Long overdue 6 months update

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weight:
20lbs, she is now between the 91st and 98th percentile, same for height, so at least it's fairly proportionate.
She does have the cutest, chubbiest little thighs I have ever seen...

Health:
She's a healthy girl, her cousins have been a bit poorly but so far she has been just fine other than a bit of wind as an infant and some teething.
Now at 6 months, she has her first cold, but she's not too whiney, which we are very grateful for though I do feel sorry for her when I can hear her snuffle at night.



Nicknames:
Cheeky Chops

Eating:
I stopped breastfeeding shortly after our trip to Germany in September, so around the 4 months mark. We are both happy with that and she's doing well on formula. She will go about 4 hours between feeds during the day.
At 26 weeks(5 days before she was 6 months) we started solids. She loved her porridge straight away and carrots went down a treat as well. We have tried porridge, mango, apple, banana, peach, carrots, butternut squash, parsnip and swedes(rutabaga).
At 29 weeks she is now on three meals a day, porridge with fruit when she first gets up and mixed vegetables for lunch and dinner.

 

 

 

 

Sleeping:
We went through the dreaded 4 months sleep regression and her nighttime feeds were getting earlier and earlier, but luckily we seem to be out of that, so now she is back to sleeping from 7pm-3/4/5am at which point I feed her half a milk feed and change her nappy, then she goes back down until 7am.

Her daytime sleep improved by 4 months when we moved her from her crib to her cot and she started having 2-3 lovely naps in her bed.
She tends to sleep 45-90 minutes each time, but she has had a couple of 3 hour naps too!
At 6 months she is currently dropping her 3rd nap around 5pm, so we're dealing with a bit of fussiness at that time of the day.

Putting her to bed is really easy, she settles on her own and goes to sleep quickly.
She still refuses a pacifier and sucks her thumb instead.

Nappies:
Pampers Baby Dry size 4


Clothing: 
She was only in 6-9 months for a short amount of time, now she's mainly in 9-12 months clothing


Social:
We are doing a baby sensory class every week, which involves lots of singing, textures, lights, sounds. We really love it.
Also I was really looking forward to our baby massage class, we both enjoyed that. Now that Emilia is older we have graduated to Baby Yoga classes, which sadly is coming to an end this week.
She went though a little phase of stranger anxiety, but it seems we are past that for now, only one of our friends seems to still terrify her, we don't really know why, but Emilia cries the minute our friend gets near her.
When we went to Germany at 3.5 months, Emilia wasn't too sure of my mum, her Oma, but then 2 months later when she came to see us, Emilia loved her.
 
Likes:
*her Jumperoo
*Baby Einstein take along tunes, it's her favourite toy and one I will be giving as present from now on!
*anything that makes a noise or lights up

 

Dislikes:
*having her nappy changed
*getting dressed

Milestones:
2 days before her 6 months birthday, she finally rolled over and now she won't stop. But she only rolls to her right and once she's on her front she gets very frustrated and annoyed, so she whines.
Also that same week, 3 teeth came through! Then a couple of days another one started appearing. Poor little pixie :( No wonder she's been going through so many dribble bibs.


Mama:
When I stopped breastfeeding, I had already reduced the feeds slowly, replacing one feed with a bottle every couple of days, so luckily I had no problems when I fully stopped. I got one lump about 5 days after I finished expressing, so I had to pump one last time, then that was that...
Regarding the weight, I have been a bit naughty and have put on a couple of pounds, being home all day means I have treats nearby, so I might have overindulged a little bit.
I feel a bit lazy, my sister-in-law looked fab 6 months after she had my nephew and everyone in my partner's family is tiny, so I'm the only overweight one.
Must go on a diet, after Christmas, at some point ;-)

Fun things we did:
Going to Germany as a family when Emilia was 3.5 months old. She did really well again on the flight.

Emilia and I have also taken 2 trips to London, which involved a 2 hour train journey followed by a 45 minute subway ride. We stayed in a hotel and visited my friends, so fun and I really do miss my friends a lot.

