There is a whole wide online world out there of forums, threads and groups that you can be part of if you’re trying to conceive, are pregnant or are a new mum. This online world has its own language, of sorts….get to know the useful acronyms here so you don’t come across as an amateur if you decide to post!... I have also included details of the forums that I use the most
https://mum-blings.com/front-page/photos/forums/
So I am now almost 23 weeks pregnant. People keep telling me that the time has flown by, it hasn’t! That said, it hasn’t been too bad, I find the days go quickly but the weeks still seem to drag somehow. I always knew July would be one of the most difficult periods. I started off the month at 22 weeks and will hopefully finish it at 26 weeks. Those of you know about babies and viability etc. will know that it is a particularly key time in the baby’s development. 26 weeks is still extremely early but it will mean I have passed the time which I had my son which was just before 25 weeks.
It is strange to think that just over a year ago we found out we were pregnant for the first time and at this stage of my pregnancy with my son I moved from the UK to Dubai. So much has happened and all of that feels like 10 years ago.
It has been a tough week or so mentally but I have managed to make the most of bed rest, I even managed an hour by the pool with my hubby one evening as it was a ‘cool’ 38 degrees.
Feet up whilst hubby goes for a swim!
June went fairly quickly and I celebrated the end of the month with my birthday. My husband thoroughly spoilt me, treating me to an amazing homemade brekkie (my favourite pancakes with crispy bacon and maple syrup), a pregnancy massage, afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab and he will also be helping me design a bespoke necklace as a present.
My favourite brekkie
I had such a lovely day and other presents included an extremely long book to keep me occupied and some Neal’s Yard Tummy Butter to try to keep stretch marks at bay. Ultimately I couldn’t care less if I got stretch marks, it would mean that I managed to get big and keep this baby in and so that is fine by me. The evening of my birthday was quite amusing…we were both in a sugar coma from afternoon tea and decided to watch a ‘nice’ film. I mistakenly let my husband chose the film and he chose Kajaki. Oh. My. God. I love war films but jesus this film was so graphic and emotional! Brilliant film but not one to watch on your birthday! We both went to bed slightly traumatised!
Afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab.
I would love to report all the things I have been doing but I am struggling to remember what I have done! There have been days where even though I always get up before 10am, the day just passes me by as if I’m in a daze. Not a bad thing really. I’ve been doing lots of Skyping with friends and family which is great.
I have managed to establish a bit of a routine which involves getting myself up, reading at least 25 pages of my current book club book (Margaret Atwood’s Bodily Harm) and then I have some breakfast and do at least one hour of French. By this time it is lunchtime, so I have some lunch (I’ve been told I am putting on too much weight! It seems doctors in Dubai are much more obsessed by weight than the UK and I exceeded my 1kg a month allowance…by quite a bit!). I have been doing various things in the afternoon including making some more…..yes you’ve guessed it…pillows! The afternoon tends to go fairly quickly and my hubby is usually home by 6ish at the moment as it is still Ramadan.
More cushions! I’m starting to run out of material now…
I will soon be entering week 23 and though I do very little at the moment and very rarely leave the house, for the next two weeks I will do even less. So I plan to lie in bed watching box sets and doing a bit of hand sewing. I’ll continue my French too though I am making very slow progress!!
Aurevoir x
As I’ve mentioned before, a week of no work and chilling is fun…… but actual bed rest is pretty dull. This is especially the case when you are used to being busy and important and are suddenly reduced to being quiet and useless….I feel your pain…..
Please read my Top 5 things to do whilst on bed rest for some ideas of how to survive bed rest.
It’s been a little while since I last did a weekly update. I’ve actually been busy! Well my new version of busy. My house became a mini sweat shop last week when I decided to get on with making curtains and some more cushions. Also the full set of Harry Potter movies was on tele during the course of the week so obviously I watched them all and that killed a good few hours each day for almost a week!
I also find that the vortex of the internet often sucks me in and steals my time. I start off googling something (Dr Google is bad but addictive!) and it leads me to so many different articles etc. and before I know it 2-3 hours have passed. I did discover Mumsnet Classics the other day on my Mumsnet app and when insomnia struck and I spent a good hour or so reading over some of the posts. They’re worth a look and are so random but pretty funny.
So here are my sewing achievements for the week. I will put some tutorials on the sewing section of my website (if I manage to find the time in my super busy schedule!).
Pillows!
