33 weeks - pregnancy stuff, nappy stuff, kid stuff

So, 33 weeks and counting here! I'm getting SO big now, and achy. Waddling already, rolling off the sofa like a beached whale, that kind of thing. I'm enjoying having a big ol' pregnant tummy, but boy I forgot how exhausting it is! And I think sometimes that I have SEVEN more weeks to go. SEVEN! Which is an age away, and when people dare to say it's not that long, they face the pregnant woman's wrath ;) Seven weeks more growing, bigger belly, possibly swelling to come. But for now, it's manageable.

Heartburn comes and goes in waves - some days/weeks it's awful then it goes away for a while. I had a couple of nights last week which were awful, one night I couldn't sleep til I took some gaviscon (which I will avoid taking like the plague!). The next night it seemed to feel as bad so I took some before I went to bed, which was a much smarter thing to do.

Baby boy is now squirming and pushing arms and legs around in there rather than fierce kicks. Goes to show how big he is getting and that he's already running out of room. He definitely has his more active moments, which can leave me feeling rather breathless and sore!

The midwives appointments I've had this pregnancy are going well - my body seems to cope very well with it, I've never had a high blood pressure reading, nor anything show up in my wee. Baby is growing well too and was measuring 34cm on my visit last week at 32w6d.

I have my homebirth assessment visit early next month when I'll be 36 weeks. Seems crazy that I'm so close to the end already. I mentioned to my dad that I'm having another homebirth, and well, he didn't say much but what he did say made it clear he wasn't sure I was doing the right thing by that (but tried to sound supportive in saying that it was my choice lol). But I'm convinced it will be fine, after all, I have the experience of two births behind me, and taken things from each one.

Jonathan and I are busy preparing for the visit, as well as getting all the bits in the house ready that we want to be sorted before the baby arrives. It's a LONG list but we managed to sort out the boys' room (I say we, it was mostly Jonathan), with the boys' new beds, and moved the cot back into our room. We still have a lot more tidying to do, and cleaning too but our hoover's fan belt has broken so we can't vacuum anything now until that gets replaced. Next on the agenda is the stairs, hallway and our bedroom, as we are getting our new bed delivered at the end of the month. Then will be the old study getting sorted, and things being brought down to the new study. And the lounge as well. The boys bedroom looks great now - so much more roomy despite the two beds in there being bigger than the two beds that were there previously! Robert has a single bed now, and Christopher has Robert's old cotbed that's seen him through from birth until almost 4 and a half.

Christopher's speech has suddenly come on loads in the last few weeks. His vocabulary (though still unrecognisable to a lot of people) has exploded, and he is now joining several words together a lot of the time. He is still enjoying his jigsaw puzzles, although he is doing them by choice less often, and most surprisingly to me, he is learning letter sounds!! I know that second children pick stuff up from older siblings, but for goodness sake, he's 2 and a half and he knows the sounds for g, c, e, o, s, l, z, p, k, and less reliably for a, d, t, f, i, r. I bought the boys some foam letters for the bath today, so they played with them in the bath. Robert is coming on so well with reading and knowing how to spell simple words. I need to focus on him actually physically writing the words down too, but with pre-made letter shapes he will spell out all kinds of words, and even had a go at spelling elephant - it came out "elft" but I was still so proud! I also began to teach him about the magic e - by putting down words like "kit" and "win" and then adding an e and telling him they change the sound of the i, and did a few more words for him to practice on, all with i tonight. I know he's not specifically going to be learning how to read until he starts reception, but I figure that as he's enthusiastic, it can't hurt to give him a head start! He already knows that oo make the ooooooh sound, and ee make the sound of the letter E, so he can read words like "poo" and "sleep". He even spelt out "peas" by himself, writing "peez" :)

It's lovely to see both of the boys new achievements, and how also they feed into each other. Christopher is suddenly much more affectionate these days, and often catches sight of me and says "mummy uck!" (mummy hug) and comes and gives me a cuddle. It also makes my day when I hear him say "Booboo uck!" because that's his way of saying "Robert hug" - Booboo is his name for Robert!! So sweet! Robert to himself used to be "Ubberd". Christopher has yet to refer to himself by name though :) Christopher's new favourite phases/words though - by FAR - unfortunately, are "no WAY!" and "YUCK!" which we hear several times a day. I try to encourage "No thank you" rather than "No WAY!" but I often can't stop myself laughing! Ooops.

