26 Weeks - feeling pretty great

Wow I'd definitely say that this week has been a good week. I'm finally beginning to really understand what everyone mean's when they talk about the the great side of pregnancy. I just feel like I have a lot more energy, I'm waking up early in the morning feeling refreshed and I generally have more of a can-do attitude as opposed to "I'd much rather be snuggled on the sofa" one.

On top of that my skin is looking really good, it's really clear and I'm not needing as much make up in the mornings - bonus. My nails are growing really well and had there first manicure in awhile and I've still been lucky enough to avoid stretch marks, so feeling pretty smug on that point.

Although the other thing I've noticed is my emotions are still on a real seesaw. It doesn't take much to make me cry or really angry. In fact I've woken up a couple of times in the night just feeling really cross about silly things that have prevented me going back to sleep. The only things that seems to calm me down is the This Works Pillow Spray I've reviewed previously.

I'm also struggling to get comfortable at night as I've always slept on my front and can't help but roll constantly back onto it causing muffin to kick me like crazy. I've tried the pregnancy pillows but they're just a bit too big for me to get my stomach onto so I just stack loads of normal ones either side now. On top of that I also keep waking up with cramp in my calf which is really painful but if you react quickly and just flex your foot as strongly as you can it disappears in a couple of seconds and you just fall asleep again.

Baby

As for muffin it seems to be all about brain development at the moment as it's activity increases. If you ever heard your mum talk about how you used to be quiet all of sudden when the theme tune of a certain TV programme came on, then this is when you can start influencing your own little one. I don't really watch anything regularly but I'm singing quite a lot to him - only in the confines of my car when I'm on my own - which is worrying me because although he loves it I'm worried he'll come out as tone deaf as I am ;-).

He's also almost at maximum length and beginning to feel cramped. Apparently my uterus is around the size of a basketball which is quite scary but very believable judging by how weak my bladder is (three times I had to get up the other night!!). So he'll begin to get all snuggled in the fetal position now as he just gets ready to start piling on the weight. Therefore I think this is also the stage where mother's begin to just balloon out and lose that lovely blooming feeling. Oh well as long as he's healthy I can cope with just three months of looking like an inflated version of myself.

I also had my check up with the GP where they look at your urine, blood pressure, bump size and have a quick listen to their heartbeat (my favourite part). Finally I was given my flu jab and information on the whooping cough one I can take in a couple of weeks. I know there is often a lot of concern around jabs but the GP explained that there is a real risk to both you and baby if you catch anything like whooping cough or flu because you mustn't forget that your whole immune system is suppressed at the moment. So for me there was never a question on whether to go ahead.

Next week sees the start of the third trimester - whoop whoop!!

Take care,

Mrs W xxx