Changing Bag Love - Pacapod

Since the 20 week scan I have started to allow myself to relax, get more excited, and to think about buying baby things, finally!

Today I’ve been having a browse for changing bags, because - well - a bag is a bag and a love bags, so it seemed like a good excuse.

My absolute favourite so far has to be the Pacapod Sydney bag in Charcoal Leather. Oh my lord it’s a thing of beauty. It’s also an expensive bag – I’ve never spent £220 on a bag in my life! Although one could argue I will probably use a changing bag HARD so it’s worth the investment, right? Plus it’s LEATHER and grey leather too (my particular weakness). In all seriousness, it’s packed with features and looks like it would be a great investment if your budget can stretch that far.  

Sydney Bag - Charcoal
http://www.pacapod.com/sydney-designer-baby-bag-black.html

My second favourite is the Prescott bag – it looks like a really stylish satchel – what’s not to love? The contrast between the two fabrics turns a simple black bag into something more interesting, and it comes with all the same awesome features as the more expensive bags in the range. I feel like perhaps canvas would be a better choice anyway, from an ease-of-care perspective. I can imagine my husband wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable carrying a bag like this around, when required, which would be a bonus. This one is £115 which seems more affordable too.

Prescott Bag - Black
http://www.pacapod.com/prescott-black.html

Finally I quite like the clever Oban bag in Elephant. Another grey one, but in fabric this time. This can be converted to wear as a backpack, which I think is particularly cool and could come in handy when you need your hands free. I actually think this one is a bargain and I would happily spend £80 on a good quality bag like this.

Oban Bag - Elephant
http://www.pacapod.com/oban-elephant-grey-changing-bag.html

The thing I love about Pacapod, is how lovely and compartmentalised everything is (the ‘pods’ are so clever!), it feeds into this ideal that, once the baby arrives I am somehow going to be more organised than I am now. I’m going to be like the mumsactresses in the Pacapod demonstrational videos, I just know it!

I also love the fact that they really are grown up looking bags. I’m not a fan of the frills, cupcakes, kittens, flowers, and other fripperies (yes I’m looking at you Pink Lining!) that so many changing bags seem to come replete with. These bags are really stylish, they don’t scream yummy mummy at all, in fact they could easily pass as just a lovely handbag, rather than a changing bag specifically.

I am also obsessing over the pram-hook that allow you to neatly clip the bag to the handlebar of your pram, rather than using the strap of the bag. It looks so convenient and well designed, and means no putting your bag in the pram basket and taking up vital space.  

Pacapod Pram-Hook
http://www.pacapod.com/pram-hook.html

Now I just need to find a stockist so I can go and have a play with some of these beauties!

Would love to hear opinions from anyone who actually owns a Pacapod bag. Of course if I actually take the plunge and buy one, I will report back. 

Half Way – Bump Progress

So I haven’t been very consistent so far in taking bump-selfies (‘Bumpies’?) but I thought - to celebrate making it to half way - I would share my progress so far. 

Unfortunately I only took photos once during the first trimester (too busy celebrating the joy of pregnancy by throwing up!) so there is quite a big jump from 5 to 13 weeks.

Seeing them all together makes it feel much more real, because when you see your tummy day in, day out the change is so gradual that you don’t really notice it (well, I didn’t anyway!). 

Please excuse the sexy array of mis-matched pyjamas; I have, at least, spared the world my 19 week shot - taken in just knickers and a vest - which I don't think the internet is really ready for. ;-)

5 WEEKS

13 WEEKS

14 WEEKS

17 WEEKS

18 WEEKS

20 WEEKS

21 WEEKS

It's getting bigger!!!

20 Week Scan

I am excited to say – we made it safely to the 20 week scan!

It was lovely to get to see the baby again, and my how they’ve grown.

Happily the scan went very well, with all measurements, etc. normal. Baby was yawning and wriggling like crazy – if the amount of kicks I’ve been getting lately is anything to go by, this baby will be a fidget, like it’s mum! I'm being jabbed from the inside as a type. <3

It's odd to think that, all being well, I now won't see my baby now until it's born. It seems like quite a long time to wait. I'm looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again at my next antenatal appointment at 25 weeks. 

