Happy New Year! And to celebrate, let’s talk about the third trimester! As I’ve said before, I’ve never been quite sure what the beginning of each trimester is, but I’m going with this as being my third now – things have certainly suddenly felt quite a bit a different around now at least.
The first day of 28 weeks meant my 28 week midwife appointment. This was the first time I had my fundal height (ie. my bump) measured, so I was feeling slightly nervous in the run up – would she say I was too big and tell me to stop eating so much?! Would I be measuring too small and doing something wrong?! Fortunately, I was bang on 28 exactly, meaning that I fit just right into the chart and there was nothing to worry about. This chart suggests that she weighs around 3lb at 28 weeks, whereas my app says around 2.5lbs. Either way, the sound of that weight is getting SO REAL. I also got to hear her heartbeat again (I never tire of this!) and talked about my pelvic pain and hypnobirthing plans with the midwife. Unfortunately, as I suspected, there isn’t a whole lot I can do about the pelvic pain aside from what I’m already doing – nothing too strenuous, sitting properly, wearing a support belt, using my exercise ball to sit on when I can. Baby girl celebrated her wins at this appointment and afterwards with a dance party in my abdomen all day long!
This day also held a bit of a wake up call for me – I read about a blogger who had a similar due date to me who had already given birth. The baby and mum are, fortunately, doing well, although are still under very close medical attention, but it was a little bit of a shock to see! Throughout my pregnancy, I’ve been very aware of babies that come early as my friend had a premature baby in March, but seeing someone with a similar due date to me who’d already had the baby was even more of a shock.
Friday marked some new feelings in my abdomen – kicks that felt like mini electric shocks! Apparently this isn’t anything to worry about and is most likely just her hitting on a nerve or something weird – pregnancy does weird things to your body, people!
Ben and I had our now very usual Saturday morning of tidying and cleaning then we baked Snickerdoodles and were very impressed with how they turned out. If you’re interested, my recipe is here. In the spare time we had, we started on wrapping Christmas presents before heading to a local pantomime with my grandparents and going out for an Indian with them afterwards.
We returned home to this sight: the door to the nursery accidentally left open and Charlie taking full advantage! Don’t worry, I’m sewing another baby nest now as this one has most definitely become a cat bed!
On Sunday, we went over to my parents’ house to see their kittens, Alfie and Cody. They’re a little bit poorly still but were oh-so-cute! We all then headed to my other grandparents’ house for Sunday lunch with all the trimmings and ALL the Yorkshire puddings – my grandma does it the proper Yorkshire way with Yorkshire puddings with gravy as starters and more with the main course! Fortunately my appetite is still increased and baby girl isn’t taking up too much room in there yet that they wouldn’t all fit ;D
That evening, Ben and I got even more in the Christmas spirit by watching The Christmas Chronicles. Ben is terrible at watching films – he wanders off bored half way through and just can’t stay still – but luckily, Christmas films are his weakness and he loves them, so I take full advantage at this time of year!
On Monday night, baby girl discovered a new trick of pushing her head (potentially?!) against my right hand side, creating a strange bump on one side alone and a flat edge on the other. It looks very odd and feels a bit strange, but she’s still doing it now (at nearly 32 weeks – I’m behind with the posts!) At this time, I was pretty much just feeling this weird pushing and kicks in my lower left hip, with the occasional bump up above my tummy button.
Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being pretty boring as I worked at home again thanks to pelvic pain, yay! I had my whooping cough vaccination during Wednesday day time (the pain from which lasted a full week!) and on Wednesday night, we had our last Brownies meeting of the term, and my last one before finishing for Brownie maternity leave. We held our Christmas party and I got to say bye to them all, promising to come back next year with a baby in tow so they can all meet her!
Those Yorkshire puds look amazing. I think that it’s time for me to make some again. Yum!