How far along: Into Week 29 we go...
How big is baby? I'm not entirely sure what an Acorn Squash is, but I'll go small pumpkin-ish?
Image credit here
Sleep: The trimester of the pillow fortress has begun... pillows everywhere, and not a lot of rest.
Symptoms: The usual burn. Ribs and back. Peeing like a racehorse.
Best moment of this week: I turned 32 today, and realised that by my next birthday, I'll be a Mum to 2 beautiful little girls. Considering we thought our journey was over, it's mind-blowing. We also toured our new hospital to get more of an understanding of where things are, for when the time comes.
Miss anything: Being able to use the bathroom on the odd occasion, rather than every hour.
Movement: The kicks have gone back down to my crotch again - so I'm paranoid that she has flipped yet again.
Food cravings: Cookies. All the cookies.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Cleaning up 3y/o puke in the middle of the night... barf.
Gender: Girl!!
How's your mood? I'm doing okay. Sore and starting to count down, which is a bit surreal.
Looking forward to: Our next OB visit is on Tuesday, so hoping to see baby again! :)
The Bump: Not too different from last week!
I've been trying to keep a list of things that I'd like to eventually purchase for our newest wee one. They're things that I haven't used with Georgia & have had no experience with - so I'd love to hear any reviews, thoughts, or alternatives from fellow mamas. Things I've already sorted include: nursery furniture, pram/capsule, video monitor for new baby, bassinet, high chair.
What I'm thinking I need....
Large Play Mat
Our house has floorboards downstairs, so I need something downstairs to soften it up a little. Last time, we used a foam alphabet mat, but it came apart constantly & drove us nuts. I'm thinking something all in one?
Love to Dream - Summer Lite Swaddle
Little miss hated having her hands out, so preferred arms tucked down and in - but these swaddles seem to be nice & cool for a hot Australian summer, and are designed with proper hip guidelines in place. How sweet is the polka dot pattern?
I didn't rate our last bag, as it was fabric and didn't wear very well. I'm thinking of getting something easier to clean this time around.. but there are so many choices, I don't know where to start!
Ergo 360 Baby Carrier
I had to purchase an Ergo Sport last time, because the regular carriers didn't fit comfortably being plus sized and post pregnancy. Since then, they've released the 360 which I've heard is brilliant.
I had to purchase an Ergo Sport last time, because the regular carriers didn't fit comfortably being plus sized and post pregnancy. Since then, they've released the 360 which I've heard is brilliant.
I looooove towels with hoods. We are still using some of the ones we had from last time, but we need to do a big replacement shop - for Miss G AND for new baby.
What else am I missing? Help!
How far along: 28 weeks along and officially in the third trimester - yay!
How big is baby? Baby is the size of an eggplant this week... I'm assuming a combination of weight & length.
Image credit here
Sleep: Other than the constant peeing, I'm sleeping okay.
Symptoms: Back and rib pain continues. I think this baby is gonna bust out of me Alien-style when the time comes. I also had one incredibly random day of nausea and morning sickness - a first for this pregnancy.
Best moment of this week: Passing my long Glucose Tolerance Test. Having hubby put up the crib again and getting excited for someone to use it again. And of course, getting to see that gorgeous little profile. She reminds me so much of Georgia when she was that little.. what do you think?
Movement: She's ramped it up this week! Both Georgia AND Jason could feel her kicks, and they are now off to the side of my belly, rather than internal ones in my pelvis that only I could feel before.
Food cravings: I'm back to wanting pizza again!
Anything making you queasy or sick: My body is fighting yet another head cold. Worst immune system ever!
Gender: Girl!!
How's your mood? So, so excited that baby flipped head down and we got to see her sweet face. I hope that calm feeling stays for a little while longer! I'm really feeling good overall.
Looking forward to: Tackling the baby clothes I need to wash/sort, and playing around in the nursery.
The Bump: BUMMMMMP.
Today was a GREAT day!
First up, I passed my Glucose Test, and my OB is really pleased. Baby is growing perfectly, measures 2 days ahead, estimated weight is 1.1kg already and has a nice strong heartbeat...
... AND SHE HAS FLIPPED HEAD DOWN!
I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. She's looking wonderful. And so beautiful. I know I'm biased, but look:
Another perk to being head down - actually getting to see her sweet face.
