16 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2

Due Date:

28 October 

Symptoms:

None! Hoorah! I seem to have finally have come out the other end of the sickness now. I didn't do a 15 week update as I forgot to take a picture and to be honest, nothing much happened. I've got more energy, I'm eating normally again and I've not had my head down a toilet for a good couple of weeks! I'm still sleeping relatively ok (for now) and I'm not finding it too hard to get comfy yet and the insomnia hasn't started - I remember being much further along when I started suffering insomnia during my pregnancy with Alfie. Things are pretty good.

How is baby?

The baby is now approximately the size of an avocado which is about 11.5cm.  As the baby's backbone has now become stronger, it will be learning to stretch and straighten out the head and neck more. Whilst the baby can make different facial expressions, it doesn't have any control over this just yet. As it's grip gets stronger, it's even possible that they would be grabbing the umbilical cord  - which is pretty crazy when you think how tiny it still is!

How I'm feeling:

GREAT! This was the week that I'd been anxious about for quite a while because we had a weekend away booked for my birthday and I was so worried that I wasn't going to be up to it... Thankfully though I felt absolutely fine and we had a great weekend (which you can read about here) I'm showing quite a lot now and I'm much bigger than I was the first time round. This worries me a little as by the end with Alfie, I was huge! I'm trying not to worry too much though because a lot of people have told me that you do show earlier with your second. I hope they're right!

One thing I've not really talked about is cravings - I've not really had many, but I can't get enough of diet coke, which I know is terrible. I am limiting myself, but if I didn't then I could easily drink a few pints a day! In terms of food, I tend to change from week to week - I've gone through stages of eating just potato waffles, toast (with lashings of butter), sweets such as fruitella or chewits and my biggest food craving would probably be cheese or anything cheese flavoured - mugshots, crisps, sticks of cheese...I cannot get enough of it! It could also be playing a part in the really vivid dreams I've been having ;)

I also had my 16 week midwife appointment this week, but I was literally only in there about 7 minutes - she checked my sample to make sure it was ok, updated my notes, reconfirmed my scan date and that was pretty much it. As everything is going ok with this pregnancy and I didn't have any issues last time with Alfie, I don't need to see the midwife again now until August, when I'll be 28 weeks!

One thing I haven't mentioned yet with not doing a 15 week update, is that I received a letter in the post informing me that I'd picked up a bacterial infection. When I'd given my sample at my scan, it was picked up from that, so I needed a course of antibiotics to clear it. Apparently, it can be quite harmful to the baby if left untreated. I had to take three antibiotics for five days, which meant I was still taking them when we arrived in Bridlington. Not only that but because of taking them, I developed thrush. I've never had it before but it was a pretty miserable few days and it left me feeling really uncomfortable. I had a bit of a wobble thinking it was one thing after another as I'd had a few issues down there last year, when my smear came back abnormal (the posts are here  and here  if you wanted to read about my experience). However, it didn't last long and I got a cream off my doctor and it went relatively quickly. I'm glad that it all cleared up enough not to spoil our weekend away!