Cravings for junk food

I'm one of the first to say, I don't really believe in pregnancy cravings as in general I'm the type of person that gets cravings for things all the time, so to just put it down to pregnancy seems like an excuse to me. But I've eaten a few more pies and sausage rolls in the last few weeks than I have in the last 6 years! consumption of junk food has always been a rarity for me, I tend to be a guilty eater and find I enjoy healthy food more on preference. It's been harder to eat healthy lately because work no longer has a microwave which means I can't have my 2 min soups anymore. Although Paul has been really fantastic lately cooking lots of healthy wholesome meals for me, he really is a good cook and I appreciate the effort he puts into his cooking, yummo.... Thankfully I haven't really put on any excess weight so far, I'm enjoying being pregnant and I like my body changing, I'm looking forward to when I pop so it's obvious to other people and I'm not just a girl with a pot belly ;)

16 weeks 5 days

sick

I really wanted to go to Winter Magic in Katoomba today as I've never had the chance to go during the day because I've always been working. There's market stalls, music, performances & a parade where everyone is dressed up in weird and wonderful costumes. But last night I started feeling congested and my throat started getting sore and dry. As soon as I got home I crashed out on the couch and watched the DVD Night at the Museum, easy watching no thinking required kind of movie. I went to bed with a hot lemon, honey & ginger tea.

This morning my throat is still sore and my body is achy so I thought that it wouldn't be such a good idea to go to Katoomba where it is twice as cold as here. Especially since I can't take any cold & flu medication. But I really do need to get out of the house, we will head down to Glenbrook instead & have a coffee and sit in the sun.

15 weeks & 5 days

Doula for Birth support

Doula is a Greek word, meaning ‘woman caregiver’, which is now used to refer to a woman who is trained to support women and their partners through labour, birth and the early weeks of parenting.

www.birthnurture.org

I really like the idea of having a Doula at my birth, for extra support and reassurance from someone who has been there before. Found the link to cara's site through one of the birth sites I have been reading. I Spoke with cara this morning over the phone and she seems really nice, she has 3 children and is going to come and meet with us here Monday July 2. I feel it will make the difference in the level of care I receive during labour & after birth. Its impossible in a busy labour ward to have a midwife there with you all the time & being the first time I know how I can get anxious when I feel out of control, Paul will be there for me but he will have no real understanding of the pain I will be in and that's where my Doula comes in to best support us both. The idea of labour has always freaked me out a bit now that I am looking down the tunnel at it I actually look forward to that part, I can see how it means I can meet my child and the outcome is much bigger and outweighs the fear of pain.

Finally we have some Sunshine

I don't do winter well but its slightly more bearable if I can have some sunshine, I dislike the cold intensely; dry skin, cold feet, can't get out of bed in the mornings, no daylight savings & general feeling of crappiness come winter so lethargic & slow.

I'm officially counting down the day's to spring now... 71 days till spring

I will be very close to 26 weeks pregnant then which seems so far away right now but is going to come so very fast.

Feeling sleep deprived

I took Friday off because I felt I needed it, I didn't sleep very well at all Thursday night after work because I was feeling stressed about work not giving me priority to change two of my night shifts to Day shifts instead telling me they had been filled. I asked 3 weeks ago to change to day because I know as I get further into my pregnancy late night aren't a healthy thing. My store manager (Male) does not feel pregnant women have any extra priorities and made it clear there not going to do me any favours. So yep I am annoyed as an employee and as a women...

I had to get a medical certificate for Friday so that they pay me as I want to use my accrued sick time which I'm entitled to do. But I couldn't get into see my GP then so had to go today, no worries at all she backdated it for me so I'm covered. Instead of my coming back to see her next Monday she did my next due antenatal checkup today; blood pressure,weight,referral for my 18wk scan and used a Doppler thingy to see if we could hear bubs heartbeat as you can from 15 weeks. Its not the greatest technology certainly nothing like an ultrasound, sounded like bad feedback noise but I was able to hear the heartbeat for a brief moment before bub obviously moved out of range, there were some sudden loud noises amongst the static that my GP said were fetal movements..pretty cool anyway

Was so tired today that I slept the majority of it away, couldn't clear my sleepy heavy head and I felt like I had a hangover headache u know not throbbing just dense. Starting to feel better now but not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. What are my options for the next 6 months right now trying to figure that all out.

14 weeks 4 days

has my skin packed it in?

I'm not sure if this is one of those pregnancy things, but this week my skin seems to have gone tropo and breaking out all over the place. Or it could just be all the running around and party food/sweets I ate over the long weekend at paul's sisters 21st, lets hope so because that's one thing I can't handle is bad skin especially when my job is face to face customer service. I also bought a new foundation brush and have been applying my makeup with it and it's since I started using it that my skin has gone a bit crazy so I'll stop using it for a few day's and see what happens. Other than that I feel pretty good, less nausea now and walked to and from work today which made me feel healthy. I'm going to make a very good effort to be more careful about what I eat from now on as I think I haven't been eating healthy enough lately and It's not just me anymore so it's much more important that I do.

Ultrasound 14 weeks

Ultrasound # 2

last Friday was my second ultrasound with Dr. Kasby, after my blood results from the nuchal test came back high risk for downs this was our choice to have a 2nd scan to check for soft markers of downs and then go from there. So once again drinking my water so I had a full bladder for the scan and then waiting nearly 40mins in reception, I got to the point were I was busting and just had to go and then start again. We got to see bub again and it is definitly growing, it is amazing to see how even in just 3 weeks it has changed so much. It is very overwhelming to see this being and know that its growing inside me, wow.. It is still slowly sinking in that I'm pregnant and going to be a mum, Its hard for it to feel real at times because I can't feel bub move yet and only have a little belly but when I see bub up there on the monitor little heart beating away, moving around It feels so very real. So everything looks good, the heart is good the chambers all function well and blood flow is good, which now puts me over the 1:300 mark, bub wouldn't cooperate and get in a good position for Dr Kasby to see the nasal bone which he said would be just icing on the cake, but he was confident everything looks healthy and our bub is developing well so that was enough for me. I can let myself relax and enjoy my pregnancy....

It is funny how the second thing people say to you after the initial Congratulations is alway's "are you excited...?" what do I say, of course we are amongst a lot of other feelings, excited,scared,in awe. If you aren't jumping up and down on the spot,eyes popping at the time they ask you this it seems to make people concerned? To be honest it's still all sinking in and there's so much to think about, to wonder about & to plan before the birth.

13 weeks

Considering work

I have been starting to think about what I am going to do about work..how my current job & hours affect me now and more so further into the pregnancy. My initial plan was to go back to TAFE full time to allow me to complete cert III in child studies, that I had started by distance education but have gotten nowhere - life & work got in the way, but looking at the assistance on offer to me for financial support it seems like it may be not such a good idea right now. I don't want to put myself in a situation where funds are a stretch as they already are at times. So my best option is to keep working for as long as I can, but as I work 3 nights out of 4 this is only going to be practical up to a certain point, I'm already struggling with the late nights a bit now. So I need to try and work out a better solution in regards to my shifts at work and hopefully swap for more day shifts. I have told work that I am pregnant, so they should be more willing to be considerate of me. Seeing as great majority of cashiers employed are women you would think they have to take special consideration for pregnancy needs.