10 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2.

Due Date: 

Still 01 November 2016

Symptoms:

To be honest, this week hasn't been too bad. On Monday, I was sick before work and I felt pretty rubbish all day, well in to the evening. Alfie had been poorly with a cough and cold and had been up quite a lot in the night and ended up in our bed, so I was extremely tired, which I think made the sickness worse.

I'm still feeling really tired and I'm totally off food still, but I'm just relieved not to have suffered too badly with sickness this week and having a few days with no sickness has been a welcome break.

How is baby?

The baby's heart is now fully formed and it's heart will be beating two or three times faster than mine. The jaw is also starting to form, with all the milk teeth, which we won't start to see until around 6 months old. Fingers and toes are no longer webbed and the baby can move it's arms from the wrist and will be able to make little jerky movements. Amazing.


How I'm feeling?

Honestly? Not great. I remember reading a post by my lovely blogging friend Charlotte, before I was pregnant, where she talks about how grateful she is to be pregnant, but how hard she's finding it (you can read the post here) and I can totally relate to how she was feeling.

Pregnancy is the most wonderful thing in the world. To grow your baby inside of you for nine months and have this unbreakable bond with someone you haven't even met, well, it's just incredible. That's not to say it's not hard though. I've found this time round so much more difficult. I don't know if it's because I'm older, because I have a three year old to look after whilst I'm not feeling my best, or if it's just been a more difficult pregnancy, but I'm finding it hard. So much harder than I thought I would. I'm consumed by guilt at the moment. I'm not spending enough quality time with Alfie, I'm not able to pick him up when he asks. I'm very aware of lifting heavy things in these early weeks and sadly that also means Alfie too. On the whole, he's understood in his own little way, but it's also meant that Michael has also been picking up a lot of the slack whilst I've not felt up to it.

I feel like I'm failing at being a wife as well as a Mummy. I see the pressure Michael is under - he's working all week, sometimes driving four hours a day if he's working at the other site, he's then coming home and taking over with Alfie straight away, which includes making tea for them both and sometimes me too, he's also doing the bed time routine, which he's always done, but after getting in and having to make tea, it's meant he's not been sitting down till 9pm some nights, from 7am in the morning. I feel like I've neglected him and it has caused tears on occasions  (mine not his, I might add).

I'm incredibly lucky that he's been so understanding and has never once moaned or complained about having to do so much around the house and with Alfie, or the fact that his tea isn't on the table when he gets in after a long day. I'm so blessed to have him by my side supporting me through this journey.

Hopefully it won't be long until I'm over the sickness / tiredness and I can start to enjoy this pregnancy.

I also had my second midwife appointment this week, but there's nothing really to report as I was only in there about five minutes whilst she did a quick blood test. I get the results back at my scan in a couple of weeks.

9 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2

Due Date: 

01 November 2016

Symptoms?

I started off the week feeling pretty symptom free! I had very little sickness or heaving in a morning and didn't feel as tired. I told Michael that it was a relief not to be being sick / heaving every morning but that I didn't want to count my chickens just yet as I knew it may well return... and it did by the end of the week. On Friday, it was my day off and I had my 1st midwife appointment and I was so ill before it. It was the first time that I've been sick and had Alfie there and I felt so bad that he had to see me being sick... he kept popping his head in the bathroom asking if I was ok and telling me he would wait for me, bless him. It was quite a bad episode, but as soon as I was finished, I pretty much instantly felt better and I even managed to eat breakfast before we had to leave the house! I also started with a mild cold this week, so I feel that took it out of me a little bit, but thankfully it didn't develop into a full blown cold.


How's Baby?

The baby is approximately the size of an olive and this week will transform into the feotal period, from the embryonic period. The heart is already beating strong, but I won't feel this. The ears are starting to form and the eyelids are developed, but will remain closed until much later on.


How I'm feeling?

