Saturday 17 November 2012

Six Months

My baby girl is 6 months old, 6 whole months!

I cannot believe I have had her in my life for that long, and at the same time I cannot believe it has only been six months.
It feels like she has always been here.
Like my left arm or my legs, and it is impossible to think I ever lived without her!

She is such an amazing little person and everyday she grows and changes.

At the moment she is suffering with a cold but still she cracks a smile and just gets on with it, she is such a little trooper.

In the last 2 weeks I have started with baby led weaning and that in itself is an adventure.
At the moment it is going great, she seems to like everything Ive put in front of her and alot of it gets eaten (alot of it also gets thrown on the floor but thats what dogs are for!)

I am loving all these new things I get to experience with her, the faces she pulls at each new taste, the way she kicks her legs when she really really likes something, she is just so cute!

I am really appreciating just how great my life is right now.
But I wish I wasnt as once again it is for a reason I wish didnt exist.

A friend at work had been trying for a baby since I first got pregnant with Lumpy almost 2 years ago.
Last week she told me she was pregnant and I was so excited and happy for her! She so deserved it!

Yesterday I learnt that she had suffered an early miscarriage and my heart sank.
Life is really fucking unfair sometimes and I hate how cruel it can be.

All those familiar feelings briefly flooded back as I remembered how it felt to be in her shoes.
How it felt to physically ache because I wasnt going to be a mummy anymore.
How it felt to look at other pregnant women and women with babies and hate them.
How it felt to be empty and incomplete.

Because although I still wear those shoes, I dont feel their pain anymore.
Isla is my plaster that protects me from the pain of the blister that those shoes have caused me.

Because of Isla I am a Mummy
Because of Isla I smile when I see a pregnant women or a women with a baby.
Because of Isla I am complete and my life is full.


Tuesday 17 July 2012

Luck

How did I get so lucky?

This thought occured to me a few days ago as I was driving along listening to Isla chatting away to herself in her carseat.

I have a beautiful, happy, smiley baby who eats like a machine, sleeps all night and only really cries if she is hungry or lonely!

In that moment I felt like the luckiest Mummy in the world and wondered what Id done to deserve such an amazing baby.

And then I realised, I hadnt done anything, but I still deserved her.

I deserve her because of my two angels who look down on me everyday.
I deserve her because I waited 2 years instead of the usual 9 Months to hold her in my arms.
I deserve her because I have cried more tears than I thought was possible over broken dreams and shattered hopes.

Yet through  all the last 2 years has thrown at P and I and despite knowing I deserve this happiness I still feel incredibly lucky!

To have Isla, my daughter look at me with her huge blue eyes as if I am her whole world fills me with joy!
To be able to say I  have a daughter is mind blowing enough so to see her face light up in a big toothless smile when she recognises my face makes my heart nearly explode with happiness!
To be called Mummy is the most awesome name in the world and now its my name!
.
So yes I do have two angels that I never got the chance to meet but without them I wouldnt have my Isla so I feel so very lucky and I wouldnt change a thing.
Somehow it feels like where I am right now, with Isla sat on my lap smiling at me every now and then and playing with my hands, this is where I was always meant to be.


Friday 6 July 2012

How things change!

Isla has been here for almost eight weeks now.
Eight whirlwind filled weeks!

The first month I didn't know whether I was coming or going, I was completely overwhelmed and so out of my depth!
But slowly I have been finding my feet and learning how to be her mummy.
I by no means have it all figured out, everyday she still managed to surprise and confuse me, but slowly, together, we are making it!

I never dreamed I would struggle with her.
I thought that because of all we'd been through to have her that once she was here life would be easy and perfect!
I couldn't have been more wrong.
I had everything I'd ever wanted yet I wasn't happy.

I now know that the cause of my struggles was not my inability to be a mummy but extreme soul destroying tiredness!
I felt awful for not feeling like I was on cloud nine because I had my rainbow.
But I was too tired to think straight, let alone feel happy.
I thought I didn't love my longed for baby and so because of that I hated myself.

Then we discovered she had silent reflux and everything made sense!
The not sleeping, the constant crying and fussiness.
I wasnt a terrible mummy, I had a poorly baby!
Once we knew this I felt so much better, I had felt all along something was wrong with Isla and I was right, my mummy instincts were right!

