GTT today

Went in bright and early to Addenbrookes (Iain drove me) for my GTT. 

It went reasonably well ... the nurse worked out how to get my blood after a few tries. 

I wouldn't do the test if it's just for glucose, I requested Insulin tests too, and they were happy to do that. So 6 lots of blood!!! 

The sugary drink was basically sweet lemonade, a good idea!! Better than Lucozade. 

I don't get the feeling they understand IR at all ... makes me less confident about their advice once the results are in ... (tomorrow!!)

I knitted part of the Baby's pappoose blanket and everyone kept smiling at me! 

Felt rough all night afterwards though .... grrr ... was all alone too, Iain was at Mostyn's (pre-Le Mans trip) and Tiffany will arrive tomorrow from Paris. She'll stay while Iain is away. 

Sex and the City Movie!

Went to see this with Becca and we had SUCH an amazing time. We laughed, we cried, we ate too much popcorn (but resisted ice cream and chocolate) - we had giant Coke Zeros (well, hers was a Diet Coke I believe ... maybe they both were .... who knows .... the DRINKS WERE GIGANTIC!!!) 

I had to pee in the middle of the l o n g film, so missed Samantha buying a dog ... but saw the rest of the film and really enjoyed it. I think you do have to be with the right friend .... I was. 

It was just the thing. We had dinner afterwards and chatted about the film, life and everything and had such a good night. Am so pleased! 

Becca's new cat Coco has arrived too, I can't wait to see her (next week). 

24 Weeks!

So, there really are just 16 weeks to go (on paper). 

I feel well again. Had a nice weekend, with Iain and our mothers (specially my mum - saw her twice and had fun), visited my lovely cousin Anika and her gorgeous boys, saw my grandmother and aunty (briefly, but caught up in the process, and their enthusiasm and love for my baby is always heartening). Thursday was good too, spent the evening with my friend Jules (baby's Godmother too), again, really made me feel better. It takes some work and plenty of love and support to counter the emotional upheaval of the mega doses of progesterone it seems! 

Am glad I feel good. 

I wasn't feeling ill last week so much as restless and not at peace. 

Am hoping this coming week just goes really well. I have the SATC movie tonight with Becca, then the GTT tomorrow, and Iain will drop me at the Hospital early in the morning. He'll be off to Mostyn's that night. They are off to Le Mans the next day. I'll be ok, Tiffany will turn up again on Wednesday too, after I get back from Aqua Yoga and lunch with Mum. Hope she has had a good time in Paris. Mum and I are going to choose wool I think, for hats for the baby ... Mum wants to make stuff for him and the hats are beyond my abilities, specially the crochet ones (most of them!) and I know he will need many hats - poor thing won't have much hair, if any at all, and his first 6 months will be cold. Mum also has such a busy schedule, I think hats will serve well - she'll have time to do them, and finish them, which is such a good feeling. 

I have been cooking. Made some yummy food last week, can't work out when I decided to make each item ... it was a bit ad hoc. Good though! The last meals I remember were roast chicken one night and a kind of lamb stew with pearl barley and rosemary, and carrots which was very nice. We've been having some truly delicious cabbage (thank you River Nene - they bring us our vegetables every week). I now have some khitchudi I cooked last night (er, it's lentils and rice cooked with a few spices, it's the ultimate comfort food and possibly the healthiest stodge I know how to make. It can be very creamy (like the one I just made). Might have it with chick peas, maybe with fish, maybe just on its own. Whatever I choose, I'm having some today and can't wait!! Last night we had peppers stuffed with a mixture of home made keema and vegetable biriyani from a Tilda sachet. We had it on a bed of fancy lettuce, and I had sprouted mung beans too, and it was soooo good. 

Then we had a little rhubarb crumble each - 

I made the crumble part with stoneground wholemeal flour and added some ground flaxseeds, and it tasted so good! The rhubarb is from Iain's parents' garden, and the whole thing was very good. 

Baby Boogie!

Am 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant. 

Our baby showed us a new way to communicate last night ... on the way home from visiting Mostyn & Jules, we were listening to music in the car. He started moving about when I sang along. Then a song with a heavy beat on it started and he kicked and kicked! So we tried picking songs that made that kind of deep bass-ey noise with the drum machine, and he kept doing it! 

