23 Week scare, starting the 24th Week and Pain!

I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently and that's because I have been struggling.. but now I have 10 minutes I'm making myself write it down so I don't forget!

Rocket this week :)

When I was just over 23 weeks I was having cramps accompanied with backache for 3 days on and off but it wasn't regular like contractions, however nothing I did or how I moved stopped them and the fact it was with back pain and having previously gone premature I was terrified. So after the 3rd day I called the labour ward and they told me to come in and get checked.

Baby was moving fine, hes a good strong mover in there and the midwife was shocked how hard he kicked her when she had the monitor on for just being 23 weeks!
 My temperature, urine and everything was fine and the doctor came in and had a chat. It was the scariest chat ever as she had to tell me that if baby did come now they wouldn't do anything to save him.. not til 3 days later when I would hit 24 weeks.. I was then scared as I wanted to know my cervix was closed..

Which it was *massive sigh of relief*, however she said this didn't mean that I wouldn't go into labour at anytime, just that the cramps I had been having hadn't done anything to dialate my cervix - that was a blessing. Off I went home.

When I reached 24 weeks I was so happy, its a big milestone for me. I have alot of anxiety with this pregnancy and now knowing he is considered 'viable' if he was to be born he would have a chance and every week I go from not on is another milestone for my silly anxiety (which I am seeing a midwife councillor about still..)

My HMS has been awful, to the point where waiting the 2 hours for my Glucose Tolerance Test was almost too much and the back pain was so strong I was on the verge of tears. Its really hard as this little baby is wanted sooo much but the pain I'm experiencing is making me feel bad about everything.

I had a bad pregnancy with Rocket, I do remember that but it wasn't til much later (29-30 weeks) that the pain was getting too much and this time 24 weeks seems very early. I have my crutches for when I'm bad but I don't think it's SPD, just the HMS flared up.

Heat bags and paracetamols are all I can do at the moment as my cocodamol makes me feel unwell during pregnancy so I try not to take it until its really really bad.

On a good note my little man is wriggling alot and this morning he was woken by the hoover going, that made me laugh!! and Rocket has been taking about when baby comes and that makes me smile :) I adore my boys and cannot wait to see them together!

Royal Baby Bliss with BRITAX

Having had my last son premature at 34 weeks, I saw what little babies go through in special care and how much love is given to them to get them through those tough times in special care.

 Bliss was helpful to me as a new mum of a preemie and I was given lots of support and information to help me on my way with my little boy.

 No one knows what will happen with Bumble and when he will come into the world, I am hoping desperately he makes it to term but after the last experience I am mentally preparing myself just incase and I know if I needed it the support from Bliss would be there for me again.

That why I am over the moon to tell you that Britax are launching a Royal themed fundraising drive just for Bliss!!

Just 150 units of the BABY SAFE plus SHR II car seat have been created in the exact same limited edition fabric design that HRH Prince George was seen in leaving the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in.  These seats will go on sale for £129.99 to the public with all proceeds being donated to the charity. 

I imagine these will go shockingly quick so If you'd like to own one for your little Royal and help raise money for Bliss at the same time then you can find them at
http://store.britax.co.uk/

ABOUT BRITAX:

BRITAX has been manufacturing child car seats and travel systems since 1966.

BRITAX has research & development centres in Germany and the UK where designers and engineers use state-of-the-art facilities, including their own test rigs, to pioneer innovative products and set safety standards, such as ISOFIX technology. The expertise BRITAX develops is regularly shared with governmental and safety experts worldwide.

Top European test organisations, such as independent motoring and consumer organisations consistently rate BRITAX amongst the best – and constantly exceed legal safety requirements. 80% of all cars rated by Euro NCAP in 2011 have tested with at least one of our seats during their independent crash test assessments.

BRITAX is the leader of rearward facing car seats in the Nordic regions.

About Bliss:

Bliss is a registered charity no 1002973 and Scottish registered charity SC040878.

Bliss, the special care baby charity, is dedicated to ensuring that all babies born too soon, too small or too sick in the UK have the best possible chance of survival and of reaching their full potential. It does this by:

-          Providing practical and emotional support for families during an extremely difficult time, so they can give the best care to their babies

-          Providing training and support for doctors and nurses, funding specialist Bliss Family-Centred Care Nurses in hospitals and funding research to improve the care of all premature and sick babies

-          Raising awareness of the issues affecting special care babies and fight for essential change within government and the NHS

 

Messy Play and the start of summer! (Rocket)

I actually faced a fear of mine, MESSY PLAY! (yes I'm a mess-a-phobe ;) )

 I wanted to take Rocket out for a fun morning at a toddler group so our friend came round so I could follow her over as it wasn't the local group and we headed off for a morning of jelly, gloop, rice, sand, glue and paint!

Rocket was in his element, he was a little wary at first but he loved having all the options of things to do and to my absolute surprise he didn't even get dirty! Not even from the ice cream he had during the break!

It was so fabulous to see him having fun that I'm going to try take him a few more times over the summer.

Unfortunately the sitting on the floor and bending over, topped with picking him up during a tantrum i Asda set me off in a massive flare up today so I haven't been able to do much and I'm exhausted. I really need to learn that I can't do too much, especially at the moment being pregnant with Bumble (seeing as I want to keep cooking him as long as possible!)


When we got back from messy play Rocket has a little nap and woke with a tummy ache but was better by the evening, He even let me take a few photos as I hadn't taken any with my SLR in ages! (Que panic when I thought id forgotten how to use photoshop haha)

Anomaly Scan - 21+4 weeks!