First Flutterings

I'm 19 weeks today.

I woke up this morning, and as I lay in bed, checking my phone, I felt a very odd sensation in my tummy. Little twinges, a bit like springs popping in a tiny mattress.

Drank a cup of tea in bed and the next thing I know - tummy was going berserk and I could actually see the movement on the outside. My husband felt and saw the movement too, which was lovely as it's nice for him to be involved (and to confirm I'm not imagining it / going mad!).

It was certainly not like anything I've ever felt before and I have been grinning like a loon since I felt it.

I have my 20 week scan in 10 days and was starting to get the inevitable worry that it would bring bad news (exacerbated by the fact I hadn't felt any movement up until today). However now I can feel that wriggling little creature in my tummy I am feeling so happy I could burst!

16 Weeks and Counting...

I seem to have done a great job in proving that I’m a rather shoddy blog-keeper with the lack of blog posts. In my defence I have been feeling rather awful up until recently, and blog posts about how much I’ve been throwing up didn’t make particularly inspiring material!

I’m now 16, almost 17, weeks and feeling much better; still queasy in the mornings and evenings, but it’s manageable. This first week back at work I’ve improved my diet massively and actually been doing some exercise, which is really helping me to feel better. The sickness was really awful – at one point I was being sick and there was blood in it, which was quite scary (although thankfully nothing sinister!) – I’m very glad it has eased off now.

Since I last posted at 10 weeks I’ve had my 12 week scan, nuchal test results, and 16 week midwife appointment.

The 12 week scan was fantastic – the baby looked a lot less like a little potato and more like, well, a baby! Seeing that the baby had grown, and that beautiful flicker of a heartbeat was such a lovely, reassuring feeling. Being awkward (like it’s mum already!) the baby was asleep in the wrong position for the nuchal measurement initially, so I had to go away and eat some chocolate to wake it up. This worked wonders and during the second scan we could see a very wriggly little baby that kept stretching and kicking it’s little legs.

12 week scan

I worried a bit about the nuchal results before they arrived, but they came really quickly and were low risk (1:100,00 – I cried when I read the letter), which was a relief as it meant no difficult decisions to make about further testing, etc.

My 16 week midwife appointment was earlier this week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I took my husband along with me to have is blood taken, so he could find out his blood type (I’ve got rhesus negative blood which can complicate matters slightly if the baby has rhesus positive blood, which is much more likely if the father is a positive blood group) – so for once it wasn’t me getting stuck with needles. The midwives obviously don’t get to take blood from men very often, and they seemed to enjoy themselves. We also listened to the baby’s heartbeat, which was amazing and so rapid. Very nice to hear baby sounding well in there as the time between the 12 week scan and 20 weeks does seem to drag!

20 week scan is at the start of January and I am excited to see how the baby has developed since our last peek at him/her.

Double-figures, Scans, and Sickness

Big day today – I’m 10 weeks! I’m really more excited about reaching double-figures than I probably should be.

My “morning” (Ha! She says – if only!) sickness has carried on unabated for the last few weeks. It has started getting me down a bit now. I am trying to tell myself that it’s all for a good cause and should stop soon, but I am struggling. I’m only being sick in the morning, but feel very nauseous for most of the day, with a brief respite in the late afternoon and evening, but then I am feeling sick during the night which is waking me up (as if needing to get up to go to the toilet constantly wasn’t fun enough!). I really hope I am one of the lucky women who finds the sickness improves around 12 weeks. I have the utmost respect (and bags of sympathy!) for anyone who suffers really serious sickness, I don’t know how I would possibly cope with a serious condition like hyperemesis gravidarum.

Things I have found that help with my sickness/nausea are:

• Don’t fight the urge to be sick – drinking some plain water and emptying my tummy first thing gives me a bit of relief
• Twiglets
• Liquorice
• Grapes and apples (fruit is meant to be easy to digest, not sure if that is true)
• Eat what you fancy, not what you think you should have
• If you struggling cleaning your teeth (it makes me sick) try and do it when your tummy is empty

Tiredness is still here in full force, and the last couple of days has been accompanied by a terrible headache. Yay! I am positively glowing right now.