On other news, I have bought some cloth nappies!! Well, ordered them anyway. I have a few already I bought cheaply from someone on facebook, hardly used, and some from freegle which well.. I'm assuming have seen better days. I'm not sure if I can get those worthy for use, we'll see. But I've bought 12 minky pocket nappies, 9 with poppers and 3 with velcro, that go from birth to potty. So exciting!! I can't wait to get them, it also means I can have a go with Christopher!! :) I've ordered some extra inserts to go with them too, to bring my order total above £60 as my local government give £25 cashback on cloth nappy purchases over £60. So a little over £35 for 12 pocket nappy wraps, and 44 insert pads isn't bad at all! :) And they're so perdy!!! Oooh I can't wait to share photos!!

Anyway I'll leave this here for now, I've rambled on enough and it's getting late. :)

Cloth nappies

So, when I was pregnant with Robert, I entertained the idea of using cloth nappies. I liked the idea of the financial and economical benefits to using them, but felt so overwhelmed in the end by the idea of them. But... This time I have decided to bite the bullet and go for it. My sister in law has given me two tot bots nappies and a waterproof wrap. I have also bought some second hand nappies from a Facebook friend. £15 including postage for 6 mother care wraps with lots of washable insert pads, and 2 bambino Mia wraps with 11 insert pads. Plus a load of flushable liners, some washing powder etc. Anyway these have given me some idea of how to use them, so I'm feeling less daunted by the process! I have a feeling that we'll need to get to know how much padding to put in but I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake. :)

35 weeks 4 days - One month to go!

Ok. I now officially have ONE month left (give or take a couple of weeks) of carrying this child. And with it is coming an attitude change. I'm fed up of being fed up of all the little pregnancy niggles. So I am going to ENJOY this last month of carrying my son. If my feet start to hurt, I'm going to lay down with a good book and enjoy it, or lay down and watch some tv or dvd series, and enjoy it. If I have heartburn, I am going to take some gaviscon and then do something else so I forget about it. I am going to relish the moments I feel my son wriggling inside me and poking his feet and elbows and hands around. If he punches my bladder several times in a row, I won't complain, I will cherish his movements as it means he is getting stronger and healthier ready for his arrival into the next phase of his life.

Aside from that, we are going to be preparing like mad for Robert's arrival. I have a big list of everything we'll need for the baby and for me. I've marked off what we have, deleted what we won't want (blackout curtains or shutters for example, we will try our best to do without them - and also make-up for if I need to go into hospital! haha, I remember the exact day I last wore make-up... 7th May 2005 - my wedding day), and left uneditted what we don't have yet. There's still a big list, mainly toiletry type things, but also a comfy chair for night feeds - although we do have some chairs in the spare room from when we didn't have proper sofas. We have practically all the clothes it reckons we'll need for a newborn... our 0-3 month and 3-6 month and so on supply is a little less, but I guess there's always time. I will have to browse ebay a lot and see if people are selling stacks of boy clothes cheaply. I saw a couple of ads in a newspaper this last weekend gone, but looked at the date on the newspaper and it said June, so they've probably already gone.

Something I think J and I have decided is that maybe we do need the convenience of disposable nappies compared to the cheapness/cuteness/environmentally friendliness of cloth nappies. It's always something we can go onto at a later stage once we're used to parenthood.

Anyway, we've put a load of dates down in our calendar to attend some drop-in classes at the local hospital. The first one is tonight, and it's on water births. We're also going to the early parentcraft evening, breastfeeding workshop, and errr... something else I forget what.

