24 weeks later...
So here I am at 24 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good to be honest (smug face). I already have three children so I'm definitely feeling the tiredness side of things a little more keenly this time around, but I keep kicking myself about the bits I've forgotten. The phases of pregnancy, both good and bad, that after a gap of 3 1/2 years are coming back to me like an old friend (that I de-friended on Facebook for a reason!). As a result I've decided its time to up my pregnancy game.
There are of course the parts which I had not by any means forgotten. The start of heartburn is one of them. The need to have a Gaviscon chaser after every drink, or bending down, or standing up, or leaning a little to my right and, well you get the gist . Laying down in bed at night and feeling like someone has just set light to your chest, I think I had deliberately blocked out!
Sorry. I just got completely distracted by the woman at the table next to me who is talking at the top of her voice to a (long suffering looking) friend about everything her daughter Jemima has done since, well I presume given how long she's been talking, since she was born! I swear if she starts talking about her son Tarquin and it turns out her name is Ruth, I might actually lose my sh.......she's stopped. Ok.
I continue in my (your choice to read it or not) silent tones of Ariel 12pt. So when I talk about upping my game, I mean I need to get smart about it again. I suddenly have a huge empathy for first timers who have little idea of what's coming, how long it going to last and how to handle it. I however, as a fourth-timer, should know a little better and yet keep being blindsided.
There are however things about being pregnant that have me actually laughing out loud in public. Take today for instance. It's easy to under estimate how hard it is to bend over, even at just 24 weeks . I took the dogs for a walk in the park this morning and inevitably one of them did a poo. I went to bend down to bag it (I'm such a good dog owner) and got a bit, shall we say 'stuck'. Next thing I know, I'm in a half squat with a small black bag over one hand, holding my hair back with the other and desperately trying not to breathe in as the stench starts to induce a fit of gagging. Imagine Russel Grant doing an 80's exercise video and you're somewhere near the image of me at that point!
(I couldn't actually bed down enough to get in a selfie of me and my dogs!)
My husband laughs at me when I have an unreasonable to reaction to a food choice that I would normally (and of rational mind) love. He then tentatively asks 'So what would you like to eat honey?' To which my response is an exasperated 'I don't know! Can't you just choose?!' He then goes silent with a frozen look of fear on his face and the words 'Save me!' going through his mind, as he slides a box of Cadbury's chocolate fingers across the table to me. Poor fella!
My hubby was also glad to see the back of the enormous (no I'm not going to say 'butt I had') sleep pillow which was suppose to save me from back ache. The one I bought when I was pregnant with my eldest was the length of the bed and as wide as a standard pillow. It was like a hypoallergenic sex dam down the centre of the bed. It got nicknamed the 'Passion Killer Pilla' and if it hadn't been relegated to the charity shop, our family may have stopped at one!
I'm going to do a product review on sleep pillows, so stay there on the edge of your seats! (I promise not to name it 'Top 5 things I've had between my knees).
I digress, but upping my pregnancy game I am. Being smart about what I eat and wear. Remembering through the fog of tiredness to keep exercising, going to a pregnancy yoga class (I can't stress enough how good this is for you both now and in labour) and to keeping a sense of humour, even through the rough bits. It might not feel like it now, but it all goes so very fast. Really take in every little kick the baby does, embrace the times that siblings want to rub your bump, look after your relationship and most of all...enjoy it!
(I've got myself all welled up now!)