Iain got quite excited at this point, and when we got home, he switched the car stereo to his Jamoroquai CD ... and the first song he tried ... nothing. Then the second track he tried was a huge success. Baby danced about like his Daddy does at weddings!!! It was so sweet, I was so proud, and Iain was thrilled as he couldn't really feel the low level boogie-ing the baby started off with when the car was running, but once we had the music on loud and the baby liked the song - wahaay!!! 

Of course, we just ASSUME the baby likes the music!!!! lol. 

Dizzy spells and Tiredness

God news is I'm not made miserable quite so easily ... however am still an irritable cow so watch out loved ones!!! 

I have been tiring easily. Partly the heat maybe, and I have been good with my Yoga, which involves getting on a bus to Cambridge 2 days in a row ... tiring any time. 

Today though, in the early hours of the morning, when I woke up for the loo (a new joy ... waking up at about 4:30 or 5 am to pee ...) and tried to sleep again, my mind kept racing, I kept half falling asleep but felt a bit like fainting, head spinning, like I was falling down a vortex. Kept trying to reach Iain so he could stop me falling in. I'd manage to reach him, but not tell him what was happening. He knows now! We need a signal ... just in case. I really didn't want to fall asleep in some bad trip. It was not pleasant. It felt chemical. Like a medicine caused it ... maybe it was my insulin levels. It was not a bad dream. 

Then when I went to Yoga class, before we got going, when we were just sitting and getting ready to breathe and get grounded, I felt really dizzy, sick and faint - all my blood was off somewhere ... not sure where it all wanted to settle. it was awful. I rested a lot that session, and did postures when I felt able. Was ok by he time I went home, just tired. 

Was worried about sugars and insulin levels - but when I got home my sugars were just 4.6. So whatever it is, it's not GD. 

Perhaps I need more water. 

Perhaps its my blood pressure. 

23 Weeks!

Times really flying by now, isn't it? 

23 weeks all gone, and just 17 to go (in theory). 

I feel well. Sugars feel a bit up and down, largely I suppose because my hormones are a bit OTT at the moment. Baby will probably grow a fair bit soon, according to everything I have read. Good. A few weeks of more-or-less normal, followed by a crazy-time like now is a good thing. Baby needs all the hormones to churn out so he has the support he needs from my body, right? 

Can't say it's pleasant - I am more tired, a bit listless when it comes to anything other than massage, chilling, and yoga!!! Even TV has lost a lot of its charm. 

Right now I love a little bit of chocolate, my greens, risotto made at home, oily massage stuff rubbed all over my bump and limbs, improving my self-hypnosis skills using the Rainbow Relaxation cd and Iain as a prop. I'm exploring ways of using the birthing ball and bean bag to sit comfortably as lying down is getting less and less appealing. In any case, I'll hardly be lying down on my back on the baby's birthing day, will I? Sitting has the added benefit of allowing Iain to do the light touch massage on my back or neck, which I really found comforting and helpful when we practiced the Rainbow together last night.

Clothes Shopping

Didn't actually end up buying any of this stuff. But here, for posterity, is the trawl from the web ... I appear to be a size 14 now, pregnant or not! Wonder what sort of a Heffalump I will be by the end of September, or indeed by Christmas, once baby is well and truly here!

As you'll notice, I rarely make it out of Royston, so ended up improvising with stretchy cheapo items from Peacocks (it's in Royston, it's a chain a bit like Primark).

Yoga pants - I've actually been using pyjama bottoms from Peacocks - I have a very charming (not!) pink pair and a mjore subtle black pair. Should these fail me before beby gets here, I could go for these from Definitely Baby.

Leggings - Should I ever need any past the Peacocks ones that seem to cope with my bump (and are, like £2 each) ... I could go for These from Definitely Baby, these by Crave, available at Funkybump Maternity, or the more obvious Topshop ones.

