Monday 25 March 2013

Pregnancy update week 30

 

I’m a week and a bit late with this update if I'm going by my every 4 weeks rule, but seeing as I set the rule I figure I can break it… Wednesday marks the start of the 31st week of being up le duff, or 30 weeks and zilch days if we go by the midwife countdown…

here’s the low down…

Sleeping/Energy Levels – My last blood tests revealed I have low iron levels, which explains the on-going tiredness, though the last trimester is more tiring than the middle one anyway which makes sense. I wanted to avoid having to take iron tablets on prescription as they play merry havoc with IBS from previous experience (both me and my mum regularly go through anaemic phases so I’ve had them in the past and they do strange things to your bowels/droppings!) instead I am eating lots of green veg and red meat.

Peeing – still piddling a lot, and managing to expel about 5x more liquid that I ingest. How is that even possible? I have also (TMI coming up…) had to start wearing party-liners daily as a couple of severe sneezes/coughing fits have resulted in slight leakage (I was mortified but apparently it happens to almost everyone and if they say it didn't they're lying!)

Acid reflux/heartburn – on and off, sometimes I will have eaten nothing for hours, and wake up with it really badly and need to find some rennies STAT in an attempt to clear it up!

Back/Hip Pain – In all honesty I would have to say that the pain hasn't got worse, although it may just be that I am learning to live with it! My fancy new ergonomic high backed desk chair at work has helped, plus the fact that I have attempting to walk for at least half an hour a day.

Stretch Marks/Skin- still no stretch marks, still lathering on various creams and potions when I remember, and no linea nigra yet either. Belly button has NOT stuck out at any point… though maybe this is because it’s dead from having two different piercings (I took them out when I got pregnant) and a scar from my appendectomy in it. But I'm pleased because it freaks me out when they poke out. Facially my hormonal spots have pretty much cleared up too!

Headaches – hardly any since the last update, I've only had to take tablets for it once.

Cramps – more ‘restless leg syndrome’ than ever, coupled with 3 bouts this week of excruciating pain in my left calve. Picture this, you’re happily asleep, then suddenly your calve muscle tenses up in a MAJOR way and you wake up wanting to scream but you can’t because your husband only got into bed and fell asleep after a 16 hour shift an hour ago and it would be mean. You then lie there for 15 minutes trying to clench and un clench your toes in a vain attempt for the muscle to contract and go back to normal. THEN you have trouble putting all your weight on your leg when you need to go to the toilet and promptly fall over when you get out of bed, and wake the husband up. OH, and I've also had some very bizarre crotch-area cramps this week, like shooting pains in the vag, not pleasant!

Movement – almost had a dangerous spillage when sprog did a major kick/flip knocking a bottle of nail varnish off the bump, but luckily the lid was still semi screwed on, phew! Sprog loves to wiggle about in the bath too.

Size – I have put on just under 2 stone, and the midwife says this is absolutely nothing to worry about, as the ‘average’ (ie if you were of a normal BMI when you got pregnant) person should put on around 2.5 stone overall. I think my legs are a bit chunkier, but people have said that facially I don’t look any bigger, which is a bonus, to be honest I'm not watching what I eat at all, so I'm surprised I am not looking like a beached whale.

Hair/Skin – hair is growing at rapunzel type speed, which is good. It also seems a lot shinier than normal, which is awesome. In other hair related news, I have purchased a ladyshave type device as I can no longer see my hoo-hoo, and shaving with a regular razor in the shower was getting dangerous. I figure this will be easier to use when I attempt to ‘neaten’ certain bits in preparation for the hospital (and then a lot quicker and less dangerous when I am attempting to shower between naps post birth!)

Cravings – nothing! dull eh. I am eating a lot of sweet things though.

Swelling – nothing yet, shoes still fit, ankles still look like they did before, wedding ring still fit too.

Mood – No major mood  swings (lucky for Sam eh!) but a number of various anxieties that I am not going to share here, perhaps at a later date but for now I'm seeing my MW with more regularity than normal, and saw my GP this week about it too.

No other symptoms that I can think of, and with ten and a half weeks to go till D-day I’m hoping that nothing gets too bad! We’ve got a week away planned at the end of April with friends in Cornwall, and as long as I can drive there and back okay I don’t really mind if I'm too round to do anything as we’ve hired a gorgeous barn conversion and I'll happily spend the week reading/dozing/chatting with friends. I still haven't made a decision on when to stop working, mainly because I don’t know who is covering for me when I'm on mat leave, (if it was up to me I would’ve made the decision weeks ago, but alas it is not within my control and is causing me grief, as handing over a hotel isn't a quick task, and if it’s not the person I want it to be its a 2 week job, minimum!) 

