The final countdown!

After what felt like centuries I made it to the third trimester - hurrah! Every week when I took my little bump photo I was getting ever closer to meeting our daughter. And for those who know me know I'm not the most patient person in the world so having no control over time was sheer toture! I was desperate to meet her! 

 

At this point in my pregnancy I was still commuting to Hemel Hempstead most days for work, and in this particular day I nearly didn't take a photo as it took me 3 hours to get home from work. I could have cried. And obviously so most of the journey I needed to pee :( But at least it was summer and it was still light when I got home. There was definitely no hiding I was pregnant now!

 

 

 

I think this is one of my favourite pregnancy photos! I was so proud of my perfect little bump (which my sister always said looked bigger in real life!) This was a special day as we finished the baby's nursery. I literally could not stop going in there and pottering around - it's my favourite room of our house. 

On the 15th July we made the hard decision to put our boy cat to sleep. He was extremely poorly and was not in a good way.  He had problems with constipation and he struggled to go even with medication and resulted in him getting very poorly. The vet said it was the kindest thing to do but it absolutely broke our hearts. I still cry now when I think about it. He died in my arms, I hope he knew how much we loved him. We love you Moosh x

 

 

God I was hot and swollen here! My poor little legs and feet were no longer little. I resembled the elephant man :(

 

What a sweet day! I finished work!! No more commuting! I just couldn't hack it anymore! I took all of August as annual leave with my maternity starting at the beginning of September. I worried about what I was going to do with my time. But it flew by and I loved every second. I have always worked and had a job or been at college, so to have time off for myself doing NOTHING was a new experience- one that I wouldn't never get again. So i recommend it entirely. 

  

Lovely leaving presents!

 

My wonderful team took me for lunch, and showered me with beautiful gifts for me and the baby, so lucky. 

 

1st August- I was getting the hang of this maternity leave malarkey!

But on the 3rd August it was a different story. I went for a midwife appointment and I felt so poorly. Sick, shakey, really unwell. The midwife detected protein in my urine and suspected I might be developing preeclampsia. So off to the hospital I went. I was hooked up to a monitor and they took some bloods. Much to the worry of my parents who took me to the hospital and my terrified husband who met us at the hospital. Turns out I hadn't developed it and I was fine. I just had a virus and that's why I felt so poorly. Sent home to rest- I was getting good at that! 

 

At this point I knew I was going to have a big baby!!

 

Another day another hospital visit! My mum came with me to this one. From about 20 weeks I had been getting pain in my ribs, they had ruled out preeclampsia but the hospital wanted to do a scan on my liver to make sure all was ok there. Turns out it was fine. And it was baby R causing me issues as she was pressing on my insides causing me all sorts of pain! Even wiping the work tops hurt at this point! So glad I was no longer driving! 

 

Guess what? Another hospital appointment today! This time it was a scan to locate my placenta. As at 20 weeks it was low and there was a possibility that I might need a c section if it didn't move out of the way. But it had! So I was going to have a natural vaginal birth. Baby R has gotten so big we didn't get to see her face! Not long now. Just got to play waiting game seen as we wouldn't be getting a planned c section. 

 

 

 

I made an effort and did my hair and make up and everything to go out for dinner with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. I felt fucking humongous! Especially when the husband joked Oh blacks not that slimming is it! RUDE!! 

 

 

I took 2 photos at 39 weeks as I swear the bump looked different from the morning to the afternoon. I also did serious amounts of gardening that day in a bid to get things moving. But no. I had the midwife booked for a week today for a sweep, I was really hoping I wouldn't need it! 

 

Yep, still pregnant. Happy birthday to me! At least I wouldn't be sharing my birthday haha! But I did have some twinges that I thought might have been contractions. But they never materialised into anything. 

 

This was the day before my birthday, my Bump had dropped!

 

Birthday Bumps! 

 

I was massive! This was taken on the 13th September at 1pm, I washed my hair, shaved what I could reach and relaxed all under the supervision of Molly. I must have had a premonition as the next morning, my waters broke! 

Jx 

It's a girl!

When we went for our 20 week scan, again I was nervous as they make sure the baby has developed as it should and certain parts of her anatomy are working correctly. And if the baby is playing the game, you can find out the sex of the baby. Of course we wanted to know! And to find out that we were expecting a girl I was in shock. I was convinced that the baby was going to be a boy! 

 

 

Look at her blowing bubbles! That little face is definitely girly! 

 

 

This was my gender reveal photo on Instagram! 

This day was the most exciting day bar her being born for me during our pregnancy.  My dream had come true and I was getting my daughter and she was healthy and I couldn't wait to meet her.

A member of the family really tainted this day for me though, she wanted to know why we didn't personally let her know we were having a girl and that she was upset she found out through Facebook! Because it's always all about you isn't it!!!! We told close family parents, siblings etc but didn't feel the need to go through our phone book and tell people we hadn't seen or spoken to in years! This same person also dug me out on the day of the birth, texting literally hours after Rosie was born saying the usual Congrats but then followed up with I'd really like to meet the baby as I don't think I'll see many photos seen as Jo's removed me from social media. Because that's exactly what I want to hear after I've just given birth! And yet still members of the family don't think she's done anything wrong - lunatics! Just tried to ruin 2 of the most important days of my life. Anyway, rant over, moving on! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see I really popped from 25 weeks, I adored watching my tummy grow and change shape. I didn't weigh myself during pregnancy apart from when a HCP weighed me, as my pre preggo leggings still fit right the way to the end! 

