Diaries of the Newly Enciente: The 26th Week Update

Baby Aoife at 25weeks and 2 days...

 So... its the 26th week... what else is new?

Apart from the continued onslaught of baby stuff into our tiny house, mum and baba are plodding along as normal. If these string of events that make a pregnancy can be called normal that is.

These days I just feel heavy and not very far off from a cartoon of a tiny Asian lady with a giant watermelon strapped to her waist, trying to pretend its not there. Everyone keeps telling me I look great and if my belly were covered or if I had my back to them, they wouldn't even know I was pregnant -- but trust me, I know.

How do I know, you ask?

She was mostly sleeping during the scan...

Its now a challenge to get in and out of bed for my million and one pee breaks at night.

I scrub head to foot with my little bath glove everyday when I shower and reaching my shins and feet now requires a little foot stool to come into the shower with me. Even then it feels like conquering Everest.

Slip on footwear is now my new norm, unless PIC is around to tie my laces or do my buckles for me.

Sleeping is now a study in the many different ways I can shuffle around in bed to find that sweet spot. Its becoming more difficult to breathe and after years of picking on PIC's glorious somnambular tones, he gleefully informs me that I have started snoring this week.

And lets not forget the light cramps (similar to menstrual cramps) as my uterus continues to expand. Now also accompanied by leg cramps as my legs scream in agony over the added weight.

Oh, oh! And I am now officially a grunter / Miss Huff and Puff-a-lot. There never seems to be enough breath to go around for even the tiniest and simplest of tasks.

To add to the pot of malcontent, I have started feeling discomfort (yes, more than the usual complaints) on my right side close to my hips. At first we thought it was due to a uterine fibroid I have been growing over this pregnancy but its not. No masses or inflamed stuff detected there either, so Doc concludes that its just my old ligaments complaining over my strap on watermelon.

Oh Aoife. You better appreciate what mommy is going through for you!

On the plus side, I am on my 26th week and still no signs of stretch marks on my belly or my boobies! And now that I've said that, I will probably wake up tomorrow to a spider web of them spread across both.

But aren't the little things that actually go your way the most wonderful things ever? Most women recommend using Palmers Cocoa Butter but I've actually eschewed that. I not only find it thick and icky, but it stinks hahaha. So instead I've kept a regimen of Bio Oil after each shower over damp skin to lock as much moisture in as possible and follow this up with Garnier's Intensive 7 Day Rich Nourishing Cream. And so far it feels like the hydration ritual is keeping me stretch mark free and moisturized without the heavy greasy, sticky feeling.

The vivid dreams are also back into play and I had one where baba was already walking around the house assisted by living room furniture. The only catch is that baba was a boy in my dream! I woke up in a panic thinking of all the pink clothes we got and wondering how much it will screw a little boy up to start his little life by wearing pink onesies and outifts as a baby...

Is that a sleepy smile I see??

Today's scan session thankfully settled that paranoia as we are reassured that baba is indeed a little girl. This time though, instead of going for the usual 2D scan, we went 3D for our first sneak peek at finding out whose genes won out in the race to perfection. Happy to report that through this mommy's biased eye, she looks like a girl! Yay!

She still has daddy's habit of putting her arm / hand up her face while she sleeps but that definitely looks like mommy's chin on the little tike. Its not the most accurate or most detailed of previews but this will have to tide us over for the next three months. Can't wait to see baby Aoife in the flesh!