What we are looking forward to:
Emilia's first Christmas

What we are not looking forward to:
My maternity pay will finish at the beginning of January, then we will really need to watch our money.
We were thinking of joining the rest of the family on a trip to Florida, but not sure we can afford it.
I have been trying to find a family needing childcare, so I can help them out while still looking after Emilia, but since I don't drive, it hasn't been easy.

Emilia 3 months update

 

Weight:
14lbs! She's around the 75th percentile

Health:
She had her immunisations done at 10 and 14 weeks and didn't have much of a reaction afterwards other than a little bit of fussiness, so hopefully the next set at 18 weeks will be the same. [we are running 2 weeks behind, normally they're given at 8, 12 and 16 weeks]
Emilia gave the nurses big smiles before they stabbed her legs, it was very hard for me to see her cry and the first time I almost burst into tears myself.
She has been dribbling lots so we're wondering if this could be early signs of teething

Nicknames:
Cheeky Chops, Little Miss Fartie Pants

Eating:
We are still doing a mixture of breastfeeding and formula, which works well for us. She eats about every 2.5-3 hours during the day. Her last bottle for the day is at 7:30 and she can last around 8 hours at night.

Sleeping:
Nighttime sleep has been good, she generally goes to sleep around 7:30/8 and sleeps until 3-5am, has a feed and then goes back until 7/8am.
When we travelled to Germany she started sleeping from 9pm until 7am and carried on doing 10-11 hours non stop for about 2 weeks, however now she's back to sleeping 7-8 hours which definitely is not bad, but we enjoyed the 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep very much :)
We are still sleeping in the same room and I'm nowhere near ready to let her sleep in her own room just yet.
Daytime sleep is not quite as successful, she is not a big fan of napping in her crib and prefers sleeping in her bouncer or the pushchair/stroller. She sleeps only about 90 minutes during the day.

Nappies:
Pampers Baby Dry size 3(as I previously mentioned, they cover different weight ranges here in the UK)

Clothing: 
3-6 months, especially for bottoms as she's got a bit of a belly ;-)

Social:
So far our social calendar has been a bit quiet due to school holidays, but we are now signed up for music class, a sensory class and baby massage.
We did a couple of one-off classes in the summer as well as free trials and we both really enjoyed that and I can't wait to start classes properly next week.
Not having a car is definitely making things a little bit difficult.

Likes:
*her Skip Hop treetop play gym
*Laying on my bed watching her owl mobile that's hanging from the light fixture
*looking at herself in the mirror
*Mummy's monkey pyjamas
*her muslin squares, she plays and sucks on them

Dislikes:
*napping in her crib
*having her nappy changed in the middle of the night
*having to wait for food

Mama:
3 months on and I have lost all the baby weight, I think I actually did in the first 3 weeks thanks to exclusively breastfeeding in the beginning.
However my body has obviously changed during pregnancy and I need to lose some weight and tone up eventually.
Other than that my body feels just like it did before the birth[which reminds me, I never put up my birth story]
Being a Mama is amazing, I have previously worked as a nanny and definitely loved those kids, but the love I feel for Emilia is so much stronger, she's my everything!

Fun things we did:
Emilia and I flew to Germany to visit my mum and grandmother, everyone thought I was crazy travelling on my own with a 2 months old baby, but she did amazingly well.

What we are looking forward to:
Flying to Germany again in a couple of days, this time as a family of three.

12 weeks today

These past 12 weeks sure went by faster than the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy.
Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of going for my IUI!

50 days of Emilia

I failed doing weekly or even montly updates so far, but today(Wednesday 9th of July) Emilia is 50 days old and they have been the best 50 days of my life so far!

Mummyhood is exhausting, it's just me getting up in the night due to my partner's medical issues, which means I don't get a break, but it's so rewarding.

Emilia weighs almost 11lbs now, up from her birth weight of 7lbs 14oz 7 weeks ago.
She loves her milk and has no plans of going more than 2-3 hours between feeds during the day for now *ha*.
At  night she can go 4-5 hours and the other night she went 8 hours between feeds, sadly that was a one-off.

