Pregnancy

JoJo Maman Bébé Maternity Dress Review & Giveaway

Posted by

11

I loved JoJo Maman Bébé  maternity clothes when I was pregnant so when they got in touch and asked if I would like to review a gorgeous maternity dress and run a giveaway, I couldn’t resist! No, I am not pregnant, but I do have a very lovely friend who is and who was willing to model one of their gorgeous dresses for me.WP_20150625_20_37_21_Pro

They have such a lovely range and my friend chose this gorgeous flowery dress. The flowers are so bright and cheerful and it is such a flattering fit too.

jojo maman bebe

It is such a lovely comfy, lightweight material and is so comfortable to wear (yes I may have tried it on too) which is just what you want when you are pregnant – especially in this heat! I feel for all you Mummies-to-be out there I really do!

Now onto the bit you have all been waiting for, a wonderful giveaway! JoJo Maman Bébé are offering one lucky winner the chance to choose a gorgeous dress from their fabulous range of maternity dresses.

Best of luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Little Miss’s arrival

Posted by

37

WP_20141023_15_51_20_Pro (2)

Little miss at 1 day old

I still can’t quite get my head around the fact that our little girl is here already. I was supposed  to have pre-op today in readiness for my C-Section on Thursday. Instead I am sat at home having just fed our cutie.

Because this little girl did not want to wait to make her grand entrance! My waters broke in the early hours of last Tuesday morning, at 38 weeks pregnant, and as I was not contracting and baby seemed happy, the Drs decided we should keep her safely inside for a little longer. I had steroid injections to help develop her lungs and quite a good rest in the hospital on the Tuesday, with the promise that our little baba would be born on Wednesday morning. Continue reading →

The best laid plans…

Posted by

30

This isn’t the post I intended to share today… I was planning on sharing this post about how I am feeling alright at 38 weeks pregnant. How I was getting ready for my planned c-section next week… But oh boy how things have changed!

Some of you may have seen on twitter that we had a slight change of plans on Monday night. A few people had asked me what would happen if I went into labour early, and quite honestly I brushed it off. I really didn’t think it would happen.
Continue reading →

38 weeks and a bit of last minute pampering

Posted by

10

38 weeks pregnantI am 38 weeks pregnant today and honestly this pregnancy has flown by compared with my first. It has also, thankfully been so much smoother. With my SPD rearing it’s head at just 6 weeks pregnant I was so worried about how hard this pregnancy would be, but thanks to the physio throughout we have kept it at bay and I am so much more mobile. I haven’t needed to use my crutches at all and just generally feel so much better and still have quite a bit of energy. I think because I have been more mobile this time I haven’t put on nearly as much weight as I did last time either, which is also no bad thing.

It hasn’t been a bed of roses and I still get a lot of pain in my back and pelvis, and of course I am shattered and ready to not be pregnant anymore… But with just over a week to go I am trying to focus on the positives now.

Continue reading →

Packing your Hospital Bag for a C Section

Posted by

32

hospital bag for a c sectionWith the date booked for my C Section, the time has come to think about packing my hospital bag. Some of the things you pack when going for a C Section are the same as you would for a natural birth, whereas others are very different, as a planned C Section is obviously a different experience.

There are of course tonnes of sources online for hospital bag checklists which are all so so handy, but I don’t think they cover everything. With the benefit of going through this experience once before I am hoping that this time I will pack everything I need. So here is my list for what to pack in a hospital bag for a C Section, including some things you may not have
thought of!
Continue reading →

Looking forward to being me again

Posted by

64

So with the date now booked for baby’s birth, the countdown to the end of pregnancy is on! This pregnancy has been much better than my first. I am not on crutches and am much more mobile than I thought I would be. I am nowhere near the zombie I was when I was pregnant with Monkey, so I am doing well…. but I am still looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I know how lucky I am and am grateful every day for this baby, I am glad she is safe and well in my tummy and I hope she continues to be so for the next 3 weeks, but….

I just don’t enjoy being pregnant.

