Baby Disco

For the last few days it has felt as though the baby is having a party in my tummy! The movement has been pretty much constant (except when Grant puts his hand on my belly). It is getting really strong now too and is sometimes a little bit painful but really reassuring to feel, even if I do feel like I have a little kick boxer inside me!

Not only can I feel the kicks but I can also see them. My whole stomach moves each time, as though she's trying to escape! I read that the baby will be going through a growth spurt now which may account for the extra force. I suppose she is making the most of the space while she can.

Luckily I seem to be able to sleep through them during the night but if I'm cuddling Grant he can feel them and often gets woken up. I find this incredible as normally he will sleep through everything and I wake up at the slightest noise, perhaps it is his protective father instincts kicking in!

I think I am experiencing a growth spurt too as I feel as though I get bigger every day. I feel huge now, although in some clothes I still don't really look pregnant, but then some clothes make me look ready to pop! I never really realised how tired carrying this extra weight would make me; just climbing the one flight of stairs up to our flat leaves me feeling a bit breathless - I'm 26 weeks now so I dread to think how I will be feeling at 36 weeks!

February still seems a long way off but when I look at it in terms of weeks it's nothing - especially with Christmas and all the excitement that comes with it! I am slowly gathering the things we need for the baby, although not going over board as space is limited in the flat. The car seat arrived today and I couldn't help having a little play with it and wheel it about on the chassis of the travel system we have bought. It looks very smart, and very comfortable for the little one - someone should invent a similar design for adult car seats!

Nightmare day in the rain

Yesterday was horrible!

It all started on our way home from the scan on Weds. The car started flashing engine malfunction at me, so I stopped, pulled over and we checked the oil. Nothing seemed a miss so we carried on. Half way home it happened again, this time, luckily, we were outside a Ford dealership so we thought we'd see what they had to say.

Yesterday I made the trek on the tube down to collect the car. There is quite a walk at either end of the journey and I got completely soaked in the rain, twice!

Having retrieved the keys from reception, asked lots of questions and been calmed by the receptionist that it was unlikely to happen again, I found the car and made my merry way on to Cambridge where I was due to attend a business advice day.

Halfway there, on the M11, engine malfunction started flashing and the car started to slow down all on it's own. I had a little panic as the hard shoulder was all coned up but I thought I can't stop on the carriage way. I generally panic in these sorts of situations; alone, vulnerable, stranded... all reduce me to tears at the best of times, added to 'Oh my god I've somehow killed the car, what do I do!' I was pretty tragic at this point!

As the car is a company car and not mine, my first call was to my boss/step dad, who managed to calm me down enough to get the details from me. He called the dealership to explain (probably rather forcefully) that I was stuck on the motorway hardshoulder only 30mins after leaving them and what were they going to do about it.... a recovery vehicle was despatched.

I sat on a fence outside the car as I have been told on many occasions that it is not safe to stay in the car when parked on the motor way. It was still raining and despite my 2 coats, I was soaked again in minutes!

Finally, 2 hours after I'd call my stepdad, I saw the flashing lights of the recovery truck - my rescuer! I think he took pity on me being pregnant as he was just meant to take me and the car back to the dealership but then gave me a lift home too which saved me the tube journey and another soaking. Phew.

As soon as I got home I had a nice hot bath and a cup of tea. I felt like I was coming down with a cold but thankfully that seems to have subsided, now I just feel dog tired. Got to pep up before 6 as I'm out on a rare evening on the town... well, a film screening and dinner out, nothing too outrageous or hopefully too late!

Gosh this is a long post about not very much but I needed to get yesterday out of my system!