Pregnancy Update (Weeks 20-23)

This post is hopefully the first in a series documenting the remainder of my pregnancy. They are inspired by Courtney from the blog Alkeks Abroad. I'm starting about halfway through the pregnancy and writing a week-by-week update. You can read about my first trimester experience here. 

Week 20

We went for our 20 week scan this week, and fortunately everything is looking good with the baby. It’s moving around and kicking a lot, especially in the evenings. We talk about the baby with Ella a lot, she says hello and sings songs through my tummy which is very cute. She seems happy about becoming a big sister. We have friends with a little girl the same age as Ella who just had their second baby, so Ella talks about being a big sister “like Gemma”. She has told us she will help take care of the baby and change it’s nappies so I’m looking forward to her attempts at that! I'm feeling pretty good, and have felt that way since about week 13-14.

Week 21

We had our first appointment with the OB at the Royal Women’s Hospital this week. It was a pretty quick visit. So far it looks like a normal, low-risk birth so other than checking the baby’s heart rate and my blood pressure there isn’t much else to report. We also don’t have as many questions this time around, even though I have a hard time remembering anything about my last pregnancy. The Royal Women’s is “Australia’s first and largest specialist hospital dedicated to improving the health of all women and newborns” according to their website. It has an excellent reputation and I’ve had a few friends that have given birth there, and all have had good experiences. With Ella, we were at a much smaller hospital, Sandringham, which is affiliated with the Women’s but is more like a little country hospital. I had a great experience at Sandringham, so I feel lucky to have had such great care (for free!) within the public medical system here. 

We went to a wedding this week and I of course had nothing to wear. I ended up with this little number, which is probably not something I would have chosen if I wasn’t pregnant, but it was pretty comfortable (pic below). We have another wedding in March, with a different group of friends, so I’ll at least get two wears out of it. I had a fab time at the wedding even though I couldn’t drink (who would have thought that possible?) and even managed to keep up with Andy on the dance floor most of the night. 

For the past week or two I’ve had a sharp pain in my right lower back/butt. (Even before the dancing in heels mentioned above.) It comes and goes so I haven’t done much about it except for some stretching and foam rolling, but if it doesn’t go away in another week or so I will get it checked out. I’m thinking some acupuncture may be in order… I was planning on starting weekly acupuncture at around 34 weeks again as I did that with my last pregnancy and I feel it contributed to a smooth labour, which I wrote about here. (Maybe not, but I'm happy with it being due to the placebo effect if it helps again this time.)

Week 22

We’re back to work! Sad times. I’m getting lots of congratulations from colleagues, as I am clearly pregnant now and haven't just put on a few kilos. When we finished up the school year six weeks ago, I wasn’t showing quite enough that people could confidently assume I was pregnant. Work has been busy, I’m in a new position within a new restructure at the school, so I don’t always feel as if I know exactly what I am responsible for. Luckily there are three others with the same position as me, who are all brilliant and lovely to work with, and I'm excited about the challenges so far.

I’ve been pretty good at keeping to a morning routine of 15-20 minutes of yoga and then a 10 minute meditation as soon as I wake up, which puts me in a good frame of mind for the rest of the day. However my back pain is still flaring up most days, especially when I do a lot of walking. Must book in acupuncture soon...

Week 23

This week has been hard. Work has been overwhelming, and I feel like I am getting bigger by the day. It is also hot, hot, hot here in Melbourne, which makes me feel even bigger. (Thighs rubbing together in the heat is the worst.) I have managed to keep up the yoga/meditation routine morning routine again this week, this is my favourite morning pregnancy yoga video at the moment. It’s only 15 minutes long which means it is very doable, and helps me feel less creaky and sore. But other than that, I am finding it hard to get in any exercise at all. I cycled to work once this week, which was great, but boy are the uphills getting hard! I am seriously slow and out of breath, but I’m hoping to continue riding 1-2 times a week until Easter at least. I also swim 1km every Sunday while Ella does her swimming lessons with Andy, which I love. I wish I could get to the pool more often.

One thing I seriously need to work on is the amount of “treats” I’ve been eating, mainly at work. I developed a sweet tooth when I was pregnant with Ella, and it is definitely back with this pregnancy! It’s so easy to mindlessly pop whatever is available into my mouth when I’m busy at work. And as mentioned, work has been crazy. I’m working long-ish days and nearly every day have to bring home stuff to do at night, once Ella has gone to bed. It’s exhausting, and all I want to do is collapse on the sofa and watch My Kitchen Rules with everyone instead! I am so, so grateful to have my parents here, who are basically running the house at the moment. They get dinner ready and keep on top of things like laundry, so that Andy and I have some time to play with Ella after work. Things would be a lot harder if they weren’t around. I’m not sure two full-time working parents with small children is the most ideal set-up, I’d like to avoid it in future if at all possible!

Oh... and my back pain hasn't gone away, and I still haven't done anything about it. Self-care is taking a bit of a back seat, so I need to try and make it more of a priority!