BABY: 39 Weeks Pregnant Update

39 Weeks! I'm actually writing this at 39+6 and have found that this week has really flown by. This week we have really entered the Baby Skerritt Sweepstake birth dates, so all of the family members involved are keeping a beady eye on their phones, ready to receive any message of my labour. 

Towards the end of this week, I've had a few signs of my imminent labour! For the past couple of days I've had a few weak Braxton Hicks feelings. They don't really last very long and are slightly uncomfortable, but not very painful. Today, though, I have had a few period type pains and mild backache. Is this a sign of things to come?!

 

Baby Skerritt has been very active throughout the day. It has become more of a shuffle and almost feels like he is burrowing deeper into my pelvic area. This has made walking around feel pretty strange. Get me a cowboy outfit and you may mistake me for a tubby John Wayne. 

My actual bump is probably no lower than last week, but it honestly does feel like it comes down to my knees. In the areas of my bump that have dropped, I've found that my skin is getting less stretched. This has, in turn, made my stretchmarks in those areas more faded. 

The same sleeping problems are still present, but I have found that I can sleep longer on each side before the cramps set in. YAY! The bad news is that having the baby lower means my bladder is suffering. My new record of toilet trips during the night was around 5. That was a bad night. So, I've tried to get a better balance of staying hydrated during the day, but just not too close to bedtime.

 

We had a midwife appointment this week and everything was fine. When feeling for the baby, she did say that if he gets any lower we will see the whites of his eyes! So he really must be low!! I was offered a sweep at the same time, but I declined and decided to book in for one next Wednesday, when I will be 40+6 weeks pregnant. I suppose I could live to regret it, but I wanted to try and give myself a chance of going into a completely natural labour. 

 

Fingers crossed, Baby Skerritt will arrive sooner rather than later. We are all so excited to meet him, and being honest, things will be a lot easier if he comes soon before the big move! 

LIFE: Baby Skerritt Sweepstake

About a month ago myself and Chris were starting to get excited about Baby Skerritt's imminent arrival and were joking about setting up a family sweepstake. The more we talked about it, the more fun we thought it would be to get both sides of our family in on the action.

We decided that all parents and siblings (and partners) would get involved. My two nieces joined in, along with Chris' grandparents and his only auntie, uncle and cousin. (At this point, I'd like to add that this is the first baby that will be born on Chris' side of his immediate family, so excitement is huge!) We stopped at this point so it didn't get too out of hand.

First things first, we had to decide on the categories. We settled on the date of birth, the baby's weight and the baby's name. The next step was to add everyone into a WhatsApp group so we could collate all of their guesses. Yes, of course I made a cheeky spreadsheet.. it would be rude not to. We also decided to provide them with an incentive. So, the winner of each category (or who ever comes closest) will be presented with a certificate at the Christening party. They will have to give a speech on why they went with their particular choice and will also hold the bragging rights.

It took a while for people to actually put their guesses down into the group message.. I think nobody wanted to be the first. Pretty much by the end of the day, and after a lot of banter, we had nearly all of the guesses in. A few days later, Chris and I decided to join in too, but obviously not with the baby name.. that would be giving things away!

After that, it was really was just a matter of printing out the table and attaching it onto the fridge door. Now we are just waiting for the arrival. Chris has been crossing the date of birth guesses off as the days go by. I must admit, I keep checking the table every time I open the fridge door and it makes me smile every time.

Have you thought about doing a baby sweepstake? Have you done one during your, or another family member's  pregnancy? If so, leave a comment below as I'd love to hear how it went!

BABY: What I've Packed In My Hospital Bag

In my last blog post, I showed you what I decided to pack in my baby hospital bag. This post is focused on my personal hospital bag. As I mentioned in my previous post, this bag was also hastily packed at the same time as the other bag. I was very conscious of overpacking and looking like a wally, so I've tried to keep my items to the minimum.

 So, here is a list of the things I decided to pack:

• Weekend bag, purchased from Tesco, similar here.
• A towel.
• A nursing top.
• Maternity leggings.
• 2 button fronted nightdresses.
• 4 huge pairs of black full briefs - I've heard the aftermath can be messy and I also wanted knickers that would come up high, in case things don't go to plan and I have a caesearean.
• Socks - I've since purchased some fluffier ones, for possible cold feet during labour.
• Slippers - These were from Primark and I thought were handy as I didn't need to worry about my swollen feet not fitting into them. 
• Flip Flops - Just a cheap pair that I could potentially wear in the shower, if it doesn't look brilliant in there, or for general walking around.
• Pack of approx 20 maternity pads - for after labour.
• Headbands, a hairtie and grips - I'm pretty sure I won't want my hair in my face during labour!
• Lip balm.
• Coin purse with change and notes that will be needed for parking and snacks/drinks.
• Earphones - In case I decide I need music to help me through contractions.
• Tissues.
• TENs machine - Hopefully will help me through labour.
• Washbag.
• A lightweight dressing gown (not shown in the photo, ooops!).

