Avoid the latest fad diet! New year new you? Guest blog
Avoid the latest fad diet! New year new you? Guest blog blog Anna from Keep it Real Personal Training 2017
‘I’m going to lose weight in the new year’? ‘I’m going to get to the gym every day in the new year’ or ‘I’m going to detox after christmas’?
These are statements made every new year and sometimes we make drastic moves to achieve our goals.
With this in mind I have a penned a list of sensible adjustments you can make to every day life that will help you feel healthy, slimmer and more energetic.
- Avoid the latest fad diet, diet foods/drinks, sweeteners and any restrictive kind of diet. There is only one way. Don’t over complicate things.... Choose foods from the fresh isles of the supermarket. Lean (unprocessed) meat or fish, veg (eat a whole rainbow of different coloured veg), nuts, seeds, some fruit. Don’t cut out fats or Carbohydrates, they are an important source of energy but ensure you opt for the right sort. Rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes are good sources of carbs and nuts, seeds, eggs, avocado and cheese (in moderation) are great for providing essential fatty acids. Limit choices from processed food which is anything from ready meals to candy bars, crisps to biscuits.
- Exercise - choose a form of exercise you enjoy the most as you are more likely to stick with it. Perhaps find an exercise buddy so you can motivate each other.
Ensure your workout week includes 2-3 sessions of resistance exercise as it’s not only great for shaping the muscles and improving posture but is essential for raising the metabolism, which essentially means you burn more fat at rest.
Having been in the industry for over 25 years I have finally found my favourite form of exercise. It ticks all the boxes. For me, my exercise of choice is Crossfit which is a program of constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement which can be scaled to suit any level or age.
- Change your relationship with food. Food is essential fuel for the body. You wouldn’t put dirty, contaminated fuel in your car. If you consistently did, you wouldn’t expect it to work very well or last very long would you? You also wouldn’t expect it to work if the tank was empty would you? Your body is no different. You need to eat and drink a diet full of nutritious, healthy foods in order for your body to work optimally. You cannot starve your body and hope it will keep working as it should.
- Trust the process. Be honest. Make short and long term (life long) health and fitness goals! Changes do not happen over night. If you are being honest about what you are putting in your mouth and how much energy you are exerting each day and you are creating a very small calorie deficit you will find weight will come of sensibly and steadily.
- KEEP IT REAL. Go for that drink, have that meal out, eat the cake but just don’t do it every day. I have an 80:20 rule. 80% goody two shoes 20% not so goody two shoes! Don’t make changes you can’t keep up, be sensible, be realistic and don’t forget that life is for living and enjoying!
I hope these little tips help you through the new year. I am more than happy to help with exercise and nutrition direction.. Drop me an email if you’d like to find out more.
Anna Jakob
Keep it Real Personal Training
07770752652
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Guest blogger Alison birth story !
Here is my birth story 2017
Darcey Willow Kamiya Mills, born 25 September 2017 at 11.23pm. Six weeks on and Darcey has settled into the Mills household amazingly well.
Looking back to just before she was born I can remember thinking I’m completely ready to meet her and all the sleep deprivation and nappy changes that would come with her. Oh how I’d forgotten what the reality of that wish was like!
That Monday had been busy. I’d already had a session of reflexology the Friday and again on the Monday morning after I’d been swimming. Plus I took Jasmine to a toddler dance group before rounding the day off with a pregnancy aqua class. It was here that things probably started but I just hadn’t picked up on the signs! When I got home Andy was waiting my arrival mainly because I was bringing pizza!
I felt a little uncomfortable so assumed the ‘all fours’ position and pop, my waters went. We were expecting a nice progressive birth so called my mum to let her know things were starting. We said we’d call in a couple of hours so she knew when to come and be with Jasmine. That was at 9pm and by 10pm mum arrived at which point my surges were intense and I could feel the head. I’d already relaxed in the bath and washed and dried my hair during surges. The tens machine was a saviour! I didn’t feel we could make it to the hospital but Andy was adamant we should go so I reluctantly moved to the car and positioned myself, all fours on the back seat. We parked at the hospital and had to stop three times to breath through the surges before getting to the midwife led unit. After which it felt like 10mins of breathing and Darcey was in my arms. Well it was slightly longer, I’d say about 45mins because she arrived at 11.32pm. All natural and just lovely. We eventually got home at 6am Tuesday morning at which point Jasmine had the surprise of a baby sister as well as her nanny being at home when she woke!