There, I said it. I know some women get a pregnancy glow and feel wonderful when pregnant. I know some women love the additional curves they get when pregnant. I just don’t feel that way. I feel better than I thought I would. Because I am much more mobile than I was in my first pregnancy I haven’t put as much weight on this time round (plus I was a bit slimmer to start with, which has helped). But I still don’t feel like me.
Continue reading →

35 weeks pregnant – C Section booked

Posted by

42

35 weeks pregnantI am 35 weeks pregnant and today we had our appointment with the consultant to confirm baby’s position and book a C Section. Although I had hopes earlier in the pregnancy of a VBaC if baby turned, it has been quite obvious for a while that this was very unlikely. At our initial appointment with the consultant, he was very nice and said we could try for a VBaC if baby turned, but made it quite clear that there was only ever a very small chance of this happening for me.

Because of my bicornuate uterus, there just isn’t as much room for baby to move around, especially as the pregnancy goes along and baby grows ever bigger. There was a chance that she may have turned early on and then stayed head down, but as most babies do not get into the head down position until the last trimester, our consultant did advise that there was only ever a very small chance of this happening. I had hopes, but as the weeks and months have gone on, and as it has become more and more obvious that her head is very much up, I have accepted the inevitable C Section.

Continue reading →

33 weeks & my last physio appointment..

Posted by

9

I am 33 weeks pregnant this week and yesterday saw potentially last physio appointment. Not because I don’t need it or want it anymore though. My lovely, amazing physio, who has really helped me so far, is going on Maternity Leave herself today as she is 34ish weeks pregnant! I’ve known the day for her to leave would come, so I was semi prepared for it, but I had hoped there would be a transition to another physio.

Sadly there won’t, because her replacement hasn’t started yet and probably won’t be starting for at least a month. The other physios at the hospital are fully bookd with their own existing patients so there is basically no appointments for me to have. It’s not like I am off the books, I have an “open appointment” which means that if things get really bad I can call and try and get a cancellation with one of the other physios… but my fortnightly sessions are a thing of the past.

I am trying not to worry about this. Trying to positive that I will be ok. Fear has been a big part of my problems with SPD. Fear of it getting worse. Thanks to my physio it hasn’t got terrible, it’s not fun but it’s been manageable and with not long left to go I have to try and be positive.

Hubs is going to try and do the same elbow “massages” that she has been doing for me to release m muscle spasms and I have been thinking for a while about trying out some reflexology as I have heard that can help, and it looks like now is the time to try it!

Hopefully that may also help me sleep as I hate bedtime at the moment. Trying to get to sleep takes hours and leaves me so frustrated and often disoriented as I am just dozing off when my legs and hips start twitching or tingling or I get that sharp stab of pain down my leg. So bizarre when you are just about in dreamland and get jerked awake. I was so confused last night as I was dreaming about someone called Maisie and someone called Joan…. then I was suddenly awake and very cross! Poor hubs too as I often wake him up too with all the constant tossing and turning. Sleep deprivation starts now it seems.

In other news all seems ok, our girl is a right little wriggler and she is trying very hard to get herself head down. The other night I had so many kicks on my right side, which is very unusual for me, that I thought she may be getting close to doing it… then she settled back into the left side of my Bicornuate Uterus again with her head very much up in my ribs again.

It was enough to shock the Hubs though as he has been very much convinced that we will have a C section and suddenly panicked and revealed he is not at all prepared for me to go into labour naturally. I think in his head C section is the easy option purely because it is known, we’ve done it before, we know what happens and what the recovery is like. We will know the date so can arrange childcare for Monkey. He is as much a planner as me and that side of it is definitely appealing.

I am trying to keep an open mind though, we have an appointment with the consultant at 35 weeks to check her position and potentially book the C Section if she is still stuck head up. There is also the little voice in my head that says that a C Section would mean delivery between 38-39 weeks, whereas trying for a natural birth could mean waiting until up to 42 weeks for delivery. An extra 3-4 weeks of pain and sleepless nights. I feel guilty for bringing that into the equation and feel like I should put up with the pain if it means she can come naturally… but I have to admit that it does influence my thinking.

Anyway we shall see! Not the most cheerful of pregnancy updates I’m afraid! Did you have trouble sleeping or suffer from restless legs? Any tips would be gratefully received!

Mother's Always Right

Acceptance

Posted by

15

My word of the week this week is acceptance.

Because, at the moment I am very much having to accept the fact that I am 32 weeks pregnant, I have SPD and I can’t do all of the things I want to do, or that I am used to doing. It’s frsutrating but there is not long left and I have to accept it.