So I started to trust them more.
I put Isla to sleep on her tummy because she hated being on her back.
And she started sleeping, really sleeping!
She will sleep an average of 6-7 hours in one solid stretch at night and so I sleep too!

And I feel like a human again!
 I discovered that new mummy joy!
I love my baby, completely, totally and fiercely!
Of course she still cries and sometimes I still feel unsure but with sleep everything is easier and possible!
 I can't believe how much my beautiful little girl had changed already in her first eight weeks and can't wait to see the changes the next eight weeks bring!

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Im a Mummy!!!

Isla Rose Slater is finally here!

She was born on 12th May, like I kind of always knew she would be!

It comforts me that she was born on my Grandmas birthday. I like to think it means that she was sitting up there keeping an eye over Isla for those 9 months and helping to keep her safe for me.

I cannot quite believe Isla is one month and one day old already!
She has kept us so busy that this is the first chance Ive had to write anything in here!

I just read through my last post, the one I wrote 6 days before she was born, before my life changed forever!
I was right about one thing in that post.
That looking back now, now that I know what labour is really like it is laughable that I wouldnt know I was in labour!
It hurt!
Alot!

But I did come close to not knowing if I wa in real labour or not.
If it wasnt for Paul I wouldve stayed at home alot longer.
Although I knew I was in labour I thought it would take hours and hours for me to dilate enough to be allowed into the delivery room.
But I was wrong about that!

Being a mummy is the most surreal, scary and brillaint thing in the world!
The first two weeks were so overwhelming, I felt so out of my depth and like I was doing everything wrong.

I still feel lost and unsure but Isla and I are getting to know each other and slowly I am feeling more confident that I know what is best for her.
After all she is my daughter!
I love her so so much, and when she smiles at me I love her even more and my heart just melts!

Right now she is sleeping and I really should be too!
I dont get much chance for sleep these days!


Sunday 6 May 2012

Within touching distance!

I kind of knew Id be here, still waiting at one day past my due date.
I dont really mind, at least Squirt is happy and content in my belly.

But it makes it very hard to be excited about her arrival, when it could still be as far as 11 days away, or as close as this evening!
Its such an odd feeling, knowing she has to come out sometime soon but having absolutely no idea when it will be!

My gut feeling says between tomorrow (the 7th) and next saturday (the 12th) would be a pretty good bet.
But I dont know if even that is just down to wishful thinking!
I am glad that I do at least have something concrete to count down to, being induced.

But even that is not so much set in stone as set in sand!
The plan would be to induce me at 12 days past my due date, so on the 17th May.
But that  all depends on how busy the hospital is.
Realistically even my induction could get pushed back to 14 days past my due date!

But I dont want to be counting down to an induction!
I want Squirt to come out when she is ready, not when we decide we are ready for her!
I hope its sooner rather than later but even if I have to wait until the day before my induction (whenever that ends up being) I will be happier to go into labour on my own and on her terms!

I have been thinking about what labour will be like alot recently.
I guess thats not really surprising seeing as I am now past my due date and its all very real now!

I had a couple of quite painful braxton hicks the other evening and I was excited and a little bit apprehensive at the same time!
Excited because I thought Squirt might have been on her way.
Apprehensive because they were only the first and if they hurt what the hell was real hard labour going to feel like!
But they werent that painful, just enough for me to wonder if they meant the start of labour or not.
So I am still mostly feeling quite positive about the whole thing.

I actually worry more about whether it will take me ages to realise Im in labour than how much it will hurt!
I can see myself writing an entry laughing at my naiviety once Squirt is here and Ive been through it all!

Aswell as the pain, it goes without saying that as excited I am to meet Squirt I have a few very small worries.

I think its mostly down to just how surreal this all is for me.

I am pregnant (yes that still hits me as a surprise!)
I have carried Squirt safely for 9 months.
I am past my due date and she could be, and more to the point is meant to be, born anyday now.

I really truely am about to become a mummy!
And thats where the small worry starts to creep in.

Is this really happening?
The one thing that I have dreamed of and longed for, for so long is about to come true.
And it just feels like its too good to be true.
But not in a way that makes me sure something will go wrong. There is no sense of dread.
I still have that positive feeling I have had since the beginning with Squirt.

I think its more a protective mechanism.
Up until last August when Squirt came into our lives, me and P had gotten so used to pregnancy being a sad, heartbreaking, soul destroying journey.
And when thats all you ever know you have to pinch yourself extra hard when you dreams really are about to come true.

