Monday 2 March 2015

PREGNANCY: Week 34 Update


Tom surprised me with a long weekend break for my birthday last weekend, which was just perfect. We tend to take each other away for our birthdays but as mine is in March and I'd be 36 weeks pregnant, Tom decided to take me away a little bit earlier than usual. It came at the perfect time, we both needed a break from working on our house every weekend and it's important that we spend quality time together before our baby arrives. Later on in the weekend we were joined by a group of university friends, which was a complete surprise! It was lovely to catch up and for them to see my bump before it turns into a baby. 

Pregnancy wise this week has bought badly swollen feet, ankles and hands. It's something that has suddenly come on this week, so I'm monitoring it, as it can be a sign of pre-eclampsia.  The swelling has made wearing shoes extremely difficult, I'm almost sure I'll have to crack out the flip flops before the end of this pregnancy! The skin is consequently so much tighter in those areas, which can be uncomfortable. I've been trying to raise my feet above my heart level, but not being able to lie on my back has made that harder.

Baby has also decided that my bladder is a dance floor this week, which is pretty late in to pregnancy so I'm counting myself lucky! I can literally feel her kick my bladder, resulting in me needing to do some pretty effective pelvic floor excercises.  Despite this, I haven't needed to go to the toilet during the night yet (since moving house and not having an en-suite, I think I've scared my body into not wanting to leave our bedroom at night!) 

Stretch marks have started to make an appearance this week, only a couple, just on either side of the bump. I still don't have any on the actual bump itself, which I'm seriously surprised about.

I had my 34 week midwife appointment this week. Quick low down - blood pressure is fine, bump is measuring bang on what it should at 34cm, baby is now head down and curved around my left hand side and I've been told to write my birth plan ready for my 36 week appointment. Gulp. I know a lot of what's going to go on my birth plan but writing it down makes the whole 'giving birth' thing a lot more real!! 


I've mentioned in a couple of my past weekly updates that we attended an NCT antenatal course back in January. It was invaluable for many reasons - we learnt so much but we also met some truely lovely people too. This week saw a Whatsapp group set up by the women of the group (the men finally set up a group later in the week too), so that we can chat easily and frequently. Having that support network of other pregnant ladies has been (and will continue to be) invaluable for us all. We have each other to ask for advice, share milestones, share good and bad news, share the exciting news of babies being born and just to chat in the middle of the night makes you feel  like you're not alone. I can't recommend setting up that network of people, in the same situation as yourself, enough. It wouldn't have to be through NCT courses, there are free NHS ones or Twitter is great for chatting to other pregnant/new Mummy bloggers. 

This week I'm definitely starting to look forward to getting our baby out - she's just SO big and heavy now! Every time she turns I can feel it so strongly, which is both magical and slightly painful. I think I'll miss being pregnant, and having a bump, so I'm trying not to wish the time away too much. 

How has your week been?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x
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1 comment

  1. I've been trying to figure that out, too - how do you raise your feet that high when you can't lie on your back and you're not supposed to slouch on the sofa?! Makes no sense to me!

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