She's the noisiest little girl at night, she grunts and farts in her sleep like crazy, but then during the day she is completely silent when napping.

She started giving real smiles in week 6 and likes to smile at herself in the mirror.

Still loving bathtime and I give her one almost every night as it has become a part of our bedtime routine.

She's in 0-3 month clothing and size 2 nappies/diapers.

She likes being held and cuddled, but sometimes when she's unhappy, she settles better being in her bouncer than being in my arm, I put this down to the smell of milk or something like that.

Time flies when you're having fun

It's been a while since I last posted, but Emilia has been keeping me busy.

She is now 4.5 weeks old and I'm absolutely in love with her and can't believe she truly is mine/ours to keep forever and ever.

She's been gaining weight steadily since birth and has outgrown her newborn clothes and size 1 nappies/diapers. Last time I had her weighed at 3.5 weeks, she was 4.2kg/9lbs 4oz, compared to her birth weight of 3.58kg/7lbs 14oz, she's a good eater ;-)

For one more week I am pretty much living as a single mum, my partner visits on weekends but during the week I'm on my own with Emilia, which can be tough as I don't get a break to have a shower or get things done around the house, but in just one more week we are finally moving in together, only took us 5.5 years :)

Sleep is so-so, she is starting to figure out the difference between day and night and has started going 3-4 hours between feeds at night.
We are doing combination feeding, breast and bottles of formula and expressed milk, bottles help her going longer between feeds and it will give my partner a chance to be involved in feeding her.
The Medela Swing pump has been a god send, though I wish I had invested in the double pump!

One of Emilia's favourite things is bathtime, she just floats and is totally relaxed, I cannot wait to start baby swimming with her.

All in all she's an amazing baby and totally worth every bit of sickness, backache, varicose vein and whatever else I experienced in my 42 week pregnancy!
Birth story still to follow

Our daughter is here!

Baby Emilia  was born on May 20th at 10:14am weighing 3580g/7lbs14oz

We feel so blessed!

Birth story and pictures to come

STILL WAITING

I am 12 days overdue today!
I had three attempts of having my cervix 'stretched and sweeped' this past week, which resulted in us going to the hospital to see the midwifes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Every single time I had hope that it might start something...

We walked as much as my 41 week pregnant body could handle, but nothing happened.

I guess I have to accept that this baby is an awkward and stubborn little one like we have always joked when she wouldn't cooperate at scans ;-)

Tomorrow, Monday the 19th of May 2014, I am going to go to the hospital to be induced.
I am going to finally hold our baby in my arms by tomorrow or Tuesday and I am freaking out. Is it too late to change my mind and get a kitten instead?

My mum was here a couple of weeks ago and took some lovely bump pictures of me, my partner tried taking a few new ones this week, but they didn't turn out quite as nice ;-)

40 weeks and beyond

How far along:
as of today, 41 weeks

Baby is the size of a:
small pumpkin
 

Total weight gain:
19.5 lbs

 

Maternity Clothes?
same as before

Stretch Marks?
a couple of small new ones that appeared around the 38 week mark

Sleep?
terrible, my hips are in agony when I get up in the morning. Also I have started snoring, much to my girlfriend's delight, ha!
 

Best moment of the Week:
every time I get to hear the heartbeat at the doctor

Movement:
still quite a lot


Food Cravings:

grilled cheese sandwiches
 

Belly Button in or out:
in

 

Gender:
girl
 

Symptoms:
nothing new
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
I seem to get sick in the evening, no matter how little I eat
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
haha, yes I'd expect so at 41 weeks ;-)
 

What I miss: 
sleeping on my stomach

 

What I'm looking forward to:
finally getting to meet the little girl I've been carrying inside of me for the past 10 months
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
labour, I had a 'stretch & sweep' at 40+6 and that wasn't pleasant, so we'll see how I'm going to cope in labour.

