Time is indeed flying, I can’t believe I’m already almost 24 weeks and getting towards the end of the 2nd Trimester! As I’ve been sharing in other posts, generally I’m feeling pretty great right now. Some less great things include a little bit of nausea and a stuffy nose as well as some occasional body image issues, more on that below. I also find warm weather quite draining so heavens help me come July and August!
17, 20 and 23 weeks pregnant
As you can see the belly is ever expanding and I’m certainly feeling more movement, some days he never seems to stop, I love that though, it is certainly very reassuring to feel the little punches, kicks and pops. However it is still erratic at this stage of pregnancy which does lead to me getting a bit stressed when I don’t feel him move for a while!
I haven’t experienced any real cravings, although I’ve been loving fresh juices recently, and as far as aversions go chicken is still out. I’ve found I’m much preferring vegan and vegetarian meals although I am making an effort to eat oily fish and organic red meat for the nutrients. I just don’t feel like I need meat every single day right now which is different from the months before I got pregnant when I really craved it. My appetite, which is pretty bloody big anyway, seems to have gone up a notch this last week. I’m not letting that become an issue though, I’m just making sure I’m eating good stuff and not letting it be an excuse to go completely off the rails!
Last week me and my Mam went baby shopping. I was super chuffed to pick out a great travel system, the Zoom Trio from Mamas and Papas:
We have gone for this but in black as I wasn’t struck on the yellow, and it includes a car seat, pram and buggy attachment. Most importantly it fits in my tiny car boot! It’s quite a budget version but after looking at other models we didn’t see the point in spending more money than we needed to on systems that didn’t look as good to us as this. I also bought some organic baby vests and baby grows in plain white and stripes from H&M and this green stripy number, as well as this gingerbread blanket from Mamas and Papas:
I prefer greens and turquoise rather than the traditional blue for little baby boys :-) I’ve also started to stock up on some organic baby skin care from Green People such as nappy cream and baby wash.
After a lot of thought we’ve decided to go for a moses basket instead of a co-sleeper based on cost and practicality and have our eye on a moses basket from John Lewis. I’ve got my sister’s old baby bath to come, then we need a changing mat, swing / vibrating chair, some muslins and a couple of bottles. I’m certainly planning on breast feeding but would like to have some bottles in case I need to pump, or in case things don’t go to plan. I’ve started reading a brilliant book on breast feeding which was recommended to me by my best friend who breast fed her two girls. She’s giving me her fancy electric breast pump as well bless her!
So slowly but surely we are getting prepared. I think it hit James at the start of the week when he realised it’s less than 4 months to my due date!
I’ve started to realise how being pregnant has changed me and affected me emotionally. First up I cry at anything at the moment! I definitely have the pregnancy hormones going on, all I need to see is a little baby boy and I start welling up! I was also discussing with a friend how much more connected I feel to things, I know that having a baby isn’t a prerequisite to feeling connected to the world and life, but being part of that cycle has deepened that connection. I’ve also got a renewed appreciation for my parents now that I can understand what the love of a parent feels like. It’s actually quite overwhelming to realise that I am as loved by my parents as I love this baby.
On the body side of things, I do have days when I struggle and compare myself to other pregnant ladies. I feel huge to be honest, but generally I’m quite good at shaking that off thankfully. I remind myself of one of my core values: we are all different and beautifully unique. Looking at those pictures above I don’t seem to be expanding anywhere other than my bump and James has been really reassuring about that too. I haven’t weighed myself for months, so I have no idea where I am with that, but I’m clearly progressing well so I’m happy to leave that until well after the baby arrives!
Traditional colours for boys and girls? As I said I think I’ll be going for greens and turquoise but I’m sure some blue will slip in somewhere!
You look gorgeous Laura, with a perfect little bump! Glad to hear things are going so well for you and your happiness really shines through in your posts. Love that stripy blanket too!
Thanks Zoe :-) That’s lovely of you to say xxx
Ok so I apologise to be ‘that person’ but…moses baskets can have quite a limited life span. They have a much lower maximum weight and if baby is wide or long they can sometimes out grow it before even hitting the weight limit.
Might be worth having a google at either cribs or how you can upcycle an old cot to covert into a co-sleeper for much less £££ than a new co-sleeper which are crazy pricey when I’ve looked previously.
Amy x
Don’t apologise I’m happy for the advice but going to ask you loads of questions now! We don’t have a lot of space, so the only other option is a cot (def not a cot bed). When he is sleeping during the day, how can we keep an eye on him if he’s in the big cot next door? All my friends had the moses baskets in the living room with them so that’s why I automatically thought of that and some books I’ve read say they should always be with you in the first few weeks? Any advice?
