Size of a coconut, our baby girl is growing well and mummy is also still coping alright!
At 28-weeks my baby should weigh about 1kg and measure 38cm. Her lungs are mature enough that if born now, she would probably survive! She can now open her eyes although her vision would still be blurry. There is still some space for her to move around and she is very active around the clock – her kicks and punches are getting uncomfortably strong! She’s still horizontal most of the time, as far as I can tell, and especially my lower tummy feels hard and tight where her back seems to be.
On Monday I went to UCLH for blood tests including the glucose challenge test (GCT) which is part of the routine tests at 28-weeks pregnant. Apart from queuing for 45-minutes and then waiting for an hour after the sweet drink I was given before my blood was drawn, the whole process was pretty easy. No fasting required either which was great since I always wake up starving and want my breakfast.
Today I had my 28-week midwife appointment and she has received my results. Everything was normal, she said to my relief. I feel fine but you never know… Iron levels and sugars were all normal. She had a medical student with her today and she was overall more pleasant than the first time I met her (phew). They examined my bump and the midwife said to her student “Skin tone… well, you can see from her face that there is no pigment”. What can I say, I’m a pasty Northerner! They measured my bump and rather than being spot on 28cm, the medical student measured it 26cm, but the midwife seemed happy with it. No growth scan needed.
The trickiest part was (again) finding the heart beat. It turned out that my baby is oblique with her head to my right hip. The midwife said I have “first time mum’s tight belly” so it is difficult to feel the baby’s position. Only when they found the heart beat, which was normal, did she realise how the baby is bundled up in there. Lying oblique is not a problem at 28-weeks – two thirds of babies move head down by week 32 and even after that there is still time to turn before labour. Apparently C-section is the only option if the baby is oblique when going into labour, but that’s nothing to worry about at this point.
Mummy is feeling heavy! My back pain has almost gone, helped by limiting exercise for a few days and swapping walking for swimming and cycling. I still have to be careful though, as I don’t want to risk spending the next 12 weeks horizontal! I’m waiting to receive my order from JoJo Maman Bebe; I ordered their bump support band in black and white. I didn’t like the look of the rather clinical maternity belts and since I’m not very big yet I thought I’ll start with an elastic support band. Perhaps that’ll do the trick and ease the pressure from my lower back 🙂
Nights are a little better now, thankfully. I’ve always needed a lot of sleep and I’ve found the sleeping problems really taking a toll on me over the past few weeks. Getting up for work has been dreadful. It’s normal to start waking up at night at this point of pregnancy because of the hormones and the need for the toilet, but I was also waking up just because I was uncomfortable sleeping on my side. Until last week.
Meet my new best friend!
Picture source: www.pregnancypillows.net
My U-shaped pregnancy pillow from Snuggle Up – I’m in love with it! (This is not a sponsored advert!)
I used to sleep with three pillows: one under my head, a long one under my bump and between my legs, and a third one behind my back. That worked fine for the first part of the night but then the extra pillows would just end up on the floor and I’d wake up feeling uncomfortable again. This U-shaped pillow obviously stays intact and it’s so huge I can fit inside of it completely – super cosy! I still wake up at night to turn on my other side, but this barely counts as waking up as I can go right back to sleep 🙂
We both miss snuggling up with each other at night since my “Donut” has literally come in between us, but this way we both sleep better! We just have to set aside separate time for cuddles as well.
On that note, I will go and get cosy in my nest. It’s Friday tomorrow and that means pregnancy yoga!
xoxoxo,
Sini