Anything else?
If I haven't gone into labour on my own, I have been booked for induction for Monday the 19th when I will be 13 days overdue. No 'non stress tests' or checking of fluid levels over here in the UK, just the midwife feeling your tummy and listening to baby's heartbeat to check all is fine in there.
 

39 week update

How far along:
39 weeks

Baby is the size of a:
Mini Watermelon
 

Total weight gain:
18.6 lbs, will I manage to stay below 20?

 

 

 

 

Maternity Clothes?
My maternity wardrobe is very, very limited as I didn't want to spend too much money. Now I'm going to have to start looking into nursing friendly tops.

Stretch Marks?
Annoyingly, I have just developed 5 tiny bright red marks on my stomach despite oiling and creaming every day. Guess my skin has now stretched to capacity...

Sleep?
It's actually getting a little better again after a couple of weeks of terrible sleep
 

Best moment of the Week:
My mum came to visit from Germany to help me out and hopefully get a glimpse of baby, but baby stayed put, so she'll have to be a little more patient.

Movement:
Still lots, especially just after midnight when I'm trying to sleep

Food Cravings:
popsicles
 

Belly Button in or out:
in

 

Gender:
girl
 

Symptoms:
nothing in particular
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
No and very thankful for that, have also managed to not get heartburn
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
Oh yes, the other day one of the subway/underground workers approached me and wanted to give me another 'baby on board' badge. They are handed out for free to alert other travelers that you might need to sit down on the train.
I have had one of those badges since week 7 but am too shy to wear it as I don't like to draw attention to myself...

 

What I miss: 
sleeping on my back and stomach

 

What I'm looking forward to:
baby cuddles
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
The pain of labour

37 and 38 week update

How far along:
38 weeks, earlier on in pregnancy I had myself convinced that I wouldn't make it this far, all my friends have had their babies very, very early and I just assumed so would I.
However, at my doctor's appointment today I was told baby's head is still not engaged, so knowing my luck, she will probably make us wait another 4 weeks.

Baby is the size of a:
last week it was a leek, this week baby is the size of a bunch of celery. The whole vegetable comparison has been a bit weird, especially when I see mummies-to-be in the U.S. post pictures of the same vegetable, twice the size they are here.
 

Total weight gain:
18lbs

(37 weeks)

 

(38 weeks-oh my!!)

 

 

Maternity Clothes?
still a mixture

Stretch Marks?
who knows, I don't care really
 

Sleep?
good nights and bad nights.
I invested in a memory foam mattress topper, which has definitely improved things, but I still wake up with hip pain from sleeping on my side.
 

Best moment of the Week:
hearing the heartbeat at my 38 week appointment

Movement:
not as much, but she's definitely still wriggling around

Food Cravings:
ice lollies/popsicles
 

Belly Button in or out:
in

 

Gender:
sweet baby girl
 

Symptoms:
I feel that all in all, I cannot complain too much.
My back hurts a bit and I don't get as much sleep as I'd like but I guess that's to be expected.
Pretty symptom free lately.
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
no
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
definitely.
 

What I miss: 
Being able to get up off the sofa more easily

 

What I'm looking forward to:
Cuddles with my baby
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
Labour

35 and 36 week update

How far along:
35 and 36 weeks

Baby is the size of a:
Honeydew and now Coconut
 

Total weight gain:

16.5lbs

 

Maternity Clothes?
I need a few more tops and desperately need to get measured for nursing bras.

Stretch Marks?
no new ones I think, can't really tell

Sleep?
not sleeping well at the moment, tossing and turning. My hips are hurting from sleeping on my side.
 

Best moment of the Week:
finishing work

Movement:
all the time.
I went to a Backstreet Boys gig at 35+3 and baby moved around to the music like mad!