Luckily we have a lovely supportive family to help and make sure Monkey is still entertained. Hubby has started taking Monkey to his Tumbletots class on a Tuesday in his lunch hour, because I just can’t physically manage it anymore! My parents have also started to take Monkey out on a Wednesday so he can get a run around and burn off some energy.

I am just a lot less mobile now as the pain is increasing so it is nice to know he still gets to have a run around, while I can stay home! He is a lot better at playing independently and staying at home more, but the longer we are stuck in the house the harder it is to keep him entertained, and his behaviour gets a bit more destructive and boisterous. Getting him out for even a short walk and a run around makes life so much easier. I am so grateful to my family for doing this as even a walk round the shops or round the block is getting very painful now and feels like a daunting prospect! I’m not sleeping well either and the tiredness is making it a bit harder to be imaginative with playtime ideas!!

I’ve also had to stop my morning walk with my neighbour. For well over a year we have gone for a 9am walk most mornings. It has been so good for us to get us out of the house and have a good old natter. It has been really lovely and I have been desperate to keep it going. The walks were getting more sporadic as I have had to miss days I have been in too much pain and even the days we have managed it, the walks have been getting shorter and shorter (and slower) as even on good days I can’t do much. What started off as a good 40 min walk of a couple of miles has become more like a 20 min slow stroll of maybe 1/2 mile?

For a while I think even that was doing me good but then I realised it wasn’t anymore and that actually I was ending up in quite a bit of pain afterwards, so we have officially put it on hold for a while! Another change I just have to accept.

I am still doing a lot better than I was in my first pregnancy, I am not on crutches yet and I am grateful for that. I am also massively grateful my supportive and helpful hubby, family and friends. It would all be much harder without them! There is not long to go now really and I just have to keep the goal in sight and accept that I can’t do as much as I want to do.

What is your word of the week?

The Reading Residence

 

32 weeks pregnant – starting to feel real!

Posted by

24

I am 32 weeks pregnant and it is all starting to feel pretty real now. Bump is getting bigger by the day, and I am getting slower!

WP_20140907_14_05_11_ProSlightly random bump shot but this is a shot of my wonky bump when I am lying down. Because baba is very much stuck in the left side of my Bicornuate Uterus, she is now pretty visible from certain angles and no mistaking her position. She is breech. She tries to turn and I get mental kicks sometimes but the best she manages is to lie transverse (across my lower tummy). She seems completely unable to get her head into my pelvis.

There is still time but with her getting bigger by the day it will only get harder and I guess therefore, probably less likely. We have an appointment with the consultant at 35 weeks to check and a decision (and probably C-Section booking) will be made then. I would have liked to try for a VBaC but there is also positives to having a C-Section so what will be will be. If we do have to go down that route then she could be here in a little over 6 weeks…. which really isn’t long!

Monkey's new big boy furniture

Monkey’s new big boy furniture

We had a busy weekend sorting things out in her room. We built Monkey a new big boy chest of drawers which looks lovely in his room, so that the tall boy matching the cot and changing table could go into the baby room for baba to use. We have also built the cot and the nursing chair so it is really looking like a baby room now!

We also bought a lampshade and curtian rail, and the curtains our sister in law gave us are now up. They are gorgeous curtains and it looks lovely in there, I don’t think we would have gone for pink curtains if we were buying them, but they are gorgeous and we are not about to look a gift horse in the mouth! I guess I am just worry in case she turns out to be a he, the ultrasound tech was pretty definite but I won’t fully believe it until she is here I don’t think!

WP_20140907_18_07_35_Pro

We still need to get the wall stickers up on the wall and there is a lot of things to sort out yet, but we are starting to get somewhere and it really is a bit nerve wracking now it is getting closer. I have started to pack the hospital bag too and that is making it feel really real.

I know people have more than one child all the time and I am sure we will find our way and manage, but I am nervous about how we will get on with a toddler and a baby at the same time. There is C-section recovery to think about, wondering how I will manage with breastfeeding this time round, how I will deal with feeding a baby while also looking after a very active toddler and keeping him entertained! I won’t know the answers to any of these questions until she is here and so I know there is little point worrying… but I guess packing breast pads and teeny nappies things makes me think about the reality of having a newborn again! Eek!!

Mama and More
Mother's Always Right