We have been waiting for our little girl for so long.
So much longer than 9 months like any pregnant lady who hasnt suffered a loss, or multiple losses.
We have been waiting since before Pup and Lumpy were taken away.
We have been waiting since I stopped taking the pill, 23 long months ago.

Squirt is already so so loved.
She is so precious to us, our little rainbow, our little miracle.

I guess its no surprise that everything seems so overwhelming right now.

And another thing that is overwhelming is the size of me! My belly just keeps on growing.
I had forgotten how small I used to be until I looked back!




Saturday 28 April 2012

39 weeks today!

I have been really busy since I last posted, nesting is a powerful thing!
I finished work a week and a half ago and straight away made a start on painting the lounge.
I dont know what it was but it just had to be done, I couldnt leave it.
Somehow I felt that if Squirt arrived before the lounge was done it would be a huge disaster!

Well disaster averted because today E came round and did the wall papering for me.
I had painted the other 3 walls but I have no clue how to wall paper!
It looks lovely and Im so pleased it is now all finished!

I also hung up the 'Sweet Dreams' bunting in Squirts Nursery the other day.
It looks so pretty and I am really happy with it!

P and T also spent the whole day sorting out our en suite.
They got the shower screen fitted, finally!
And plan to do the flooring tomorrow.
I almost dare to hope that I will actually be able to have a shower next week!

So all this has been going on and what has Squirt been up to?
Not alot really!
She is still incredibly comfortable in there.
Too comfortable for her own good!

Aside from increasingly noticeable BHs I havent really had any sign that she is planning on leaving my belly anytime soon!
Obviously I want her to come when she is ready, but at the same time I would like some indication of how much longer I have to wait to meet her.
It already feels like I have been waiting forever because of Lumpy and Pup and I could be waiting up tp 19 more days if she makes me go to be induced!

But having said that she is more than worth the wait.
I have been waiting for her since the first time I found out I was pregnant.
That now seems a lifetime away.
So those 19 more days pale into insignificance when I think how I could still be waiting to even get pregnant.

I am so lucky to have my precious baby girl kicking and rolling around in my belly.
I am so lucky to have the chance to be a mummy.
I am so lucky to have to wait as long as my little girl decides is neccessary for her to be ready to meet me!
After all she is the most important little person in the whole world, so its only fair that she gets to decide on when we meet.



Monday 16 April 2012

So near.....Yet so far!

Full Term: 37 weeks!

It feels like we have reached a huge milestone.
Although for the last few weeks Squirt would probably have been absolutely fine if she had arrived early she is now officially considered ready for life outside of me!

As much as I am counting the days until P and I get to meet her I also find it a very strange thought to not be carrying her around in my belly anymore.
For all these weeks I have had her completely to myself.
I can feel her kick and roll every single time she moves.
I feel her tiny hiccups.
Other people can only feel it when they touch my belly.

The thought of someone else holding her and me not knowing what she is doing seems so strange and odd to me.
I guess its something that takes time to get used to.
I hope Im not going to be a clingy Mum!

Another thing I think I will find it hard to adjust to is not having my huge belly anymore!
As uncomfortable and achey as I am I spent so long wishing for a baby belly that I completely love mine!

I loved watching it grow over the weeks, from a tiny bulge to a proper round baby belly.
I love rubbing my belly and knowing that Squirt can feel me touching her.
I love looking pregnant!

I said to P the other day that I will probably start freaking out once she is born that I am not feeling her move, forgetting that she is no longer inside me!

But with all these things that I have gotten used to that I will miss I will get the greatest gift in exchange.
I will get to finally meet my precious rainbow baby girl and I just cannot wait!


Saturday 7 April 2012

The great unknown!

36 weeks.

I cannot believe I am possibly less than a month away from coming face to face with my beautiful Squirt!
Whenever I allow myself to think too much about that I get so overwhelmed with excitement that I can hardly think straight!

The one thing I have wanted more than anything else in this world for 2 whole years is finally going to happen!
I will get to hold her in my arms. Hug her. Kiss her. See her face.

And then I start to worry.
Not because I think Im not allowed to be happy.
But because I want her to be here safe and sound and she is so important to me that I just worry.

