Are you ever ready to be a mum?
Are you ever ready to be a mum?
A question I’ve been asking myself ever since I found out I was pregnant, am I ready? are you ever ready? planned or unplanned I am assuming everyone has those same feelings of worry and thinking what the hell are we doing?! I’m 35 and I guess it’s my time to be a grown up, whatever that is!
18 weeks already!
18 weeks pregnant and it still feels surreal, a mum you say?! Jeeeez I sat there at the weekend holding my 9-week old niece thinking, “holy crap!” this will be me in May! I have experience of looking after children I have been a nanny on and off since the year 2000 but I already feel myself doubting my capabilities of being a mum. I guess we live and learn in all aspects of our life and this the pregnancy journey is a whole new journey. Like everything I know I will embrace it, take it in my stride and be the best mum I can be. With a loving partner, wonderful family and friends I know I will be just fine.
Slowly accepting changes
As the weeks fly by I am SLOWLY accepting the changes my body is undergoing. I don’t feel as if my body has changed much since the 16-week photo, my belly may have grown slightly but I guess when you’re homing a little human inside you I guess it is going to happen. At 18 weeks the baby is roughly the size of a chicken breast weighing 142 g. I love reading about the development of the baby, at 18 weeks the baby will have a complete set of fingerprints on fingers and toes, how amazing is that! I haven’t had to buy any stretchy jeans yet, luckily still in all my clothes apart from one pair of jeans but let us just say they are straight out of the wash!
Cravings?
Lucky for me and I guess Michael there has been no weird cravings for gherkins and ice cream, lumps of coal or plasterboard! I’m not sure it was a craving as such, but I really fancied a jacket potato with beans and cheese, that’s as crazy as my cravings are at the moment!
Still keeping active
Training has remained the same with a few adaptions here and there. I’m still doing one to two strength and conditioning sessions, one aerial session, one Muay Thai session and yoga alongside all my teaching. I’ve noticed my energy levels have been a bit up and down and feeling a lot more breathless during training. I have lowered the intensity and just taking a slower pace. During pregnancy, the blood volume of the mother doubles, therefore making the heart pump harder and faster. I am learning to listen to my body, which for me is a great achievement. My yoga practice has barely changed but at 16 weeks cobra felt a little odd and this time cow face pose – Gomukhasana is feeling odd. On the left-hand side, it feels good but the right-hand side it feels as if I am compressing my tummy too much. Perhaps it will now become a pose that I will need to accept is no longer accessible along with plow pose – Halasana.
Hearing your baby’s heartbeat for the first time
At 16 and a half weeks I had my midwife appointment the midwife assessed me and I was told the baby was sat over to the right-hand side of my pelvis, which would explain why some of the yoga poses I was doing over the last two weeks were feeling uncomfortable. I was asked if I wanted to hear the baby’s heartbeat to which I obviously replied yes! so back I went to the surreal world of oh my god I’m going to be a mum! The midwife used a doppler heart monitor and there was the sound of my baby’s heart beat a swooshing, super fast heartbeat one of the most magical moments of my life.
So all in all at 18 weeks all is good and healthy on my pregnancy journey.
Slowly catching up!
Stay tuned I am now currently 26 weeks and the bump has well and truly grown, I look forward to sharing with you. Please feel free to write any comments below, I’d love to hear what you have to say, your thoughts and opinions.
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Thank you for sharing my journey
Sheree 🙂