Food Cravings:

Sweets
 

Belly Button in or out:
In

 

Gender:
Baby Girl
 

Symptoms:
My varicose veins are improving now that I have finished work.
Tiredness, needing to sit down and take breaks.
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
nothing
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
yes
 

What I miss: 
sleeping-in

 

What I'm looking forward to:
the pushchair arriving and hopefully spending some time relaxing and catching up with friends before baby girl arrives
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
labour :(

33 and 34 week update

How far along:
33 and 34 weeks

Baby is the size of a:
Pineapple (33 weeks) and Canteloupe (34 weeks)
 

Total weight gain:

16lbs 
This is really silly, but I wish my bump was more 'perfect', a proper round bump. Due to being overweight to start with, the top half of my bump is harder and the bottom part is still flabby, which is why the bump isn't very neat.
I should really get over feeling like that though!

(33 weeks)

 

(34 weeks)

 

 

Maternity Clothes?
still managing with one pair of maternity jeans, maternity vests and oversized tops(and underwear)

Stretch Marks?
just the ones I've had since puberty, they're the silver ones, not the red ones

Sleep?
it's getting a bit difficult to get comfortable, the mattress really needs replacing(you can feel the springs sticking out)
 

Best moment of the Week:
hearing the heartbeat at my Dr.'s appointment

Movement:
all the time, I really love it. She's head down so mostly feel movement at the top right(where her bottom is)

Food Cravings:
nothing in particular, I thought by this time I would be eating smaller portions, but I can still eat the same amount as before
 

Belly Button in or out:
in, and it won't become an outie in the next 6 weeks either

 

Gender:
sweet baby girl
 

Symptoms:
breathlessness, which was getting me a bit worried as it occurred even when I would sit at the table writing, but the doctor said it was all normal, due to the baby taking up all the space inside of my uterus, which pushes my organs to the top
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
nothing, I think I had my fair share of sickness in the first trimester up until week 16
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
finally people are noticing, so now I don't just look fatter, I look pregnant
 

What I miss:
a comfortable bed 

 

What I'm looking forward to:
finishing work soon
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
labour, just thinking about it terrifies me. Also it's fairly likely that I might be on my own when I go into labour, so that thought is a bit scary

31 and 32 week update

How far along:
31 and 32 weeks

Baby is the size of a:

Bunch of Asparagus and Bok Choy, she's 42cm long and 4lbs heavy.
 

Total weight gain:

12lbs by week 31 and then 15lbs(!!) by the next week

31 weeks

 

32 weeks (this is starting to look really unflattering)

 

 

Maternity Clothes?

Got a new pair of maternity jeans, the belly band was nice and tight for the first week, but now it's stretched out.(and washing them didn't fix that) My belly needs good support or else it starts hurting, so can't comfortably wear loose belly bands!

Stretch Marks?

I honestly don't even know

Sleep?

What's that?? I'm sleeping so badly.
 

Best moment of the Week:

My girlfriend signing the contract to her first flat(apartment)! She's moving in in April and baby and I will follow a little later as I have a 2 month notice period on my flat.

Movement:

All the time, though she definitely has quieter times. She seems to get especially active just when I'm going to bed :)

Food Cravings:

Not cravings, I just want to eat chocolate and bad foods all the time, I did that before I got pregnant though ;-)
 

Belly Button in or out:

In

 

Gender:

Baby girl, still without a name!
 

Symptoms:
nothing new: varicose veins, back ache, lack of sleep and terrible breathlessness, so far I seem to at least have been spared from heart burn and nose bleeds. 

 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?

No, feeling great food wise
 

Have you Started to Show yet?

Yes, people say I look *small* for how far along I am, amazing considering I feel like I'm the size of a whale!
 

What I miss: 

My sleep!

 

What I'm looking forward to:

Moving in with my partner of 5.5 years in a couple of months
 

What I'm not looking forward to:

Moving 200miles away with a newborn baby in a couple of months!!

 

29/30 week 4D scan

I've been a bit of a scan addict this entire pregnancy and had one at 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 20 and 22 weeks, some private, some as part of my treatment and some through my hospital.

Since we weren't able to confirm the gender at 20/22 weeks, I knew I would want to have another scan later on in pregnancy.

