Pregnancy update 35 weeks

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy seems to be going. I'm 35 weeks already and keep thinking our little girl could be here at some point in June.

I haven't had any appointments since our GOSH scan but have 2 next week, they all seem to come at once. I have my 35 week midwife appointment on Monday then a scan at my normal hospital on Wednesday when I'll be 36 weeks. The scan was supposed to also be when I'd found out an induction date but as everything went well at GOSH we're not sure if I'll get one now or if they will just wait for me to go into labour naturally.

I had a bit of a panic this week as everything seemed to get on top of me, Joe has half decorated the babies room and everything seemed so unorganised, we also realised the stand we thought we had for the moses basket wasn't in the loft so we need to go and get one as soon as possible. 

I'm also stressed at the thought of moving back in with my mum next week, although I know it's going to be better in the long run incase I do go into labour and for some help with Teddy I feel that I should be at home getting everything ready. I'm lucky that I have my mother in law who has promised she will go over and organise everything if I need her to. 

I have this weekend at home to sort out what I can, I'm planning on washing the covers to Teddy's old swing and bouncy chair, getting the moses basket ready and making sure the sterilisers descaled and cleaned. Hopefully while I'm away Joe will finish off their room - which just needs the wall stickers to be put up. We have gone for a safari theme which I know Teddy will love as he loves animals at the minute - especially lions! Hopefully his sister will like it too :).

XxX

Teddy's GOSH appointment

I've mentioned in a previous post that Great Ormond Street had offered to check Teddy's heart for us as we have always been worried about his slow weight gain and the fact that he seems to pick up every illness going.

We already knew if they did find anything it wouldn't of been anything like what our unborn baby has as we would of known by now. We though he could have a possible hole in the heart as we know these can go undetected. 

We were lucky enough to be seen by the same doctor that is looking after baby and he was brilliant throughout the scan. Teddy hates getting undressed unless it's for a bath so he was already upset before the scan even started. By the time they had put the gel on him to start scanning he was hysterical. The doctor was lovely and put Peppa Pig on his phone for Ted, which seemed to calm him down for a few minutes. 

Luckily they didn't find anything to be concerned about on the scan so Teddy is heart healthy. I'm so relieved as I don't know how I would of coped if both my children had a heart defect. At least we know what to be prepared for when the baby's here as we know she will have to have these scans quite often, hopefully she won't get as distressed as Teddy did.

XxX

Pregnancy update 34 weeks

I've been a bit quiet over the last couple of weeks mainly because we've had so much going on and have had a bit of a rough time lately.

Joe's aunt sadly passed away and he'd also come down with a virus that meant he couldn't even make it to our final scan at GOSH so we've both been feeling pretty down.

I was also worrying about this scan as it's been a while since my last one and I know how quickly things can change. Luckily we were given some really good news which we are over the moon about so we are starting to get back to normal.

This appointment was much quicker than the scans before as the doctor spoke to me during the scan rather than take me into a seperate room after. He explained that sometimes with heart problems such as our baby's things can start to deteriorate before they are born but we are lucky and her heart and lungs seem to be working fine.

Because of this I don't need to be induced before my due date anymore and he is pretty confident that when she's born she will be able to come straight home once she's had some tests done. The doctor from GOSH doesn't even think he will need to see her after birth and is still sure she won't need an operation until she is at least 3 months old. 

We have been worrying that we will need to be really careful with baby as we know she will have a weak immune system so have turned down invites to weddings and christenings for the rest of this year but the doctor has reassured us that she will be fine and we can treat her as normal which is a big relief. 

We are back at GOSH on Tuesday for Teddy to have a scan done to make sure he is heart healthy. We don't think there will be anything wrong as I'm sure it would of been picked up before now but we'd rather have him checked over properly.

This week will be my last week at home before I move back in with my mum and we still have so much to do, lucky it's a bank holiday so Joe has an extra day off to help.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

XxX

Wordless Wednesday

Pregnancy update 33 weeks

I can't believe I'm 33 weeks pregnant already, only 4 weeks until I'm full term and she could be here anytime after that depending on my induction date.

I had my 33 week midwife appointment today which went really well. She was happy with my blood pressure and with baby's heart rate. I mentioned the headaches and she thinks this is down to stress and has advised me to rest as much as I can. She also couldn't believe how active the baby is, she didn't stop kicking and wriggling while she was examining me.

She told me that she's head down and seemed a bit shocked by how low down her head was. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing but she didn't say either way. 