I was thinking earlier, most of the couples at the hypnobirthing classes have probably already had their babies. I was the woman least far along, although there was another couple there only a few weeks ahead. Most were between 28-34 weeks when the classes started, whereas I was at just under 24 weeks. I do wonder how their births went. When I email Jenny (the practitioner) to let her know how my birth goes (went?), I'll ask after the others too.

Anyway I'll sign off for now, I'm feeling much more refreshed after a decent night's sleep. I did start to feel like my left leg was going to start hurting again but I just blocked it out and went to sleep. I got up several times for the toilet as usual, and on one of them my heartburn was quite bad so I went and took a small spoonful of gaviscon and then went back to bed.

My right leg seems to be fairly good now - swelling wise. Last night it was about the same size as it was when I got up. But my left foot/ankle was quite swollen. I have a followup appointment with a nurse to check BP and urine again today so we'll see what happens. I'll try and leave early, so I can sit in the waiting room for a while. Maybe practise some breathing exercises to relax myself.

Anyway, tata for now! xx

11 weeks 3 days - changing body, lovely weather in the UK!

My goodness! What has HAPPENED to England?? It's suddenly turned into a gorgeous summer! Yesterday's weather was absolutely perfect! We invited my in-laws over for a BBQ - and J's sister and fiance too who are vegan. I asked Steve to bring a big umbrella with him incase it rained (the 5 day forecast we had a few days ago said it was going to be cloudy with intermittant rain! haha!), but in the end it wasnt needed. :D We had a lovely time sitting out in the garden and chatting, eating. J cooked the food beautifully, and the potatoes and salad I did went down a treat. Naomi and Ben brought their own BBQ food - vegan sausages, kebabs, samosas, that kind of thing. After we ate we went for a walk around the town - up through the gate at the top of the garden, then along the fields and round in a big circle. It was a lovely walk, and made me appreciate the town we live in a lot more. I thought the street we lived in was the only nice one in town, but I was wrong, which is great :) And we passed by a shop in town with an advert in the window advertising a table and 4 chairs for �40... mght have to go and have a look at that at some point! We do really need a dining set. I seem to have a sunburnt patch on my chest from the sun... ah well, it's not very sore, just a bit pink ;)

And yesterday with the sun and the good times flowing I just felt so overwhelmingly HAPPY that I'm pregnant, and that inside me is growing my first little son or daughter. I keep rubbing my tummy gently... there's no real bump there yet, just the same flubber that's been there since before I got pregnant, but I just feel so connected with this tiny being I know is inside me.. already! It's hard to imagine how I will feel in 6 days when I see my baby on that screen. I'm 11 weeks and 3 days pregnant. When I reach 12 weeks on Saturday it will be just AMAZING :D Just... wow. But I'm also a little nervous because I know my mother had two threatened miscarriages at 12 weeks each time. I think I will be over the moon if I reach 13 weeks with no problems or bleeding. I have had NOTHING like that at all since about 6 weeks pregnant, no spotting, nothing. I have had a LOT of EWCM for well over a week now, each time I go to the bathroom. But I'm assuming that's normal, since I'm not spotting with it.

Thank you Jemma for that link you sent me about the cloth nappies! I'll try and fill that form out for nappylady this week sometime. I'm so excited to be thinking about things like this - I think J would prefer disposables - he's all about the convenience, and I do admit, if I'm not strict with myself, I'd end up choosing convenience over effort too. But it's something I really want to try for my baby. I've also been watching a lot of youtube videos and things like that about breastfeeding latches and positions - I want to do everything I can to make sure that the baby will be able to breastfeed from me when s/he arrives. My sister-in-law as far as I know still isn't able to breastfeed very often, I think she still tries for the morning feeds, but she says she doesn't have a lot of milk. My mother also didn't have a lot of milk for my brother. I just really hope it's not the same for me.

I'm pretty sure that something IS happening to my tummy, lately whenever I scrunch over a bit, my tummy feels a lot firmer, and also when I laugh sometimes I can feel it's different. Also, my nipples are changing - J has noticed them getting bigger *rolls eyes*, I've noticed them getting darker. Not that difficult for me to notice anyway, my areola since forever have been practically the same colour as my breasts. But now... they definitely stand out! It's so fun noticing all these little things about my body that are changing with pregnancy. I just can't WAIT til I start showing. :D I wonder how big I'll get?

