The Now I Am Blooming Lovely Stage!

Weeks 21-30: Taken from my pregnancy journal

Well, since the scan I am proudly showing all patient souls the image from the scan, they are too polite to ask, ” What is it we are seeing exactly”, so they just humour me by looking anyway.

I hate having to cut back on classes but at least I can still teach aqua, body contour and stretch. Due to the low lying placenta I find walking uncomfortable which for a health fitness nut like me is soooooo frustrating!

After not feeling any movement for ages the baby is now going crazy and moving all the time. Now the children and my husband can also feel it and they delight in seeing me lying down with my tummy bare and talking to the baby. I find myself wondering what the baby will look like and think it will probably be chunky with blonde hair and blue eyes.My tummy has definitely got bigger and I am so proud of my boobs,had to buy a new bra size 36B, wow how’s that for size especially as I probably have the smallest boobs ever! Starting to feel good but the only downside is heartburn but eating little and often helps.

I had my appointment with Dr. Peter Roos at Vincent Pallotti on the 22nd December but everything is perfectly normal with of course the exception of the low lying placenta which he wants us to think about in terms of our birth plan. We are still disappointed about not being able to have a home birth although hanging on by a thread of hope that IF the placenta moves I could have a normal delivery under the supervision of the gynae at hospital.Next midwife and appointment with Dr Roos will be at 32 weeks plus a scan which will determine how the birth will be….. fingers crossed.

I went on leave on Christmas Eve and appreciated the time off to relax and enjoy the holiday with the children. We didn’t go away but stayed at home and did day trips. We spent many days on the beach, I swam, took casual strolls which was such a relief from the pressure and strains of the normal work and school week. Baby is still as active as ever and at times the kicking is so uncomfortable that when I lay on my side it gets worse, if I move onto my back the heartburn gets worse so can’t win here!!!

Name update: This is still a nightmare but we have managed to narrow it down to:
GIRL-Pascale, Natasha, Olivier, Kiara, Chloe, Natalie or Laura
BOY- Kayden, Kieran, Tyler, Dominic, Storm PS We ended up with none of these!

Time is flying by and as the weeks progress my heartburn has gone and I am feeling fitter. Baby is still busy and growing, I am enjoying teaching the aqua, body contour and stretch but also swimming and cycling for me as despite the uterus rising higher I don’t get out of breath as much and can do more without my tummy tightening with round ligament pain.

Strange thing this but when you are pregnant everywhere you look you see pregnant women and find yourself continually talking about babies and pregnancy. I am drawn to baby shops and itching to start buying stuff….lots of stuff! The nesting process has begun so we bought a wooden crib and rocking chair, oh my this is starting to feel very close and real…yikes!

My 28 week midwife appointment went well although baby has decided to lie breach, we heard the heartbeat and the midwife says it might be a girl and I also feel strongly that it is a girl but all we want is a healthy baby at the end of the day. I am so curious about what our baby will look like and what sex it is boy girl the anticipation is killing me…….?!

We spoke at length with the midwife about birth options and she described how the routine procedure goes for an epidural c section. I feel very strongly about the bonding and don’t want a paediatrician whisking my baby away until I have had skin to skin contact and they mustn’t wash it until at least day 6, I want to retain some control and not let a c section sabotage my dream birth in fact they are being very accommodating and have offered an early discharge and home care with my midwife.

This is MY baby, MY pregnancy and MY birth plan- as long as there is no risk to the baby or myself I am determined to be vocal about having this baby my way even if I do have a c section so watch this space for what happens next……………!