There was a time when I never thought I would be here.
I never even thought Id see a a baby with a heart beat on an ultrasound. But I did.
I never thought I grow a baby belly, but I have
I never thought Id feel my baby move, but I do, all the time!
And I definately never thought I would be less than a month away from my due date with my precious rainbow.

I was talking to P just now and said to him that it still all seems so surreal.
And I think its because we have no idea when she will choose to arrive.
It could be tomorrow.
It could be in six weeks time.
Or it could be anytime in between.

So I stop myself from getting too excited as it could still be a while away.

And although I am so desperate for her to be here, partly because Im getting uncomfortalbe, but mostly because I am just so looking forward to meeting here, I only want her to come when she is ready.
I dont want her to suffer for my impatience.

I have started drinking my raspberry leaf tea today as technically she would be fine if she was born now.
And because I dont believe it actually brings on labour if your body isnt ready, it just might help labour be shorter.
Which if you ask me cant be a bad thing!

And so all P and I can do is wait.
Wait for Squirt to decide when she wants to arrive!

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Sitting, wishing, waiting........

We are so close now, me and Squirt, that I feel I can almost reach out and touch it.

So close, yet so far.

In some odd way the closer we get to the 5th May, the more unreal and unimaginable it seems.
My baby girl is due in six weeks and four days.
I never thought we would make it this far after we lost Pup.
Two angels who grew wings within four months of each other made it seem a near impossiblity.

To dare to dream that I would ever see a baby on a scan, with a heartbeat, seemed too much.
To long for that baby bump that Id never had, made my heart ache with pain.
To dare to hope that one day I might feel my baby move inside of me, well that just seemed foolish.
And then to dare to imgaine that one day I might give birth to my very own baby, well it just seemed like something out of a fairy tale.

I am well aware that we are not there yet.
But the funny thing is that ever since I got pregnant with Squirt I didnt have those doubts.
I still worried about her, but it was like I knew.

In the same way that somehow I knew (and I still dont know how) that something was wrong with Lumpy before that first scan.
In the same way I felt sick with worry the whole time I was pregnant with Pup.
This time I have felt so positive and happy about Squirt.

She is the one, my rainbow, my hope after the storm.
From the moment I first saw her on a scan.
That tiny little turtle shaped blob with a strong heartbeat.
I felt that love and I also felt pure joy and happiness.

I was having a baby, I was going to get to experience everything I had longed for!

Now call me paranoid but even with all this optimisum I still dont want to tempt fate.
I still dont want to assume that she will arrive into this world and everything will be perfect.
There are little things I do, to avoid jinxing things.

I havent written her due date on the calendar, or in my diary.
Its not like I need to be reminded of when it is!
Its like an insurance against getting too confident.

While I cant believe how close we are to finally meeting and being able to hold her in my arms I just want to make sure she really is here before I celebrate too much!

Part of the reason I have had so much time to think about things is that I now have absolutely nothing left to do in her nursery.
The changing unit is filled with pretty white and pink baskets, which in turn are filled with nappies, wipes, towels and other baby things!
The carrycot has its new mattress and Ive washed all her brand new clothes.
Ive even packed up her hospital bag and made a start on my bag.

So now we wait................





Monday 5 March 2012

Feathering the nest

Its been a while....again!

I was sure I wrote on here last week but obviously I didnt.
Nor the week before.

Me and Squirt are now into single figures of how much time we have left as one person.
I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that soon she will be her own person, separate of me, outside of me.
It seems like we will never be apart and I guess thats why the bond between a Mother and her child is so strong.

We share so much together in these 9 months that nothing can ever come close to that.

I have been noticing her getting hiccups alot more these past few weeks.
I guess its because she is slowly getitng bigger that before I wasnt always noticing them.
I find it really cute, and also wonder if they annoy her as much as they annoy someone who is more aware of them.
Sometimes I think they must do because I feel her hiccup a few times and then she starts thrashing around as if she is trying to make them stop!

I saw the midwife again last week and she checked to see if Squirt was still transverse.
And she is not!
She is now head down, albeit in her own way.
She had her head pointing towards my right hip with her body wrapped around my belly button and her feet on my left.
Although that was almost a week ago now and I think she may be more 'head down, feet up' now as Ive felt a few kicks higher up and her hiccups were definately more central today.

Hearing that she is getting into position makes me so excited.
It makes her arrival seem so much more real and iminent!

