Snow has arrived & Antenatal cancelled!

32.3 weeks - The snow has arrived early!!!

The peaceful snow covered road.

Our 'chalet' style house in the snow!

On a normal, cold November morning we woke to a light scattering of snow on the ground. Off I trotted to work but little did we know that the snow was going to turn heavy! After receiving a couple of calls/texts from people near home saying it was 6-8 inches at 3pm, part of me thought 'yeah right!'. I was in London, in my office, light showers of snow but nothing was settling. By 4pm, I thought it would be best to head home as I really wasn't wearing the right boots for snow weather.

Me and bump admiring the snow covered house!

Our lovely winter wonderland garden (view from bedroom)

I finally came off the train at Wallington and I was in 6 inches of snow.... my boots did not help and I was slipping all over the place (some bloke almost slipped down the stairs at the station but caught himself) this walk home was going to be a nightmare! It was one of the first time that I realised that carrying a bump on the front of you doesn't just throw you off balance, it makes you completely paranoid about falling over. My usual 15 min walk took me over 30 mins and I just wanted to cry and for someone to magic me home there and then! I managed to pull a muscle in my tummy, ouch. I think I was just so tense trying to steady myself I did more damage than good.

Once safe at home (with Dan still stuck on his train) I actually started to appreciate how nice snow was. (check out the winter wonderland garden pics). Dan finally got in at 8pm, after leaving the office at 4.30pm.

On top of all this, our first Antenatal class got cancelled, gutted (although we wouldn't have been able to get there!). It should be rescheduled for a couple of weeks time but I was really looking forward to that.

I was able to work from home today as I said it was too icy for me to get into work whilst preggers. It was lovely to wake up on 1 December 2010 to a blanket of snow though (it's getting us in the mood for Christmas). With only 7 days left of work, I really wished the snow had come after I had at least finished. My work is such a nightmare with letting people work from home and my boss can be very strict with it. It makes me feel very guilty but I am almost 8 months pregnant so some flexibility has to be shown I guess. I will put my boots on and tackle the journey in tomorrow (to show dedication to my job) but it is these things that make me want to find a more 'family friendly' company to work for once the baby arrives (I can't even imagine what my boss' reaction would be if I said I could get in as the baby was sick, nursery closed etc)!!

Imagine if we woke up on Christmas Day morning and had snow like this.... AMAZING!

A treat from hubby!

31.6 weeks

Dan treated me to a surprise spa weekend away to an amazing hotel called Pennyhill Park in Bagshot (near Basingstoke). I know of this hotel as it is a celebrity haunt and never would have expected to be able to stay there... it's very pricey!

We arrived to find that the England Rugby team were also staying there (it is their residence hotel when playing at Twickenham) which I think swayed Dan when choosing a hotel to stay at. It was pretty cool coz we got to meet/see lots of the players (not that I knew who they were) but Dan was in his element!!!

Here is Dan with Mark Cueto (very good looking!)

and here are some other players heading for the coach to Twickenham.

Dan had booked me in for a 1.5 hour pregnancy massage and facial which was absolute bliss! Pennyhill is famous for their pregnancy facilities which in all honesty I could not fault, it was amazing! The spa was huge!!!! On the Sunday, after brekkie with the players :0) we went back to use the spa which consisted of outside thermal pools, several steam/warm/cold rooms, a sensory room (where you get to have a nap on water beds!), foot massage chairs, massive pool and anything else you can think of! It was truly amazing and such luxury! If you ever want a spa hotel, go here!!!above - Dan checking out the pile of ice in the 'ice room', chilly! He actually threw some down my gown, I was not a happy bunny!

below - me being a chubbs in the steam room. Look at that belly!!!

Here I am posing with my bump (which looks huge) in front of the thermal spas and the main hotel (aka Hogwarts).

We had a suite booked, called Hibiscus (no room numbers here!), which was huge too! Massive bathroom and even a Pillow Menu to choose from (I choose 2 extra ones to help support the bump!). We had the best night sleep ever!

Another part of the treat was the food..... Afternoon tea on the Saturday, yummy! Lots and lots of food, even too much for Dan!

The evening then began with a 7 course meal in the Michelin star hotel restaurant. They could not do enough to help with my 'condition'! Every bit of food served was adapted to my pregnancy, fantastic! Dan managed to drink most of the red wine, followed by a selection of yummy cheese from the huge variety they had on the trolley (I miss wine and cheese!).

After dinner we headed to the bar which was full of players, wives and other rugby staff. You could see that every man was more interested in what Martin Johnson (England coach) was up to rather than listening to their wives, hehe!

It was an amazing surprise and such a perfect weekend, I felt truly spoilt and a very very lucky girl! I just hope I get to visit Pennyhill again!

