More things I've learnt

A few more things popped into my head overnight:

Bubs will kick at the most inappropriate times
During meetings, on the phone to clients and when I'm talking to my boss, bubs will decide to land a swift kick or punch (and boy does she pack a punch). It's a little hard to keep a straight face when she's using my internal organs for boxing practice!

Some people will treat you with kid gloves
There's been times when I've wanted to shout out 'I'm pregnant, not an invalid!'. I'm still doing a lot of the stuff I did before I was pregnant, but I've found that some people around me think I should be lying on the couch with a cup of tea. Nah, that's not my thing. If I can still do it, I'm going to.

Maternity wear is a complete and utter rip off
I've bought a grand total of 4 maternity items - 2 maternity singlet tops and 2 dresses. One dress was a more formal one as we were going to a wedding. Most of my clothes still fit and I've become a master of layering my smaller tank tops over a maternity singlet. Dresses? I've just bought empire style maxi dresses in a size larger than normal. Why waste my hard earned cash on overpriced maternity gear?

Your hair and nails will grow out of control
My nails were growing so fast, I had to have my acrylics refilled every 1.5 - 2 weeks. So, I decided to have them taken off. Sure they look a bit sh*t at the moment, but at the rate they grow, they'll be fine in no time. Add to that my hair has been growing like a weed! It's the longest its been in years, thicker and shinier. Funnily enough too its been easier to straighten.

Plane travel at 31 weeks is not a good idea
Flight to Cairns (2.5 hours) with bub's butt jammed under my right rib. Enough said.

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Big weekend coming up - I have a pregnancy photo shoot this Friday evening, my baby shower on Saturday and a 'sleepover' with my niece on Saturday night.

My niece has been asking me for ages for a sleepover, so Saturday night we're having tacos (her favourite), I've ordered 'Monsters v Aliens' from Foxtel and we're making popcorn! Looking forward to a girly night in!

Things I've learnt

As I'm heading into the downhill run to bub's arrival (55 days, but who's counting), I've looked back over the past 32 weeks and come up with a few things I've learnt during my first pregnancy.

The words 'morning sickness' are complete and utter bulls**t
For the first 8 weeks of the pregnancy, I was nauseous 24/7. You know that hungover, hit by a truck kinda feeling? I had that for 8 weeks straight and I could only eat carbs to settle my stomach - the sight and smell of meat, vegies or milk made me wanted to hurl. Vegemite on toast became my diet staple.

Buy shares in Palmer's Cocoa Butter
I have been slathering Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lotion on in the morning and spraying my tummy and boobs with Palmer's Cocoa Butter Oil after my shower at night. I swear I've gone through litres of the stuff, but at 32 weeks, I dont have a single stretch mark. Touch wood that it stays that way ;)

Don't listen to what people say about the size of your belly
Some people will tell you you're 'MASSIVE' and others will tell you you're 'TINY' for how far along you are. I've learnt not to listen to them. As long as she measures fine at each antenatal appointment, that's all that matters.

Some people are just plain rude AND everyone has an opinion
From asking how much weight you've gained (no idea!), to what brand of nappy I 'must' buy, I'm getting bombarded with questions each and every day. I've just learned to smile and politely thank them for their advice, letting it go in one ear and out the other. The only people I listen to are my mum and two of my sisters, who between them have raised 9 kids. I think their advice is more valuable than to one of a random!

Pregnancy books are more of a guide than gospel
Sure, I've read two mainstream pregnancy books, but I'm not taking every single thing they say as gospel, especially when they contradict themselves in parts. Hence the reason I get my advice from my mum and sisters. Nothing beats first hand experience!

Some days you will just feel like sh*t
There are days were I've just wanted to crawl into bed and crash out for hours. Other days I've felt like I could run a marathon. Even being an A-type personality and being quite strict with things, I've learnt over the past 7 months to just go with the flow. If I feel like crap, I'll take it easy, as I know on other days I will have the energy to get stuff done.

Nesting is a reality
My house is spotless, I cleaned out the linen cupboard last weekend and I'm contemplating cleaning out the garage and doing some gardening this weekend. Yep, nesting has become a reality.

Ok, that's all I can think of at the moment!

I heart Port Douglas

The obligatory 'road sign from the car window' photo

I heart Port Douglas. If money was no object, I'd happily move there in an instant.

The beaches are beautiful, the sunsets are stunning and they have some amazingly inexpensive restaurants.

The only downfall is the humidity! Luckily for us we had a massive pool at the resort to cool off in and a supercharged aircon in our apartment. D had it set to 18 degrees for most of the time we were there......frosty! Hope the resort isnt going to pass on the electricity bill to us.

But now its back to reality, otherwise known as work! Only 16 days left until I finish, but I swear I have a month's worth of work to do in that time. Mind you, I'm actually finishing up for the day shortly as I'm heading to see Pearl Jam with a girlfriend ;) Its a little bit surreal that after working since I was 17, that I'm not going to be getting ready to come into an office each day. I guess I will be a different kind of busy though.

I'm heading towards 32 weeks, with another check up tomorrow as I missed last week's due to the holiday. She's definitely starting to pack a punch with her kicking and moving now. In fact she decided at 3am this morning that it was 'time to party'. No matter what I did (or said) would settle her down, until at 4.30am she decided to stop of her own accord.

Guess I'd better get used to it, right?!

30, 25 and a new bikini

30 weeks!! Looks like I have swallowed a soccer ball :)

30.....the number of weeks along we are. Everyone warned me that pregnancy goes so freaking slowly. In fact, its been the opposite and I found the last 30 weeks have just flown by. It's still slowly sinking in that in 10 weeks, our baby girl is due to arrive. Mind you, my sister have bets on that I will go over the due date. I've told them not to jinx me!

