I really cannot believe that I'm already writing my 31 week update, time is seriously flying by! A good thing on one hand - we'll get to meet our daughter sooner - but not sure a great thing on the other hand - the house needs major work still and we have a lot more to buy in readiness. Either way time is moving along and we have been trying to crack on with house and baby jobs this week. We spent a long day putting up boarding in the kitchen, floorboards in the bathroom and filling in the various cracks around the house. I say we, I was more on catering duty - I sorted out lunch, cups of tea, tidied up and provided a good natter - my bump is too big to be doing major DIY work now!
Pregnancy wise it's been a good week, my bump is most definitely still growing and may have even dropped slightly further. I find it so hard to tell. I'm struggling with things to wear now because a lot of my tops are now too short, something I wasn't anticipating! So there's a warning for anyone who's pregnant - buy long tops and loads of them.
This week I've been having a bloody nose a lot, not a nose bleed, just when I blow my nose blood comes out. It's not causing any real issue but just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else has/had this during their pregnancy.
I finally got around to buying a yoga ball this week, as they are meant to be more comfortable for sitting on because your hips sit higher than your knees. My back has been hurting again this week, I can never tell if it's baby in an awkward position or its my back that's hurting. Either way it's uncomfortable. So sitting on the yoga ball has been helping in the evenings, that is when I can get Tom off it!
One of the most exciting developments came at the end of week 30 and has continued throughout week 31 - feeling actual body parts poking out of my tummy! When it first happened I was a bit freaked out, the little human being in me is now strong enough to push on my skin. Incredible. But it's happened loads this week and it's just so fascinating, I just wish I knew which parts of her I was feeling! The under the rib movements have been increasing too, I can feel her really moving around rather than just kicking like earlier in the pregnancy. I can't imagine there's all that much room left in my womb for her to wriggle, so I'm expecting her wriggling to start slowing down as she has less space to move.
I only have 5 weeks left until I start maternity leave, which fills me with mixed emotions. On the one hand I'm looking forward to completely focusing on getting ready for our baby but at the same time it makes it all seem very real and I'll miss my job. Every Mum I've spoken to has said that you think you'll miss your job but in reality you're so preoccupied by this amazing human being you've created that you don't have time, energy or head space to even think about work! I am really looking forward to maternity leave starting though, I have big plans for the weeks before my due date. A pregnancy massage being pretty near the top!
I had a midwife appointment this week, which went ok. My blood pressure is ok but there were missing blood results for the third time, so the midwife had to take more blood. Luckily I don't mind having it taken but the system isn't very good - the blood samples always seem to be lost in transit! She felt my bump and said that our baby was back to back and breech, which isn't ideal but there is still time for her to move around. My bump is measuring one week ahead, so nothing to worry about.
In the middle of the week I had the worst leg cramp I have ever experienced - it had me in tears! I woke up with this feeling like my calf muscles in both legs were being torn apart. Luckily Tom knew what to do, he massaged the muscle and put my foot straight, which helped it go away. I was, however, left with a very tight feeling in my leg muscles for the rat of the morning. I'm really hoping if was a one off!
We had our last NCT meeting as part of the course, which was sad and scary as we are now all 'equipped' with the knowledge for giving birth to our babies. The course has been invaluable, I can't recommend it highly enough, we have learnt so much and it's given us the understanding in order to make informed decisions. Everyone we met on the course has been so lovely and I can't wait for our reunion after all of the babies have been born. We've pencilled in a date in June, so I should have a good month and a half to settle into having a newborn baby before meeting up with everyone.
At the end of this week we had booked in for a 4D scan, only just fitting it in before the 32 week cut off point. I was so excited to see our daughter again and see her moving around, I could honestly watch her all day everyday if I could! We opted for a package with a DVD of the ultrasound, as we really wanted it as a memory of this incredible time and to show our daughter one day. It's so special that you can not only see your baby before they're born but also see their features. I truly love her so much already. The scan estimated how much she weigh's, which is around 4lb 10oz already - I was impressed it was that much!
How has your week been?
Feel free to leave me a comment :)
Helen x