Well tomorrow is our 3 year wedding anniversary. And we're finally pregnant! Our last anniversary just us two. Well, hopefully! I'm just so happy to be having a baby at last. Hope you're all well, and thanks for reading. xx

11 weeks - 9 days to gooooo til scan!

11 weeks pregnant! 1 week til the next belly picture! It's so exciting that I've come this far already - seems crazily long ago since I was 5 weeks and announcing I got pregnant! Nine days until the scan. I am soooo excited about the scan. I just can't wait to see little Sausage! To know that the lack of period and the occasional (!) icky feeling and the line on the test wasn't just a freakish co-incidence determined to disappoint me with a lack of baby in November. J thinks that my "boy vibes" I've been having are silly, he says that he "thinks it is a girl, because it's random, and so that when it is a girl I can say 'I told you so'" I know it's random too.. I do, I just can't explain why I think it's a boy. And I will be so happy either way, whether I am proved right or wrong! I probably will be looking out during the scan to see if I can see any "bits", but I've looked at a bunch of scans where they say whether it's a boy or girl, and draw arrows to the relevant bits, and I really can't tell HOW they knew from that picture! (Half the time I can't even tell where the baby's head/bum/legs etc are on the pictures I saw) Maybe it will be more obvious when we see the actual scan moving rather than the stills... I will wait and see! :) Nine days to go! :D

Next Wednesday is mine and J's 3rd wedding anniversary. Since a lot of the non essential stuff is still in boxes, I have all my craft stuff still packed away so am probably not able to make him a card for it. But oh my gosh - our last anniversary just us two! (Well, technically I guess that's not true, but you know what I mean!) We were engaged for 3.5 years before we got married - together for 4 years. We decided we wanted to get married on our "getting together" anniversary, so we have nearly been together for 7 whole years!

This week I have also found several more "mommy" or "mommy-to-be" diaries, I really look forward to reading each and every one!

Yesterday I looked around on the internet at cloth nappy sites. Having been a long term reader of Alice, I really see the benefits of using them, and would LOVE to use them on my little ones. But omg, they are so baffling! 3 different types, some come in one size others you get for different ages, different brands, different "stuffers".. Since we don't have a tumble dryer, I guess we would be best off using the "pocket" sort so we can dry the padding and the outer bit separately. But I'm just thinking - what do I do? Do I order trial packs for about 5 different brands so we have enough for the new baby when it arrives? Or do I use disposables as well for when we run out of clean dry cloth nappies? And what stuffers do I use? And then once I decide which sort I like, what do I do with the spares? Send them back to the company? Give them away to friends? The only person I know with a baby from my non internet life is my sister-in-law, and her baby will be a year older than mine, so the spare nappies will be useless for her. What I do know though is that I will NEED to use them from straight away, or I know I will get into the habit of using disposables. And will like the convenience of disposables. If anyone has any advice, I'd be very grateful to hear it, notes or email would be lovely. :)

J and I have decided to sell the flat. He's spoken to his financial advisor, and he reckons there isn't a lot of difference between selling and renting, so we think it'll be best to just get rid of the "hassle" so to speak, and sell. Then we'll also have a huge chunk sum to put aside for paying off a lot of the mortgage, and also we can put some aside for buying the new baby bits we'll need, and things like that. We can't pay off the mortgage straight away because we're on a 5 year fixed, but we can pay some extra off per month until the contract runs out, and reduce our interest a bit on it. So, all in all, things looking good :) And maybe, if some time in the future, the owner of the house next door decides to sell, we could buy it, and convert the house into a huuuuuge 6 bedroom detached! heh. But that's just a pipe dream really, assuming that the owner will decide to sell before we have to move somewhere bigger (although that may not be the case, we have lots of conversion-ability here), and then assuming we have the money to buy, and then convert! ;)

Anyway, will leave this for now, on this nice bank holiday weekend. :) Hope you are all okay, and thanks for reading!