The birth itself was amazingly nice in a strange way! It went from minor discomfort to intense abdominal cramps in such a short space of time it was surreal and even more so was walking out of the hospital a few hours later with our lovely bundle of bubba.
Six weeks on and Darcey has settled into the Mills household amazingly well. Jasmine adores her and we’ve had such lovely support from our friends and family. A massive thanks to Jess for sharing my blog and the fab pictures she’s captured of the girls and I. Treasured family moments of such a precious time.
I hope you enjoyed Alison's birth story , I have loved following her journey and reading her blogs - thank you Alison!
Introducing my new pregnant guest blogger - find out how she's been feeling in the early stages of pregnancy
Introducing my new pregnant guest blogger October 2017
- find out how she's been feeling in the early stages of pregnancy right here .........
Congratulations to all you mummies who are sharing their pregnancy journey with me. Isn’t it a rollercoaster!?
Throughout this series I will be sharing with you the highs and lows of my pregnancy; hopefully you’ll have a few chuckles, possibly shed a few tears and generally share this experience with me…I’d love for you to share your own experiences by commenting on these posts.
So this is my fourth pregnancy. I have two beautiful children, a 3 (nearly 4….she likes to remind us daily!) year old girl, and a 2 year old boy. Heartbreakingly we lost our third baby earlier this year after a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks.
Both the pregnancies of my daughter and son were unbelievably…..boring! No sickness, no weird cravings or anything. I wouldn’t have known I was pregnant other than the ever increasing belly and eventually the internal kickboxing experts that were residing in my uterus!
This time it’s a different story. As someone who had never experienced morning sickness I always felt sorry for people who did suffer, but could never truly understand the misery! Now, many of you who have had or are currently experiencing morning sickness will probably think I’m a fraud here, but for me and my experience of pregnancy this time has been bad! Almost constant throughout the whole day….bleugh. To be fair, it lasted only a couple of weeks and it’s all fine again now as I’m back to my base level of ‘boring pregnant lady’ – haha!
I’d love to be able to share with you my odd cravings and weird behaviour, but in truth, with the exception of crippling tiredness, feeling horribly nauseated and craving orange juice (yep – I’m THAT rock n roll!), I have had another fairly straight forward in the early stages of pregnancy.
Beneath the surface of yet another straightforward start to pregnancy, I’ve been dealing with a real emotional rollercoaster. I never thought that I would be one of the 1 in 4 statistic of pregnancy loss, it almost wasn’t perceivable to me given that both of my previous pregnancies had been so straight forward. But here I am, in that statistic, and trying to deal with the emotions that are left behind.
What was your reaction when you saw that first positive pregnancy test? For many its elation or even fear of the unknown, but for me it was confusion and sadness. Confusion in that this baby is a little bit of a miracle in its conception and sadness in that I immediately knew that I wouldn’t feel the ‘flutter’ of excitement that I had experienced in each of my previous pregnancies. The fear of knowing what can go wrong has extinguished that excitement in full.
We have had an early scan at the NNUH, just to confirm that the positive test was in fact due to a new pregnancy and not ‘left over’ from our miscarriage. It’s always so exciting to see and hear your baby, so I’m looking forward to my next midwife appointment at 16 weeks to see if we can hear baby’s heartbeat! And here is our very active baby.
Rachael will be blogging again in a few weeks i hope you will enjoy her honest blogs on the early stages pregnancy through to the birth next May.
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Please read my other blogs , many are guest blogs on useful pregnancy & parenting related topics here.
And if you are due next year check out this offer & contact me .
Pregnancy diaries - due date how to bring on labour?
Pregnancy diaries - due date how to bring on labour? 2017
Week 39/40, and so due date / d-day passes by in the blink of an eye. No sign of labour just one big, solid bump sticking out of my tum threatening to be there for another week (that's my prediction).
All celebrations in the Mills household have ceased. My baby shower being the last. I now am at a loss with no food prep, baking, setting up or washing up!
