I'm back... 6 month update!

Hello there! I have finally emerged from the fog that has been the last 6 months so I thought it was about time I revisited my much neglected blog.

So much has happened since I last posted that I don't know where to begin.

Sleep - Olivia has never really liked sleeping much but she is getting better at it! She will now nap for around 90mins if I time it right - sometimes even twice a day!! She still doesn't sleep through but I don't really see that as anything unusual for a baby of her age. She has improved quite a bit from the 2 hourly wakings and now often goes from 6pm-6am with only two wakings which isn't so bad. Grant is also doing the night feeds which obviously helps me enormously.

Milk - I have stopped breast feeding. It was a tough decision to make but in the end we went for it. I was so determined not to give formula but I was getting so exhausted that I could hardly function. I was teary, achey, moody and generally not doing very well so we decided that switching would be the best thing.

I am proud that I pretty much exclusively breast fed for 5 months and I do wish at times that I had carried on for longer. We stopped a bit more suddenly than I had planned as once Olivia had had a bottle during the day she no longer had the patience to wait for let down! Then we stopped night feeds so she's sleep a bit longer - we've gone from me getting up 3-5 times in the night to Grant feeding her before he comes to bed then once more during the night which is a much better situation (for me anyway!).

Food - We started weaning about a month ago when Olivia was about 5.5 months old. She was showing all the signs of being ready - great hand to mouth coordination, sitting up well in the high chair and wanting to join in when I was eating. She seems to love her food which is great.

I decided that we would use the baby led weaning approach (loosely) as it seemed a much more natural and instinctual way of feeding. I also didn't like the idea of spending ages concocting purees for her when she could just eat what ever I was having (mostly). I do spoon feed her some foods - ready break and yoghurt for example but she also takes the spoon and feeds herself too.

So far she has eaten most things I have given her, except egg which she doesn't seem to care for. She'll eat sandwiches which amazes parents of babies who were/are puree weaned, however she does dismantle them first! Roast beef has probably been her favourite thing so far, closely followed bu courgette fritters which I made for lunch today and were gobbled up with hardly any dropped - I enjoyed them too and they were so easy to make, I'll put the recipe below.

Crawling - Olivia is crawling! I think 6 months is quite early for this but as she has always been a big baby I think she has a bit more strength than she would have had if she was smaller. It's great to see her zooming across the floor but scary how suddenly everything is hazardous and I have to watch her so closely - I might get a plan pen but not sure how she'd react to it after having the run of the sitting room.

House - we are still in a one bed roomed flat at the moment which means Olivia is still in our room - not ideal! However we are moving at the end of the month into a 3 bed roomed semi-detached house!!! I won't know what to do with all the extra space but I'm sure we'll fill it in no time at all. It is extra exciting because we are buying not renting for the first time ever.

Courgette Fritter Recipe:

It's a bit rough as I couldn't remember the recipe I found!

makes approx 8 fritters:

Grate a courgette and squeeze out all the moisture, mix in 1 egg and about a table spoon of plain flour and a dash of milk - add more or less milk and flour to get a thick pancake batter.

Heat a frying pan up with a small amount of oil, dollop in a large spoon of the mix and squash down to make roundish patties. Fry until coloured on both sides - careful with the thickness otherwise they won't cook all the way through.

We had ours with a fried egg as it was brunch but they would go well with lots of things - you could also add herbs to give a bit more flavouring.

8 weeks

Well it's been a while since I blogged (again!) but time to do it is hard to come by, any spare moments I get I just want to sleep!

Sleep... ah that would be nice! I am breast feeding on demand, which I love, but I would love it even more if Olivia would sleep a bit longer in the early mornings! Lately she's been waking up around 2-3am then again at 4 or 5 then 6. All these wakings are taking its toll on me and to some extent Grant.

I got really excited about a week ago as she slept 6 hours in a row which meant I was only up once in the night. Unfortunately we haven't had a repeat of this.

The health visitor came yesterday and weighed Olivia. She was 9lbs 12oz at birth and is now 12lbs 5oz! We're very happy with this steady growth and the health visitor was pleased with her development generally. I think I've been lucky with my health visitor as she's lovely - I've heard horror stories from other people about their health visitors.

We had a bit of a worry a couple of weeks ago when Olivia caught a cold. Around 10pm on a Friday evening I was convinced she had a fever so we rang NHS direct and were advised by the GP on call to go to hospital to get it checked out. We didn't have a thermometer so had no idea if her temperature was high but she felt hot to touch and I think I panicked a bit! They checked her at hospital and she was absolutely fine which was a huge relief and although I felt a bit silly for overreacting, I'm glad we went.

I'm starting a mums and babies yoga course on Monday. I'm really looking forward to doing some gentle and social exercise. I'll be back in my prepregnancy jeans in no time! Ha ha!

3 weeks

I've been meaning to post for ages but never seem to get round to it but today is the 3 week mark so I thought it would be a good day to get back into the swing of my blog!

Thank you for all the messages of congratulations and sorry for not responding to them individually. I read them a while ago but as I've said above, I just haven't got round to writing anything since the birth.

Things have been relatively good so far...

...ok so she doesn't like evenings - between 8pm and 1am we are constantly winding her and she won't settle any where other than on a shoulder whilst being walked around (apparently I was the same at this age!) which make me think she might be suffering from colic?

