27 weeks

I'm not sure if 27 weeks is considered second or third trimester... it seems to depend where you're reading. I'm just going to stick to this as being the last week of my second trimester. Next week, third trimester baby!

I'm having one of those weeks where the pregnancy is very, very much back of my mind. I have been really busy over Easter, and the little miss is turning 3 this week, so I have been busy sorting everything out for that. I have been restoring my old dollhouse my Morfar made for me as a child. I have been sanding it back and repainting it. Soon I'll be putting down new flooring cover too. I have bought dollhouse furniture and some dolls too. Hubby has been busily making a table for the dollhouse to sit on top (it will be attached to it). All of this has been quite time consuming actually - taking up a couple of hours through the day (my sister has been watching the kids), and then a couple of hours in the evening after they're in bed. I hope she appreciates it!

On top of all this, the little miss is toilet training (mostly successfully), I have had family and friend catch ups to attend, and I am having a big birthday party for the little miss this Saturday which I have barely had time to think about. Needless to say, I haven't had much time to remember I'm pregnant!

Still, I am getting lots of wriggles and kicks from bubba bump, and my belly is still expanding rapidly. Not long now and my belly will be touching the steering wheel! I am actually kind of loving the shape of my belly at the moment - nice and rounded now. I am trying to ignore the weight gain - and I am still too chicken to step on the scales.

I haven't been particularly healthy over Easter or while I've been so busy. I did manage a walk over the weekend with some girls from my mum's group... but we then followed that up with a couple of hours sitting on our bums drinking hot chocolates haha! I am trying to get better - I'm at least making tea this week and not getting takeaway so much. We had that a few too many times over the last week. I was supposed to go to yoga, but I didn't. I get annoyed at myself sometimes, and other times I just wish I could cut myself some slack. I want to enjoy being pregnant as best I can, especially if this is my last... not spend the whole time beating myself up.

I see my lovely midwife next week. After this next appointment, I will start seeing her much more often, and I guess I better start actually preparing for the birth! I'm so excited to meet this baby, I really am. I do find myself daydreaming about having a squirmy newborn on my chest, smelling her smell, stroking her head... Hard not to smile thinking about it really. Even though I feel so busy this time, I feel like maybe I have bonded/connected with this baby a little more than I did with the other two. 

And here is my 27 week belly. Belly belly belly.

Hopefully I can be a bit more focussed next week. I feel like I'm all go go go this week!

26 weeks - nesting, a growth spurt and Easter!

26 weeks - quickly approaching the end of the second trimester! It's pretty crazy how fast this pregnancy is going!

In this past week, nesting set in for a couple of days. I ended up having a massive clean out of our hallway cupboard, as well as having a few pieces of furniture moved or taken away. I also had hubby put together the change table in our bedroom, and I stuck a few painted teddy bears on the wall above it. I did a big tidy of the kitchen and lounge room too. I felt much better for it! I still have quite a few things I want done, but I am trying to be patient. Hubby is home on holidays this week, so that should help in getting some thing done. Nesting like this tends to come in bursts I find. I also find it frustrating, because I don't have as much energy as I want/need to do everything I want to do. Anyway, I guess time will tell what other crazy things I all of a sudden have to do!

I think I may have mentioned in my previous post how I have been having a few questions/comments and shocked looks about how far along I am. Well, that has only continued this week. I had an almost full term mumma who I pass quite often at school drop off/pick up say to me "We must be due around the same time"... she is due May 3rd! I have almost 3 months to go after she is due! She seemed a little embarrassed when I told her when I was due, but then said I must be like her - she said she got really big really quickly, then slowed right down. I guess that's what will happen? Otherwise I am going to be absolutely massive!
Even my lovely belly buddy group were a bit shocked when I posted the photo just below:

25 weeks 5 days

Everyone commented on how much I'd popped and said bubba bump must have had a big growth spurt. I guess I have. You don't notice these things on yourself for some reason.

I am kinda loving my belly at the moment. It's gotten nice and tight and hard, and my belly button is *almost* at the sticking out point. I am starting to have baby under my ribs too, which can make sitting for long periods uncomfortable. I am finding myself rubbing my belly a lot recently. It's got that lovely round shape that I've been waiting for. Don't get me wrong though - I still have my moments of feeling frumpy and gross too, it just depends on my mood.

Yesterday evening I even tried on the maternity overalls a friend of mine has loaned me. I didn't think I would like them, but I actually do, despite hubby telling me I look like a farmer.

25 weeks 6 days

Bubba bump has been really active this past week. Lots of movements, and lots of really strong movements. I'm loving it really, getting beaten up from the inside haha! It's so lovely, and so reassuring. I'm so glad I still have another probably 14 weeks to enjoy it... to try and keep enjoying being pregnant. I'm 90% sure this is our last bubba - three makes the most sense for us, and I can see myself being quite content with three. I'm not silly enough to say we definitely won't have any more, but for now, hubby and I are both happy to stay at three.