I've tried to cover a lot of bases in this washbag. I've included the essentials like a toothbrushes (for me and Chris), toothpaste, deodorant, shower gel, facial cleanse wipes and moisturiser. If possible, I've purchased travel sized products, just to save on room. I've also put in travel sized hand cream, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, muslin cloth and a hot cloth cream cleanser. I'm pretty sure I won't get around to using these, but if I did, they're at hand.

Other items that need to be put in at last minute are my hospital notes, hairbrush, iPhone charger and camera (with a charged battery and memory card). We've also got a big bottle of water and 3 cartons of drink for me, along with a red bull and some lucozade for Chris, cooling in the fridge. Snack wise I have a box of Jaffa Cakes, a couple of bags of apple crisps and some Jelly Babies to munch on.

Our midwife suggested we take our swiss ball with us, as our hospital doesn't have these. So, depending on if I'm finding the ball useful during labour at home, this may also get thrown into the car when we set off.

That is it for my hospital bags. If you think I've missed anything vital or that you may have found useful when at the hospital on the labour ward, then please leave me a comment below. :)

BABY: What I've Packed In My Baby Hospital Bag

Throughout my whole pregnancy, I had been looking forward to packing my hospital bags. I pictured myself smiling away as I lovingly folded all the teeny weeny baby essentials into the bag. In reality, like most things in life, this didn't actually happen.

As I mentioned in a previous post here, quite late on in my pregnancy we had booked a trip to Liverpool for Chris' Liverpool FC Stadium Tour. We both decided, running up to this time, that it would be best to pack my hospital bags and take our hospital notes and the car seat, in case the unthinkable happened. Well... fast forward to the day before we were due to travel... still no bags had been packed. Finally, I bit the bullet and made a list of things I thought Baby Skerritt would need, once he made his big arrival.

I found it a lot easier to just lay everything out on our bed before packing it all into the bag. Obviously I have no idea how long my stay in hospital will be, so I didn't want to have too much or too little. What I decided to pack was:

• Weekend Bag, purchased from Primark.
• Pack of 23 newborn nappies.
• Nappy bags.
• 2 blankets - a fleecy Winnie the Pooh one and a cotton cellular blanket.
• Antibacterial wipes, in case I become a germophobe overnight.
• Cotton wool squares, for nappy changing.
• Water wipes - I know cotton wool and water is the preferred method, but water wipes are practically the same.. plus I've heard that the meconium poo nappy change can be a bit sticky, so wipes may well be easier.
• Lasinoh nipple cream, just in case.
• A handful of breast pads, in case my milk comes in.
• Tissues, for when I'm getting all emotional!
• 2 comfortable sleep bras which are nursing friendly.
• 3-4 muslin cloths, 1 being an extra large sized cloth, ideal for swaddling attempts!
• A few bibs, no idea if I'll use them, but they don't take up much room in the bag.
• Newborn sized socks, hats and some scratch mitts.
• 6 sleepsuits and 6 vests. 

Yes, I feel I may have gone overboard with baby outfits, but hear me out! In the back of my mind I still keep having this panic where the baby comes out, and the midwife announces.. 'It's A Girl!!'
So, just in case, I've packed a few plain white sleepsuits. But if all goes as planned and he is a he, I still wanted some more boy themed sleepsuits for photos. I also plan to pop in one of his newborn toys, but I still need to decide which one!

Anyway, there was no surprise arrival of Baby Skerritt, so the bag has just been waiting around in the nursery for the moment it will be quickly grabbed and put into the car! I did get everything out a week or so ago, to re-pack and check, knowing that it was originally packed in a rush.

Is there anything vital you think I'm missing? What were your essential items from your baby hospital bag? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

BLOG: New Blog Design

So, since I started my blog, I have never really been that happy with my blog design template. At the time I wasn't too bothered as:

1. I didn't know how long this new hobby would last.
2. I was so clueless that I wasn't even really aware you could have different designs other than the ones available on the Blogger website.