 IMG_7739 29

Now everyone tells me I look ‘big’ for my dates, however the midwife measured the bump and it is NORMAL I tell you!!! Snap on the right taken Wednesday before last, at the start of the 29th week (Or 28+0) and I am noticeably bigger already, which is the idea I guess! My coat doesn't fit anymore, so it better get warmer soon! I think people just think I'm big because I'm a midget…

Friday 22 March 2013

A month of mini milestones...

One of the things I learned about sleep regression (yes, we're still there!) is that it's tied in with a baby's brain development. Add in the weaning and D's body is doing all kinds of new things. I've been most excited about a few 'firsts'.

Funny Baby Ecard: I wish we had even a clue as to what we're doing.

1) About two weeks ago, D discovered he could roll over. Not terribly successfully every time (and very often accompanied by a grunt of frustration), but he could do it. Now he's honed his skill a little better and I keep finding him in odd places. Gone are the days when I could happily leave him for a split second knowing he'd stay put.

2) He's also starting to giggle. Not loads, and only for select people (i.e. not his dad, who still doesn't believe me that he's doing it), but enough for me to get overexcited every time he does it. It is VERY cute and I can't wait until he's giggling like those babies in adverts. Coincidentally, those adverts often crack me up to the point of being unable to breathe. In which case I MIGHT DIE AS A RESULT OFCUTENESS. So this might be my last blog post... although probably not.

3) I took D to the cinema yesterday, to a Big Scream screening of the new Wizard of Oz film. All I can tell you is- some other mothers are really annoying, Michelle Williams looks very pretty and still sounds a bit like Marilyn Monroe, it's a good film for babies because of the colours and D can sleep through lots of explosions. Oh, and feeding a baby food in a cinema is a bit tricky.

So, those are a few firsts. I wonder what comes next? (Please don't say teething...)


Wednesday 20 March 2013

Wednesday Weaning- weekly update #3

Weaning Set - BLUE
Image: Vital Baby

It's been a bit of a hectic week, as you can probably tell with the lack of posting! Weaning wise, it's been OK. We had a couple of milestones and new tastes.

Firstly, D had his first meal out- we had lunch in a local cafe for my birthday. I took a Plum sachet and a fromage frais, both of which D took really enthusiastically. I was a bit worried at first, as normally the sachet would be mixed with baby rice. After a few grimaces, D happily took all of the food- leading to a peaceful lunch for the grown ups!

We also took D to his grandparents' for tea on Sunday. I was recently sent a Vital Baby weaning set (£3.99), which I was looking forward to trying. I put some baby food from a jar (a new experience for us!) into the bowl. The food was secure and I really like the spoon holder! I was able to microwave the food briefly and it was really handy for keeping everything tidy. This is something that I can see becoming part of our regular kit when out and about.

Taste-wise, we've been trying D with new flavours- I've been using jars mostly this week, as I've wanted to try more flavours. D has tried the dubiously named 'Grandpa's Sunday Lunch' and a parsnip and potato puree, which has been VERY popular. He seems to be a fan of sweeter vegetables- spinach is not a popular flavour and sweet tastes such as fruit are a bit hit and miss.

My next step is to try making my own food. I've bought a couple of books about baby food and so it's a matter of building confidence in both myself and D. I'll let you know how we get on!

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Wednesday Weaning- weekly update #2

We've had a hellish week, what with sleep regression and a stinking cold, so weaning has been a bit hit and miss. Some days, D has eaten everything in front of him and some days, he's just wanted milk, so it's been a balancing act between letting him have the fluids he's needed as well as the nutrition.

I've been experimenting with flavours and textures- I found that Natures Healthbox has a half price offer on at the moment, so I decided to snap up a load of Plum baby food (the offer is on until the end of March and I like Plum as it has a good range of flavours and a long shelf life...) I like to either mix these in with baby rice, particularly the savoury flavours, or offer them straight from the pouch as a snack.

D has progressed to three meals fairly easily; he has porridge in a morning, mixed with either fruit puree or a little fromage frais (I put the rest in a little tub for later) and a bottle about 45 minutes to an hour later, by which point he's ready for his morning nap.

