Can you tell that the school holidays have arrived? Hence all organised work plans just fly out of the window. Combine that with the stupidly hot summer we’re having (remember I’m northern, I prefer the cold!) and it seems I’m behind on absolutely everything right now. Including blogging.

There are moments when this pregnancy feels like it’s going on for ever. And other moments where it feels like only two minutes since we found out. A hell of a lot has happened since then, but there still seems to be so much more to do before we’re organised for this November arrival.

Looking back I’ve been trying to remember what I’ve been up to these last two weeks. A glance at the diary suggests actually quite a lot!

Sorting out the paperwork

Firstly – and possibly most excitingly – was a trip to the local register office. Paperwork all submitted and we’re getting married. Quite soon! We decided there was absolutely no point in hanging around and seeing as we want to do it before this baby arrives we were a little bit limited in free dates in the diary when all three kids would be with us. Luckily it was one of those cases where we came up with a possible date, found the registrar could do it and so could all our immediate family. Hence we booked it. It’s only going to be a small do followed by afternoon tea, but I’m so excited I could burst! I just need to find a dress that’s going to fit and hope that this baby doesn’t decide to make a surprise early appearance.

Turning 40

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week, just a couple of days later I celebrated one of those big birthday events that ends in a zero. Yep – somehow 40 has arrived and it’s fair to say that life isn’t at all how I expected it would be at this age. If you’d told me two years ago that I would have celebrated my 40th with a non-alcoholic gin and tonic as pregnant with baby number three I would have laughed at you. But here I am. And I couldn’t be happier.

In the end it was a quiet day. The day before I’d tagged along with B on a work trip to Kent and we managed a couple of hours at Bodiam Castle and a traditional National Trust Cream Tea which was a lovely pre-birthday treat. B managed to get the day off work for my birthday itself, so a lie in followed by lunch out was in order, before the rush of school pick up, swimming lessons and Cubs AGMs in the evening.

Luckily B snuck the kids to the supermarket for a spot of cake buying and the appearance of two friends at the AGM picnic meant I had a bit of a celebration there. By the time we got home it was late so there was just chance for that sneaky G&T before bed. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle I lead.

Tea and Tents

The weekend after my birthday is when life got much more exciting though. I headed north for a child free weekend and Tea and Tents. This amazing WI filled weekend deserves a blog post of its own, but needless to say it was fantastic (apart from a deflating air mattress!) and a perfect tonic to the madness of day to day family life. I ticked something major off my (as yet un-finished) 40 things to do when I’m 40 list, but more about that later.

End of Term

Once I was back from Tea and Tents we had the usual end of term madness. Somehow I’ve managed to get Little Miss C and Master C to the end of Year 3 and Reception at school and I’m so proud of how they’re doing. Despite all the disruption of the last year both had glowing school reports with LMC showing huge strength in reading, writing and French, and Master C in all things mathematical and scientific. They may both be so different in many ways, but I’m proud of both of them.

Birth Choices Clinic

The final bit of this fortnight of pregnancy was a trip with B to the local hospital to attend the birth choices clinic there. As I’ve spoken about before here, a consultant at the hospital has said that I can choose to have an elective C-section if I want to with this baby, but she referred us to the clinic to help us make an informed decision as to what to do. At least we thought we were going to attend the clinic. Right up until that moment when you tell the receptionist why you’re there and she looks at you and says “but there isn’t a birth choices clinic running today”. Argh!

All my medical care at this hospital has been fantastic so far, but I have to say that the admin side of things has been somewhat shoddy. Mistakes in letters, lost notes, cancelled appointments. The list goes on. Luckily a chat with the admin manager about these failings, and an acknowledgement from her that it wasn’t good enough, led to her finding one of the midwife matrons and we ended up with a private session with her to discuss our options instead. I have to say that she was excellent and answered all the questions we had, as well as some that we hadn’t even though of yet.

We think we’ve made our decision now, but babies can be unpredictable things. Who knows what the rest of this pregnancy might be like. So we’re keeping a bit of an open mind for now as to what we’ll do, depending on how things pan out.

And in a nutshell that’s it. Two weeks of busy family life with a couple of big milestones and a whole lot of fun thrown in for good measure. I’m shattered by the end of it though and slightly worried about everything that needs to be done over the next couple of months, but I’m sure well get there. Well, at least I hope we will!

Aquanatal

Firstly , after a couple of weeks off I was finally able to go back to my weekly aquanatal class. I’ve gone back to exactly the same class that I did when pregnant with Little Miss C and Master C and it’s so so lovely to be back. A 45 minute long weekly class run by a midwife from the local hospital and it is just perfect. There’s so much I want to say about the benefits of aquanatal (and I will write that post very soon – especially since Zoggs have given me a couple of maternity swimsuits to review!) but as well as loving the woman who runs it, I just find it a perfect once a week treat to indulge in being pregnant.

Pregnancy Diary Zoggs Maternity swimming costume

It’s also great exercise (if hard work at times!) and wonderful to meet some other women who are expecting babies at similar times. It is a little strange going back as so much has changed since I was last there six years ago. But at the same time it’s nice to also have a bit of a link to my past pregnancies too.

Midwife Appointment

Also this week I had my 16 week midwife appointment down at the doctors surgery. My maternity care has been a bit all over the place so far this pregnancy. Having moved house I had to register with a new doctors practice, and I chose one based on having a community midwife attached to it so that I don’t have to go to the hospital (and pay for their parking) every appointment. They got my notes transferred over and booked me in for a first appointment and there were no problems. At this they organised for the midwife to come to me at home for the booking appointment, but unfortunately a family bereavement meant she had to cancel and then the appointment was picked up by someone else a week later. All fine. These things happen I thought.

That booking appointment all went fine – despite struggling to take blood samples from me – and I was then booked in for the 16 week appointment (in week 17 to avoid having to take the kids with me during half term). To be honest though I’m not really all that sure what the purpose of the appointment was. Yes my blood pressure was taken and a urine sample tested for signs of protein, but that was pretty much it. She looked at my blood test results and told me they were all ok. She also told me to go and book myself in for a whooping cough jab with the nurse, but that was it. No listening to baby’s heartbeat. No asking how I was even.

I left feeling a bit surprised and I guess let down. Pregnancy always comes with a few worries, so I was hoping to at least be measured and his or her heart listened to just to know that everything was OK in there. For our own peace of mind we’ve bought a doppler online, but I’d much rather have had a professional just tell me if you see what I mean.

I have my 20 week scan to look forward to, and she told me that they will finally listen to the heartbeat at the week 25 appointment. Both of those just seem so far away right now.

Tots 100

My final bit of baby related news for the week is that I’m delighted to be the new Tots 100 Pregnancy Round Up Editor. As I’ve said before, being pregnant feels so different this time round. I’m also realising how much I’ve forgotten over the last 6 years so reading pregnancy blogs has filled a bit of a gap in my knowledge. I’m really looking forward to following other blogger’s pregnancy journeys, and continuing to pick up all the things I’ve forgotten from them all!

Being Mum

And in-between all that baby-related activity the week has really just been all about being a mum to my other two. Lots of taxi driving services for swimming lessons and Cubs, as well as a very important 8th birthday to prepare for. I somehow managed to pull off making her the much wanted unicorn cake. Not totally sure I would have succeeded had it not been for B suddenly revealing amazing cake decorating skills that I didn’t know he had! Look out for a “how to” post coming very soon.

birthday

Pregnancy Diary – Weeks 23 and 24