Now that I am posting a lot more frequently than I ever used to, I started to get frustrated. The blog design wasn't 'me'. It was dull, boring and if I thought that, then surely any visitors to my blog would be thinking the same thing.

Fast forward to last week... I was browsing Etsy for things I don't need (anyone else do this?) and I just typed 'template for blogger' into the search box. Two words instantly sprung to mind.. WOW - look at all the pretty templates; and  OOOH - these are a lot cheaper than I thought they would be.
In that moment I decided to bite the bullet, choose a design and just go ahead and purchase one.

I wasn't looking for a complete custom design, it seemed a bit pointless (and more expensive) going for such a thing when my blog is still very much in its early days. Bearing in mind there are hundreds of templates available on Etsy, I spent the rest of the day clicking through pages and pages of different styles and then managed to narrow it down to a select few.

I'm very much aware that in the blogging world there is a whole monochrome fashion going on at the minute, with black squiggly handwriting in the header. I really do think they look great, but in all seriousness I am not 'cool' enough to carry off that design. As a person I tend to be quite bright and breezy, a little bit daft and probably still don't act my age, or ever will. The stylish monochrome designs seemed to suit the more sophisitcated bloggers out there. I love pastel colours and pretty things so I knew as soon as I saw this template that it was the one.

The template was created by Adrien from Eclair Designs and her whole shop on Etsy is full of more beautiful designs. The template was easy to purchase, you get a file to download and have instructions to install it. With me being such a nube (with a serious case of baby brain) I paid extra to have Adrien install it for me. Adrien probably regretted having the 'ask seller a question' button that day, as I had plenty of questions that I wanted to ask before making the purchase. All of these questions were answered promptly (which I found surprising as I believe Eclair Designs is based in America) and put my mind at ease.

Once I had made the purchase, I still downloaded the file, so I could keep a backup of the template. About an hour or so later, I received a message saying the blog template installation was complete! And that, as they say, is that!

I'm so thrilled with the outcome and am already feeling more excited to write more blog posts. I'm still tweaking things, adding some more links to my social media sites etc, to make it easier for any followers to keep up to date with things. So, I hope you appreciate the design more than the old one and enjoy it as much as I do. If you haven't checked out my new blog design, then you can do so here!

*This is not a sponsored post and everything was paid for by myself.

BABY: 38 Weeks Pregnant Update

So.. the baby still hasn't made an appearance. Family members are getting impatient now as everyone just wants to meet Baby Skerritt. I can't wait too, but I keep telling him to just come out when he's ready.

This week my bump has visibly lowered. I now look more like one of those men who have a huge beer belly that sits over their trouser waistband! Baby Skerritt has also lowered and has made it hard for me to walk properly, not that my walk has been normal for quite a while. It has definitely developed more of a shuffle into my waddle. I feel sorry for anybody who gets stuck behind me when going going upstairs.. ahem.. sorry Chris.. is comparing it to climbing Everest a bit over the top?

The same sleeping issues are still burdening me .. sciatica, cramp, problems rolling over etc. I have loved having a baby bump and you can't describe the closeness you feel when the little life inside you is moving around. However, the larger my bump has got, the more I look forward to being able to quickly run upstairs to fetch something, sleep on my back or even to bend down to pick things up off the floor.

It's hard to say for certain, but I feel like I've had a few mild Braxton Hicks throughout the week. There has been some tightening and mild pain lower down in my bump and pelvic area. It was enough for me to stop and take notice, but not enough for me to think it was real labour.

Swollen feet and ankles have returned with a vengeance. They made a reappearance when the weather improved. My personal masseuse has been great and really helped to make them feel so much better.

Apart from that the only other thing worth mentioning is my bath time struggles. Physically trying to lift my legs to step into the bath for a shower really hurts my groin area. That's another thing I won't miss after the baby arrived!

Next week the only plans we have are to go to one of our last midwife appointments (if Baby Skerritt doesn't arrive before then). Really though, we are just clock watching and hoping we may get to meet this little boy who is so loved and so wanted.. sooner rather than later.

BABY: 37 Weeks Pregnant Update

We made it to Full Term! To think that we are finally in the last few weeks of our first pregnancy seems so unbelievable! Who would have thought that nearly this time last year Chris came home for a couple of weeks of R&R and we decided that we would definitely start trying for a baby when he returned for good later in the year!