On a happier, less whiny, note - last week we had our first scan. We went to our local branch of Hello Baby and paid for a reassurance scan, for that very reason – reassurance. I had been feeling increasingly anxious and was convincing myself that something was wrong, or that I wasn’t really pregnant (I know, I’m mad!), so we decided it would be £80 well spent, which turned out to be correct. 

My nerves before the scan were at an all-time high, I haven’t been so nervous about something for a long time. There was one horrible moment - as the sonographer started scanning me - when I saw what looked like an empty sac, with no baby in – however this was due to the scanner (technical term?) not being in quite the right spot to find the baby. Shortly after I could see a little blurry “jelly bean” shape within the sac. Honestly, I am known for being a bit melodramatic (shocking I know!), but the relief was immense. The baby had a strong heartbeat, which as clearly visible and we even saw some wriggling (which was just amazing and made my - generally unemotional - husband well up) with tiny little arm and leg stumps flailing. I fully expected to burst into tears if everything was OK, but I think being in front of a stranger helped me keep it together, at least until we left the clinic. The baby measured bang on 9 weeks during the scan, which is what I expected, based on when I ovulated, so that was also reassuring.

Here’s the blurry little jelly bean!

Next scan (12 week NHS scan) is booked for the beginning of December, when I will be 11+2 so will be interesting to see if the dates match up from the initial scan. Needless to say, I am very excited to see the little lump again.

GPs, Scans, and Morning Sickness

I had to go back to the doctor last week, after I got a – very apologetic! – call from the GP receptionist because the trainee doctor I had originally seen ‘was not aware’ of the forms that needed completing. So I went back and saw a fully qualified GP and had a much more productive appointment (whereas last time I left feeling unsure and like none of my questions were answered). I left with a load of leaflets and some forms to fill out, after quite a comprehensive grilling from the GP about my health. Although I wasn’t brave enough to ask the GP if it would be possible to have an early scan for reassurance (assertiveness is not my strong suit!).

I had to go into my previous mental health issues (bipolar disorder and self-harm), which is always a little embarrassing and awkward, as – when listed out – they seem very extreme. I always worry I won’t be believed when I say that I had the offer to have my diagnosis ‘withdrawn’ (as is that even a thing? I sometimes wonder if I imagined it). Either way the GP was very sympathetic and seemed to believe me when I told her I was perfectly happy and well-adjusted these days, but that I was aware of PND and it was something I would absolutely seek help for if I am unlucky enough to suffer. I reassured her that I had a strong family network who would be all too quick to step in if they suspected something was wrong, having seen what I went through before. It was still a slightly awkward conversation though. I’m not really looking forward to going back through it all again with the midwife at my first appointment (next week!).

I’m now eagerly awaiting my scan appointment letters, but in the meantime I’ve booked in for a private scan, when I will be somewhere between 8-9 weeks. I had agonised over whether to go for one, worrying mostly about the cost and about not acting more neurotic than is necessary. But the fear of an MMC, and worrying with every little symptom fluctuation (my breasts aren’t as sore today, I haven’t had any morning sickness yet today, I wonder what the means etc.) pushed me over the edge. I still have to wait until mid-November for the early scan (I didn’t want to go too early and risk not seeing a heartbeat and giving myself more to worry about), but just knowing it’s booked in is very comforting. I’ve read that there is a 98% chance of the pregnancy continuing if a heartbeat is seen at 8 weeks.

Morning sickness has definitely kicked in over the last week and a bit. It’s pretty unpleasant. I am not being sick, but having all day nausea and struggling to eat. Although I am happy about it in a way because I like having symptoms and I do keep reminding myself that it’s all for a good cause. Although getting up early for work in the morning is not fun.

I am really longing for the day when I feel comfortable letting everyone know, which hopefully will be at 12 weeks, all being well. I’ve never been good at keeping exciting secrets, but the fear of saying something ‘too soon’ is keeping me quiet for now. It’s hard (but lovely at the same time obviously!) enough that my parents and in-laws are getting really excited already – and talking enthusiastically about the future. I feel like there is added pressure now, not to disappoint everyone if something goes wrong. I just really hope that in just over two weeks’ time we’ll have some good news to share from the scan.