on the floor which I cannot pick up with my toes is "dead to me". I have however been feeling the urge to organise the baby room and make it her own. I have put all of her new bedding in her cot, even though she won't actually be sleeping in there for another 6 months, well that's the plan anyway (we'll see). On her cot bedding their are lots of little woodland animals which I think are adorable and decided to bust out my old paints, which have been sitting un-loved in a box since before we went to the UK back in 2014. I made some little pieces of wall art to hang around her room. It was a good feeling and I can see more painting happening if I find myself idle after I finish work this coming week.

We are taking the advice of other parents we know and we out for dinner (just the two of us) for what may be the last time in a while. We went to a Irish pub as we haven't had a good pub meal in what feels like a year (probably since we left the UK to be fair). I got super excited when I saw Pimms on the drinks menu, went to ask for it and then realised that I can't have it anyway. Dammit! Cue new craving of the week.

I have packed the baby bag for when I go into labour, it's ready and waiting at the door, but I haven't put together my own yet. As I still wear all of the maternity gear (and anything else that fits) on a daily/weekly basis so if I did pack it, I would also need to live out of a bag for the next few weeks. Or however long it is that I have left.

My sleeping has been a bit harder this week, I have been waking up at 1am, 2am or 3am and lying awake for a few hours thinking about work and or what life will be like with baby. This always makes the next day harder but fortunately it's not every night and it's not because I'm uncomfortable. I just can't shut my mind off.

Baby girl's movements have become a lot slower as she runs out of space. I still feel her all day but rather than quick, sharp kicks, I now get slow rolling and stretching movements which are somewhat more comfortable and easier to work around.  Her hiccups have become stronger also which are rather hard to ignore due to their strength.

This is a bit random but worth mentioning for other Mums-to-be. A few weeks ago I went out and got some Maternity underwear and I have been so much more comfortable ever since. The ones I got were from Kmart and have extra wide, extra stretchy waistbands. So when I am sitting at a desk all day at work I am not having them cut into my waistline like my old ones were before. It means you don't have to go up a size and have them be too big in other areas or fall down. They are like yoga pants but for underwear and I am a complete convert.

How far along?: 37 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, no way around it now

Stretch marks?: Yes

Belly button in or out?: Hasn't changed, still looks like a pouting pair of lips.

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Seeing baby's room coming together

Worst Moment of the week?: Being tired at work

Miss anything?: Walking through a room without everyone looking at my stomach. I'm more than just a baby bump people... nah just kidding it's not so bad, just something I have noticed these days.

Movement?: YES! Movement all day. She's getting way stronger and has a lot less room so I get a bit of a shock sometimes when she thumps me good.

Cravings?: A good Pimms cocktail and ice-cream

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Having Mum come visit on the weekend

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive

Labour Signs?: None so far, not even Braxton hicks (practice) contractions as far as I can tell.

Pregnancy diaries || Week 36 - Final ultrasound & at home photoshoot

Week 36

We had our final ultrasound this week to check babys measurements and position for birth. The midwife had noticed that it seemed like she was laying transverse (horizontal) across my belly rather than head-down, bums-up ready for birth. By the time our ultrasound appointment came around though, she had moved into a much better position for birth, which is comforting to know. The technician also re-measured and checked various parts of her body. Revealing that her weight is bang on where it should be 5lb 15oz according to her measurements, although they often over estimate. She has a slightly larger than average skull, I blame her father, as Chris has a large head and mine is practically child size. Her heart and stomach look perfect, and her femurs (leg bones) are just a little shorter than average, but not abnormally so, she will most likely catch up in another few weeks with the average measurement.

We saw her moving around, sucking her hands and feet. We got a good view of her profile (like in the anatomy scan) and also a few good shots of the front of her face too. She is big enough that we could see details like her ear and her finger pointing around the place.