I've not been brave enough to give him solids past a bit of mashed banana, which went down like a lead balloon. He doesn't quite 'get' the process of chewing yet, so I'm not going to push it for now. I may give him a small piece of toast to gum on, but I'll wait until he seems ready.

The hardest part of this process is working out the milk to food ratio. The health visitor has said he should be on about 20ml a day of his formula, but this has gone out the window when he's been demanding feeds in the night. I'm hoping that this drops off, as he's not been this demanding since he was tiny. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow it's my birthday, so we're going out for lunch for the first time since D started eating solids. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to adapt to this, but I'm sure I'll think of something! I also want to start looking into making my own baby food... the problem with this is most of the 'cook books' are aimed at 6 months+ and I don't know how these babies compare to those at 4.5 months. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Monday 11 March 2013

Useful things to make Pregnancy easier

 

Pregnacare (or similar!) combined pills – I am useless  at remembering to take pills and tablets, so have a combined pill that has all the right vitamins and minerals in means only having to remember to take one pill a day, and that I can just about manage. More info on the boots website here

A pregnancy pillow (or a spare normal pillow) – Some nights I toss and turn too much and end up flinging the thing out of bed, but mostly I am exhausted enough to conk out and not move till I need to go for a wee, I posted already about mine here, but you can just sleep with a regular pillow between your legs and under your bump, but it’s a good idea to not sleep on your back when the bump gets bigger, it can trap nerves and make your legs go numb!

Crackers/cereal bars/ginger hobnobs – in the first few months they help to stave off pregnancy, and in the last few months they’ve been perfect to keep at work for a quick snack (I don't take a  lunch break at work, just graze throughout the day) and for early mornings, I'll have a cereal bar on the way to work then have a bowl of cereal/porridge when I get to work (the only bonus of early starts is that I have chefs on hand at the hotel to cook, I’m just fed up of of cooked breakfasts after so many years there!)

A pregnancy app- See this post (& this week according to the app the baby is as big as the head of a cauliflower, in case you were wondering!)

Loose fitting PJs – comfort over style, primarks biggest size work wonderfully, but I have to roll them up because I am short.

Something that smells nice to slather on sore stretched skin – I have been using a multitude of things (don't want to get bored!) but most recently have been loving the Seascape Soothe range (reviewed here)

Rennies/antacid tablets – don’t leave the house without them. keep them by the bed, in your bag, on your desk, in the car, EVERYWHERE! they’re a godsend. The weird thing is that I can go a couple of days without any heartburn/acid reflux, then for a few days EVERYTHING gives it to me!

A food delivery service (or an obliging partner/friend who will do it with you) – Asda delivers my groceries, and I top up at local shops on the way home from work. If Sam and I both had time together to go to the supermarket (i.e. if we didn't work at opposite times to each other) then I would make more of an effort to go, but waddling round the supermarket with a trolley then battling the old ladies on the bus with the bags isn't my idea of fun (although it is good exercise, see next point!)

Regular exercise – I'm not saying run a marathon, but unless your Dr tells you otherwise its a really good idea to keep doing non-strenuous exercise, even if its just walking, but there are lots of yoga videos on YouTube (here are some third trimester ones, as that’s what I am now) but there are local classes in most areas I expect, definitely in Brighton anyway!

A cleaning lady/man – I don’t have one of these, but if money were no object I would get help in an instant. Cleaning bathroom/kitchen floors on my hands and knees is getting difficult and tiring, and I'm only going to get bigger. Plus I only like to clean when I'm in the right mood, and that hardly ever happens!

A comfy bra – I’m still on the lookout for one of these! I purchased some non wired bras from M&S and they were just really unflattering, and still not that comfy. Yesterday a very nice lady in La Senza measured me, but all their bra’s are of the bullet proof padding variety, with underwire. She gave me a ‘body kiss’ to try on which was so padded round the underwire that you could hardly feel it, but I didn't want all the ‘oomph’ so I didn't buy it. She did however make me try a smaller band a bigger cup, which seemed to work slightly better than what I was going for before, so the hunt continues, and in the mean time I bought a maternity bra and a nursing bra from Mothercare in their sale, which are doing for now. Needless to say the moment I shut the door behind me when I get in the bra comes off and the PJs go on.

a smaller handbag – I was carrying around all kinds of crap I didn't need, so I changed to a smaller one (slightly) and make a point of emptying out the stuff I don't need every couple of days, because dragging around all the extra weight wasn’t doing my shoulders any good at all!