I know things can change at any second, and she may even flip back to breech or transverse, but right now, I am so over the moon. Bring on the third trimester.. I want to meet this girl.
How far along: Here we are, entering into week 27 now.
How big is baby? Ah, the elusive rutabaga.... wait, what IS that again? :)
Image credit here
Sleep: Have had a few super late nights lately, so desperately craving some good nights... wishful thinking?
Symptoms: Itchy belly, sore ribs, sore back. The usual!
Best moment of this week: Bedtime wiggles from this little lady. She likes to hear me read stories to Georgia at bedtime... and also the Backstreet Boys station on Pandora.
Miss anything: Not yet; but if my GTT results are in tomorrow and go the way I think they will, I'll be missing sugar and carbs for a while!
Movement: Nights are still the best time to feel her move. All still low - so likely still hanging out in breech position.
Food cravings: Not quite sure what I feel like, to be honest. I'm living on cups of tea right now.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing food related... but quite a few things lately.
Gender: Girl!!
How's your mood? I just want October to be here already! We need some good news, and I so so desperately need more newborn snuggles in my life.
Looking forward to: An OB appointment on Tuesday. I really want to see the baby again!
The Bump: Feeling lumpier and bumpier this week.
How far along: 26 weeks now.
How big is baby? As big as a head of lettuce... feels a lot heavier than that. #justsaying
Image credit here
Sleep: Not great, actually. But that's ok... I'm getting used to it & it'll help me be prepared for when baby is here.
Symptoms: The burning rib and back pain continues. My skin has broken out again too, yargh!
Best moment of this week: We picked up a second hand video monitor, and I had a bit more time to spend trying to arrange baby girl's new nursery. Still a long way to go, but I'm getting there.
Miss anything: Not really.
Movement: Mostly nights though occasionally I get some jabs in the daytime. She moves a lot while I'm doing my Spinning Babies exercises - just not in the right direction!
Food cravings: I still feel like pizza. So weird. Might need to make a homemade one this week.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Inversions and pelvic tilts are not fun, and I need to make sure I am doing them on an empty stomach, that's for sure. Willing to do everything I can to turn this kid!
Gender: Girl!!
How's your mood? I'm frustrated! I know that I sound like a broken record about baby being breech, but seriously.. I would be really gutted to have all my choice taken away from me when it comes to birth. After fighting so hard to get here & the high likelihood that this is our last baby, it's just hard - but then I feel awful for worrying, because our daughter actually getting here is so much more important in the long run. The mama guilt has started early with #2.
Looking forward to: Another week... I am just wanting this little baby to keep growing safely.
The Bump: Still in the weird, same-ish size, stage. I remember this from last time too.
A few days ago, I was driving to pick up Georgia from daycare. I was all of five minutes away from her Preschool, when another car rear-ended me on a main road. Talk about the shock of my life. The other driver was at fault; young driver, not looking, didn't even see the cars ahead of him had stopped before he slammed into me.. but the damage was already done.
Thankfully the car is still driveable and doesn't look too bad (thank goodness we upgraded from our tiny compact hatch to an SUV a few months ago!) - and even more importantly, it was only ME in the car - but I went on my way, very shaken and shocked, picked up my daughter, and headed home.
After the shock wore off, I started cramping. They were really uncomfortable cramps, and then started being accompanied by tightenings, which worried me enough to call the hospital and see whether it was worth coming in. My OB is actually away on holidays, so they asked me to come to the birth unit to check on baby - better being safe than sorry.
I spent a few hours in there, monitoring the tightenings and checking on baby - she started off with quite a high heart rate (as did I!) but as time went on, she relaxed and things went back to normal. They gave me some endone for the pain, and did a Kleihauer-Betke (KB) blood test to ensure that no internal bleeding from baby to mama had taken place, as this can be an indication of future pre-term labor beginning. We found out later that this test was negative, which was a big relief.
The final verdict was that the pain was actually resulting from pulled ligaments in my uterus from where the seatbelt had jarred against my lower belly, and that I could go home with painkillers and under instruction to go back in immediately if any contraction-like pains ramped up again. I also had to see the on-call OB in a few days time to just follow up.
Fast forward to today, and I'm feeling a lot better. Still very sore and stiff, but no scary pains. The lady OB did a quick scan (really old machine, no pictures) and the first thing she commented on was her legs by her head - yep, you guessed it, still frank breech and wiggling her tush around like a pork chop. Heart rate was 161bpm and she was moving away, even though I'm still only feeling a fraction of what's going on in there. Placenta still looks attached well and nothing too scary - so I'm just supposed to take it easy and do no heavy lifting (sorry, Georgia) until the ligaments ease up.