I have made alot of progress with her nursery, there is now hardly anything left to do (aside from finding room for all the cute things I have ordered that I am waiting to be delivered!)
T and E brought her changing unit round at the weekend so today I put the last 3 shelves up- with a little help from P this time because it became abit tricky and I got all upset that her beautiful walls were ruined!

A few weeks ago I put up the writing and winnie the pooh stickers, which look so pretty.
Today I also cleaned her carrycot all ready for when the mattress for it arrives.

I just need (well want!) to buy some baskets for her changing unit and then I will really be 100% completely ready for her to arrive.

But at the same time I feel so unprepared.
It doesnt make any sense.
I want her here so so much.
I am so excited to finally meet her, to see her little face and know what she looks like.
To hold her in my arms is going to be the most amazing experience.

Yet I feel like she cant come yet because the house isnt perfect.
There is still so much to do in the rest of the house.
And it doesnt make any sense.
Because she is a baby.
She wont care if the lounge is painted a pretty colour or not, or if we have pictures on the wall.
But it still unsettles me.

I guess thats  why they call it nesting.
Its not just her nursery, its the whole house that my pregnant brain wants to 'make ready' for her arrival.

Well at least it will keep me occupied I suppose!

I need to take more pictures of the nursery as this is a few weeks old but here is another look at the progress of the house and me!

Friday 17 February 2012

Strength to Strength

So time is flying by at the moment, thats part of the reason that I havent written anything for more than 2 weeks.

That and I just plain forgot!

Just after my last post I had a few days where I really freaked out.
It was coming up to the one year anniversary of when we found out we had lost Lumpy.

I thought nothing could be harder than Lumpy and then Pups EDDs.
But I was wrong.
The day we lost Lumpy still haunts me.
The day our lives changed forever and our hearts were shattered into a million pieces.
I can remember that day like it was yesterday.
It was the first, but sadly not last time in my life I felt a physical pain caused by emotional hurt.
I couldnt breathe.
I couldnt speak.
I was numb but at the same time filled with such pain.
I actually dont know how I made it out of the hospital.
P pretty much carried me out of there.
I couldnt see for the tears that were falling.
I still dont know what I wouldve done without him.

He was everything I needed. He still is.
He made me keep living.
If it was just me I wouldve crawled into bed and never come out again.

But somehow we came through that darkness and out the other side.
And this happiness we now feel with Squirt has been made that much brighter because of the darkness we have been through.
We have gotten through a pain I never thought Id be able to bear, not once but twice.
And we have emerged stronger.
Forever changed, but definately stronger.

Now most people know about my two precious angels.
They know how excited and happy I am to be carrying my miracle rainbow Squirt.
So I am lucky that I dont get asked that dreaded question very often.

The dreaded 'Is this your first?' question.
The one question that angel Mummies struggle to answer.
The one that can open up those wounds in a split second without a moments warning.

When I do get asked it, nearly always my answer is yes.
I smile because I am so in love with Squirt.
But inside I am screaming. 'NO!'

This baby is my everything but she is not my first.
She is my third baby.
I have carried two children befrore here, albeit not for very long.
But I still carried them.
They are my babies and I am their Mummy.

Now the reaosn I dont tell people is not because I am worried about making them feel uncomfortable.
It is because I am not sure I want them to know.
If they dont already know chances are they dont know me well enough and I chose not to tell them.
Losing a baby is a very personal loss.
No matter how much time passes since you lost your baby it still hurts and so I dont always want to bear my feelings to people I dont know.
But it doesnt stop me feeling I should, because by not saying anything I feel I am betraying Lumpy and Pup.
Like I am pretending they dont exist.
Even though that is not what I am doing still there is guilt.

With all these thoughts going around in my head I guess its no wonder I felt slightly off that whole week.
I suddenly was just so scared something of happening to Squirt, kinda like history repeating itself.
It was completely irrational and other than the date that was approaching I dont really know why I felt that.

Luckily on the actual one year annivesary (8th Feb) Squirt suddenly became really really active again and has not stopped since!

I am so thankful for that, its almost like she knew and was saying to me, 'Im ok Mummy, Im not going anywhere'
In fact as I am sitting here typing she is kicking me to the point that it hurts!
She has been doing that more and more recently.
Mostly when Im trying to sleep.
I will be lying on my side and this little hand or foot will thump away at my belly, into the bed as if she is trying to tell me I am squashing her!
So I roll over, and she proceeds to do the same thing on the other side, she is hard to please!