Ok so this is all said with love, kindness and totally understanding that from your side of the line pre-baby this stuff feels ‘omg I am so overwhelmed and how will I ever know all this stuff’ but as a survivor haha it honestly isn’t as scary as it seems. Also I am useless as padding it out so please don’t think any of my directness is at all eye-rolly.
1) he will only be nextdoor, you’re in a flat so he won’t even be on a different level. You will hear him even without a monitor most likely. I have to admit that William was a tummy sleeper so we upgraded to the Angelcare monitor with sensor pad a couple of weeks in and it was very reassuring. As for a cheap monitor I’ve heard good things about the Ikea monitor.
2) William regularly slept on the sofa beside me, on a blanket or the playmat on the floor, the carrycot of the pram (just check if it is breathable and suitable for overnight sleeping – the bugaboo was which meant when we went away and he was little we didn’t need anything extra), in the babycarrier and on me.
3) remember the golden rule, ignore the books. You will need a cot at some point, so if I were you and trying to limit ‘stuff’ I would go ahead with plan a and then if the world crumbles you can always rush order the moses basket. I doubt you’d have to wait more than 24 hours if you decided a day or two in ‘oh my god we can’t survive without it’. As I say above he will most likely be with you, and you’d be apart whilst he had a nap – it’s not like you’d be off on a mini-break without him :D Think back to the good old days of ‘call the midwife’ and how they used boxes, drawers and all sorts. It was a family friend who is a HV said just to pop him on a blanket in the bathroom when I wanted to shower and it worked brilliantly. Once they can roll it is a little more tricky but that was gone 10 weeks by which point he would be out of the moses basket in all likelihood. Or buy crib (could go 2nd hand but with a new mattress) for in the living room and cot/co-sleeper for in the bedroom.
Amy x
Thanks for this Amy! You’ve really given me a lot to think about and now I really am thinking we might just go for the cot from the outset. I’d also been thinking about the angel care monitor (James brother died of cot death and it really plays on my mind) and I don’t think they work in moses baskets. Haha we joked about how we’d have to have him sleep in a drawer lol ;-) Really thanks for this as it’s this kind of feedback I need xxx
Glad I could help, like I said feel free to text at any point – no such thing as a stupid question! Mark’s cousin is expecting to might pull together a post of my top 10 favourite essential non-essentials in the next couple of weeks.
Amy x
My Sister in law is pregnant with her first child, I don’t have kids of my own, I wanted to ask – do you have a list of things you need as a first time mummy? I want to try and get a few things before my little nephew arrives :)
Hi megan, I did have a basic list, like the essentials only which is something like 10 baby grows, muslins, cellular blanket, somewhere for them to sleep, a changing mat or table, something to bath them in (you can just use the sink), bottles if needed, wipes, cotton wool, nappy cream, a bouncy chair type thing. I think that was everything!
I don’t think you look huge at all – just beautiful and pregnant :)
A lady from my work brought in her 6 week old little girl yesterday and it made me so broody. Good few years until I think about that though ;)
Thanks Lauren :-) haha I used to get broody all the time like that!
Wow! Look at you! Glowing mum! And you don’t look big at all, just beautifully pregnant and still rocking those stripes! ;) I still can’t get over how far in you are now..seems like yesterday you were just giving the news haha!
I really love the turquoise idea, one of my fave colours and different from the usual blue you see around :)
Thanks Nicky :-) I know it’s really flown over!
You look amazing! Bump’s really popped out recently, and I love all the stripes going on in this post. It seems so overwhelming having to buy so many things for such a little person!
Thanks Christina! It is a bit overwhelming sometimes and this is us keeping it to a minimum!
You’ve gone for the same pram as we have! Was nice to look back on your bump pics as I’m 18 weeks and keep getting told I’m tiny but I’m around the same as you at 17 weeks. You look like pregnancy suits you.
You know I’m starting to think it’s all relative, I guess people thing you are big / small depending on how they were! Great that we’ve gone for the same pram, they’ll need to remind me how it works when I get it!
Love reading your blog, I am at the same stage of pregnancy as you, pregnant with my first baby. The Faye and Lou term would love to send you some Muslins.
Please send me an email if you are interested. Xxx
Thanks Lou! I did email you when you DM’d me on Twitter, will email you again :-)
Very nice sturdy looking pram. You are super organised with your equipment and baby bath etc. I can’t believe you are nearly into your third trimester already time is flying. You look really healthy and well too. I am a big fan of H & M for baby/children clothes especialy when they are not in them for long as you’ll find out soon. For the quality, wear and price their stuff is good. Next Sale, Gap Sale, M & S and a lot of the supermarkert stuff in particular Sainsbury’s stuff is all great too. And of course you must go to a NCT Nearly New Sale, they are great but you need to get there early.