So glad it wasn't any worse, and really relieved that baby girl is still carrying on being a fighter in there!
How far along: Into Week 25 - yay!
How big is baby? This week, the baby is as big as a bunch of cauliflower.
Image credit here
Sleep: Uncomfortable. :( I can't sleep on my belly anymore, and I am not a natural side sleeper, so I'm tossing and turning.
Symptoms: I'm having a lot of burning rib pain this week. I've read that it can be because of baby sitting breech and her head putting pressure upwards, and it makes sense.. but man, it really hurts.
Best moment of this week: Baby was healthy at the ultrasound, even if she is still breech.
Miss anything: BELLY SLEEPING. Also, I miss taking a head-down baby for granted.
Movement: Still either on or off. Some days she wiggles around a bit, some days not a great deal.
Food cravings: I'm feeling like a pizza. #random
Anything making you queasy or sick: This constant rib pain, it's the worst.
Gender: Girl!!
How's your mood? Fairly anxious again, but we have a bit going on at the moment. I want the baby to flip. I want to ease this rib/back pain, so I'm researching chiropractors to see if they can help.
Looking forward to: Ticking off another week.
The Bump: Feeling similar to last week, really.
The one thing that I regretted when it came to baby purchases the first time around, was our choice of pram. We were on a tight budget after the IVF and we couldn't justify the crazy prices of the more expensive options - so we went with a basic pram that was light and easy to fold and store. That was fine... except for a few things we didn't realise at the time.
- The pram we bought was actually not ideal for newborns, as it didn't recline flat and wasn't supportive enough for wee ones on its own. The pram would have been compatible with an infant seat, only we were planning on getting a regular convertible car seat and so the sales lady didn't bother explaining that to us. Needless to say, as a baby, Georgia HATED the pram, and I ended up hating taking her out in it.
- It only faced outwards. As I mentioned just now, I had a pretty miserable baby in the pram those first few months, so I was constantly having to stop, walk around & check in on her when she was upset - I really, really needed the option to have her parent face. It got so bad that I ended up purchasing a clunky old cheap pram second hand that DID flip around, just so I could see my poor kid while we were out and about.
- The basket was useless and hard to get to, and because it was so lightweight, I could hardly hang my nappy bag on the pram without it feeling unstable and not particularly supportive.
Keeping that pram was NOT an option, so we ended up selling it and going back to square one this time around. To be honest, I was dreading shopping for a new pram, because once again we were on a limited budget - and this time, I knew what I wanted, and I knew it wouldn't come particularly cheap. I made a spreadsheet of the prams that were in budget, just out of budget, and impossible to afford, and I researched pros and cons to them all. Even with all that research, I still walked out of the first baby store we went into and cried, because it all felt hopeless. We'd either be paying a small fortune, or we'd be settling for another pram that wouldn't do what I needed it to do.
Luckily, we decided to go into a different store & found another option - the Steelcraft Strider. I knew of this pram, as my brother/SIL had used it with my nephew, but I had assumed it would be totally out of our budget. This store had an ex-display model marked down, which we were considering.. except it had some fairly decent marks on the hood and looked a little battered. I had seen a better price on the pram at a different store, so hubby asked if they would price match on a new one, and they did... with a further 10% bonus! That brought it down to our maximum budget, but it was do-able.
It has a nice sturdy frame that's easy to fold. It steers like a dream; G was pushing it around the store. It comes with a seat that can just lift out and be either forward or parent facing. It's part of a travel system, and can be used with a bassinet or an infant capsule. And it has a beautiful big basket that's easy to access. Tick, tick, tick. We purchased it that day!
I've also been on the hunt for a capsule to fit it, as being baby #2, we decided to use an infant carrier this time around. I can't imagine wrangling a 3.5 year old and carrying a newborn everywhere, so it seemed like the way to go. Fast forward to last week when I bought one for a great price, and we now officially have our pram/car seat sorted for the first little while. This is the pram frame with the infant seat attached - the actual grey toddler seat is still upstairs in the box.
It's no Bugaboo or iCandy or Silver Cross, but it's perfect for what we need it for. Miss G likes it too!
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