And although it is keeping me awake and is more than just uncomfortalbe at times I still love feeling her.
She feels so unbelievably strong and that makes me the happiest mummy in the world!
That my baby girl is growing so big and strong is such an exciting thought!

Aswell as Squirt making such huge strides in her development I have been pretty busy too.
Her nursery is really pretty much finished.
The cot is up, Ive put 3 shelves up (all by myself) and her clothes are waiting for her in a matching chest of drawers.
I have also ordered some writing to go on the wall above her cot whcih I will be putitng up on Monday.
And P just phoned me to say her mattress has arrived!
The only thing missing is the changing unit that T is making for her that I think will be ready in a few weeks.
Once we have that I can put the last 3 shelves up and all we will need is Squirt herself!

I find myself going in there for no reaosn other than to stand and stare at everything!
It makes me feel closer to her.
Which sounds ridiculous as I cant really get much closer to her as I am right now, I am carrying her after all!

A sneak peek at all my hard work (both the nursery and all this growing that is going on!)



Thursday 2 February 2012

Packing a Punch

I mentioned sometime last week that I could feel Squirt getting stronger.
Well this week her strength seems to have increased massively!
I dont know if it is the position she is in or that she has learnt a new trick that makes it easier to move herself around but she has been getting in some serious blows!

I was lying on the sofa, exhausted after yet more decorating a couple of nights ago and I felt the hardest kick I have yet.
Except it wasnt just a kick.
It felt like she was digging her foot into my stomach wall and then dragging her foot along while pushing against me.
Perhaps she is using me as a way to turn herself around while using minimal effort.
Whatever she was doing she clearly enjoyed it as this was repeated about 10 times in the space of what seemed like 5 minutes.
The only thing that stopped her was me poking her repeatedly until she got the messgae that Mummy was not enjoying this feeling and she should stop now!

Since then she has tried this trick a few more times so she is clearly just as stubborn as me!
Although it wasnt the most comfortable feeling Ive ever experienced I am secretly glad that she is able to annoy me, as it shows just how big and strong she is getting.
Which obviously can only be a good thing!

As I mentioned just now I havent slowed down on the decorating front.
Squirts nursery is now Lilac and beautifully girly.
I absolutely love it and am really pleased with how it turned out.
Today I did the first coat of white on the wood and also bought her cot inside.

All that is left to do is do the second coat of white on the wood and then the cot can go up!
I also bought all the shelves for her nursery the other day so they are ready and waiting to be put up.
I may attempt them on my own or I may make P help me, Ill see how brave I feel!

T also told me the other day that he has made a start on her changing table/carrycot stand.
I get so excited when I think about it all coming together and how cute it is going to look!

While I was busy painting her nusrsery the other day P went off into town to get his hair cut.
He came home and came racing upstairs telling me he had also been shopping.
He had bought Squirt her first cuddley toy, the softest bunny rabbit!
He had also bought her some pink baby shoes with mice on, they are so small!
He was so excited to show me and I just wanted to give him a big hug cos I love how much he is looking forward to her being her, he is such a softie!

Im not sure if it was all the excitement of decorating and all the energy I was using but I started to feel really rough the beginning of this week.
I thought maybe it was an early 3rd Trimester energy slump and was feeling very hard done by if I was only gonna get 8 weeks of feeling like a human.
I also started throwing up again 3 mornings in a row so I was sure I was on a downhill slope from here until Squirt arrived.
But for the last couple of days although I have been exhausted I have not thrown up so I am looking on the bright side and hoping it was just a blip.

One thing I have noticed this week is that I am starting to get that dark line down my belly.
I wouldnt say it is exactly dark yet but it is defnately there.
And my wierd belly has decided it has to be slightly off centre, only mine would do that!

I have just had a freaky and slightly scary realisation.
P was just asking me at how many weeks his cousin was born compared to where Squirt is now.
Well Squirt is 2 days off from being the same gestation as Ps cousin was born at.
So then I thought I would figure out how far off she is from when P himself was born.
If she takes after her daddy she wil;l be here in 7 weeks.
7 weeks!
That is nothing, no time at all, less than 2 months.

Although I would love to see her because I am so so looking forward to her being here I dont want her to come too early!
So that thought  scares me a little.
No it scares me alot!

So I have had words with Squirt and told her that she must do as we say and not as we do!