Next post we'll talk about the third trimester!

Jx

Pregnancy: the struggle is real.

My pregnancy seemed to drag on forever! This was partly due to us finding out so early on. I think I was about 3/4 weeks when I found out (on my husbands birthday!) 

We were over the moon as we'd been trying after a rainbow baby (actually babies, there were 3 little sacs) in October. So I went to my doctor and started the process of getting my midwife appointment. What I always found strange was that no one did a pregnancy test on me, they just believed I was pregnant! I could have been deluded! Anywho. I got my 12 week scan date for the 29th February - I was so nervous. 

Me at 11 weeks.

 

Baby R at 11 weeks even though it says 12w3d on the scan. 

My scan revealed that I wasn't as far a long as we expected, this was due to the length of my cycle, so we had to book for another scan as they couldn't do the required tests. But there was a baby! And it had a heartbeat! And it was in my tummy and it was alive and healthy! The relief!

The next week dragged!! I couldn't wait to see Baby R again. 

 

 

The day before our second scan 

 

Baby R had changed so much

It was so lovely to see the baby again, but the anxiety is still high, I found this the whole way through my pregnancy, no one can prepare you for that. At this scan, baby had done the required amount of growing and the sonographer was able to take her measurements to do the tests, I also gave some blood today so they could do further tests, just to wait to get our results.

 

The day our results came in the post, I cried and cried! Our baby was going to be perfect, and the chance of the baby having any abnormalities was extremely low. Our baby was going to be ok.

Having hit the second trimester, the tiredness was starting to wear off and I was loving being pregnant. I was feeling ok, I still had a little nausea but I was feeling great. 

 

 

I wasn't really showing much by 15 weeks but I remember starting to really pop on Easter Sunday! It was becoming difficult to hide! I didn't tell anyone at work until we'd got the results from the scan. I think the stripes made the bump look bigger!! 

 

 

At 16 weeks we moved home. And I was so ill. I had a chest infection and flu and I felt like shit. How I managed to do it, I just don't know. I lost a bit of weight during this time, that's why my bump looked a little smaller at 17 weeks. I went to the doctor at 17 weeks too as I got some antibiotics as I wasn't getting any better. The doctor also listened to the baby's heartbeat to make sure everything was ok, and the baby had the most amazing strong heartbeat! It was magical!

 

At 18 weeks I met my local midwife, for my booking in appt locally to my new area. She listened to the baby's heart beat again. Still lovely and strong. And my little bump was filling out again! She also requested a 20 week scan at the John Radcliffe instead of me having to go back to Watford General. 

 

Gender reveal at the next scan! 

Jx

Blusher, Brownies & Babies

So it's been about 20 years since I've written a blog post. I've been a bit busy making a baby! My little bunny was born on the 16th September and she is the light of my life!

 

This is Rosie Hope Reynolds. She weighed 8lbs 3oz of pure loveliness. 

I'm going to start (try to) documenting my time with Rosie and our little life together while I'm on maternity leave. 

I'll start off with the pregnancy...

Jx 

The best tan ever...?

So, this may be a bit premature as I've not let the tan wear off completely but I have to say I'm in love with this new tan from Hi-She! 

It is called: 

He-Shi Rapid 1 Hour Liquid Tan 150ml

And is £22 from feel unique.com

Honestly, I was almost translucent when I applied this tan on Thursday night (it's now Sunday) The tan has a colour guide allowing you to see where you have applied. It's liquid in consistency and dries rapidly. There is hardly any smell and isn't tacky.

After an hour the tan had developed, but not as much as I'd hoped. So I left it on for a further 1.5 hours - almost the maximum recommended time. After my shower, I was a lovely golden colour - very natural and not at all patchy (apart from a few user errors around my hands oops!) But to my surprise, the tan continued to develop over night, and when I woke in the morning I was very dark! Love it! 

This is no filter and taken in my bathroom, (so probably not the truest of indications) 3 nights after application. I really should have taken a before photo! But trust me when I say I'm pale, I'm pale! 

Again no filter in this (excuse the pjs) but you can see the tan line where I had my knickers on! 

This will become my staple tan now, I've had so many disasters with fake tan, and now I've found this little beauty I will be sticking to it. 

Hi-She say:

Made from 100% natural DHA and is an odourless, paraben free formulation with the addition of Pentavitin® for superior instant, long lasting moisturisation and Vitamin E for advanced anti-ageing properties.

And it really does moisturise, I didn't think it would, as it was only a liquid and appeared to have a high alcohol content but my skin was lovely and smooth the next day. 

I also have moved on to my bb cream instead of foundation as this provides a lovely base for make up! 

All in all, a fab product and I will be using in conjunction with the hi-she gel from now on. 

Has anyone else had any good or bad experiences with hi-she or self tan in general?

Jx