31 weeks - the folks visit

31 weeks

Mum and Dad came down for the weekend, it's the first time they have been to the new house (hope they like it). They are going to help us with the garden.... it is so massive and Dan and I have no idea what to do with cutting back plants, trees etc. They both love gardening, so should be cool.

We had a lovely dinner on the Sat night with my parents and Dan's, it was lovely. They all get on so well, which is awesome. Mum is coming back down for the baby shower (19 Dec) so looking forward to seeing her then and also can't wait for the baby shower, woo hoo! I will next see Dad at xmas, 4 weeks before 'pop' date!

Baby is moving about like crazy and my tummy is feeling very stretched now. I know it is only going to get bigger especially with only 9 weeks to do, it needs to get bigger otherwise I am going to be having a very small baby!

The commute into work is becoming a problem now, I get so tired with the walk from Victoria to work but I like doing it as it gives me so exercise. I just have to take it so slowly otherwise I get awful pain in my tummy (similar to stitch). Only 2.5 weeks left until I finish work, which is very exciting. I think my body needs to chill and relax so it will be perfect timing. I really don't know how women can work right up to their due date, although if my commute was easier I probably could.

Sleeping is also becoming harder, I have to prop my tummy up with pillows and the baby really does get stuck in odd positions (especially at night) and it becomes very uncomfortable. I have started to feel really hard bits in my tummy, so I'm beginning to differentiate between the limbs if I feel around a bit. I think it will be very odd when I actually see a hand or foot pop out.

I keep forgetting to take my vitamins, it is so naughty but it just slips my mind (well lets be honest, everything is slipping my mind at the moment! Baby Brain Madness!). I need to remember them though as I can't be getting ill coming into Winter, that would be awful!

I bought a few other baby bits the other day from Mothercare. It is really hard not knowing the sex. I love not knowing and having it as a surprise but a nightmare buying baby grows and things. Oh well, I will just have to have an interest shopping spree once the baby is here!

I had an appointment to see the Anaesthetist at St Helier, just a routine check (as I was ill when I was little and they needed to give me the all clear just in case I needed to go under a 'general' whilst in labour). I was literally in there for 3 minutes, a few questions and then good to go! The appointment was at 2.45pm so had a 'working from home' day so worked out pretty good. I think I needed the lie in to 8am this morning!

3D Scan - Second time lucky

30 weeks

Dan was busy with work (at the rugby) so couldn't come along to this scan, so I asked Dan's mum as I knew she would really like to come and would be a great support. I was fairly confident that this time would be more successful as I have felt the baby move a lot more of the past couple of weeks.

We arrived and I jumped on the bed. Up popped the baby on the screen and what a surprise.... it was in the same position, with legs tucked up by it's head! Our baby is so flexible :0) It was much more successful than last time as we could see a little movement and could actually see it's facial features. At one point it poked itself in it's eye, hehehe, silly thing! We got our DVD and I was very happy with the results. Still a little shame that it wasn't in a better position but lovely to have the scan and see little baby Hawkes again. I think Frances loved it too. She commented that it is amazing how things have developed since she was pregnant. It is mad to think that in 30 years so much has changed and it just makes you wonder what will be the 'norm' when my little baby has a baby of their own (now that's a scary thought!). We had a DVD for it too, which is so cool to watch but I can't seem to upload it onto here properly.... I will see whether hubby can help! It will be so cool when our baby is older and he/she can watch themself from when they were still in my tummy!

I had another midwife appointment which went well although there was a training midwife also present and she had a few problems finding my baby, hmmm.... I think she needs just a little more training! Once baby was found, it was STILL in breach position (head up, legs down), she said this was ok as the baby still has plenty of time to move. I hope it moves down by about 34 weeks as it's going to run out of room to maneuver and I want to avoid the dreaded ECT (external cephalic version) which apparently is very painful (a process by which the midwife uses her hands on the abdomen to try to turn the baby) or even at worst.... a cesarean! I am sure I will fine, plenty of time!

29 weeks - Firework/Housewarming Party

29 weeks




The bump is certainly growing! Looking back at my bump photos over the last month and it has grown so much! Taking bump pics is an absolute must for any pregnant lady!

All is going well this week. Dan and I threw a housewarming/firework party over the weekend. We had about 18 people come and it was such good fun. We just did a big chilli con carni and a curry and it was just help yourself.

The fireworks were brilliant, we managed to get a few 'off the back of a lorry' through Dan's friend Emma at work (instead of £200 we got them for £60) and also a couple from Lidls. Dan had the fireworks set up like a proper display, all round the garden, catherine wheels on the tree, in flower pots, he had it organised very well! I could see he loved it! The best firework of the night was the finale, a £12 one from Lidls, it went on for ages, had so many different bits flying out of it, amazing!