Anyway, enough reminiscing, what happened last week? Not much really would be the answer. For the past month it really has just been the same ailments. The past week has been a little warmer and I've had plenty of foot massages from my lovely husband. Swollen feet are really rubbish.
Waddling short distances is all I can really manage now. Little Bumpy feels so low down in there, like he could pop out at any time. My bump is lower too. Chris keeps feeling the weight of it from the bottom and it surprises him every time. The struggle to step into the bath is now very real and painful. If it gets any worse I will need help to step in. Putting my feet up, having plenty of rest and bouncing on my ball are helping with the lightning pains that I'm now getting more frequently. Movements from Bumpy are still at a similar time throughout the day and, what a surprise, a lot lower down!

Sleeping is definitely at its worst now. It's not just the lightning pains, but the weight of the bump is the main culprit. I may have the odd nap in the day to help catch up on sleep, but not for long else I feel awful. The one thing I will be looking forward to once the baby is born is being able to turn over in bed without the full on mission that it is now. Granted I may not be getting a huge amount of sleep, but being able to sleep on my back... utter bliss!

I had my midwife appointment this week and it went well and all the normal checks came back fine. Feeling for Little Bumpy's position is probably the most painful thing to happen to me all week though. She really delves into the bump to feel for Bumpy. Ouch! She thinks the head is down and his back is facing the left side of my bump. His heartbeat still sounds like a train and makes me smile every time I hear it. I also had 2 MRSA swabs.. one up my nose and one in my groin area. I think these are mainly just done on pregnant mothers with a slightly higher BMI. We are booked in for another appointment in 2 weeks, which is 2 days before our due date! Will we even make it to that appointment?! Eeeek exciting times are ahead!

Did you make it to your due date? Feel free to leave a comment below.

BABY: 36 Weeks Pregnant Update

This should have gone up on Thursday, but I didn't get around to finishing the post off. Sorry! Better late than never though! I can't believe I've got to the point of being 1 week away from a full term pregnancy! This is pretty nerve wracking, yet exciting, to think the baby could arrive at any time. Eeeek!

I feel like my bump has definitely lowered this past week, I'm not sure it has significantly grown in size though. Little Bumpy, however, seems to be getting himself much lower down, to the point that I am very aware of him whilst walking. It has been a little bit awkward and uncomfortable walking upstairs, which I fear is only going to get worse as the weeks go by. My sleeping issues are still the same.. turning over and getting up to wee are both still a mission. My nightly trips to the toilet have multiplied from once to maybe twice or three times now. Trying to sit up does involve the husband's help, as sometimes I feel like my bump has me pinned to the bed. My belly button has partly come out at the edges but still no full POP!

My lower back has been a lot better, but then, I'm not moving around as much as before. My nightly massages really help me to get off to sleep (thanks Chris!), before the dreaded sciatica starts giving me gyp in my bottom.

I'm being careful in not squishing the bosom too much in everyday life, as I know if I do, the likelihood is that they will leak. Luckily my main leakages have been during my sleep, so no embarrassing wet patches whilst I'm out shopping.

I've been so thankful that the weather took a turn for the worse as it really helped my swollen feet and ankles. I also ordered some size 6 trainers, so I can actually fit my feet into a pair of shoes! I'm probably the only person who doesn't mind this cooler summer we have been experiencing!

Activity from Little Bumpy is similar to last week, but I do feel like he doesn't have as much space for big wriggles. They are definitely now more of a smaller fidget. He also still manages to get hiccups on occasions.

I had one moment last week when I desperately needed a wee and had a real strong pain, but after going it was still there. I did wonder if that was a Braxton Hicks moment. I'm still not certain if it was, but it is a possibility.

We finally had our first meeting with a Health Visitor. She wasn't actually the one assigned to us as that lady has been poorly, but she kindly paid us a visit on the behalf of the poorly lady. I was nervous about meeting a health visitor as you hear all of these horror stories. I needn't have been worried as all she really did was get to know both of us a little and also take us through our red record book for Little Bumpy. She also wanted to see how much we knew about labour and our plans for after the birth. She was very inclusive with Chris and sent him a 'Dad's Club' pack which included a changing mat, bib and a baby aide memoire aimed specifically at fathers. Our situation is a little different as we may possibly only get one visit before we move away from Cornwall. Hopefully the Health Visitor in Lincolnshire will be just as nice!

Finally, for a bit of fun we have started a baby sweepstake within our immediate family. They have all chosen a date of birth, a baby name and a baby weight. We just thought it was a nice way of bringing both sides of the family together and to bring a bit of excitement to the waiting game of the arrival of Little Bumpy.

That's it for this week. What sort of experiences have you had with Health Visitors? Did you ever do a baby sweepstake? Feel free to comment below.