Pregnancy Update: Week 16

Bumpdate

This week, I knew that my bump must have grown a little because my favourite pants no longer fit. It was a sad moment as I placed them back in the drawer and realised that I wouldn't be wearing them for another 6 months at least. Yes, I've reached that point in pregnancy where I'm starting to wave goodbye to a few beloved but impractical items of clothing in favour of more comfortable options to house the ever-expanding bump. Substance over style people!

Can you see the difference this week?

Notice the tummy button is still looking super weird, and my tummy is quite hairy these days. Yummy!

Symptoms

Very little to report apart from feeling flipping fantastic! I've been so full of energy this week that we've even managed TWO nights out past 10pm! This is big for me these days. OK, I still need a little nap every now and again, and when we don't go out, my bed time seems to be creeping earlier and earlier, but for the majority of this week I've been full of beans, happy as Larry and every other smug cliched phrase you can think of. I am sleeping much more contentedly through the night, and waking at 6.30 rather than 4am to go to the toilet, which to be honest is really when I should be getting up anyway.

This blissful slumber has been punctuated by some really horrific, vivid dreams however, and I usually wake up sobbing into my pillow or shouting at Rich about something or other. Apparently this is completely normal for this stage of pregnancy, and many women enjoy this new sleep wonderland. These people are obviously encountering far fewer axe-wielding murderers during sleeping hours.

What I've been eating

Towards the latter end of the week, my appetite grew and grew, to the point where I found myself starting to hoard snacks in my desk drawer at work...

 

If you opened my desk drawer at work, you'd immediately know that I'm pregnant (either that, or hoarding for the apocalypse) #Tuesday #food #snacks #work #worklife #desk #foodie #followyoursunshine

A photo posted by Follow Your Sunshine (@polbag) on Oct 20, 2015 at 3:28am PDT

I have been experiencing my first real cravings too which has mainly taken the form of a hankering after chocolate and sweet things (which was luckily satisfied when Tania, my friend from school turned up in the desert last Wednesday evening with a bag full of Cadburys, Chocolate Oranges and Maltesers). And I am also obsessed with cheese. Lots of cheese. This craving got so strong at work the other day that I had to pop out to the supermarket at lunch, where I bought a whole wedge of Edam which I promptly demolished in front of my poor boss who is trying very hard to embrace a new healthy, vegan diet. I'm sorry Rosa, I did feel bad, but needs must!!

How I've been feeling

Mainly elated. My best friend from school was with us for most of the week, and I talked baby at her for far too many hours! Whoops. I was just so excited to be able to share it all, from the everyday stresses and worries, to the seriously amazing bits. She did a fair amount of taking the mickey out of me, as she seems to do so well, but also listened hard and empathised with the serious parts when the time was right. It's why I love her!

Now, Mr Sunshine and I are looking forward to just over a weeks' time when we have our next scan and are very likely to find out the baby's gender! For those of you that have been asking, yes we are going to find out. There are lots of practical reasons why, but the main reason goes beyond simply being able to buy the right coloured clothes or decide on a name before the big day. I am really relishing the thought of being able to get to know our baby as a real human, with a gender and personality; to be able to call them 'him' or 'her' instead of 'it'; to be able to really bond with them and look forward to who they are going to be when they arrive in this world in 5 months' time.

 

What I've been wearing

Pyjamas. Jogging bottoms. Snuggly jumpers. Anything soft and loose. I haven't been a fan of figure-hugging this week.

Products I've been using

The same old really. I'm still sticking to my routine of smothering my torso in Mothers Balm every night, and I've been sticking to using organic products where I can on my skin. Tania and I spent a bit of time on the beach at the weekend, so I made sure that I covered up with lots of sun cream too, especially as I've started to notice that the melanin on my arms has turned quite patchy. Yet another glorious pregnancy symptom that people neglect to tell you about until you wake up one morning looking like you've applied your fake tan in the dark.

Baby bits

No extra purchases this week as Tan was here, but we're heading to the shops this weekend so let's see what happens. No doubt we will return with half of Mammas & Pappas...we just can't seem to help ourselves!

Link of the week

The absolutely fabulous Baby Centre. Have a pregnancy question? Want to track your baby's progress in minute detail week by week? Just fancy a chat with other mums who are giving birth around the same time as you and going through some of the same things? This is the website for you. They also have a super-helpful smartphone App. which I check first thing every morning. Yes, even before Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! I know!!

Final words

After falling out of love with blogging temporarily while I battled sickness and exhaustion, I'm now missing it terribly and I'm ready to get back on the wagon. Rich and I agree that this little space on the internet is going to be an even more important memory bank for us as our family expands, and it's about time I got back into the swing of things. Expect a few more frequent posts on here from now on, starting off with some very belated honeymoon posts!

Once again, thank you to everybody that has sent such amazingly supportive and sweet messages over the past few weeks. You really kept me going when the going got tough!