Side profile and hand

Front view of her face

Ear and shoulder

Sucking her finger

Foot and leg pushing against the womb

 This weekend we organised more of the nursery and washed all of her clothes (my clothes line has never been so pink) it's starting to feel real, although I don't feel ready quite yet.

We made the most of a lazy Sunday afternoon by having an at home DIY photoshoot with our new camera. I saw a few photos on Pinterest that I really liked and we tried to replicate them. I'm pretty pleased with the end result, although a little self conscious about my body as well. This is by far the heaviest I have ever been, but it is the most body confident I have ever been as well, as I love my baby bump and how my body has changed to accommodate her.

Baby "name removed"

We went for a walk up Mt Albert later that evening and watched the sun go down. We are trying to soak up these last few weeks with it being just the two of us but we are also so looking forward to becoming a family in the near future.

How far along?: 36 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, no way around it now

Stretch marks?: Yes, and my belly is itchy again so I'm keeping a close eye on them

Belly button in or out?: Hasn't changed, still looks like a pouting pair of lips.

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Seeing our baby again and seeing how much more developed she is now

Worst Moment of the week?: Being tired at work

Miss anything?:Yawning to maximum capacity. I get to a certain point in the yawn and then have to stop abruptly because my lungs won't expand past my bump and it hurts. Very unsatisfying since I am yawning a lot these days.

Movement?: YES! Movement all day, where my belly visibly undulates when she pushes against it

Cravings?: Peanut butter on muffin splits (just like I did as a teenager)

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Meeting our little one in only a handful more weeks

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive

Labour Signs?: None so far, not even Braxton hicks (practice) contractions as far as I can tell. As far as I know, Braxton hicks are meant to feel like a non-painful tightening of your belly, but since my bump is rock hard and tight most of the time I don't think I can tell.

Pregnancy diaries || Week 35 - Taking our own maternity photos

Week 35

It has been another good week. Lots of people at work are commenting on how big I am getting and have been asking how I have been. They are often surprised when my response is "Good! Quite good surprisingly, just a little tired" as I have very little to complain about at the moment. Yes, my sleep is a bit disrupted, but not too bad, and yes, my hips sometimes ache, but that doesn't stop me from doing anything major and really isn't that bad either. I'm feeling very fortunate with how pregnancy has been for me so far and grateful for every day that passes without fear or pain. I'm pretty chill about birth and can't believe how quickly the time is passing. 5 weeks to go!!! (or so)

My belly is getting itchy again so the stretch marks might be getting worse but I'm not too fussed over it. What will be, will be. Still, my bedtime routine is to take my vitamins and slather my belly with cocoa butter every day/night. This means that I have also received a few complements that I smell really nice, or that I smell of chocolate from the Cocoa butter I use. Haha, an unexpected bonus I guess.

I have cut down my hours at work a little bit, just a few hours here and there. This has made a big improvement to my energy levels, just being able to start a little later and finish at the normal time, rather than working late, like I was before.

We decided to make the most of a beautiful Saturday sunset by taking some photos of my bump down at Western Springs park. We have recently got a new Sony A5100 digital camera as an early birthday present for me, and so we wanted to try it out. Here are a few of my favourite shots.

Bluebelle Maternity Dress

How far along?: 35 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, no way around it now

Stretch marks?: Yes, but they haven't got any worse lately

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Spending a beautiful evening taking photos

Worst Moment of the week?: Being tired at work

Miss anything?: Mulled wine.

Movement?: YES! Movement all day, where my belly visibly undulates when she pushes against it

Cravings?:Not really

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Meeting our little one in only a handful more weeks

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive
Labour Signs?: None so far, not even Braxton hicks (practice) contractions as far as I know

Pregnancy diaries || Week 34 - Baby shower

Week 34

Only 6 weeks until my due date, where did that time go? Ahhh!

We had our baby shower this weekend. Which meant squeezing 24+ people into Mum's living room. It was a blast, with some fun games and lots of good conversation. We received such lovely and practical gifts from our friends and family.

