I think I'm losing the plot! I arrived in Olney yesterday to visit my best friend, Alex, and her boyfriend in their new, lovely house, and yet I have zero crack.

I'm not sure if it's because I've just waved Mike off for his 2 week 'work trip' (he keeps accidentally referring to it as a holiday!) to Sri Lanka, you know the place with tsunamis, earth quakes, civil unrest, and food that could give you the shits? Or if it's because I'm going to be living out of a suitcase for the next 2 weeks bunking at my parents, or if it's the state of the house and the fact that when we get back there's still 2 more weeks of living out of 3 of our 8 rooms (kitchen, bathroom, spare room). Equally it could be my self imposed deadline for a first draft of my work's report, which

Read More

Just a quick update on pregnancy stretch marks...I'm 33 weeks pregnant tomorrow and so far, amazingly, I've not got any stretch marks. On the other hand my other, pre pregnancy stretch marks (probably from growing too quickly as a teenager) that I'd never really noticed before, are more obvious. What's the opposite saying to 'every cloud has a silver lining'?

I'm applying moisturising cream every time I pass the bottle (the massaging of your belly is supposed to be effective for women who got stretch marks during adolescence) and am battling on with my anti-stretch mark diet. The other day I was walking down the cereal aisle and was (sadly) delighted when I came across some ground flax seeds!

Ground flaxseeds from Linwoods

"Wahoo," I hear you cry! Or probably more likely, what's so exciting about this?

Well, I'll tell you. Flax seeds are the best source of Essential Fatty Acids (according to WHFoods.org and

Read More

Right, no one told me this could happen. You might think I'd have come across this as part of all my 'research' for this blog, but no. It may surprise you to know that I tend to write about things as they happen to me...And, when it comes to leaking nipples I thought that was surely the domain of the breast feeder.

Yesterday I stayed back at Mike's Mum and Dad's while everyone else went out for a walk. I decided I'd have a little nap and actually went into what felt like a coma, and I got rudely awaken by everyone as they trooped back into the house. I wondered around in a daze for a little while until Mike pointed out that I had something ominous looking on my t-shirt directly above my left nipple. It turned out it came from my nipple and it was sore for quite

Read More

Last week I said that I would take my back pain (over the pelvic issue) any day of the week...while this is still true, I am soooooo miserable! I have a pain on the left hand side of my lower back and sometimes it doesn't hurt too bad, for example if I'm sitting or lying down. If I try to walk somewhere within about 15 minutes the pain becomes excruciating. There's so much I want to do so this is really getting me down that I can't do it - exercise is pretty much out of the question and even trying to figure out the logistics of getting to work (where I have to do the least amount of walking) is hurting my head. What I really want to do is work from my bed, but that isn't possible at the moment, and as my time on this project is slowly

Read More

So a quick update - I'm almost certain that what I experienced when pushing the pain barrier in the name of 'curing my back pain' on Tuesday at the gym was SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction).

Baby Centre have a very useful post about SPD and here's what they say it is:

It's another of those pesky pregnancy symptoms that seem able to strike at any time during pregnancy. Baby Centre say that it rears its ugly head through the following symptoms:

Back pain, pelvic girdle pain or hip pain

Pain down the inside of your thighs or between your legs. It can be made worse by parting your legs, walking, going up or down stairs or moving around in bed

For anyone out there who was thinking: 'geez, this girl has had it easy' or 'I've had morning sickness for X months, when's she going to get something?' or any combination along that theme... fear not as I am in a world of misery as I appear to have broken my fanny.

I'd been suffering a wee bit of sciatic pain on Monday and Tuesday, so walking was a bit of chore but I thought I'd 'walk it off' at the gym last night. Walking didn't work, in fact it was friggin' painful so I got myself on the cross-trainer, which was 10 minutes of blissful, ignorant exercise. But I was bored. I went down stairs (to where the big boys hang out and push massive weights) to do some back strengthening work in the hope this would also ease the pain. Instead something serious happened in my 'area' and I ended

Read More

While we were on holiday a bit of my tooth fell out so as soon as I got back I got myself to the dentist to get a filling (or at least get the sharp bit that was hurting my tongue sorted!). While he was in there, he had a quick route around and pointed out that my gums were looking 'a bit angry' and that I needed to floss more as while you are pregnant your gums are a lot more susceptible to plaque build up. My gums had been bleeding more when I brushed them but I thought that was just a natural symptom of pregnancy.

So that got me thinking about pregnancy and teeth - I already knew that dental hygiene is linked to a healthy heart but I've since discovered, thanks to whattoexpect.com, that it can also impact upon your pregnancy health...namely healthier mouths are linked to

Read More

Holiday Special, part 2...

Well, I've left it far too late to get anything done professionally (aside from my wax, which I've literally just had - yowch! But still not as bad as the FIRST TIME) to get my skin all primed and ready for holidays and sunshine, pregnant or not! I would have liked to get an exfoliating treatment so my tan will last longer but instead, I've been having a snoop for some DIY holiday skin fixes and while I'm at it I've found stuff not just for the body but for the face, feet and belly (to protect your skin from the inside out!) - plus it saves me some money to spend in the duty free!

I've mentioned previously that I've been suffering from a bit of pregnancy spots...well, that has cleared up and been replaced by the driest skin known to man, my forehead (fortunately covered by

Read More

I've been feeling pretty pleased with myself so far as I had about 3 weeks of morning sickness and in all honesty it was barely noticeable. Since then my pregnancy symptoms have been:

bad skin (it went very spotty and now it's very dry - what happened to gorgeous glowing skin in pregnancy?!);

insane hunger that won't be satisfied; and

Flat, room-temperature ginger ale - sounds delightful! This follows on the ginger theme, but avoid the bubbles as they increase stomach acid.

Water - you'll notice the advice is all rather wet so far, and this is because it's just best to keep hydrated. In fact, being dehydrated can increase the feeling of sickness. So, drown out that sickness! Including having a glass of water when you wake up for a wee in the night (improves the waking up experience).

Eat regularly - something I'm doing despite not suffering the sickness! Making sure your belly has something to

Read More

6 weeks ago, I had the worse experience of my life when I got my bikini line (and a bit more) done. You may remember me begging 'just leave the other side!' I was hoping someone out there might have advice or at least just confirm my suspicions that being extra sensitive during pregnancy was another symptom.

Well, 6 weeks later and I've been back to face up to the music. I was rather apprehensive, to say the least, but either I was being a major drama queen 6 weeks ago or, of the early pregnancy symptoms, extra sensitivity was high on my list. The wax was totally fine and probably hurt as much as it normally does - maybe a wee bit more. I did take a couple of paracetamols and kept my promise not to shave in between waxes. So, that's it. Very boring, drama over. I am ready to

Read More