Pregnancy Diary: Week 20 & 21

12/7/13

20 & 21 Weeks Pregnant. 

I'm writing this a little later than expected! I decided to do another double post again as 20 & 21 weeks were very similar. I need to keep on top of these posts. At the minute it has been hectic at work, home and had lots of commitments so the blog had been put on the back burner. But I am here to make up for the lost time! 

I've felt absolutely fantastic the past week or so. My energy levels are slowly going back to normal, I feel great on a whole, I've been in a great mood. I can't really complain! Well there is always something to complain about, my feet! As it has been so hot my feet and ankles have really suffered. The heat, standing up for long hours at work and pregnancy don't mix well. But at the end of the day they are only swollen feet and after a lounge around they go back to normal. What's a pair of swollen feet when you are carrying a little bundle of joy inside you, eh? 

Anyway onto the fun part! We had our long anticipated 20 week scan on the 28th of June! I literally could not wait to see our little fella again. I didn't feel nervous until we were in the waiting room at the hospital. So at the 20 week scan it is basically to make sure everything is okay with the baby. Firstly the midwife did all the checks that she needed reporting them back to the other nurse who added all the data into the computer. She measured everything from his thigh bones, to counting his little toes to even checking if he was still a boy. Which he is! Thankfully! Everything looked fine with the baby and all the while I was just in awe staring at the screen. I couldn't believe how much he had grown since the 16 week scan and I was just amazed by him. I can't believe how much I love him already. Later on Nick told me that he was worried that the sonographer was going to say something wasn't normal but honestly I was that mesmerised by our son I didn't even think that way. It was a great relief to know that everything they could check was fine and on track. True to nature he was being naughty again. She really struggled to get a good scan photo of him and kept having to shake him around to make him budge. He really is camera shy when it comes to these ladies! 

Here is our scan photo:

I think he looks like his Dad already, just from his little profile! A Nick Jnr! 

On each of our scans too he has been sleeping or lying with his hand beneath his head. That is how I sleep at night. I wonder if that is a habit he will have when he is here?

Another milestone on the 20th week as I began feeling proper kicks for the first time too! Not little butterflies but what I call pokes. The first time it happened it had me thinking was that a kick? But every day they gradually got stronger and stronger. On the 21st week they became even stronger. He also has a schedule for his active time. I call it his afternoon aerobics class and nightly yoga session. He is always most active after I have had a big meal or when I am resting. I am adoring the kicks. Enjoying them while they are nice and gentle and not uncomfortable.

I don't feel like my bump is getting much bigger but maybe cause I obsess with watching it grow everyday that I don't seem to be noticing as much. What do you think? I think it still looks rather big. The photo was taken at 21 weeks.

I'm extremely happy at the minute and really at ease. So overwhelmed with love for our little boy and so excited for our future. More than half way there now!  

Pregnancy Diary: Week 17

12/06/13

17 Weeks Pregnant.

I really struggled this week symptom wise. I was having dizzy, faint spells all week. I didn't feel like myself and felt utterly exhausted. I think it was a combination of it being a really hot week, work was very busy, I had been rushing around wearing myself down, taking on too much and had done a lot of days in a row. I think it took its toll on me. I ended up in tears as I was scared about the safety of our son while I was at work. I kept thinking to myself, if I faint while I am going down these stairs. It frightened me so much that I could be putting our son in danger. Protective mother alert! Already! I ended up going to see my GP and she actually signed me off work for a week and told me to take it easy. I had already booked the week off as holiday but either way I totally relaxed and took it easy all week. 

To me my bump still looks the same size but the shape seems to be filling out a lot more. It is starting to resemble a real bump rather than just a podgy belly. My stomach has also gone really hairy. Attractive I know. Thankfully they aren't dark hairs and they are blonde and it looks more like peach fuzz ha ha. 

Now we know that we are expecting a boy I went a little bit more baby clothes crazy this week. I have already bought a ton of unisex but now I knew I could buy for a boy I had a whole new excuse to spend more! I didn't hold back on buying a few cute outfits. I even bought some in 6-9 months for next Summer! 

Here are the some of the first proper boy babygrows I bought. We got them straight after our scan! I want our little lad to be animal mad as both his Mum and Dad are huge animal lovers. We got them from TK Maxx.

 Here is an adorable outfit I bought from Boots! I think in total it was around £35. It's all excellent quality and I think worth the price. Our little boy is going to be such a cool dude!

Not long now until that 20 week scan. We can't wait to see our little buddy again! 