25.....the number of days I have left at work. It probably sounds corny, but I am REALLY going to miss this place. I've only been here since February, but I have enjoyed every single minute of it. Sure, my job can be pretty stressful at times and very demanding, but I love what I do and the people I work with. I can honestly say that I do have the best bosses I've ever worked for :) And after 13 years in this industry and working at 5 different firms, that's certainly saying something.

A new bikini.....I finally bit the bullet last week and bought a new bikini for our holiday this week. I already had 3 nice bikinis at home, but no surprise, I'm falling outta the tops (after going up two cup sizes) and the bottoms are one size too small :D So I have a nice halter top/boyleg pant bikini to pack into my suitcase.

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It's now been a week since I was "released" from hospital and I'm definitely feeling much better. We also found out whilst in hospital that my iron levels are extremely low. When I had my first preggo blood test, the levels were a nice 147 (the average is 120-160). Subsequent tests at 28 weeks and at hospital showed they had dropped to 110 and 103 respectively. Yikes! So in addition to my preggo vitamins, I'm also on iron tablets twice a day, with a vitamin C chaser ;) I know it takes a few weeks to feel the full effects of supplementation, but I definitely have a lot more energy already.

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I had an attack of the guilts this morning about my non-existent training over the past two weeks :( Since I was so tired and in pain, I could barely drag myself outta bed and struggled to get through my day at work. I'd come home at night and have a little nap before going to bed! It definitely had to come from the infection and low iron levels. I'm definitely going to get back into walking again tonight once it cools down a bit (and it gets too dark for the maggies to attack!). I've decided to ditch the weight training for now until bubs arrives......mind you, I cant WAIT to hit it hardcore again next year!

An unexepected break in transmission

So last week I was feeling a bit crappy....dog tired, sore mid back and just a general sense of feeling yuck. Saturday morning I woke up feeling a hell of a lot worse, but just put it down to a bad night's sleep.

I was to find out later that day that I was so very wrong.

D and I headed to my sister's place for her birthday party in the early arvo. It was pretty hot, so I thought that that was making me feel crappier, so I headed inside to lay down on the couch. Soon enough, my temperature went up, I felt nauseous and I got the shakes. We're not talking the shivers here, we're talking full blown shaking. I ended up on my sister's bed with my sister and mum looking after me, while D was on the phone to my midwife.

Cutting a long story short, I was admitted to hospital on Saturday afternoon with a kidney infection :( 48 hours of IV antibiotics and an extra 2 days off work to rest certainly did the trick. I do have to take oral antibiotics for another 4 days and get checked at every appointment with my midwife from now on, just to make sure the infection doesnt come back.

Bubs is 100% fine. Thankfully the infection doesnt pass to her, the only risk we had was a pre-term labour. Yeah no thanks!

Next week, we're having a bit of a pre-baby holiday and heading to Port Douglas for a few nights. Bliss! I'm hoping to get a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef while we're up there, but not sure if they'll take a 31 weeks preggers woman out for 9 hours!

The reality is setting in

My 28 week midwifery appointment is done and dusted. My midwife is happy with how everything is coming along - measurements fine, blood pressure fine, bub's heart rate fine, postive fetal movements (she actually kicked the midwife! hehe), glucose test fine. The only thing not fine is my iron levels, they've dropped 30 points since my last blood test. Guess I'd better start hooking into some red meat.

The reality of the fact that I'm having a baby is setting in. The midwife popped in a short natural birthing DVD during the session yesterday. It was one of those new age-y ones where they show EVERYTHING and its got dinky far out music over the top (so you cant hear the screaming I guess). But I digress. So I'm watching the DVD and it suddenly hit me that in about 12 weeks time, that I've somehow gotta get this little one out. I went into a bit of a panic and ended up calling my sister in tears, crying that I wont be able to go through the birth. Up until now, I hadnt thought too much about the whole birth process, apart from getting ideas on how I would like things to progress. It was a huge reality check for me.

I'm still a bit anxious about it today, but I've got some great friends that have been putting my mind at ease. My sister has been great too, and she's already booked in to being one of my support people for the birth. I'd rather listen to her over the doctor anyday!

I still havent progressed very far on the nursery since we put together the cot and changetable. I really should get onto that....!

Moving right along

So I seem to have stirred up a little controversy with my decision to bottle feed. Of course, I welcome advice wholeheartedly given that this is our first child, however, its MY decision as to how our daughter is going to be fed. Thanks to those who were supportive of my decision and/or gave me an honest opinion.

Moving right along!

Yesterday saw a visit to the hospital for some physio work. I'd been having issues with my left hip and glute for the past week. My physio diagnosed no joint problems (yippee!), but my left glute was seriously tight. She worked on it for a good 20 minutes then gave me some stretches to do 3 times a day, as well as some trigger point exercises to help release the area. I've been ordered to stick with it for two weeks and if there is no improvement, then its back to the physio for me. I've also added a bit more core work into my morning training session to ensure that my core is nice and strong :)

Speaking of training, I'm still managing 7 sessions per week. I'm pretty pleased with that effort. I'm back doing a 3 day split for weights, then the rest of the sessions are cardio. I don’t tend to do much on the weekends though, but the amount of housework/nesting I've been doing surely makes up for that?! I'm also training Hubbie a few times a week again, which I am LOVING. I kicked his butt last night with supersets of deadies and burpees....needless to say he was cursing me this morning. Love you babe!

I can't wait to start training hard again in the new year. All this light weights and low impact stuff is doing my head in!