25 weeks pregnant

It starts getting really real now. Tomorrow I’ll be 25 weeks pregnant
and this means that my baby is legally viable, i.e. if she’d be born
today she’d have a chance to survive with medical care. Of course I am
hoping that she stays where she is for quite a few weeks more. After
all we want her to be a healthy strong baby and not having to go
through the trauma of early intensive care.

From week 28 I will be in the last trimester. It still feels unreal.
There were times were I no longer believed that I’d ever be pregnant
and now I am more than 6 months pregnant and soon in my last
trimester.

The last few days my baby had been very quiet. She hardly moved (or at
least I didn’t feel it) and if she did it was like a tentative “are
you there, mummy” knock rather than her usual full kicks and turns. I
started getting really nervous (I really hope I won’t turn into one of
those overly worrying and nervous mums). But yesterday my little
darling got bored of sleeping and at times I felt as if she was trying
to kick a whole into my stomach. I feel much better when she does that
even though her timing wasn’t great as I was heading up an important
meeting all day and found it hard to concentrate on what I was saying.

At the same time as her becoming more active again, my appetite is
increasing again. I wasn’t extremely hungry for the last few days
(still hungry enough to not cope without breakfast, but not as
starving hungry as before when I needed food every half an hour).
Well, that has changed again and at 11:30 am I had 2 breakfasts and am
start starting on some fruit. My mind is focused on the sausages,
cheesy potato mash and glazed carrots I’ll have for lunch and I caught
myself checking out the dessert menu in the canteen. So I suspect she
has a growth spurt.

It’s a good thing that I was so small before pregnancy though. I am
62.3 kg now which means I have gained about 8kg (16 pound). That seems
to be pretty much on target. I am sure they say you can expect to gain
1 pound every week now until birth, which would be another 15 pound,
i.e. I’d put on a total of just over 15 kg on (total would be 69.5kg).
My ideal weight for my height is between 53kg and 70 kg so even if I
wouldn’t lose any weight after birth (and I doubt that very much) I’d
still be in a healthy weight range. A friend of mine put on 20kg in
pregnancy and whilst she was not overweight before she wasn’t slim
neither. She really struggles losing the weight now.

I guess my strategy to eat loads of fruit when I need a snack works
quite well. It is healthier for me and baby, keeps the weight under
control and apart from the occasional problem I haven’t suffered from
constipation as so many people I know did in pregnancy.

My sister is due in about 4 weeks and she really struggles sleeping
now. She had issues with constipation and frequent nightly visits to
the toilet for many weeks and months (pretty much since she was in the
2nd trimester) and has frequent Braxton Hicks in the moment. So far I
don’t seem to suffer the same fate. That might still change of course
but the longer I can avoid this, the better.

I started swimming now as well. At least once a week, but I try twice
a week. It is quite pleasant as I feel so light!!! Not sure if the
baby likes it though – she goes very quiet when I start swimming, even
though the water is a sensible temperature. I still try to my Pilates,
but I find it more exhausting than I expected. But at least I do
stretching exercises every evening which seems to help reducing the
occurrence of leg cramps at night.

Something else seems to start now that I am nearly 25 weeks. People
started grabbing my belly. Admittedly, it is rather massive, but I am
still not so keen on people who I hardly now pushing their hand on my
stomach. I think baby doesn’t like it either because she refuses to
kick when this happens. She kicks for me and her Daddy, but not for
strangers. She doesn’t even do it for her grandmother who would love
to feel her moving.

At work we still haven’t got sign off for a maternity cover. It is
starting to get to me. I am working so hard on my project and try to
push all the deadlines to get the project to a sensible handover stage
before I go. I have enough holidays left to stay home from the 2nd
December, that’s 8 weeks from today. I know they won’t sign that off.
But the latest I am prepared to move to is the 10th December which
gives them another week (6 weeks before I am due). But 9 weeks isn’t a
long time to start recruiting, find a good candidate (it’s quite a
specialist field I am working in), get them started and trained. And I
then still have 6 working days left to take throughout November. I am
getting increasingly frustrated because I kind off hold off booking my
holidays. I really want to be there training someone as my project
means too much for me to just let it go down the drain. But I also
need to think of my health and well-being.

Next week (25 weeks pregnant) I need to hand in my maternity leave
plan. I really want at least some of the holiday signed off before I
do that. I know the company is keen on paying my holiday out, but I
think I would be much better off taking the time. So I am planning to
get the time from the 10th December signed off tomorrow (or at least
try to) and say that I hold off with the remaining 6 days for a little
longer in the hope that we have some more clarity. Wednesday I need
to get my MATB1 from my midwife, so I should then be able to hand it
in on Wednesday or Thursday with my maternity plan. Maybe that will
then get them moving a little bit quicker.

A few days ago I was in tears about it in the evening. I work so hard,
trying to get it all done and still do loads of overtime even though
on some days I struggle driving home my 40 minutes because I am so
tired and go to bed at 8pm. I am being told that it is one of key
projects for the company and so important. But still they seem to
ignore that the solution I develop won’t implement itself. It will be
ready for implementation unless I get any pregnancy issues but you’ll
still need a full time project manager at hand. And there is nobody
with the right skill within the company once I am gone. I know they’d
prefer me not being pregnant (a sentiment I certainly don’t share),
but they seem to be in denial, hoping that my pregnancy just goes away
if they don’t do anything about it. Well, it won’t.

I do struggle concentrating today. It is a bit better since I had (a
massive) lunch. But still. I have nothing tangible to do, only
thinking stuff and my brain just won’t go into gear for that. So I am
counting down the last 3 hours until I can go.

I listened to my natal hypnotherapy “Pregnancy relaxation” CD
yesterday (it came through in the post yesterday) and found it really
relaxing (apart from when my computer crashed half way through… I
downloaded it to my IPOD now). I am trying to get the “Effective birth
preparation” one from Ebay as well, but so far it went over what I am
prepared to spend. I am only meant to start that in week 37 anyway, so
I have a little time left until I need to increase my budget. I don’t
know if hypnosis / hypnotherapy helps against pregnancy pain and birth
pain. I don’t know if it helps with IVF treatment neither. But I found
it relaxing and comforting throughout IVF so I don’t think I have
anything to lose with trying it again. Second hand they are not all
that expensive.

I still haven’t quite decided yet what I want to do about the changing
table. They are ridiculously expensive and so many people say you
don’t really need them. But others say you can’t do without them. We
have the space and I need some drawers anyway. So I am tempted to get
a drawer cabinet with removable changing top. I looked at the new
foldable changing table from IKEA (only online) but reviews say it
isn’t too stable and only for very little ones.

I’m also looking at one of those travel cots with bassinet as we could
use this as playpen later and as night sleeping place in our room
early on. It also has a changer to attach for night time changing.
Thinking about it, maybe one of those cot top changers would be the
best with a cot organiser for the diapers etc.

So much to think about, so much to decide!!!