Pillows and matching bunting
Curtains
I have been trying to work on my website a bit more too and put together a list of 5 things to think about when having a baby in Dubai and I plan to do a post about 5 (or more) things to do whilst on bed rest.
We’ve also entered a Summer Come Dine With Me competition in Dubai and we had our first dinner the other night which was school dinner themed and it was scrummy and a lot of fun. Me and bump managed to stay up until almost 3am, very impressive (I did sleep most of the day in preparation though!). It will be our turn to host towards the end of July so I am thinking of theme ideas, I think we have one I just need to finalise the menu. My husband will be doing all of the cooking and leg work as I’ll be 25 weeks by then and so will need to be taking it very easy and have my feet up.
We had our 20 week morphology scan the other day and it all went well which was a big relief. It’s been a fairly drama free couple of weeks and we’re hoping that continues as we get further into the second trimester. I’ve never wished away time as much as I have been doing recently but I am trying to continue to be positive and to keep my mind busy. I still need to start my online French course and its getting embarrassing now as people keep asking me how its going – I will make it my mission to get myself signed up before my next blog!
x
I feel like I am expanding a little too rapidly at the moment but I believe when you’re pregnant you should eat if you’re hungry and not limit yourself. If you are craving carbs you should have carbs and if you’re craving chocolate you should have chocolate! You get the gist. In short, I believe that if your body is craving something then there’s a reason for that particular craving and your body is telling you that you need it!
I haven’t had any strong cravings during this pregnancy. Though I do find that I am put off certain foods easily and find it very difficult to decide what to eat…I know I fancy something but I can’t always put my finger on it.
As I am doing very little and am not allowed to exercise or even walk any distance, I have found that I am putting on weight a lot quicker than I did the first time around. So I have been thinking a bit more about what I am eating. As I said, I won’t restrict myself if i’m hungry but where possible I am thinking about healthy options. I am certainly not a nutritionist but I have felt really good the last week or so and I think that might be because of my slightly improved diet.
I enjoy cooking but cooking is not easy when you can’t spend long on your feet and so I make sure my food choices are quick and easy to make, especially during the daytime when I am home alone. In the evening my husband and I will generally have barbequed fish/meat and vegetables and he can do any of the leg work!
I definitely have a sweet tooth at the moment and so have bought miniature chocolate bars for when a craving strikes. Of course there are days where I need to have several miniatures to get close to satisfying my sweet tooth but I know if I had huge amounts of chocolate in the house I would totally overindulge. I am also a big fan of dark chocolate infused with orange. Amazing!
So here are some bed rest easy food options:
I am big on smoothies right now. This is a banana, strawberry yoghurt, blueberry and milk smoothie. It’s a great way to get a lot of your fruit intake for the day and takes less than a minute to make.
As I am getting up later than usual, I find that I wake up very hungry. Therefore, I make sure I have a filling brekkie. Having a filling brekkie means I am less likely to snack and I find that granola, yoghurt and fruit is perfect.
Another great breakfast option are boiled eggs. They are filling and easy, just leave them to boil whilst you have a sit down. I love dippy eggs but I have been a bit stricter since getting pregnant and so make sure they’re cooked through.
I am obsessed by avocados at the moment. I crush mine and add a tiny bit of chilli and some sea salt. This time I had a slice on olive bread toast with a side of blueberries.
Eggs again, this time on olive bread toast. Yummy! This took me minutes and filled me up for a long time. Plenty of seasoning is the key to this brekkie (or lunch) dish.
Another easy and tasty dish. I’ve had this as a side to some meat or fish or as a lunch option. I add green pesto and season well. I had this with a carrot and tomato juice – I may have needed to eat up lots of tomatoes that day!
I said I was obsessed with avocado. This time I had it as a side to some left over chilli. The chilli was easy to make, i just shoved everything in a big pan and left it to simmer. It lasted for a good few days and so is a great bed rest option.
I made this vege burger by grilling some hallumi, portobello mushroom and then I added some avocado (the obsession continues!) and salad. I had it with a side of quinoa. My husband hated the quinoa and i’m not the biggest fan but it was filling at least!
I love jacket potatoes but have had quite a few recently and its made me feel bloated as I can’t work off the carbs. So I have replaced the jacket potato with a sweet potato. Again, an easy one and it’s very versatile, just add whatever topping you fancy.
Although I have been juicing less than usual I do love a fresh orange juice. This time I had it with a side of cookie! As I said, you shouldn’t deny yourself what your body wants when you’re pregnant. Just try to make healthy choices where possible.