I ended up booking a 4D scan with the same company who did my reassurance scan at 15 weeks and the gender scan at 17 weeks.
At least booking with them I knew that I would get a free re-scan in case baby was in a funny position.

The appointment took place at 29+5 weeks.

We were called in and immediately the sonographer saw that baby was facing the wrong way, so after doing the necessary head and tummy measurements as well as confirming the gender(though somewhat vague "I'm thinking girl") they sent us out to go for a walk and advised to drink and eat something sugary.
We were asked to return 20 minutes later.

We did and while baby had turned around, she now had both arms and one leg in front of her face.
I was asked to turn to the left, to the right, to the left...just to get her to move her arms, lots of jiggling of my tummy, yet still no change.
For a brief second she removed her arms and legs and we got this gorgeous picture. Clearly baby takes after me and got my family's big nose ;-)

 

 



As we had paid for a 30 minute 'bonding scan' we were once again sent out of the room, this time to the waiting area and I was asked to drink lots and lots of water to fill up my bladder.
After another 20 minutes we were called back in, but despite lots of turning from side to side on my part and jiggling around there was no change, so the sonographer called it a day and told us to re-schedule.
I immediately called the next day and was able to book an appointment for 30+3, and while my girlfriend wouldn't be able to come along, my mum would as she was visiting from Germany that weekend.

So the day of the second appointment came and my mum was very excited.

Unfortunately baby seems to be a little bit camera shy, so while she was facing the camera, she was only showing us half her face.
The sonographer tried her best, again lots of turning and jiggling and then she even made me get up on all 4 on the bed and shake my tummy around to wake the little one and shake her into a different position. So glad nobody filmed this part as it was a bit embarrassed.
But no luck.
We managed to get a couple more pictures, but nothing amazing and I'm definitely glad I didn't pay extra for the dvd as it was non refundable and wouldn't have been worth it.
We actually chose a picture from the first scan attempt to be printed as the colour picture as it was better than anything we got the second time.
I find the last picture a little scary...

 

I'm still glad I did the 4D scan as we were able to confirm (twice) baby was a girl and we got a few glimpses of what she will look like once born.
She seems to have rather full lips too, I remember saying after the 12 week scan that she had pouty lips so nothing has changed since then.
I can't wait to meet her and compare her features to these pictures we have.

29 and 30 week update

How far along:
29 and 30 weeks

Baby is the size of a:
Butternut Squash and now large cabbage
She's 1.4kg or 3lbs 3oz according to the latest scan.
 

Total weight gain:
12lbs, I started slowly and now catching up quickly

 

(29 weeks)

 

(30 weeks)

 

 

 

Maternity Clothes?

Other than my maternity jeans and 'upsized' tops, I have started wearing underwear which was only intended to go in my hospital bag...big Bridget Jones style underpants ;-)

Stretch Marks?

No new ones I think, but to be honest unless they're the angry red ones, I don't really care

Sleep?
Not doing great, the mattress supplied by my landlord is cheap and starting to get uncomfortable, but because I'm planning on moving this summer, there's no point buying a new one
 

Best moment of the Week:
4D scan at 29+5, I'll be sharing pictures soon

Movement:
loads, no kicks, just lots of rolling around
 

Food Cravings:
sadly nothing healthy
 

Belly Button in or out:
in

 

Gender:
confirmed baby is a little girl
 

Symptoms:
*back ache
*varicose veins
*feeling heavy in my belly
*breathlessness, even when just lying and sitting down
 

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?
*had nausea for a couple of mornings this week, no idea what caused that, but luckily it's gone now
 

Have you Started to Show yet?
People who know that I'm pregnant have commented that I look more pregnant, but I'm still not being offered seats on the bus or the train
 

What I miss: 

sleeping comfortably
 

What I'm looking forward to:
My mum coming to visit at the end of the week and going for a re-scan of my 4D scan as baby wasn't cooperating and we didn't get
 

What I'm not looking forward to:
Getting bigger and more uncomfortable