Pregnancy Diary: Week 16

3/6/13

16 Weeks Pregnant. 

I'm still feeling a lot of the same. Fine apart from feeling exhausted all the time. Baby bump is still growing nicely but not half as fast as in those first couple of weeks. I think everything is evening out a little more now and I look a bit more in proportion. My cravings are now milk and cheese and I'm still not fond of meat. 

Well let's get to the good part! As you may know (if you read my pregnancy diary) we paid for a private gender scan via baby bond and we finally got our answer this weekend! No more speculating and guessing, we now know for a fact!!

On Sunday the 2nd of June we drove down to Preston for our long anticipated gender scan. All the way there we were guessing and getting so excited. I was also really nervous. I really really wanted to know what gender but once you know there is no more guessing and that part of the pregnancy ends which is sad. Bit strange to think like that cause I still really really wanted to know. We got there in good time which was good as the clinic was nearly impossible to find. Even with a sat nav, even with google. We googled the clinics number and it wouldn't ring. We googled the clinics address and it said it was closed on a Sunday! It was panic stations! So we were dashing around on foot trying to find this clinic all on a full bladder. 

We eventually found the building and was sent straight up to our appointment. I filled out a few details and we went straight into the ultrasound! No messing around and it was very straight forward. I led on the bed and my heart was pounding in my chest! Nick was sat next to me looking as equally nervous. In a matter of seconds our little baby was up on the screen. It is such an indescribable feeling when you see your baby up there, your heart just swells with love. The ultrasound technician was a lovely woman and was so much more helpful that the NHS technician I had a couple of weeks back. She told us that she likes to have a good look a few times before she announces the sex so she can be as accurate as she can. She was having a good look at baby and straight away you could see what was there! Nick looked at me with the biggest grin on his face and the technician told us to guess as it was pretty obvious! Nick said, "It's a boy!!" And he is indeed! There was no mistaking that he is a boy! She went on to tell us that little baby boy was sleeping. We could see his little mouth suckling and heart beating. It was incredible. She also told us everything looked fantastic, which always makes you feel better! 

We are both so happy and in our element. We obviously didn't mind either way if we were team blue or pink but to finally know and to be able to picture your future family with a bit more clarity was amazing! We then drove back home to tell all our family the good news and everyone is so so happy! 

Pregnancy Diary: Week 15

24/5/13

15 Weeks Pregnant.

15! Not long until we are half way through! My symptoms have taken a few step backwards this week. I started to feel sick again and became picky with my foods. For the first 13 weeks I was obsessed with fruit and fresh fruit juice and could not get enough but now I seem to be addicted to milk and cheese. Funny how your cravings change so frequently. Before I was pregnant I loved Indian food but now I am all about Chinese which I never really bothered with before. Very odd! I've always been a fruit lover and still can't get enough fruit, I must be having at least 8 portions of fruit a day. 

Bump seems even bigger this week! Believe it or not! No sign of the growth slowing down. I am going to be gigantic come 30 weeks. Nick will have to push me around in a wheel barrow to get me to and fro! Baby is now the size of an orange and is 2.5oz!  

On the next post I will hopefully be announcing the gender of our baby! As in only a weeks time we will be having our highly anticipated 16 week gender scan! I am so glad that we paid that little amount of money to find out the gender a whole month earlier. It is also a lot more accurate so I will feel more confident with this scan than a typical NHS scan. Then 4 weeks later we have the 20 week scan to look forward to! Lots of exciting times ahead! 

Pregnancy Diary: Week 14

18/5/13

14 Weeks Pregnant.

Not much has changed from my last weekly post. I am still feeling great and have hardly any pregnancy symptoms which is great! No nausea, still no morning sickness and my appetite is normal. I am still exhausted all the time but that is to be expected. I am still waiting for the burst of energy you are supposed to get in second trimester to come and save the day! 

My bump is growing well and is rather large for what stage I am. It's so comforting to rub my belly and think of my little baby growing in there. It's so humbling and I can't get enough of my bump! Although it frightens me how big my belly may end up if it is so large already!

Our baby is now the size of a lemon, little lemon baby. We are both still counting down the days until the private gender scan. We can't wait until we find out what we are having. We can then start visualising our future as a family with either a baby girl in the picture or a baby boy! I used to think boy, boy, boy all throughout the first trimester but now I am starting to think pink! It could be a baby girl, only time will tell. So very exciting! 

See you next week! 