I’m now almost 18 weeks and it’s been a pretty good week. Nothing particularly exciting has happened but my happy sunny outlook is continuing with only the occasional blip. I’ve continued to take things very easy and the week has actually flown by. I hope that continues over the next 20ish weeks, particularly as I expect to be under even more restrictions as my pregnancy progresses.
Yesterday I did a very very boring job, a job I’ve been meaning to do for years…..I cleared out my hotmail account (I did warn you I hadn’t done anything particularly exciting this week!). I am now down from 35,000 emails to 8,000. Quite an achievement.
As well as my amazing email clean out, I had another achievement, I finished off the bunting I was making and am very pleased with the finished product. When I get a moment I will put a tutorial on the sewing section of my website. My next sewing projects include making some curtains (maybe a little ambitious!) and a patchwork cushion. So watch this space.
Bunting
I had a lovely girly evening with two friends last week which involved my favourite things, chatting, pizza and chocolate. I really love evenings like that, I am officially getting old.
Notwithstanding (such a lawyer word!) what I have just said, I am on a bit of a health kick at the moment and am trying to increase the amount of fruit I eat. So I’m very into smoothies and fruit, granola, yoghurt and honey brekkies. I’m also enjoying the occasional cheeky de-caf latte! Yummy.
Catching up with some reading ahead of book club
A pretty healthy brekkie
Smoooootthiiieee
I’m trying to think back to what else I’ve been up to this last week. I started the week by tracking two friends online as they did the opposite to me, they got off their bottoms and ran a really really long way, uphill! They did the Comrades marathon. Amazing. If you’ve not heard of the Comrades marathon, its an 89km race, mainly uphill in South Africa. Oh and you have to do it in under 12 hours or you don’t even get a medal. Craziness. They both did amazingly and I enjoyed tracking them as I sat on my bottom, catching up on Britain’s Got Talent whilst drinking many, many cups of tea. Lets hope the uneventful weeks continue.
Monday was our 2nd wedding anniversary and great minds obviously think alike as for our gifts (following the rule that for the 2nd anniversary you buy something made of cotton) we both bought each other striped beach towels. Very random.
I had an extra gift wrapped in my beach towel though, a brand spanking new Mac Pro! Whoop! So now if I manage to pop to Starbucks next door for a cheeky little decaf latte I can take my Mac down and look like one of those professional blogger types.
I had my weekly Baker & Spice salad yesterday, this time I had it to take away. I love their salads and I can feel all smug after I eat there as it’s always so healthy and fresh which is so more important whilst pregnant. That said, don’t get me wrong, I also recognise the importance of chocolate and carbs whilst pregnant.
Continuing on the food theme (I talk about food a lot!), we enjoyed a scrummy steak and jacket potato to celebrate our anniversary last night and opened one of the bottles of red which we got for our wedding. I allowed myself a small glass and it was amazing, my husband polished off the rest.
So, today my achievements include making my first ever cushion cover on the sewing machine and sorting out my website and Twitter account (@somanymumblings). I am pretty chuffed with the cushion cover which I made by following some instructions online and also watching a short YouTube video. It’s a bit wonky if you look closely but I’m chuffed non the less!
If I can stay awake late enough this evening I plan to join the KeepEmCooking live chat forum who are meeting at 2pm US Eastern time, which is either 9 or 10pm, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I sent a Twitter link today about a great article by KeemEmCookin, here it is again. In fact theres lots of info on their ‘Educate Yourself’ page. If you’ve read some of my older posts, you’ll see that I did a huge amount of research on the medical options available to me when I became pregnant again. It is a minefield and there is a lot of contradicting advice out there. In a situation where you are totally powerless, educating yourself and getting as much information as possible so that you can make the best decision for you (and don’t forget everyone is different) is the only thing you can do to try to regain a little control.
As a final note, bubs has been keeping me going when I am feeling low by giving me the occasional kick in the ribs. Little bugger! x
All in all, last week was not a great week. It was pretty emotional for a number of reasons, not least because I started having random shooting pains around my cervix. It has got better in the last few days but after a mildly panicked call to my doctor I decided to bring forward my next scan so I didn’t have to endure a further week of stress. My doctor will be pleased to know I have already compiled a lengthy list of questions to ask him next week! I am hoping the pains are due to the fact that I have started to ‘pop’. I therefore now have a little tiny bump which is lovely.
