28 Weeks and All's (S)well!

Hello my lovelies, I hope you are making the most of the British summer! Personally I've never been a fan of heat and the sun, being of the ginger and freckly persuasion we don't mix well. Yet another weekend has flown by, I'm sure that the government is making some sort of cut backs on those too, I swear they lasted for ages when we were little kids!

Not much to catch up on with me to be honest, thank fully both Bean and I have recovered from an evil virus that was doing the rounds. It knocked me for six, and I passed it on to Bean to. Apparently it's very unusual to do that but not un heard of, trust me! I ended up being off work for a week due to feeling like poop and Bean scaring me and not moving much at all.

Once again Mr B organised a lovely treat for us both at the weekend. I am a bit of a "Grand Designs" geek if I'm honest and I love architecture and finding out how stuff was made and how it works. I have two favourite episodes, one being a house made out of wood in some woods that is so beautiful and magical it could almost be something a bit Harry Potter-ish, and the other is a castle that's in ruins that the owners completely re-build and end up having to run as a B&B to finance the project. We stayed there on Saturday night!

Here is Peel castle at Hellifield near Skipton in all it's castley glory.

The bedroom that we stayed in had a four poster bed with flags on the top! Sounds naff, I know I'm not doing it justice but it really was very very pretty. Growing up next to a castle I have always been fascinated by them so it was amazing to actually stay in one!

So back to the matter in hand, bean has now been cooking for 28 weeks which means that I only have 12 weeks left until I pop! How very scary! I only have 8 weeks left to work (not that I'm counting down or anything ;) ), come 3 pm on the 26th of August you will not see me for dust, well once I've waddled to the car...

This week is a week full of appointments unfortunately. Due to me still being classed as over weight when I fell pregnant, I have to be tested for gestational diabetes. So I have to fast over night tonight, and I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything except water until the glucose test is over at around lunch time tomorrow. Then I have to have an injection called an "anti-D". I only found out my blood group the other day which is O negative (apparently rare, you know I don't like to conform!), and they assume the baby's blood is positive. If the baby's blood transferred into mine with this pregnancy there would be no harm done, but if we have any more babies then my body could try and treat the pregnancy as an infection and terminate it. All scary stuff! Then Wednesday it's off for a routine 28 week midwife check up and yet more bloods! I'll be like a pin cushion by tea time on Wednesday!

Bean has been very active the last few days, although last night takes the biscuit. Mr b fancies Beyonce like you wouldn't believe, and the lady in question was headlining at Glastonbury last night. Cue Mr B sat on the edge of the sofa drooling with the sound up totally ignoring anything I said! Bean obviously appreciated the music and was jiggling and dancing away, Mr B reckons Bean was doing the single ladies dance in there as you could see my belly move!!

Any way, here are some sneaky update pics for your perusal:

I still don't think I'm that big to say I'm over 6 months gone now. Although I have felt very heavy and slow over the past few days due to the heat.

I suppose I really should get on with some work seen as I'm out of the office for most of the week on baby related business. Wish me look with the vampires, sorry, nurses over the next few days!

Lex xxx

24 Weeks Gone, 16 Weeks to D-Day!!!

Hello boys and girls, I hope you are all well. I'm still here plodding along, although a lot more slowly than I would like!

I am now 24 weeks gone, and look like I am now actually pregnant instead of just looking like I'm putting on weight or in need of a big trump! I'm surprised at how firm my bump is, I thought it would be a bit like having a big belly again, but it really isn't. Bean is growing nicely as far as I know, I'm at the midwife on Wednesday for a check up. I think this is when they start measuring how big my bump is getting and see if it's growing as it should be. There is plenty of movement in there now, mainly when Mr B is around as Bean seems to love his voice. Although music tends to get Bean moving too, favourites include most things by Rhianna or Beyonce (Mr B thinks Bean is a boy due to this!), Tainted Love, and most things of the cheesy pop ilk! This baby definitely doesn't take after me!!

Once again I am working on a Bank Holiday, although it is now chucking it down so I'm glad to be tucked away warm and safe! It seems like months since we were trying to relax at the caravan in Skeggy, but it was only last week! I say trying to relax as we were both hoping for lie in's due to the fact that I'm up for 5.30 am during the week, and Mr B isn't too far behind me. Unfortunately we chose the one week in Skeg where the hard standing for the cars was being re-surfaced from 7.30 am every bloody morning!!!! Grrrrrr!!!

My maternity leave dates have all been made official now with HR, I will leave on the 26th of August which is 12 weeks away!!! Not that I'm counting of course...

Lex xxx

Baby Spying!

Good morning my lovelies! I just thought I'd check in and share how the scan went yesterday...

For those of you who aren't sure, the 20 week Scan is the main one for finding out if the baby is growing well and as it should be. They take all sorts of measurements such as the spine, checking for spina bifida, making sure the placenta is OK and head measurements. You can also find out the sex of the baby if you wish at most hospitals.

Bean cooperated fully (very well behaved!) and then got a bit fed up of being poked as we could see it stretching and curling up out of the way! The only measurement the lovely lady couldn't get was the skull as Bean had moved quite far down into my pelvis out of the way. The only way to get this was to fill my bladder up!! I've never NOT had a full enough bladder!!! So I had to return to the grotty waiting area to drink more water and wait to be called back in.

The scanning lady managed to get a measurement the second time but then couldn't get us a decent picture without us finding out what sex we're having! We really don't want to know, and apparently Bean was laid with legs wide open so it would have been very easy!!! It was lovely to see the heart beating and Bean wriggling about, then relaxing with arms in front of its face (think Adam Ant's "Prince Charming" dance...) and then hands behind the head! Mr B is now even more convinced its a boy, I still think it's a girl as it was very well behaved!!!

So without further a do, here is baby Bean Broadhead due on the 18th of September:

Bean's side

Top view of Bean, those are hands next to the head :)

Bean from the side again


Getting very excited now as Mr B is whisking me away for a secret belated anniversary weekend after work tonight. Convinced I've forgotten something important though!

Lex
xxx

Acceptance

I hope you lovelies are enjoying yet another Bank Holiday! It's glorious up here in South Yorkshire, although I'd much rather be at the seaside eating an ice cream (no doubt with the rest of the country...).

Now those of you who have been reading my ramblings for a while will know I suffer from head mush from time to time. The last couple of months have definately been mushy times, and my head has been all over the place. Over the past few days I've kind of reached a level of acceptance for all the changes my body is going through. It has been harder than I ever thought it would be to accept that my body WILL and IS changing and expanding, and for once I don't have control over it. I've gone from being praised for losing weight and being able to exercise and push myself if I felt like I needed to, to feeling like my body has been taken over and is no longer my own! Please don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change being pregnant for the world. It's been my dream for as long as I can remember to become a Mum, even if it has been a total surprise to us both!

Mr B is workeing like a trojan to get Bean's room ready, well at least empty of non baby related things anyway so I have been incharge of putting everything on ebay as he won't let me lift anything!!! It's so frustrating!!! There's stuff everywhere upstairs in the house as he's been making little piles of things here, there and everywhere! Grrrrrrr!!!! Saying that, as long as it's done before September it'll be fine.

This Thursday see's us going for the next scan appointment! Bean is now 20 weeks cooked, which is just over half way there. This is the scan where they check everything is OK with Bean's spine and check that its growing as it should be. We could also find out if Bean is a boy or girl but we've decided not to find out. I can now feel kicking too which is really surreal!

I suppose I should get on with some more work, I just thought I'd update you all quickly.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone,
Lex xxx