Please do feel free to add your couldn't-do-withouts below!

Friday 8 March 2013

Sleep regression nightmares...





Last week, I wrote about D's bedtime and I would like to point out that this is still fine.

However.

We've hit the four-month sleep regression stage. I'd sort of read about it, but didn't think it was a serious thing. Oh, how wrong I was.

Image: AP via elliegarrett.blogspot


We did everything to make his 7.30 bedtime pleasant for D- bathtime, low-lights, lavender scented body lotion, making sure his monkey, Barry, was in the crib, me gently 'singing' Daydream Believer over and over again (seriously, it gets him to sleep. AND I know all the words. Bonus.) D would drift into a deep, cute sleep.

At 1 a.m., he woke up. "Oh, OK, he's having a growth spurt. He's adjusting to weaning. Cool. Let's make up a bottle, he'll go back to sleep- hopefully until 7am, as normal." I'd like to say that this was done pragmatically and without hesitation, but it's normally after D's dad and I pretend we're both asleep for a couple of minutes.

This is fine, except it happened again at 4 a.m. Now, we were completely taken aback, as D hasn't had a sleep pattern like this since two months old. At that point, you're sort of used to the broken nights and you actually feel more exhausted after the first few nights the baby sleeps though. 

The worst thing about this sleep disruption is that it was also affecting D's naps. He's never been a big napper, which can be maddening, as it means he gets tired, cranky and screamy and I have battles with him to try and persuade him to sleep. I thought maybe, just maybe, a lack of night-time sleep would mean more sleep during the day. Haha, as if. It just means he fights even harder to fall asleep (even though we BOTH KNOW he's tired, he refuses it as much as possible and then when he least expects it, he's sparko.)

Mums on Twitter confirm it's probably a combination of growth spurt and regression and so I started doing some research. Another element that makes it really hard is that D has his third cold in three weeks too. Ach. Snotty and grumpy isn't a good combo!

Anyway, I found this blog post which made PERFECT sense. We're not out of the woods yet, but this has made me feel a bit better. If anyone has any tips, please do let me know!

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Wednesday weaning- week 1

I've started to wean D. It's a bit weird, really, as he is still pretty young (we started at 17 weeks, which is the younger end of the scale.) The thing is, he's huge. When he was last weighed, at 15 weeks, he weighed 16lbs 3. The health visitor jovially remarked that the average one-year-old weighs around 20lbs. D is on the 91st percentile for weight and the 95th for length. He's big. He's also hungry.

At first, we just upped his milk to the recommended levels, figuring it was a growth spurt. But his high chair brought him into a whole new world of staring at food. He would stare at our meals. He would watch strangers in cafes eat their soup. He would even look at the cat as she was eating. This was a boy who was interested in food.

Oh hi. I'd really like to eat your food right now. Kthnxbai.


I started researching. The thing is, although you can feed from 17 weeks if it's recommended by a health professional- and in our case, it is- all the advice is geared up for babies from six months old. So it's a bit of a minefield, really. Thankfully, I have a health visitor who doesn't seem to mind if I ring her to ask what I'm sure are daft questions.

Anyway, I decided to start D last Wednesday. We'd been told that baby rice was a bit depressing on its own, so to consider adding something to it to make it more palatable. In Boots the other day, they were randomly giving out sachets of Plum purees. So D's first meal was a rather grim looking mixture:


You're jealous, right? It's a mix of baby rice (about a teaspoon), a squirt of sweet potato and squash puree (YUM) and some of his formula. And as gross as it seemed- he loved it. He gobbled it up and, at one point when I wasn't apparently feeding him quickly enough, used his limited motor skills to grab the spoon and shove it in his mouth. He's four months old. I'd say this is a kid who's going to enjoy food.

The health visitor has said because of his size, we're probably going to want to give him regular meals pretty quickly. I've tried with porridge, but on its own, it's a bit of a no-no. I don't blame D, it looks like glue. So I'm going to try a bit of puree to entice him. 

So, for now, I guess we're going to experiment with mixtures. I'm being encouraged to give him what we're eating (as long as it doesn't have salt/sugar in it.) 

Any tips/advice on weaning? I'll be posting an update next week- maybe someone else who is weaning early will find it useful!