And to finish, once again here is my growing belly:

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Making Progress

I feel like I am finally getting somewhere with getting ready for Squirt.

I made a start on her nursery this week and already I feel so much more organised.
The wood is all sanded and the white base coat is all done.
Now all I have left to do is to paint the walls lilac and paint the woodwork.

Then we can put the coat up, buy some shelves and have it looking like a proper little nursery!

We, or should I say I, am also making a dent in our 'to buy' list for Squirt.
Online shopping is so easy and then I get the excitement of getting a parcel in the post!

Its not just P and I that are making progress this week.
Squirt is getting stronger by the day.
Partly I know this because of the daily updates that I read about her ( her lungs get more mature all the time, and her brain is starting to function at a higher level)
But mainly I know this because I feel it in her kicks!

Yesterday she kicked P right in the head, no mean feat seeing as he was lying on top of his pillow and the duvet!
And as Im sitting here typing she is having a dance in my belly. Feeling her kicks and punches are my most favourite feelings in the world!

It brings me alot of comfort to know that each day that passes brings her closer to being strong enough to survive without any medical help if she were to be born.
I know that right now if she was born she would need ALOT of help and still may not survive, but the odds are hugely in her favour and increase everyday.

I went to an Aqua aerobics class yesterday with V.
We initially thought it would be far too easy for us when we saw all these grannies there, but we couldnt have been more wrong.
It was exhausting, but in a good way.
It felt great to be doing something positive for Squirt, and something that may make her birth slightly easier to bear!

I obviously look unmistakably pregnant now (I dont know why this surprises me but it still does) as the instructor looked at me and then asked V if she was pregnant too.
Clearly she didnt need to ask me!

Going along with looking pregnant and no longer just looking fat, my belly button is popping out even more this week.
Thankfully its still not a real sticky outie, but its definately out there, I saw it through my top today!

Saturday 14 January 2012

Into her own.......

Squirt is 24 weeks today.
Capable of surviving outside of my belly with a hell of alot of support if she had to.
That fact completely blows my mind.

That inside of me is a separate little life, still needing me to get bigger and stronger, but if forced to capable of fighting it out on her own.
While I was thinking about that today something else dawned on me.

That sometime in the next 16 weeks, hopefully later rather than sooner, I will get to meet her!
I know that seems a pretty strange realisation for someone who is pregnant.
But I have been so focused on being pregnant and staying pregnant its almost like Id forgotten that the end result of pregnancy is a baby outside of me.
A baby with her own unique personality and looks.

I guess all the kicks Im feeling are already that sign that she is an individual.
She decides when she moves and kicks, not me.

Mostly she has a pattern to her kicks.
At first I thought her pattern had changed but in the last few days Ive realised that actually I am probably feeling her smaller movements more often now, making me think that her pattern had changed.
If I think back to a few weeks aog, that makes sense.
Because before Christmas I didnt used to feel her much during the day, only really late in the evening.

Now I feel her gently on and off during the day, pretty much starting the minute I get up and eat, usually around 0800.
Then late evening time, sometime between 2100 and 2300 she seems to wake up and really go for it.
Obviously after that I normally go to bed so dont know how active she is during the night.
Except for last night.
I woke up around 0200 and at first was wondering if she was asleep or why I wasnt feeling her.
Then I cuddled up to P and she was pressed up against her Daddies arm.
She obviously liked being close to her Daddy cos she started kicking like crazy.
So that answered my question as to whether she slept at night.
She clearly doesnt!

A couple of times she has kicked me so hard I have been sure she is trying to break free.
But mostly the kicks are just strong enough to be felt by someone on the outside.
Strong enough to make my belly move but not strong enough to hurt me.
Judging from the freaky one or two that were super strong Im betting it wont be long until she manages to catch me a good one!

Now that Christmas is out of the way we are able to to focus on getting the house ready for her, plus buying everything she will need!
I have begun the process of preparing her nursery for painting.
I hope to get it completely finished by the end of January, we will see if I have been over optimistic with that or not!

We have now ordered and recieved her cot, which to me is very exciting as it was the main thing we needed to buy for her, seeing as we already had the travel system from when I was pregnant with Lumpy.
We also got her bedding set in the sale and I caved in online the other day as I have no will power against sales and cute pink baby things!

To finish this week a look at what Squirt is doing to me and my belly! :)