Pregnancy update

Hello lovelies, 

Just a really quick update today. Firstly want to say so sorry for the lack of blogging. It's something that I really enjoy doing and need to get back into again. 

I am now 32 weeks and 2 days, so we have at least 8 weeks until we get to meet our baby boy. I'm so excited, I can honestly say that I am ready to start getting things a bit more organised.

On the agenda for this week is: packing hospital bags because realistically baby could decide to arrive at anytime now. Attending modwife and antenatal appointments and then some well needed rest. 

I will be uploading a hospital bag post for both me and baby in the next week or so. I have a few of the necessary items that I need and I have to get some more. 

Any suggestions of what I need to take or what you found useful? 

Also through December I am thinking of doing vlogmas / lead up to baby vlogs on YouTube. It is something that I have thought about doing a lot but I'm a bit nervous about getting started. Actually picking up the camera and talking down the lense is a bit daunting. 

Any advice? 

Hope you've all had a fantastic weekend. Let me know what you've been up to. 

Lillybet xx

What I've Been Up To

Hello Lovelies, 
I hope up are all well. It's been such a long time since I last updated, I am now in my final trimester (29 weeks), time seems to have gone so fast. During the second trimester I seemed to have a lot more energy that the first and beginning of my third. 
Last week me and Anthony went to Cornwall for a week's holiday. I have been going to Cornwall for years with my family and friends. We used to go at least once a year, for the past couple of years I've not been and missed it so much. It's like home from home down there. 
It was so nice to take some time off work and relax, including walking on the beaches, trips to St. Ives, Fish and Chips from Rick Stein's in Falmouth, surfing (for Anthony not me ha) and just generally spending time together. It was bliss. 

 Driving from place to place we stumbled across a tin mine with amazing views so we stopped for a short walk.  (Excuse my windswept/make up free/chipped nail varnish selfie). 
If you are ever in Porthtowen you have to have a Moomaid ice cream, there's a small shop near the beach and they sell the most amazing ice cream. The one that I had here was a banoffee sundae. It was AMAZING! 

Above are the views from a walk around at St Ives in the morning and Anthony off for his surf at Sennon Cove. He hired a board and wet suit, I didn't let him take his own boards because I wasn't too sure about surfing so soon after his accident, but because the weather was so nice and other people were surfing as well. I sat on the beach read some of my book and had a hot choc. 

We've been back in Sheffield now for a week and Autumn has made it's appearance. I'm not complaining I love Autumn it's my favourite season of the year. There's something about dark nights with pj's, films and hot choc that I just love.  


Let me know what you've been up to. If anyone has any hints and tips for the third trimester I'd love to hear from you. 

Thanks for the read. 

xx

Gender Reveal!!

Hello Lovelies, 
Just a quick update today. On Thursday we went for our 20 weeks scan, Anthony and I had both decided that we would like to find out the gender of our baby. 

The 20 weeks scan is so detailed, the sonogropher spent ages looking at all sorts. He did say that we had a very active baby. I had to get up and wiggle a bit (pretty embarrassing wiggling my hips around) to get the baby to move so that we could see the heart better. After a thorough inspection we were told that everything is fine. 

Nothing had been mentioned about the gender so I plucked up the courage to ask. The Sonographer had a good look and revealed we are having a .....

  

Boy!!!

We are both so excited,  I had a feeling from the beginning that we were. We didn't have a preference however now we know it all seems a bit more real. I have definitely bought more things since finding out. 

I hope you have had a fab week. 

xx

First Trimester my experience and tips

Hello lovelies,

I had planned to do an update last week but unfortunately was too busy. 

I am now 17 weeks pregnant so have finished the first trimester. During the first trimester I read a few blogs and watched YouTube videos. I found that these helped me to understand what I could expect and what I was experiencing. 

For the first few weeks up to around 6 weeks I was unaware that I was pregnant. 

I didn't really notice any changes until I was around 6 or 7 weeks.

The main symptom that I had during my first trimester was sickness and nausea. I know that it's different for everyone, some people don't experience sickness or nausea at all (lucky lucky people). 

My sickness mostly happened as I got out of bed first thing in the morning. I found that I couldn't even keep down a cup off tea. I went totally off tea and coffee altogether :(. 

After some research and family advice I tried eating ginger biscuits. These were really helpful and took away the nausea. However I still didn't have much of an appetite. Another favourite of mine whilst going through sickness was cream crackers. I found that because they are bland I could keep them down (urgh so gross). 

I have a few things that I would recommend for the first trimester. These are the items that really helped me and hopefully could help you. 

1. Pregnancy the beginner's guide by DK. This book was and is really helpful, it breaks each month down and has handy tips and facts about what is happening to your body. It also has a Dad's survival guide page for each month explaining how they can help and what their partner may be going through. Very helpful. This was £12.99 from waterstones. 

2. Ginger nuts/ Gin Gins. How funny is the little ginger man on the box. Ginger nuts, ginger biscuits can be found in any supermarket. The gin gins were from Anthony's mum she got these from Holland and Barratts I'm not too sure of the price but I think they will be on the website. 

3. Cream crackers. 

4. Cordial/dilute/squash. People have different names for this but basically because I had been put off tea and coffee I started to drink a lot of robin sons to make sure that I was taking in fluids as this is very important. 

5.

Essential vitamins folic acid and vitamin D I started to take these before visiting my midwife, as my mum told me how important they were. These are around £3 from boots however once you have been to the midwife and sent off a form you can get them free on prescription. I still need to send my form ooops. 

6. Bubble bath. With my job I work shifts so sometimes don't get home until around 9pm. Having a nice relaxing bubble bath helped me to unwind. Make sure that you find a scent that you like though because you're senses will be stronger. I found I couldn't wear perfume in the first trimester as it set off my sickness. So find a scent that you like and can handle. 

At 12 weeks we went for our first scan. It was such a mixed feeling the night before  I was scared that there wouldn't be anything there. I know it sounds silly but yeah. Anyway there was and we could see it's little heart beat sooo cute. We didn't manage to find out if we were having a boy or a girl but we will be on my next scan in a few weeks. So exciting. 

So apart from sickness, tiredness and a lack of energy there isn't really much more that I can say about the first trimester. 

As I said I am now into my 17th week the sickness, nausea and lack of appetite have began to disappear. I still have a few mornings when I'm sick but no where near as many as before ( every morning) and as for loss of appetite that has gone. I have found myself wanting to eat a lot more. I have also been eating extra fruit and veg for vitamins etc. 

I will do more of an update on my 2nd trimester nearer the end as a summary but I'm also hoping to do weekly updates between then. 

Maybe even a mini haul when I have a few more things :). 

I hope you have found this helpful if you are in your first trimester. I will be happy to answer any comments/questions  :). 

Happy Sunday. 

Thanks 

Lillybet xx