Excited  and exhausted! As mentioned above, I had my first midwife appointment this week and it was so lovely to have one this early. Last time, there was a mix up with my so I ended up on missing quite a few appointments, so I was relieved that this didn't happen this time. The midwife was lovely and she started all my notes, which in itself made me excited as I still have my notes from when I was pregnant with Alfie. Seeing the midwife made it feel much more real. There's nothing much to report from the midwife as that first appointment was basically just a form filling exercise. My in-laws very kindly took me to my appointment, then had Alfie for a few hours for me, so I could go home and rest. I must admit, as much as I missed him, I was really grateful that I was able to go home and rest after feeling so terrible this morning. I feel like the weeks are going quite fast but that's probably because I'm sleeping so, so much! Gone are the days where I would stay up till past midnight and beyond. I feel like I've spent the past few weeks with me head in a toilet or asleep!

One thing I haven't mentioned yet are the vivid dreams I've been having. More or less since finding out, I have been having the craziest dreams! I usually remember my dreams anyway, but my dreams lately seem all the more vivid.

I'm still not managing to eat much except boring bland food and it's getting me down a bit because I'm so desperate eat proper food, but I can't stomach it, nor have I got the energy to cook it!

8 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2

Due Date: 

01 November 2016

Symptoms?

So the sickness has stopped and been replaced with heaving instead although I did have a couple of days at the end of the week where I had no sickness / heaving at all, which was really rather lovely! That said, I've never been so glad for having two toilets! Every morning I get up and go down as quietly as I can and use the down stairs loo as I'm up a good 20 minutes before the boys - I can't imagine it being nice for Michael to wake up to the sound of me being sick every morning. I'm feeling really rough when I get up and getting out of bed is really, really hard! From the moment I open my eyes I'm filled with dread - am I going to be sick? Do I feel sick? Am I going to be ok? I think it's the worry of not knowing if I'm actually going to be sick which makes getting up so much harder!

On saying that, I'm finding now that my sickness is starting to settle down and once I've either been sick / heaved that it's enough to get it out of my system and I'm ok, whereas a few weeks ago the nausea would linger till around mid morning and sometimes even lunch time.

I'm still incredibly tired and I'm so looking forward to Easter as we have no plans and I really need these four days off! Four days to have slow relaxing morning's without setting the alarm. Four days to hopefully enjoy the time off with my boys. Four days where Michael will be there to look after not only Alfie, but me too!

How is baby?

The baby is approximately two centimetres in size and is growing at around 1mm per day. When you think of that, it's pretty crazy. The fingers and toes have started to develop although they are still webbed and will remain this way for some time yet. The embryonic tail is now almost gone and all it's nerves and organs are starting to function.

How I'm feeling?

I feel like I'm starting to manage things better. I've been eating lots of bland foods and I've found I've really missed proper food - I've been craving spaghetti bolognaise  this week, but I've not had the energy to make it and I'm not sure how I'd cope with such a rich meal, so it'll have to wait a few more weeks yet I think. I started the week off feeling really anxious as I was worried about Easter being a write off - the last three weekends I've been fit for nothing and I really didn't want our four days off to be wasted or for me to miss out on anything because I was resting on the couch. Luckily, I got up on Good Friday and felt fine. I had no symptoms at all and I was able to enjoy the day. We went to my granparents and told them the news and it was the perfect Spring day and I was so lovely to sit out in the garden and feel some sun. It's made me desperately crave the warm summer months!

One exciting this which happened this week was on Easter Saturday, I received my letter from the hospital with my scan date which is the 21st April. At last I feel like I've finally something to work towards. I'm being quite silly in that I'm trying to convince myself that once I get to that magical 12 weeks and I've had my scan, that I'll suddenly start to feel better and this sickness and nausea will go and I'll start to feel great! However, I know that just because I've had a scan that I'll suddenly start to feel ok again and back to my old self. With Alfie, the sickness / nausea lasted until around 13 weeks.

Here's hoping it goes sooner rather than later!