The day for my 20 week scan finally rolled around! I hadn't actually been desperate for a scan like I was with Rocket as I had that gender scan at 6 weeks so I already had my scan 'fix' so I waited patiently.
 I had specifically asked for a Tuesday so Bumbles daddy could be with me as he missed the last 2 scans due to work so that's what had pushed the scan date back.

I was so nervous in the morning.. I don't even know why I felt like that, I knew he was fine as he was wiggling about but I guess knowing that something could be wrong with his heart or other organ got me in a panic.

9am was my scan and at about 9:15 I was called through by a smiley looking Ultrasound tech (which made me feel better as my last one wasn't so friendly!) and I also had a trainee tech in there too which was pretty cool as I got to hear more explained than I would in a normal scan.

He is still most definitely my little boy ;) and all was going well with the scan apart from him being in a really awkward position (transverse upside down!) but she saw the brain and lips, all was OK.... then she tried to see the heart and she went quiet and seemed to spend ages looking. She then got me to lay on my side and when that didn't move him she sent me off for a walk for 20 minutes to try get him to move so A and I went to the cafe and had some food and drink and jumped up the stairs.

When we got back she said she still couldn't see properly (although he had moved *success*, printed off some pictures then told me she needed to go get another ultrasound tech.. I was terrified at that point and thought for sure there was a problem with my little boy and the wait seemed like forever and a day.

In came the second ultrasound tech who took over to look for herself and they chatted amongst themselves for a while and it was just because he was in an awkward position and finally they agreed that everything looked OK with his heart *Que massive sigh of relief*

So all in all it was a roller coaster of emotions and I was glad to walk out with a lovely picture of my second little bundle!

Next appointment is next week.

I'm a Britax Mumbassador!

I'm really excited to have been invited to join the team of Britax Mumbassadors and of course I said yes!

I'll be bringing you tips and up to date information from Britax  along with safety information (I recently blogged about the new regulation for car seats called i-Size HERE)

After exiting the younger years with Rocket who is now fast approaching 3 and a half! *gasp* It will be exciting to discover new
products that I may even get to road test when Bumble is born in November!

You can find Britax on Twitter and Facebook along with their Website too!

Rocket's Visit to Legoland!

For weeks and weeks Rocket has been talking about the upcoming trip to Legoland and he was so excited after going through the videos of the rides on YouTube! His daddy and I were even more excited to take him as we both love theme parks (daddy mostly!) and we were excited to share this with Rocket.

I was a little scared about going as it's really hilly there and having HMS and being 19 weeks pregnant I knew I would struggle, especially having to drive over 2 hours there and back so we planned to get a wheelchair.

When we got there we were a bit late as the M25 was it's normal hellish jam and there was a long queue to guest services but when I got to the desk the guy that dealt with me was friendly and happy and sorted me out a disabled access pass (which we only ended up using twice!) and pointed me in the direction of the wheelchair hire which is at the back of the shop.

Once we were sorted we were off and we named Rocket 'captain' for the day and let him guide us to what he wanted to do! so he was off flying helicopters, driving boats and cars and generally having the best time ever! He even did the massive water slide with daddy and got drenched and still loved it!

I didn't really go on many rides and after getting in the boat decided after that I wouldn't go on anything i had to climb in or sit funny!

The weather was gorgeous, about 26 out there and not a cloud in the sky which made it perfect for the new children's splash area (we stuck to the lower bit as it was super busy!)

We left around 5 pm and headed home and within 5 minutes of being in the car, Rocket was fast asleep bless him! He had such a fun day and there was nothing bad that I could say about the day! 

Here is a link to the days video on YouTube!

We had our own tickets and I'm just writing about our own experience of the day!

20 Weeks Pregnant! Feelings and update

So in a 'normal' pregnancy I'm now half way there! (if you go by Rocket's pregnancy then I'm quite over half way already! That's crazy!)

 For some reason, this pregnancy is whizzing by alot faster than Rocket's pregnancy did. Maybe its because I'm running around after him, maybe it''s because I'm more chilled now.. or just because as you grow up, time disappears!

I'm quite OK with the speed of it though. I feel him move alot each day now.
 He has his quiet times but then will give me a big kick and I will know all is well.

Prior to getting pregnant, I had spent a few months working hard to lose weight and I lost 2 stone and was feeling a lot better in myself and I honestly believe that helped me get pregnant after trying completely unsuccessfully for 20 months.

 Recently I have been struggling with my body image and the way pregnancy is changing my body. Being a bigger girl I was aware that I wouldn't have a 'bump' for quite a while but after my stomach shrinking earlier in the year, watching the baby push out the fat was absolutely terrifying for me and I haven't really talked about it til now.

Luckily in the past week I have started to see a difference myself (I'm not too sure if strangers could tell though!) but even with the dreaded 'B' belly, my upper tummy seems to have 'popped' and I know that it's because Rocket ruined my stomach muscles and that Bumble is still only up to my belly button but have a feeling I'm going to be huge by the end of this pregnancy, especially if I go past the 34 week mark!

I love nothing more than waking up first thing in the morning and looking down to see if the bump has grown! I remember doing the same thing when pregnant with Rocket and it puts a smile on my face.

Rocket is now really into becoming a big brother, he talks about holding him in November and how my tummy is going to grow and how he will help with nappies, it's so sweet.
 When I listen to the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler, Rocket has to listen to the baby in HIS tummy! He tells strangers too ha ha.

My 20 week scan isn't until July 23rd as I wanted a specific day so my husband could come so it's a little later than when I had Rockets. But as I had a 16 week scan that seems to have tided me over, especially as I already know he's a little boy.

I had follow ups after having borderline high BP but that seems to be under control now and the next consultants appointment I have is shortly after my 20 week scan.

As it's only a couple of weeks away I leave it there and I'll update with the scan pictures on the 23rd!