Once she's had a feed at around 1am she sleeps until 5/5.30ish and then again until 7.30/8ish so things could be a lot worse!

I think I've been really lucky with breast feeding. I had sore nipples to start with but everything seems to be going smoothly now and she seems to be settling into a sort of routine. The health visitor weighed her on Friday and she had put on 2oz since birth - she lost 6 oz in the first week so she put on 8oz in the second week - which is great as it must be every breast feeding mother's worry that baby isn't getting enough milk as there is no way of measuring the amount they're getting at each feed.

We've had quite a busy week so far - I ventured out for the first time without Grant on Monday. We met up with some other mummies for coffee which really helped me feel a bit more normal! On Tuesday we went to stay with my mum for the night. Olivia met her great grand parents, great aunty and uncle and one of her uncles as well as a few other friends of the family. My mum loved having us to stay and was a real help looking after Olivia - she took over the shoulder walking whilst I got a few hours sleep!

Today we're having a quiet day at home which has been lovely. Grant has been back at work so we've had the house to ourselves. I really miss him during the day but it is also nice to get into to a bit of a routine - we seem to slip into weekend veg mode when we are both here during the day!

36 Week Bump Photo

It feels a lot bigger than it looks!

Bump Gallery

As you will see from the below, I have grown quite a lot in the last 31 weeks! I had started taking a bump photo every week but we kept forgetting - now it's when ever I remember....

31 week bump

25 week bump

20 week bump

16 week bump

I wonder how big I will eventually get - I have managed to make to with my regular winter coat so far - I can just do up one button and the belt to keep me warm but I think I shall have to find something larger for my last couple of months.

28 weeks today - the 3rd trimester!

Wow - I am 28 weeks today!

Now I am officially in the 3rd trimester, everything suddenly feels a bit unreal. It's almost as though I can't believe that in just 12 weeks my bump will be replaced with a real life baby. That point has seemed so far off for so long and now it is finally in sight.

No photo today - I don't really think I've grown much since the last one and my weight gain seems to have slowed slightly - not stopped though!

I've got my 28 week midwife appointment and bloods on Monday and I'm hoping to get some information about the hospital tour and antenatal classes. Grant is coming with me this time so hopefully I'll feel less deflated when I leave.

Body Image and Pregnancy

I'm 27 weeks today! The 28 week point and the third trimester is almost here and I'm getting more and more excited about the arrival of baby in 3 months time!

I'm also growing! I feel huge and my mum and Grant are sure that I have got bigger in just a few days. Looking at this photo though, I look quite small still. It's weird how our perceptions of ourselves differ. When I look down or look in the mirror I see a massive belly in front of me, I feel as though I have a bowling ball strapped to my waist.

I took this photo this morning to show how much I've grown and am quite surprised at how little and neat my bump is. It's nice to see. Although I'm loving being pregnant and have never felt so at ease with my appearance - in fact I would go as far to say I have never felt this sexy and attractive - I still struggle a little to come to terms with comments like 'wow you're huge' or 'gosh and you've still got 3 more months!'.

Most people are overly aware of their size - in my experience it is normally those who have nothing to worry about that are more aware of every little gain or loss in their weight and I would say our media is to blame there. It seems to me that during pregnancy women are not meant to have any feelings about their appearance. We're meant to bloom, to revel in the fact that our body is growing huge to provide life to another and accept others commenting freely on how we look.

I'm lucky in that I haven't had any strangers coming up to me and touching my bump or giving me well meaning 'advice', but I do have a mother who has always been very body conscious - not just with her own body but mine as well - and who comments weekly on how much I've grown. She doesn't do it with any malice or unpleasantness, she just makes the comment.

I've also got a very well meaning step father who thinks he knows everything there is to know about pregnancy. His experience comes from his ex wife's two pregnancies - over 30 years ago - and from farm animals - I had to tell him yesterday that I am not a cow! Again, he doesn't wish to be unpleasant or mean, he is often trying to sympathise with me, but sometimes it would be nice for him to realise that I am the expert when it comes to my body and my pregnancy, and not every women (or should that be female mammal) has the same pregnancy or the same feelings during pregnancy.

Sometimes it would be nice for them all to just recognise that I am going through a massive change in my life - both physically and psychologically - and the best support that they could give me would be to just let me be me.

Wow - I did not mean for this post to become such a rant, it was meant to be all about my growing bump and how excited I am to become a mother. I'm glad I wrote it all though as it's clearly been lurking under the surface for some time. I've been feeling quite emotionally fragile lately and have noticed signs of my depression creeping in again. I don't think it is anything to worry about but I do need to acknowledge these feelings so that I can nip them in the bud now and not let them take over like they did last year.

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!

My Growing Bump

My bump has really started to grow now and I'm feeling huge! I'll be 24 weeks tomorrow and I keep reading that life starts to get more uncomfortable from here on as the baby will be having a growth spurt and putting on weight in the next couple of weeks.

Although I feel huge, whenever I see another pregnant women I suddenly feel quite small and inferior!

Anyway, to prove to myself that my tummy really is growing I took a photo this morning and although I look smaller than I feel, there is no mistaking my pregnant state!

It's not a great photo - I'm no artist and the light is all wrong!