Oh and my insomnia is back, yey (it was 1.45am when I originally drafted this post on my phone). Despite being shattered my brain has decided that bed time is the best time to think about absolutely everything and to obsess about everything that can go wrong with this pregnancy. Fun times. Thank God I can nap during the day. I am going to buy some Lavender for my new diffuser (an early birthday present) to see if that helps at all.
Well I’m now a few days into week 16 and I’m determined to have a positive sunny outlook this week (hmmm we’ll se how long that lasts). I have quite a few things going on this week. And when I say quite a few things I mean about 4 things (wow life has changed!) but I only need one thing happening during the day to help make that day go faster. Then it’ll be Friday and I can tick another week off the calendar which is all that matters.
Thank God I had all those horrifically boring jobs (packing first aid kits, packing raw pork and other fun factory work) during university summers to ensure that I am well practised in day dreaming my day away.
A hubby made brekkie
To lighten up the end of this blog post, I should say I did have some great times this weekend. Ahead of celebrating our two year wedding anniversary on Monday I received some lovely flowers, had two tasty brekkies cooked for me, got all dressed up for a trip out to a restaurant on the beach with a stunning view and had a fabulous facial. So the weekend has certainly made up for the proceeding week and explains my positive sunny outlook right now.
A nice view at dinner
X
So what happened? Well, the last 6 months has been the most difficult 6 months of my life and it has been full of extreme ups and downs.
In November I moved to Dubai. In December I gave birth to my baby boy prematurely at just under 25 weeks and he died when he was just two weeks old. I may write a post about this in more detail in the future but right now I am not ready to share. I am actually a pretty private person and so writing this blog is a big learning curve for me. It’s therapeutic but also quite an intimidating process as I am sharing much more than I would usually.
I’ve seen/spoken to loads of doctors since this happened to try to understand what went wrong and was surprised at the varying advice I was given in regards to treatment. The diagnoses wasn’t clear but everything pointed to an ‘incompetent cervix’ aka ‘cervical insuficiency’. So my cervix was incompetent/insuficient. Lovely. My cervix is a part of my body that I had never previously paid attention to. I knew about cervical cancer and had regular smear tests but that’s the most I had thought about my cervix. I also didn’t know the massively important role this small piece of my body would play in pregnancy. After a ridiculous amount of research I now feel like I know everything there is to know about my cervix.
January and February passed in a blur and I don’ feel like I was really present during those months. Then in February I found out I was pregnant. We were delighted but also petrified.
My obsessive research continued and after a huge amount of discussion in April I had an operation in the UK to basically sew my cervix shut in the hope it’ll help me get to full term this time. I can’t believe it is now mid May. I am almost 15 weeks pregnant and feel like I have been pregnant forever! I worked out the other day that if (god willing) I go full term with this pregnancy I will have been pregnant for around 15 out of 17 months. That’s a long time.
It’s bloody scary and extremely emotional and I am just trying to tick off the weeks whilst attempting to keep myself sane by keeping my mind as occupied as possible.
So what’s next? Well I’ve stopped looking too far into the future and don’t let myself look much further forward than the next week or so. The biggest adjustment at the moment has been to keep myself busy whilst doing very little (no exercise, walking far, swimming, baths, fun. etc. etc.). I am not on bed rest as such but plan to put myself on bed rest in July and August which will be the time I am most at risk (between 22-30 weeks).
Any ideas for bed rest would be greatly appreciated! So far this is what I’ve planned:
1. Sewing. I’ve bought my first sewing machine to keep myself busy whilst I can sit rather than lie down. If I don’t feel comfortable sitting my mum has given me a hand sewn patchwork quilt which she started many years ago that I plan to finish.
2. French. I am going to try to improve my GCSE French via Rosetta Stone’s online subscription.
3. Website/Blog. I will keep my mind busy by blogging as well as keeping my website up to date with book and film reviews, recipes and reviews of things to do in and around Dubai.
4. Box sets. I need programmes which are lengthy and have plenty of series to watch. So far, I have been recommended Grey’s Anatomy and the West Wing.
That’s about it for now!
x
… it has taken me a couple of months to have the strength to write this post. We lost our darling baby boy in mid December after 12 days with him. He was born at just under 25 weeks. I don’t feel strong enough to say much more just now but it was important to me to revisit this blog as I’m hoping it will be a source of comfort for me in the future. x
Mum-blings 