Thanks Caroline! Yep I bought more from H&M this weekend, definitely seems like a great place to get stuff, will check out Sainsbury’s as well. I need to find out more about my local NCT!
I must admit, I was very curious to see how you’d cope with such an extreme change in body image, as that’s something which has always alarmed me about pregnancy. I see a lot of positive things being pinned by you on my Pinterest feed, so I assumed you’d have it all under control. It must feel like a bit of an overwhelming adjustment at times though. For the record I think you look great! It looks like a pretty neat bump to me :)
One of my friends seemed to be pregnant forever (seriously, at one point I questioned what kind of mammal she was, it felt like baby had been in there for over a year!) but yours seems to be flying by!
Thanks Alex! I have been ok really, I think it’s only human to feel different and compare with others. It is quite scary how this seems to be going so fast, even when we announced it a month earlier than most people do!
I think the pram looks brilliant and what a cool idea to have something multi purpose. My one stipulation for having a child that I made Ben promise is that I can get a jogger pram (I need all the bribes I can get!!). They are quite expensive I know but I’d love the idea of running with the bambino, even if it’s just a mile and lots of walking as well (as I know it’s 100000x more difficult).
You sound very at peace and it seems to be going so well. Very pleased for you, Laura! I think you look absolutely beautiful. You are certainly not huge – look at Kim Kardashian, she was a beast! ;-)
Well that one has the three wheels so I’m kind of hoping it might be ok for jogging on pavements – I did look at some of the multi terrain ones but they were pricey and I wouldn’t be running like that any way. Haha that Kim K comment made me laugh hehe, yep not quite that big, yet ;-)
This post made me squee! Ahhhhh, seriously so excited about how your bump has grown!
Thanks Lucie!
You look amazing Laura! Enjoy the pregnancy and keep being yourself you will do fine! Green and turquoise are such good color options! I never thought of that but will keep it in mind if I have a baby one day! xx
Thanks Clementine! I do like those colours will be buying everything up when I see it like that now! I will definitely just keep on being myself :-)
You looks gorgeous and glowing! I totally second everyone above (and they’re not just saying it cos if they didn’t want to they wouldn’t comment!). Enjoy the marvellous gift of being pregnant :) loving the stripes – I know what I’m going to have to buy next time I go shopping, you and Jemma keep tempting me!!
And I think black was a good choice over yellow ;) although I guess at least you’d never loose it haha!
Have a wonderful weekend – all three of you :) xxx
Thanks Pip :-) Hehe I know there’d be no missing us with the yellow one would there!
Glad things are going so well for you still- I am sure these 4 months will fly by!
I am not a big fan of all the pink girls clothes- I think some is fine but it does annoy me when pink is the only option. I think for boys you can get much nicer baby clothes (when I am shopping for friends children)- loads of colours too.
I know I’m a bit scared by how fast they will go! Yep, I was a bit worried that boys clothes would be boring but not at all!
You’re looking absolutely gorgeous, that pregnancy glow just shines through! I struggle in the hot weather, so I can’t imagine what it must be like pregnant! I just carry a fan everywhere and tell myself it’s chic.;P
It is chic! I think I need to get some of that water spray in a can!
Awwww I think you look fab, positively glowing!
Thanks Tam!
You seem to be really organized! Love the turquoise colours and that blanket is adorable. Green People do great baby stuff as do Weleda as well, the calendula range is so gentle and they do loads of products.
I’ve got a green people set of stuff but haven’t looked at Weleda, will have to check it out!
Laura, you are looking lovely, with a great baby bump now! How exciting that you are feeling the kicking so often. Hope he’s not beating you up too much in there!
Although I do like the colour yellow, the yellow of that pram is possibly a little too bright so I’m glad you said you went for the black option!
Haha, he’s not, I love to be able to feel him at it! Yes I think black has definitely been the right option!
Hello again Laura!
Thought I should mention this to you if you haven’t heard of it already…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bump
It’s a Radio 5 Live’s podcast called Bump Club about pregnant women sharing their experiences leading up to the birth. It’s from 2013 but I found it quite interesting to listen to! x
Thanks Clementine, I will check that out!
You look great Laura!
Good choice on the black over the black and yellow. You don’t want to look like a bee ;)
As for traditional colours for boys and girls, that is a personal choice I guess. Dave and I always said if we had kids we wouldn’t do the traditional colours because I don’t really follow the whole genderisation thing. Kids are kids, despite what bits they have :)
Love the blog! Due in feb 2015 and we chose the same travel system too! Would love to know how it’s been so far!