Monday 4 March 2013

Birth plan, part 1

 

I don't really know where to start with a ‘birth plan’. I spoke to my midwife about it at last weeks appointment, and she said that basically it can be as detailed or as simple as you want it to be, but that of course sometimes things just don’t go to plan, so always keep an open mind. As an aside, I really like this midwife, my first few appointments were all with someone different and one of them was quite possibly the most unhelpful person I've met, after looking at my notes a few weeks ago she had managed to write down my height wrong, and a few other anomalies had crept in too.

Anyway, I digress, I explained to the MW that I didn't really know where to start with thinking about the birth, and in actual fact I had quite a lot of anxiety about it, amongst other things. She said it needs to cover three main areas, which can be as detailed or as simple as you want them to be.

  • What is important to you (who do you want with you, where do you want to do it? )
  • What you feel are priorities (including pain relief/coping techniques, do you want your baby cleaned before being given to you etc)
  • How you want things to happen after the birth (breastfeeding or formula, vitamin K injection or not…)

So I am right at the beginning stages of the process, and so far all I know is that a) Sam will be with me and not my mother/anyone else, BUT that if things go on for a while and he needs a break, but that b) a friend who lives not far from the hospital and had her baby there a few years ago will be on hand for support if possible, which is good to know. In the true spirit of my ever growing procrastination, I actually made a full and detailed list of what to pack in my hospital bag instead of getting any further with the birth plan, but i’ve started thinking about it and have 13 weeks left anyway, so expect another post on the subject further down the line!

Tools and things you may find helpful:

The NHS Birth plan webpage, you can fill out online and print it for your records

The NHS 'how to write a birth plan video’ which you can watch here

The Tell me a good birth story website (Steph found this website really useful before she had D, and recommended it to me)

Bountys advice on writing a birth plan

And the Netmums take on it

and just for the sake of argument, here is an article that I found about why ‘birth plans are worse than useless’ (the 899 comments on the article don’t agree!)

 

If you are a mum already, how closely did your experience resemble your birth plan, if you had one? Any tips?

Friday 1 March 2013

Bedtime...

Image: Disney Clips

A couple of weeks ago, my health visitor made her final visit to us; D had dropped a little in weight the month before and, although he still resembled a French rugby player in (relative) size and stature, she wanted to check on him. I also think she wanted to keep an eye on me, as I'd had some really tough days where I'd felt like I was struggling.

Anyway, over a cup of tea, we were talking about D's bedtime. I said that we'd not started to putting him to bed at a regular time, but were finding that he fell asleep earlier and earlier and wouldn't nap during the day. She told me that, really, we should have started earlier on a sleep routine. She talked about how it might be harder now to get him to go to sleep and, if we started a new sleep routine, it was maybe better to warn the neighbours in advance. (These are the neighbours who had to put up with hours of nightly screaming when D was tiny and colic-infested. I figured they wouldn't know the difference...)

I had visions of screaming, of D's dad and I clinging to each other, weeping with exhaustion. We'd been warned it would be hard. We braced ourselves.

And, to be honest, it was the complete opposite of what we were expecting. Yes, we had to go upstairs a couple of times on the first night and soothe D to sleep. We went up once the next night. But then, after that, D found his own rhythm. He's going to sleep earlier and earlier and 7pm seems to be the optimal time. We're not doing anything, other than giving him his last bottle, playing Ewan and providing a dummy if he wants it. He's started cuddling a stripy monkey for comfort, which is very cute, even if it sometimes looks like he's snogging it a bit.

He did have a cold for a few nights which has disrupted it slightly, but then I've had the same cold, so I figure we can be martyrs together. He generally wakes up at 3am and coos until either his D or I give in at pretending we're asleep and make a bottle. We've recently started him on solids, which may mean he forgoes this bottle as well. Which would be utterly excellent.

Naptimes are still hit and miss. He will generally sleep an hour and a half after getting up (and watching Pingu during tummy time!), but I've yet to get him into a stricter routine with afternoons. Any advice on this is welcome!

So, what have I learnt? To not count my chickens- I know he could go back to being a sleep-refuser (seriously, this baby will FIGHT sleep if he thinks he'll miss something!) To be grateful for the time I get with D's dad in an evening- it's nice to relax a bit. It's also really, really nice not to dread a 9pm screaming fit. I'm taking advantage of the peace before he becomes more mobile!