The night was a success and we now realise that our house is fab for parties, large living room, wooden floors to deal with beer spillage. I'm just looking forward to holding a Summer BBQ! I managed to hold out until quite late into the evening, 2am actually! It's nice that the tiredness hasn't kicked in just yet, hopefully it will stay that way for another few weeks.

Here are a few pics of the night.



The baby is still moving around a lot, which is great. It does seem to get itself into uncomfortable positions, well for me anyway! I am starting to be able to feel certain bits of the baby through my skin, not that I can work out whether it's a head, bum, hand or foot but it's something!
I have also begun getting the infamous brown line down the tummy (I thought I got away with that one!). It's called the Linea Nigra and is due to hormonal changes which effects the skins pigmentation. It's still very faint but it's there! It comes down from the top of my tummy, past my belly button then down to my knicker line. Apparently it goes away soon after birth so that's cool, just another side effect of pregnancy hey!

I was reading something the other day saying that babies born at this stage have a 90% chance of surviving! I couldn't believe that if I was to go into labour now the baby would have a chance of living. It's mad to think because my tummy still feels so small to hold a baby and I can't even imagine giving birth just yet. I want that baby in there growing for as long as possible (well, not too long, by 23 Jan 2011 will be long enough!).

I can't wait to meet our little baby, just under 11 weeks to go!

Routine blood tests & unexpected leg scan!

28.5 weeks

I went along to St Helier for my 28 week blood test and to have my Anti-D injection. I have to have the Anti-D because my blood group is RhD Negative. As we don't know the blood group of the baby yet, to avoid any antibodies forming and causing problems for me and baby, I am given the injection just in case. Once the baby is born, it's blood will be tested and if it's also RhD Neg then nothing else will need to be done, however if it is RhD Positive, I would need another injection to avoid any problems in further pregnancies (how do they know all this stuff?!?!).

Anyway, the blood tests were fine but the Anti-D actually hurt quite a lot (I am such a wimp!).

Whilst I was there I mentioned to the midwife that I have been suffering from leg cramp and a couple of days ago I woke to awful cramp and I haven't been able to get rid of it and it hurts when I put pressure on my left leg. From asking this one simple question, I was put on the bed, leg measured (which was swollen by 2 cm, 32 cm compared to 30 on the right leg), blood pressure taken, temperature taken and also a doctor having a good look around, I get told that because I am pregnant there is a higher risk of blood clots so I best have a ultrasound done just in case! I was in shock, I thought it was just a pulled muscle and there I was waiting for a blood clot scan, yikes! The good thing about being pregnant is that they rushed me through to the front of the waiting list, gave me the scan and all was ok, no sign of thrombrosis. I had to wait for the doctor to sign me out (I was at the hospital from 8.30am - 12.30pm and needed to get home for the Tesco delivery man) and they confirmed that I had just probably pulled a muscle as I woke up with the cramp. It still really hurts mind and I can't walk on it properly but hopefully should get back to normal in a couple of days.

The cramp still comes when I wake up every morning though and hurts sooooo much! After speaking to Ming, Emma and other pregnant ladies it's apparently very common, it's just a shame it hurts so much!

I don't know, between Dan and I we could film an episode of Casulty in our household

My baby is now 'a little mover'!

28 weeks

This is me on the yoga ball bouncing about in an attempt to reposition the baby. The baby was lying so awkwardly and it was really uncomfortable. The bouncing around didn't really work to be honest but it helped a little bit!

The baby does not stop moving! I said last week that I wished it moved more and now I am eating my words. It is flipping and kicking and jumping and sleeping! It has become very clear when there is some movement and looking back the movements I was feeling before were so mild compared to now! Lovely really as I know it's doing ok and growing well.

I think this week I experienced my first Braxton Hicks (as early as 16 weeks you may experience BH, you will notice the tightening of your uterus and usually lasts for a couple of minutes. Not everyone notices them but most people start to experience them at later stages of pregnancy). I so experienced them... I was at work and I suddenly got this uncomfortable stretch, tightening of my tummy. At first I thought the baby had just moved to an uncomfortable position but when I stood up to walk about I realised that it was something different. It didn't hurt but it was a bit uncomfortable, it made me realise the type of sensation contractions are going to be, but 100 times worse. Hmmm, labour is gonna be a tough one!

Hopefully I won't get them too often from now, we will see.

This week, Dan was away with work and I came home one evening and got an urge to get busy so, I painted the kitchen! Yep, there I was, up the ladder, stretching with the roller! Ridiculous really and I had to be so careful. I didn't know why I got started on it but I just needed to get it done then! It looks lovely and although we still have the delightful yellow cabinets, it looks so much better!

I didn't stop then.... next I was in the nursery moving all the furniture around. It was very heavy but I was careful but I just had to do it there and then and I just couldn't wait until the next day when Dan was back! It looks so organised and all ready for baby Hawkes to move in!