An added surprise for our friends was that we revealed our baby's gender, which we had been keeping private up until that point. As this pregnancy has progressed I have realised that I am a terrible liar and have such a hard time using equal he's and she's or his and hers when talking about the baby, so we may as well celebrate her in style. We did this by popping a big black balloon to reveal our baby's gender with pink glitter confetti (which managed to spread throughout the entire house on peoples feet). I have a lot of friends who have baby girls so they were very excited for me to join the girl gang. It's going to be fun when all of our kids get older and play together.

 

 

 

How far along?: 34 weeks!

Gender?: Girl, and now our friends finally know!

Maternity clothes?: Yes, dresses and maternity leggings are my saviour!

Stretch marks?: Yes, but they haven't got any worse lately

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Revealing the gender of our baby to our friends

Worst Moment of the week?: Being stuck in a car for 4 hours between Auckland and Taupo. Fortunately I won't be doing that again before baby gets here, it's too far away from our midwife and just plain uncomfortable.

Miss anything?: Mulled wine. As the weather gets colder it would be really nice to wrap my hands around a nice warm mug of it.

Movement?: YES! Movement all day, where my belly visibly undulates when she pushes against it

Cravings?:Not really

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Meeting our little one

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive

Pregnancy diaries || Week 32 & 33 - Baby Hiccups & Checking out the Birth Centre

Week 32

Our baby has the hiccups! It took me a minute to figure out what this rhythmic popping was, but after looking it up online I'm pretty sure it is hiccups. Right on track according to our midwife too, as baby practices for breathing on the outside. They are cute but get a little repetitive and distracting after the first 30 mins of pop, pop, pop, pop etc.
  
We had our second antenatal class this week, which was equally as insightful as the first. This one focused more on breastfeeding and taking care of baby when they get here.
We even bumped into some of the other couples outside of the classes later in the week, which was fun to catch-up.

We did a major baby shop at the Baby Factory, so I feel like we are getting more organised which helped put my mind to rest knowing that we have mostly everything we need, at least when she first gets here.

I'm back to a relatively normal appetite, no bad symptoms to complain about. Still getting up 2-4 times each night to go to the bathroom but at least that means that I'm hydrated, right?

We met our backup midwife at our appointment this week, as our LMC was in Rarotonga getting married. She seems very nice and knowledgeable and I would be perfectly comfortable with her being at my birth.

How far along?: 32 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, dresses are my saviour! Not having a waist band cutting into your bump is the best.

Stretch marks?: Yes, they are gradually spreading further and but seem to be fading a bit

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?:Getting ready for baby to arrive

Worst Moment of the week?:Being tired at work, as I'm still there full time. I might look at cutting back my hours soon.

Miss anything?: Not really, pretty content this week.

Movement?: YES! Movement all day, where my belly visibly undulates when she pushes against it and of course her cute little hiccup sessions too.

Cravings?:Not really

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?:Taking a tour of our birthing centre

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive

Week 33

On Saturday morning we took a tour of "Birthcare" where I will hopefully be birthing if all goes to plan. It was comforting to ask them questions and visualise the birthing experience. The temperature has plummeted this week, winter hit with full force, well at least by Auckland standards. It feels like 2 degrees most morningw so I am trying to rug-up, even though I can't actually do-up any of my winter coats over my big belly. And no wonder, my bump is now measuring 106cm around my belly button, so that's a big ask for an old winter coat to get around. Baby girl is moving ALL THE TIME which is great but sometimes makes it hard to get to sleep with a tornado in your tummy. We can now feel babies body parts through my belly. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between her head and bum (large bulge) or whether it is one of her arms or legs, but you can definitely use your imagination and figure it out.

How far along?: 33 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, dresses and maternity leggings are my saviour!

Stretch marks?: Yes, but they seem to be fading a little bit

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?:Seeing the birthing centre and feeling more prepared

Worst Moment of the week?:Being exhausted at the end of my work day.