Jeans and Trousers - I tend to stick to my leggings, my stretchy American Apparel basics, and stuff like that as they support my bump best. I did end up buying a blue pair and a black pair of jeans from New Look's Maternity range, and I love them. They were cheap and are way nicer to look at than a lot of the expensive jeans ... which looked kinda like something someone older would wear ...? Maybe I'm just stuck in the past ... My choice before I stumbled accross the jeans I eventually bought were these from Seraphine. The drak ones seem ok. I like the ones I bought a lot more though!

I did consider cords ... from Funkybump Maternity or Crave.

Tops - I kind of have enough to get by thanks to the 'oh I'm not pregnant I just wear clothes like this' trend from the last 2 years ... and the fact I was tubbier than usual then too. I did come across the following - Mamaway do tops, not sure I want special 'nursing' ones, but they seem nice, some of them. Next do a load of basics, in basic colours. I really do like this top from Dorothy Perkins, in Lemon, and this Pink Topshop top. Funkybump have a load of nice tops too. I aloso think tops like these from Bumps Maternity Wear (this is a Noppies top) or these from Definitely Baby would help once baby gets here. My dream top is less attainable, it's the pink Geisha wrap top from Isabella Oliver. Of course we could buy the second car seat or the baby swing with £85, so really ... no way! Thought this was a nice wrap top, from Definitely Baby, or this one , a crossover in black.

I really did not like what Mothercare and M&S had to offer. Really.

H&M and New Look appear to be a better bet, I like a lot of their stuff. Fabric that is very removed from cotton is not really working for me right now, so that becomes an issue though. Cotton or jersey with stretchyness in it is great. A mix of stuff that still lets me breathe and feels nice against my skin is great. Just plain synthetic nasty is not so great. Am loving ruched bump hugging stuff - supports my bump and lets me see my bump, which I prefer by far to being swamped in a tent-like garment. Who would I be kidding anyway??

Jumpers and Cardis - Tricky to deal with this when summer is beginning. When baby gets here, if the whole breastfeeding thing takes off as plans, layers and reasonably easy access would be the way to go, bearing in mind baby will be in a sling too. That's a lot of access and logictics issues! I doubt hoiking my top up all over the place will work out well for anyone but the baby ... so have been adding to my collection of zippy hoodie tops - perhaps they will suffice as a shield, they should work with the sling too, and I tend to have a shawl or something anyway, so we might well manage not to look like a right spectacle (baby and me). Perhaps an extensive cardigan collection is in order! This is the kind of thing I normally go for, a little wrappy one, but that won't really do will it!! I did find a really old-fashined looking jumper and cardi company ... and ignoring the ladies-who-garden in the catalogue, I liked the cardis themselves, and they don't cost the earth, so might just go for them: Woolovers. I do get stuff from La Redoute too, and they do cardis.

Jumpers, I found this black number from Crave, Oh I love it! I also saw some more colourful jumpers - a green and a purple one at Funkybump (darn it, their pages expire so frequently there is no point pasting in a link).

Better than all that, I love the Seraphine Poncho and really, really, really want it. Not sure how useful it will be with a sling though, so haven't bought it - it's an extravagance and I can't really buy it myself.

Skirts - I only have a couple that will withstand the new belly (maybe). Skirts might well be necessary before the baby comes - summer is coming. I don't like most of the maternity skirts I've seen. I liked a few denim ones in H&M, but they were not very practical or cool. This tube skirt from Topshop might have to do. Although I do quite like this brown number from Bumps Maternity Wear. This is pretty too, from Crave, kid of swishy - but I'd feel a bit old in it perhaps. I might have to just make a skirt. I have my now-unsuitable big jeans from last year, they are too big now, and yet too small for the bump, and could do with being recycled into a nice skirt.

Tights - don't need them now, might need them close to baby's B-day if I'n out somnewhere nice (and cold) in a skirt. Topshop seem the best bet, although obviosuly it's not hard to buy maternity tights.

Dresses - Now I do love dresses. I found some loveley options. Can't say I'm going to fork out for any of them, sadly. Here they are though - I love this little dress in yellow from Crave, or this one, a stripy brown dress from Bumps Maternity Wear, this slinky crossover dress from Definitely Baby, or this pretty one maybe, (but where on earth would I need to wear this?), or finally this A-line number from Picchu.