I am starting to think about really wanting to get into the right head space for birth again. Up to this point, I have not read anything, or even really thought about it that much. I have a couple of fiction novels I want to get out of the way over the next week while hubby is home (it's a trilogy, I feel like I have to finish it haha), but after that I plan on getting stuck into my birth books. I'll start seeing my midwife more frequently soon too which will help. I don't have the same drive and passion about my birth this time - I guess because I got my natural VBAC last time, so I know I can do it. I still have the same beliefs and wants for this birth, but that passion and determination is not there in the same amounts, if that makes sense? I'm sure once I start reading more, etc, I'll get right into it again though.

We have had Easter over the past few days (today is Easter Monday), so there's no point in even attempting to admit I've been eating well. There has been excessive amounts of chocolate, and because we were away for a night, there was a lot of sitting, and some McDonald's on the drive home, etc. Oh, and lots of hot cross buns smothered in butter. I'm kind of looking forward to Easter being over so I can be rid of chocolate and eating better. Oh, and exercise. I really need to be walking more, and taking up yoga again. Slack I've been.

And here we are - my 26 week belly pic. My poor singlet is struggling to cover everything, so I may have to find myself a plain black maternity top or singlet to keep going I think!

25 weeks

I'm feeling much, much better this week - thank goodness! Hubby and I had a talk about things, and then over the weekend we went out for dinner (to the birth centre fundraiser dinner actually), and I went to a high tea with a my mum's group. It was a lovely break - exactly what I needed. I felt wonderfully refreshed from it and I'm feeling much more myself.

25 weeks today, and I'm just plodding along (literally haha). Everything is pretty boring - my tummy is massive but I'm not uncomfortable. I don't really feel heavy in the tummy or sore. My hips get a bit achey sometimes, but overall - I barely feel pregnant. I obviously look it though, and strangers are having a hard time comprehending that I'm only as far along as I am! At the high tea, I was introduced to a woman and she asked when I was due. I told her, and she couldn't believe me. My mum then mentioned how it was my third, so that was why I was so big (thanks mum), and then this lady couldn't believe that it was my third either. Not sure what she was finding so hard to comprehend! I wasn't offended at all though - but I did find it very amusing.

I have been terribly slack with healthy eating and exercise over the past week or two. Part of it is finding time to exercise, part of it is feeling like I have the excuse of being pregnant... and a big part of it is simply that I can't be bothered. It's time to pull my finger out though, so I went for a walk this morning, and will be eating much better. I haven't been to pregnancy yoga in ages (partly because we've been busy and partly because of the cost), but after Easter I'll aim to go regularly. My gym membership will be on hold starting in ten days, so once that is gone I'll have to make sure I'm walking regularly.

Bubba bump seems to be going well as far as I can tell. Kicks are getting stronger and more frequent, and I've finally managed to see a kick instead of just feeling them. I think I've found she is most active first thing in the morning (usually when I'm still lying in bed), and in the evening. I am feeling more through the day now too. It's nice, and in those rare moments I can appreciate it, I feel truly blessed.

And here is today's belly photo!

And here is a comparison. Belly pics from 5 weeks, 15 weeks and 25 weeks:

Far out! When you put it side-by-side like that...! And to think, I have another 15 weeks to go!

24 weeks 3 days

I have been really slack getting to my post for this week. To be honest, I've been having a really off week, and if I had written earlier on I think it would have been a jumbled, depressing mess.

I don't know what's up. I've been feeling really disconnected from everything and everyone, even hubby and kids. Yesterday I woke up in a foul mood, quickly lost patience with the little miss, felt awful and spent the rest of the morning crying on and off. And those that know me know that I'm not usually a cryer. Even today, I still don't feel completely myself. I don't know if it's pregnancy related (you know, stupid hormones) or if there is something else bothering me that I haven't worked out. I know I have been feeling particularly disconnected from hubby. We are in desperate need of some time alone together. We have the evenings, but I am so exhausted by then that I am never in the mood to talk/bond, whatever. I think I'm a bit burnt out too - hubby is just not pulling his weight around here. Anyway, whatever it is - I just feel flat and miserable, and then I feel crappy and guilty because my life is pretty good and I'm not appreciating it... gah.

Anyway, 24 weeks and bubba is kicking up a storm. Most mornings I get some pretty good kicks, and then not heaps through the day while I'm busy, and then another lot of good kicks and wriggles of an evening when I'm watching TV. Hubby has felt kicks a few times now - they're definitely getting easier to feel now that they're much stronger. The little man may have felt a kick - he has tried to feel a few times, but it's hard to be patient and wait for kicks when you're five years old. The little miss hasn't felt any. She puts her hand on my belly sometimes, and then tells me she felt a kick after a couple of seconds even when bubba isn't moving.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but the little miss apparently also has a baby in her tummy. That's what she tells me. She talks about her baby, and that her baby kicks, etc. When I have my multivitamins in the morning, I give her a kids gummi multivitamin, and she says that she is having the tablets for her baby. It's all very cute.

My mood has impacted quite a bit on my healthy eating/exercise. I haven't done any formal exercise for about a week now, and there has been a reasonable amount of chocolate consumption. We're pretty broke at the moment too which doesn't help. I need to snap out of this mood - I'm not a fan of it.

Here is this week's belly pic (it was taken on Monday at 24 weeks exactly). I know I'm pregnant, but I'm just feeling big and frumpy at the moment.

Sorry for the depressing post. I'll try and snap out of it and be my normal, happy self next post.