15 Weeks

I'm going to try to make this blog a bit more pregnancy orientated, and since the US bloggers seem to do it so well, I found a lovely blog yesterday called:-  Third Time's The Charm which is by a girl called Katie who is about 21 weeks along!

So I hope she doesn't mind but I've blatantly plagiarised this post that she does every month as I think it's a nice way to keep track of everything.

So here goes...
How far along: 15 weeks today!!

Total Weight Gained: I'm afraid I don't know as I don't have any scales (as previously mentioned) and I keep forgetting to get on Mum's when I'm round at her house.  I must must must make a concerted effort to today.  Must.

Maternity Clothes: I'm sort of in a real inbetween stage at the moment.  My own jeans haven't done up for weeks but maternity are too big round the middle so I'm pulling them up all the time.  For work I've been getting away with a pair of larger sized black trousers and regular tops, although last week I did wear a maternity one and I looked a bit drowned.  Probably because it was my sisters and she stretched it out with the twins being in her bump!!

Stretch Marks: None as yet.  My Mum didn't seem to get them, but Sarah did.  I've used bio-oil a bit but have been worried by a report I read on it that said mineral oils aren't that good for skin and Palmers lotion is better although nothing will combat stretch marks if you're going to get them so it's all a bit hit and miss really.

Sleep: In spite of the cold at present (my head cold, not the dropping temperature!) I'm sleeping well, and only getting up once a night around 2-3am to nip to the loo.  Some nights I find it hard to get back to sleep as my brain starts chattering away, but I always seem to wake at the 6.30 alarm so I guess I do drop off again.

Best Moment of the Week: Erm.... well, I had two days where I wondered if I'd found my 'bloom' last week as I felt a lot more energised, wasn't falling asleep at 8.30 and could get more done, but with the onset of a cold, I'm a bit bleurgh again!!

Movement: I've not really felt anything I'd think was a movement.  I've heard it feels a bit like wind or bubbles inside, and if I've felt anything (sorry to be graphic here) it's tended to just be wind!!  I'm still getting shooting pains if I move too suddenly or roll over in bed to sharply which is the ligaments stretching to make room for baby.  Some ladies on the Babycentre forum think they've felt it, but I've also read it's a 20 week thing for a first timer like me.

Food Cravings:  I wouldn't say I've had outright cravings except for the first few weeks where I really wanted water melon.  I'm really into fruit, plums especially but then I've always liked fruit and plums, it's just that I can eat four large plums in one sitting now!  I find myself ravenous not long after breakfast and needing food around 10.30 - usually something sweet and filling, and then my appetite dwindles over the lunchtime and afternoon period.  Then if I've not eaten enough I get dizzy and feel ill.  I'm liking jelly sweets though too.  Mmmmm Haribo!

Gender: We don't yet know.   I've played with the old wives tales and tried to fathom it out but it's so random.  I did have an inkling to start with that it was a girl, not sure why, but I don't have that inkling anymore.

Belly Button: It's still normal, although when I was rubbing oil in yesterday it could have been my imagination, but it didn't feel quite so deep!!

What I miss: I'm not really missing anything at the moment, I'm fortunate to have everything I need and everyone comes around regularly.  I'm seeing my middle sister this weekend, it'd be nice to see the younger sister too!!

What I'm looking forward to:  I've got my 16 week midwife appointment booked, but in week 17 because we're away for the week during 16 so we'll get the blood test results back then.  Then it's not long till the 20 week scan on the 26th November where we see baby again and find out the sex.  Maybe.  I don't know!  Part of me would like a surprise, but most of me wants to know!  I hope I can decide!!

Milestones: Well, I'm only 5 weeks away from being half way through this pregnancy.  It's flown by, but then I guess the first eight weeks were spent in blissful ignorance!  I'm starting to think that was a good thing as I missed all the early stresses really!!

Dawn Porter

Steve and I enjoy these programs, she's quite a funny reporter looking into funny things, so I was pleased to turn on the TV and find a show on her getting a baby! Sheseems to be one of these women who can't imagine having a baby due to the effects it has on your body and said how you ask a woman about the birth afterwards and they all get hazy about it. So she decided she wanted to see one for herself!

I was intrigued, and made Steve watch it with me (he didn't make it through the whole thing) but I really felt it was helpful. There is a lot of mysterious stuff that you don't know to expect. I didn't realise about the nausea and tiredness to start with for the first three months. And it only seems to get worse as you go along! One women interviewed had seriously terrible piles and was just bleeding into the toilet when she went :( (piles are one of my worst nightmares). Another couple said that everything 'down there' got stretched' and you could see it was bigger afterwards (that may have been when Steve left!) and these are things that have worried me.

Anyway, she found a women willing to be filmed for the birth and we had all the run up to the labour and then Dawn missed it! She was out of the country although the camera man was in there and my oh my, the very animalistic noises were unlike anything. There was a lot of screaming. I find myself wondering if this is a modern thing? In the olden days I doubt that women would have felt they could yell as much as they wanted to, but I wonder if we've gone a bit soft these days? I guess I'll find out at some point. Will I be a screaming, yelling, desperate for pain relief woman or be calm and natural?! And how will Steve cope at all if he can't watch a TV show of a baby coming out?!

One of the blogs I follow - Heather Drive has just described in lovely detail the birth of her baby! It's quite detailed which I like, and hers was completely natural (not completely by choice) but reading these sorts of things make me feel more positive! And take a look at the little baby girl, Nora. She's adorable. Maybe it's all worth it and going to be ok.