36 Weeks Pregnant

I AM SO TIRED. If you follow me on Twitter you may or may not have noticed me mention that maybe once or twice recently. Or eighty-two times. But it’s very true, this stage of pregnancy is so physically demanding it’s difficult not to fall into bed at every opportunity, or moan about it on the internet whilst on the sofa watching the haircut episode of Balamory for the twentieth time. Luckily Elfie is still napping for around 2 hours a day so as soon as she’s back in bed I am too. Which is good for my tired aching body and mind but bad for work and blogging.

I’ve been back in hospital a couple of times in the last fortnight for monitoring thanks to some palpitations and dizzy spells. I’ve had some tests done that have all come back fine (did you KNOW that when they do an ECG they get a very young male Doctor to put sticky pads all over your boobs? I didn’t) so I will be going back on May 11th for an appointment to have a device fitted to take a 24 hour heart trace. I’m pretty sure everything’s going to be fine but it’s a bit scary to go so breathless all the time. It seems to be mostly triggered by stress, but by stress I mean silly things like being late for a lunch date or a train, not big life stress. I have to say that my local hospital have been wonderful with my stresses and freak outs and the experience has been all-round happy.

None of my clothes fit me any more. I am really struggling daily to put together outfits that don’t consist of leggings, a jersey tshirt and a hoodie. I feel sloppy and wish the weather was a bit brighter so I could throw on some summer dresses and flip flops, because when your belly’s this big you can forget doing up your own shoes, hence the resurrection of my Ugg boots. Even my lovely H&M maternity jeans are starting to get a bit tight around the bump band. At last check a fortnight ago I’d put on 1 and a half stone and I’m trying very hard to stay away from the burgers in these final weeks as that’s really when I piled it on last time (nearly 2 stone in 8 weeks!). I’m finding it so much easier to be healthy as I’m at home rather than work – I don’t have 2 breakfasts or the opportunity to eat deep fried stuff for lunch and salads and lighter dinners are feeling a lot nicer to eat at the moment.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of some lovely friends of ours in Liverpool! Elfie stayed at home with my parents so we had two whole days to ourselves. We had lunch as soon as we arrived at our hotel and headed to the wedding for 3pm: it was an absolute blast catching up with old friends who we hadn’t seen for years and making some new ones, too. I wore a non-maternity silk dress from GAP that I’d found a couple of weeks ago in their sale along with my beloved Comptoir des Cotonniers wedges (a risky move, the pain in my feet was bearable til about 11pm though) and danced as much as I could – it would have been wrong not to as the wedding DJ was the one and only Carl Cox. A bit of a stupid move as my Braxton Hicks were INSANE the day after (and have been quite painful for the rest of this week). Even more insane was the fact that someone recognised me from my blog… a very strange feeling. I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to ask (or remember) the lovely lady’s name but I was so pleased to chat to her, so if it’s you please say hello again! She was also pregnant (32 weeks I believe) and looked amazing in a beautiful minidress. I am delighted I have such stylish and lovely readers other than my mum. The day after the wedding we took a stroll round Liverpool for coffee and some lunch before jumping on a train home. Gorgeous.

Baby prep is in full swing at the Harold House. This weekend Will went up to the loft to retrieve our BedNest and various accoutrements (baby bath, swing chair, bounce chair, muslin cloths…) and I bought the essential stack of sanitary pads, toothbrush, arnica and underwear needed for my hospital bag. Which I must pack. I must I must. I also have a huge pile of baby clothes still to wash but the first load still needs a home. Also, newborn vests need locating, as do ‘just in case’ bottles, teats and pump… most likely these bits and bobs will be left until the very last minute/rush home from hospital, as long as baby number 2 has a place to sleep I am done stressing.

Week 33
Week 31
Week 28
Week 24
Week 20
Week 16
Week 14
Week 12
Week 6/8