Pregnancy Update ~ Second Baby (Week 36 - The End is in Sight!)

Happy New Year to you all! Well, so much for my regular pregnancy updates - looking back, my last one was around 28 weeks. I'm now almost at 37 weeks! The time has just absolutely flown by and I can't believe our baby will be here in 3 weeks time - eeeeek!

Gestational Diabetes

So in my last update I wrote about gestational diabetes and to be honest, that has taken over my life a bit. But not in a bad way - just it's always there, I'm always thinking about it and thinking about what I should be eating/not eating. Thinking about when I next need to test my blood sugars. I have appointments most weeks at the hospital so I feel like I'm constantly there sat in the waiting room! But I've got used to it all and it's becoming second nature to whip out my finger pricker thingy (there must be a proper name for it?!).

I've had to change the way I eat which was actually not as hard as I originally thought - I've taken alot of advice from http://www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/ and I've basically been following a high fat/low carb diet. Which is the complete opposite of what I'm used to with Slimming World - it still feels really naughty to be having full fat cream and luxury full fat mayo! I've cut out cakes completely (well except a small slither of Mum's Christmas Cake on Christmas Day!) and I've been eating nuts and cheese like there's no tomorrow. Eating out hasn't been too challenging, I just make sure I avoid any sauces and go for something meaty. I hear that alot of ladies who have GD stick with this diet after their baby is born but I have to say, I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into carbs again. And unlimited fruit will be such a treat!!

How am I feeling?

I've actually been feeling really well over the last couple of months and I've had lots of energy in the daytime. I'm sure by this stage of my last pregnancy I was in hibernation mode but I feel quite sprightly at the moment!

I get weighed at the hospital at each appointment and I've lost weight so there's the silver lining of gestational diabetes! I dropped 5 pounds last week and that is the first time in my life where I haven't put on weight over Christmas! I'm only a few pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight so I'm really intrigued to see what happens over the next few weeks and if I end up weighing less when the baby is born. It certainly gives me a good head start for when I return to Slimming World :)

What have I been wearing?

Fashionwise, I'm not going to win any awards for maternity wear! It's either leggings and a shirt or leggings and a dress. I have about 4 outfits that are on rotation! I did treat myself to a lovely maternity dress from Yours Clothing before Christmas which I wore to my choir performance - it's quite dressy though so I doubt I'll get the chance to wear it again before baby comes. Which is a shame because I really liked it!

I'm a bit camera shy when it comes to bump pics but here's me on the far right in my lovely Yours Clothing dress - good job you can't see my baggy tights and chunky ankles ;) 

How's Baby?

We had a scan last week and she is growing perfectly - she currently weighs 6lb 5oz so my money is on around 8lb at birth! (Hopefully not another 10lb+ baby like Elliot was!) . She is SO active in the evenings - I guess in the daytime I'm busy so don't notice it as much but when I sit down on the sofa I can feel her doing all kinds of flips and kicks.

What next?

I've now been given a date for my c-section so it's become very real now! It's forced me to finally pack my hospital bags and today I finally got round to sorting out her drawers and putting all her new clothes away in their new homes. I didn't think I had many outfits for her but actually sorting it out made me realise that she has plenty for the first 3 months at least! I've bought lots of things in the sales recently and picked up some lovely bits in Morrisons last week. Sabrina from The Mummy Stylist also sent me some lovely girly bits passed down from her baby Lily and I can't wait to dress our baby girl in these!

Elliot is still really excited about the impending arrival of his baby sister and has now taken to counting down in days.. "how many days now Mummy!". I think he will be a really great big brother and I have no worries about how he will be when she arrives. I think he'll love helping me out but has already stipulated that he won't be dealing with any dirty nappies ;)