I have been told that I am such a positive preggers lady and a born to breed/be pregnant haha (thanks guys hehe). To a point this is true and I love it, I love being pregnant, I love seeing and feeling my body change and the whole experience behind it.
But let’s be real I don’t love it 100% of the time haha! I am still human and I have my moments! Where I breakdown, cry and say I can’t do it anymore, or where I look in the mirror and see veins deepening & stretch marks forming and really don’t like the appearance of my body, where I feel gross and big and don’t want to be seen or I just hop in the shower and have a cry just because. (But that’s just what they are, moments... Moments in time where everything piles up and you just have to let it out – but luckily they don’t last too long haha!)
I may be one of those mamas that makes pregnancy look easy and to be honest I think (outside of the horrific first trimester) I have been lucky and pregnancy has mostly agreed with me, but it is far from easy and I can tell you it will be one of (if not the) hardest thing you will do in your life. The changes and tolls on your body, mind and emotions are insane but I wouldn’t change it for the world (and bebe isn’t even here yet so no doubt that will intensify tenfold, the hard and not changing it part haha #comingtogripswithbirthing). Just know it’s a blessing to grow life and that you always have people who will help you (even the IG mamas community is amazing if you don’t have friends & family) there is always another mama to talk to!
Baby Fels now gets the hiccups and we can feel it – actually super cute! Baby hiccups are a rhythmic little bubble pop (kind of like a heartbeat but slower) or just like our own hiccup rhythm and they generally last about 5 minutes. This is one of the movements I won’t get sick of as its subtle and soft (I know that its an amazing feeling to feel your baby move but once again not all the time, now baby is stronger f*** me some of them are painful and uncomfortable. Safe to say I don’t sit there in awe for those haha). But ultimately you still have a love/hate relationship with those painful jabs as baby movements are super important when you hit your third trimester as they are a way of monitoring if baby is ok in there! We have started kick counting and recording when movements happen throughout the day to see what our little ones pattern is so we can identify if anything changes :) Baby Fels is looking like he/she will be a night owl just like its parents (Oh joy) as baby is most active at 2:30am followed by 10pm and very early AM! We know we have a very active little one who moves every couple of hours but they just vary in strength when baby is more awake haha!
I am still loving bath time and now that I am at a stage in pregnancy where I am a lot more uncomfortable (honestly no wonder I can't believe how little room baby has in there from the last scan haha!) I have found that it’s a release to my back and sides because in the bath your weightless and I can also give myself tummy time (future pun haha) which I am actually starting to crave & miss! I have never been a tummy sleeper but by gosh I miss being able to lay on it when I want!
What I thought was Braxton hicks starting last week I have now confirmed is correct haha and it is my body prepping itself, these can be quite entertaining (also annoying). Depending where baby is and what position he/she is in at the time it can make my belly some pretty out there shapes or you can visibly see an alien like limb jolting out of my front or side! So weird and just confirms how little room there is and how close baby really is to you! Sometimes they also come at awkward times (in the middle of meetings or mid-sentence) and they catch my breath and people think I’m weird or that something is terribly wrong haha! Rest assured I am just practicing hahahahaha. That’s the thing about Braxton hicks they are random and irregular (which is a good thing at this stage as when you get regular contractions it’s the real deal eeeek!)
Me and Nic have just had our whooping cough vaccine booster which is recommended between 28-32 weeks as it’s a vaccine that helps protect baby (ultimately from you and whooping cough) when they are first born before they get their own vaccines. It’s quite a common thing that people don’t immunize for and it can result in death if little babes pick it up. Some of you will probably agree with this decision some not and that’s ok! I am pro-choice and feel as a parent it’s you right to research and make decisions on how you protect your little ones. For me I’m not pro or anti immunization I make a call based on what it’s for and how often its needed, risks etc. Pregnancy does change our view on this (well has mine anyway) for example I am not one who gets the flu jab each year, I personally feel that if the strand can change that frequently to immunize once a year then what’s to say there isn’t more than one strand out there and to me the risk of picking it up outweighs putting it in my body annually. BUT in saying this when your pregnant you are 6-8x more likely to get the flu (actually to get a lot of things as all your bodies protection goes to the womb before you) so to me it made sense to protect myself for the one winter I was carrying for, so that I did. Whooping cough we have both already had as a child so this is just a booster for protection so to me it’s an easy decision, I have also asked close family members who will be helping with baby a lot in the first few months to have their booster.
Anyway not a lot to report on this week from experiences or changes it was more of a week of thinking about our next steps and our plan of attack for the final few months before Baby Fels meets this world – Now on to the big 30 (I just can’t believe 30 weeks has come round so fast!).
-A x
Side notes this week:
- I had my last appointment with my midwife Brooke before she goes to Europe for a holiday, so I will have a backup for the next few appointments until Brooke is back and its really at the business end of this pregnancy haha! I got out all the questions I had and everything is healthy so it should be pretty seamless while she’s away (I also still have my remote midwife Amby to lean on haha!)
- I have been getting a super sore pelvis and shins if I am on my feet all day or for long periods of time but it’s a vicious circle cause if you’re sitting or lying too much then other parts of your body ache haha – Like come on wtf are you meant to do sit 30 mins, stand 30 minutes on off for your whole pregnancy life haha?
- When sleeping I get pins & needles and numbness from my hip down (whatever side I’m sleeping on) which is just from extra weight but also another thing that wakes me up every 1.5 hours to change over (and then as soon as I’m up I am wide awake and want to clean or watch TV or something – I don’t haha as then I’m more wired and awake I make myself go back to sleep or proceed to get really upset that I can't get back to sleep!)
- Oma & Opa Fels spoiled this mama-to-be and got me the Tiba & Marl backpack that matches my RAF bag for my birthday! So when baby Fels gets rolled out into the big wide world we will be all geared up. I love how they look super cool but are still super practical. I can’t wait to use them and pack them haha! We also had a divine family breke which was a pregnant women's heaven and safe to say I ate for two that day hehe!