I've been feeling really rough the past few days and today has been the worst. I can't get rid of my headaches and have woken up with one every morning for the past week, I think I'm coming down with something as I've felt quite sick today too. I'm hoping it doesn't last long as I still have so much to do at home if I'm going to stay with my mum from 37 weeks.

I'm hoping Joe will finish decorating their bedroom this weekend and get Teddy's old baby swing and bouncy chair down from the loft so I can wash them. We've only got milk and nappies left to buy so that's one less worry I have. 

I don't have a midwife appointment now until the 2nd June which seems ages away but she said as I have a scan at GOSH next week it would be silly to have 2 appointments on top of eachother.

I'm finding it really hard to get clothes to fit me now and am not having much luck finding nice maternity wear. I'll probably just about make do with what I have for the next few weeks and be living in vest tops and leggings. 

Teddy's 18 months old!

Teddy turned 18 months old this week, I can't believe how fast it's going. I've started to notice how much he's turning into a little boy now, he's changing so much and learning new things all the time.

He's started to tidy up after himself which I think is really sweet and loves to read books and learn new words. He now has 8 teeth that seem to have all come through all of a sudden as up until a few months ago he only had the bottom 2.

He's still small for his age and only just going into 12-18 month clothes, most of these are still really big round his waist and he's just gone into a size 5 in shoes.

The one thing we are struggling with is trying to get him to sleep in his cot. We had never planned on co sleeping and up until he was 8 months old he slept in his cot without any problems. It was when he first started teething that he started to get really upset being in his cot and we were having such a bad night with him one night that we just put him in with us, since then he won't go in his cot at all.

We really wanted to try and get him in his own room before the baby's here as I can see it being a nightmare with them both waking eachother up if they are both in the same room. If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them!

We tried him in a ready bed in our room the other night - he seemed happy with it at first and fell asleep without a problem, but once he woke in the night and realised he wasn't in with us he wouldn't settle until we put him in our bed.

We are off to my mums for a few days this week as we have decided I will stay there from 37 weeks until I have the baby - I'm going to do a separate post on this.

I also have a midwife appointment tomorrow, I'm not supposed to see her until 34 weeks but because of baby's heart defect she wanted to see me sooner. I'm glad because the past few days I've been getting really bad headaches that I can't get rid of, I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about. I will post an update tomorrow.

XxX

Pregnancy update 32 weeks

I had my first physiotherapy appointment this week due to being told I have SPD at a recent doctors appointment.

I had heard of it before and as soon as I mentioned my symptoms to my GP - difficultly walking, pain between my legs and backache she told me it was SPD straight away.

SPD - Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction is a collection of uncomfortable symptoms caused by a misalignment or stiffness of your pelvic joints at either the back or front of your pelvis. It can cause severe pain around your pelvic area and make it difficult for you to get around. Different women have different symptoms, and in some women SPD is worse than in others. 

My physio appointment wasn't what I expected at all, I assumed I would be getting an actual physio session and a lot of other mums had told me I'd probably get a support belt to ease the pain. What I got instead was a group session with 10 other women, with a nurse just showing a presentation with information on SPD and what you should and shouldn't do to help with the pain.

At first I wanted to cry, I had gotten my hopes up that some of my pain might of been eased at this session, how was a presentation going to help me?

A lot of the other women felt the same, with some leaving 5 minutes into the session but the nurse informed us we wouldn't get a one-to-one appointment unless we took part in the group session.

I did actually find if useful, she gave us lots of tips on how to ease the pain including sleeping with a pillow between your legs and walking up the stairs sideways. She also told us not to hoover which up until then I was doing up to 3 times a day! (I have mentioned in a previous post that I'm a bit over the top with the cleaning), so I haven't been helping myself at all. We were also told that there is no way to get rid of the pain completely through pregnancy, it will disappear as soon as we have given birth. 

She has encouraged us to try everything she has suggested for 2 weeks before we make a one-to-one appointment. By this time I will be coming up to 34 weeks so I don't know if I'll bother as I've coped with it for this long so what's another 6 weeks. Although I have a feeling it's only going to get worse as I get bigger so I suppose I'll see how I feel nearer the time.

I don't have any more antenatal appointments this week so I'm going to try and get as much done as I can in the house plus I still have to buy the last bits for my hospital bag. 

Hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, we spent ours in sunny Leysdown, Kent with my in laws. What did you get up to?

Teddy wanted to climb trees like the big kids

XxX

Information taken from the NHS website.