Miss anything?: Fitting into my old winter clothes

Movement?: YES! Movement all day, where my belly visibly undulates when she pushes against it

Cravings?:Not really

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: My baby shower next week!!!

Mood/emotional state?: For the most part I'm very happy and positive

Pregnancy diaries || Week 31 - Starting antenatal classes

Week 31

Early in the week I was feeling sharp "zinging" electric pain from mid bump to cervix. Are these Braxton hicks contractions or round ligament pain? Because they hurt and I don't think BH are meant to hurt. Baby is busy bopping around, moving and grooving so I can assume she is doing just fine, it's just my body that is having the hard time.

We started our first free DHB antenatal class this week, which goes for 3 hours after work (6-9pm), which is a really long time for a preggo to sit and retain information after a long work day. It was a really good experience with lots of useful information and laughter. We learnt about the labour and birth process as well as the safest way for baby to sleep and travel etc so I would highly recommend doing it. We have the second session next week.

No other symptoms this week, but my belly is growing and so are the stretch marks. At this point I am putting cocoa butter on every morning and night but I doubt that it's making any difference. *sigh*

How far along?: 31 weeks

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, dresses are my saviour! Not having a waist band cutting into your bump is the best.

Stretch marks?: Yes, all over the sides of my bump

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Meeting all of the other expectant parents at the antenatal class

Worst Moment of the week?:Those weird zapping pains I was feeling early in the week, still don't know what it was.

Miss anything?:Summer, it's getting cold here

Movement?: YES! Lots of movement and strong kicks

Cravings?:Not really, just normal stuff

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Starting to buy more baby stuff

Mood/emotional state?: Wonderful, for the most part I'm very happy

Pregnancy diaries || Week 30 - Getting vaccinated

Week 30

The big three oh, means that I am 3/4 of the way there, hopefully! Unless I go past my due date.

Lee and Holly visited again this weekend. Initially I had a pretty good week again with no new symptoms and very little to complain about except for being a bit tired. If you feel like I am sugar coating pregnancy due to my lack of symptoms, I'm trying to be as honest as possible I swear. It just hasn't been a bad experience for me so far. My Mum loved being pregnant, in fact straight after she birthed my brother she joked that she could be a surrogate. A comment that her doctor didn't see the humour in. So apart from me getting morning sickness during the first trimester and already being the size she was when she was full term (me and my brother were little babies). It sounds like I am following in her foot steps.

On Tuesday I got my Flu vaccination which is strongly recommended for pregnant women to get, as it helps to protect the baby when she is suddenly exposed to all of these new germs and viruses, as she already has built up some immunity. A few hours after the jab I was feeling very tired and went home from work early, heading straight to bed when I walked in the door. I woke up the next morning and almost didn't go into work due to a pounding headache, back ache and nausea. I pushed on through and made it through the work day, just. My body has never responded that way to a flu vaccine before so I guess it's either pregnancy related or that this years strains are stronger than normal. Although a few of my work colleagues (who aren't pregnant) had similar symptoms, so I guess it's just this years dose.  Still no regrets in getting it, as I would prefer my mild symptoms over my baby getting a full blown flu when she arrives in the middle of winter. I'm tough, I can hack it.

How far along?: 30 weeks!

Gender?: Girl

Maternity clothes?: Yes, dresses are my saviour! Not having a waist band cutting into your bump is the best.

Stretch marks?: Yes, they are gradually spreading further and getting darker

Belly button in or out?: It looks like "a pair of lips" but hasn't popped yet

Sleep?: Mostly pretty good, but I do get more tired throughout the day than I used to.

Best Moment of the week?: Hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend

Worst Moment of the week?: Feeling crappy after the flu shot

Miss anything?: Being in control of my own body, it doesn't feel much like my body anymore.

Movement?: YES! Lots of movement

Cravings?: Hot chips and tomato sauce

Queasy or sick?:No

Looking forward to?: Starting antenatal classes

Mood/emotional state?: Wonderful, for the most part I'm very happy