Pregnancy Diary: Week 13

15/5/13

13 Weeks Pregnant

13 week and I'm feeling great. Definitely had the best week so far. My nausea has totally gone and I can pretty much eat anything again. Whoop! I still feel exhausted but not as bad as I was feeling in the first trimester. I am still waiting for the energy boost and nesting phase to hit! 

Bump is coming a long nicely and seems a bit more in proportion now! It's starting to resemble a proper little bump rather than a little pot belly. My belly button has totally vanished now which is very peculiar considering I have always had an outie. No one can believe how big my bump is and are always asking if I am expecting twins. Just the one in there believe it or not. It does look rather large for 13 weeks! 

Nick and I had both been contemplating paying for a private gender scan via baby bond. We weren't sure at first and thought we should just wait for the 20 week scan and save the £79.  But if we did wait it out until the 20 week NHS scan there is no guarantee that they will be able to tell us the sex and it can be very inaccurate. So I wrote down all the pro's for paying for the private 16 week gender scan; we can find out the gender a whole month sooner, we can start planning everything better once we know, we get to see the baby again, means we have two more scans to look forward to rather than just the one, we can make sure everything is okay, we get some more scan pictures, it is 98% accurate, if they can't determine the gender on the day you can go back! The pro's are endless. The only con's where that it is £79! Which I think is worth it. 

So in just over two weeks time we will know if we are having a baby boy or baby girl. I am so excited! I did have a gut feeling that we are expecting a boy but lately I have been a bit more unsure! It is going to be a pleasant surprise either way as we would be happy with either! At the minute we love the names Noah and Sophia but we still have another 6 whole months to decide! Exciting times! 

Pregnancy Diary: Week 12

8/5/13

12 Weeks Pregnant. 

I am writing this at 12 and a half weeks pregnant. My bump has slowed down on the growing, which I am glad about as I seemed to be huge at 10 weeks. It is a bit more rounded now and it looks like a little pot belly! I feel fantastic at the minute. Most of my nausea has gone, I have my appetite back and I feel like me again! I am still really tired but I don't mind that as I love my sleep. I have to make the most of my sleep now while I can. 

Now onto the exciting part! On the 7th I had my very first scan and what an incredible experience that was! Firstly the midwife who booked our scan made a mistake and booked us into a different hospital 20 minutes away. So we were getting ready in the morning to go to our scan and Nick decided to give them a call to confirm our appointment as we didn't even recieve a reminder letter in the mail. I am so glad he did because that was only when we found out our scan was at another hospital! If he hadn't of checked we would of gone to where we were supposed to have the scan only to of been turned down. I would of been gutted.

So we drove over to the other hospital. I was sipping away at water filling up my bladder for the scan. I can't normally hold a cup of water nevermind a litre so I knew I would struggle! We got to the hospital. After a 20 minute wait I just had to go to the toilet! I couldn't hold it any longer. I then had to down a bottle of water when I came out and of course that was when we were called into our scan! When my bladder was pretty much empty ha ha.

We followed the sonographer into this little dark room and I led down on the bed, not sure what to expect. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was so excited but so nervous. I just wanted everything to be okay. When the baby appeared on screen at first all I saw was the top of the head and for a split second I thought something was wrong! But then little baby appeared on screen and my heart melted. I just stared at the screen with tears in my eyes. I didn't say a word and was just mesmerised by this little life that Nick and I have created. Nick kept looking back at me and was saying something but I can't even remember what he said because I was so speechless and enthralled. It was an indescribable feeling. 

The baby was a little monkey and would not keep still constantly jumping and rolling over. We saw baby's face, the little arms waving around, the little legs kicking! Baby would roll over and show off his/her little bum and then roll over to face us but really didn't want to lie flat on his/her back. The sonographer struggled to get a picture of the baby and wasn't able to do the NT scan which we opted for. I actually had two scans because I had to go out drink a bit more water, have a sit down and then go back in hope that the baby may go into position but he/she really didn't want to play ball! 

Here is our picture! Which I seem to stare at constantly! We had such a giggle when we saw it because both of us are really tall everyone jokes that our baby is going to have long legs! On the scan picture the main thing you can see is a long pair of legs!

You can see baby facing slightly away at an angle. See the little spine, those long legs! The black patch across the face to me looks like an arm against babies head. It looks extremely cosy in there! The baby even has a foot rest! Everything went great which was such a relief and we cannot wait until the next scan. 

Seeing our baby on that screen was one of those amazing experiences of my life and one I will never ever forget.