Symptoms: This week I’ve noticed that I really can’t keep up anymore and that walking distance starts to get uncomfortable really quickly. I hate the feeling of slowing everyone down but right now that seems to be the only way I can get anywhere without being in some form of strange pain. Yesterday for example, the hubby and I walked to the local shop which is literally right around the corner from where we work and up a slight incline. Normally we’d just get our stomp on but halfway up the little hill I started panting and feeling quite a heavy pressure at the bottom of my bump so we had to slow up! I think I need to get it into my head that I’m carrying a little human within me and that I can’t expect myself to do everything that I did before with ease!
I’ve also been getting leg cramp every morning as I’ve been clambering out of bed but it’s nothing as sever as the cramp I had some weeks ago and it disappears within a minute or two!
Body Changes: The bump is rock hard now and ever-growing, I look pregnant in absolutely everything I own now with is great because I much prefer looking pregnant to looking fat 😛 I’ve started to notice that my old stretch marks look more obvious now due to the continuous stretching but they aren’t angry-looking and as of yet no new angry stretch marks have appeared – I’m thinking that the day will come soon enough though!
Cravings: I just want to eat crap all the time, takeaways, pizza, huge bowls of pasta etc but this is like a yearly thing for me anyway – I think it has something to do with it being really dark when I get home from work at night and cold … you know when you just can’t be bothered to cook and all you want to do is chill out in front of the TV or snuggle up in bed? I’m in that kind of mood which instantly means I want crap to go along with it.
High Point: Feeling awesome about my body – that will never get old as I’ve hated how I’ve looked for so long!
Low Point: I’ve just been feeling a bit “meh!” because of the weather/dark nights etc but the low point would be feeling like I’m possibly annoying for people by not being able to keep up.
What I did to prepare this week: It’s been a really lax week where we have done very little in order to prepare but yesterday we devised a sort of to-do list which we will be working down from tomorrow afternoon – I’m starting to worry that we are running out of time!
Paranoid Moment: It’s the kick thing again, yesterday she only threw out the odd punch or kick and I tried to not let it freak me out but today she seems to be having a squirm again so all seems well. There seem to be a lot of people on our birth boards that are saying the same thing so I don’t feel like I’m going totally nuts or anything just yet.
What’s going on “in there”: From babycentre.co.uk again…
Your baby now weighs a little over 1kg and measures about 39cm from head to toe. On his head, hair is growing well. If you’re having a boy, his testicles will have descended from near the kidneys through the groin en route to the scrotum. If your baby is a girl, her clitoris is prominent, because it’s not yet covered by the still-small labia. These will grow to cover it in the last few weeks before birth. Your baby’s head is getting bigger to make room for his developing brain. Nearly all babies react to sound and light by the end of this week. Your baby’s nutritional needs reach their peak during the third trimester. You’ll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium (about 200mg is deposited in your baby’s skeleton every day), so eat foods rich in these nutrients. His skeleton hardens even more and his brain, muscles, and lungs are maturing all the time. Take a look at our eating well guide to make sure you are getting the right minerals and vitamins. As your bump gets bigger you may find it harder to get a good night’s sleep. Many mums-to-be find they have vivid dreams about their baby in the third trimester.
To finish, here is my bump picture for this week…
Dear Sophie-Anne 