The One About the Belly Belt...

So I've been buying pregnancy magazines, and I saw an advert in the back for something called a belly belt.  It looked too good to be true, something that you can use so that you can stay in your regular trousers and jeans for longer, because if you think about it, its only my belly thats expanding, nothing else is really changing shape.  So I did some research and read the reviews, and thought I had to try this!  What it really is, is an extension so that when you can't button your jeans up anymore, this bridges the gap.  You get four belts two with buttons on, and two with hooks on, and in two different lengths.  You also get some material  to pop down your jeans to keep your dignity in case your zip doesn't quite do up either!

So on Tuesday it arrived, and on Wednesday I tried it out.  Its fab!  I'm only just expanding out of my trousers, but they were getting quite uncomfortable.  But I'm still not quite big enough to fit into proper maternity trousers.  So this seemed to be the perfect solution for now, as it means I can keep wearing my favourite trousers and jeans!  All I need now is some long maternity tops that come down past the belt, so that no-one knows its there.  So on Saturday Mum and I are heading to the shops to pick some maternity tops.  I'm really quite excited!  I am also looking forward to the bump growing some more so that it's obvious that I'm pregnant.

Has anyone else come across and ingenious inventions to make pregnancy easier?

The One About the Bird Table...

So a couple of weekends ago I went out to the shops to pick up a few bits and pieces, leaving M to fix the back gate.  Imagine my surprise when I got back and found he'd finished the back gate and was almost finished with a bird table!  Something that had never been discussed before had suddenly appeared!

I've never had a bird table before, because we've always had cats.  But M said we needed a bird table because I don't eat the ends of loaves of bread (and I'm getting through quite a lot of bread/toast at the moment - my stomach can cope with carbs at the moment!) and so it's still there in the back yard right outside my kitchen window.  I'm sure that you can sense my dissatisfaction with this new outdoor item.  I just don't like the idea of lots of birds flying about the yard and leaving birdy plops all over the place.  So, my plan is to get a cat, to scare the birds away!

I have wanted a kitten ever since I moved in (having left the two that were at mum's), and it has been quite a battle to convince M that we should have one.  Then, after we had done the pregnancy test M tells me that kind of puts a halt to the anniversary pressie he was getting me, a kitten!  We decided it was bad timing to get one now, especially as pregnant ladies aren't meant to clear out cat trays.  So I'm determined to get one after baby is born, maybe when he/she is 6 months old.

So what are everyone else's opinions, cats or birds?  And can they ever live harmoniously in a garden?

The One About Our News...

This month rather than share an actual story as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday, I'm going to share some news.  I'm sure that many of you have noticed my absence from blogging recently, and vague references to being ill, well there is a reason, which can be better shared with the following photograph:

Yes we are now 14 weeks pregnant and very excited!!!!!  Like many other women I have suffered with morning sickness quite badly,  however with me it's more like all day long nausea :(  Apparently this is what my mum had, although hers passed after the morning, but I'm holding onto the fact the her sickness didn't last the whole pregnancy.  I'm really really hoping I'm not in that 1% that has it all the way through!  (Oh and I'm shattered all the time!  I get in from work and just sit on the sofa, studying, scrapping, housework, aerobics, for now has gone completely out the window!)

It got quite spectacularly bad at the end of June, the day after M's best friends wedding when we were driving home.  I was feeling so bad I couldn't eat anything, and didn't drink as much either.  It got so bad that I didn't eat for 48 hours, and when finally somebody actually listed to us, I was admitted to hospital with severe hospital related dehydration.  Hooked up to a fluid and anti-sickness drip for 24 hours.  What makes me really cross is that I went to the doctors earlier that week, to ask for some help, and the doctor, a man, fobbed me off saying all women get it, and you just have to cope with it!  If he'd actually listened to me when I went in, maybe I wouldn't have been as ill as I was!

Anyway, enough of that.  I've now got anti-sickness tablets, I make sure I really really hydrated, and eat small meals, little and often.  And for the most part it seems to work.  I've gone off a whole bunch of things though, hot drinks in particular, I haven't had a cup of tea in two months!!!  And I can't stand the smell of tuna or garlic, and I'm completely off pizza and lasagne!  I've not really had any strange cravings, but I have been eating a lot of mini-cheddars and ice-lollies!

We had our first scan last Monday, and everything seems to be fine according to the midwife.  Baby is currently the size of a peach, and so too small just yet to see the sex of the baby on the scan.  I'm really hoping to find out at the next scan what it's going to be.  I'm not naturally a very patient person, so that waiting is driving me mad!

So with everything being ok, I told work this week, and then our family and friends.  And do you know what it's such a relief to be able to tell everyone the truth, and why I eat ginger biscuits and crackers constantly at work!  (They thought I was really weird before I'm sure of it!)  We only had one person guess, at the wedding, because I was eating nothing but melon!

My mum is so excited, its her first grandchild, she has been knitting for a while, and has started putting together a patchwork quilt of the hungry caterpillar!  And has bough patchwork patterns for all sorts of other things too, including the buffer protector things for the cot.  Which is fab because we'll be able to choose the material ourselves and no-one else will have anything like it!

So sorry for the lack of story but I was too excited to wait any longer to share our news!