What's left for me to do then? Beautify of course! Thanks to The Barns Beauty Rooms for my lovely lash extensions. At least my eyes will look reasonably with it after labour. Nails are next, although that's a job for me which will probably involve having to paint Jasmine's too in some shade of pink. Hair is tidy so just need to make sure I make the effort each day to avoid having to arrive at the birthing unit in a fluffy mess looking like Marg Simpson! Of course none of this matters in the slightest. The most important thing is that Baby M arrives safe and sound. I just need to be occupied because clearly I'm not with a 3 year old!
Packing and re-packing my hospital bag is ongoing. Mainly because the sweets need replenishing. Yes, I'll own up to demolishing them the other day. I'm a sucker for fruity jelly sweets!
To counteract the sweet binges I have managed to keep swimming, although I think some of the staff are slightly nervous I'm going to pop when they're on duty! I've also been to Spring gymnastics with Jasmine. Admittedly I tried bouncing a little on the trampoline but nothing occurred.
Batch cooking is done so we have a few meals ready in the freezer, although in my mind it's not the end of the world as Andy does a mean chicken en-croute and part of me feels it's his time to shine in the kitchen ;0) He may have other ideas though.
Back to the matter in hand. When is Baby Mills coming into the world on her due date ? and what natural methods can I try to bring on labour? This is what we've tried so far ... Reflexology by the lovely Ursula Walker at The Alison Rostron Treatment Centre, followed by curry for dinner at 40 weeks, indoor fireworks 40+1 and a walk to the park at 40+2. Not a sausage of movement. Next on the list is pineapple and roast dinner (this is what I had before labour started with Jasmine) so watch this space!
Ali
to book in your newborn shoot or have a chat about your photography needs please contact me here
Pregnancies diaries Week 37/38 MLBU birth
Pregnancies diaries Week 37/38 MLBU birth 2017
The end is in sight and so is my MLBU birth, very soon we'll be seeing Baby M and the back of having hundreds of pillows in the bed, waddling and back ache. I fear I'll have to come to terms with more stretch marks. I know they're to be celebrated but I don't think I'm kind to myself and will feel very conscious of them. Still I know I can't do anything about them it's just one of those things.
On a positive note my iron levels are up and my MLBU birth is round the corner. My hospital bag is packed, give or take a few things and birthing plan sorted. I've finished work and officially on maternity leave plus Jasmine has started back to nursery so my days are slightly lighter and princess role play has calmed down!
My focus has been organising Jasmine's 3rd birthday party which was a success thank goodness.
Andy questioned whether it was the longest children's party ever but we got through it. I completely have every admiration for the bakers out there. I managed to make a butterfly cake for the family gathering we had last week, as requested, but not quite sure it would make a local cake competition let alone GBBO! Still, it was edible with lots of sponge, buttercream and sweets. For the kids party I admit I cheated and bought a cake. I just didn't have enough time, energy or creativity to bake again! As it was Andy and I spent a day prepping everything and hoping the rain would stay away. And it did.
Sadly I've finished my pregnancy aqua course, however I'm keeping myself going by fitting in a few pregnancy yoga classes. My back pain has been pretty uncomfortable at times so anything I can do to ease it is worth motivating myself. We've even started sleeping with our pillows at the bottom of the bed so I can lay on my right side and we can still cuddle! One thing I've managed to avoid is any swelling to my feet and ankles and I can still bend down. Result!
I'm also conscious that I need to practice breathing and properly get into the right mindset for birthing. Some might not agree and just say go with it, however I like to feel in control and prepared as much as possible. Which reminds me I need to buy that first 'going home' outfit for Baby M!
I'm now trying to put my feet up more although it's difficult with a 3 year old, when there seems to be washing, ironing and cooking to be done constantly.
Oh not to mention playing, crafting and pretending. Still we're thoroughly excited about meeting Baby M soon. All I'll say is watch this space as next time I blog I may be introducing our new arrival. In fact feel free to guess her weight, eye colour and the most important of all, will she be born with or without hair.
Goody luck Ali I am super excited for you guys to meet baby M soon! Read all of Ali's other guest blogs starting here
Pregnancy diaries - 33/34 weeks pregnant third trimester
Pregnancy diaries - 33/34 weeks pregnant third trimester
I am in my third trimester! Birthing, does my mind feel in control? At the moment on and off! Although I think that's more a reflection of how I'm feeling at the moment, as I know I can do it. In fact, the birthing toolkit workshop with Jackie Heffer-Cooke from the Orange Grove was brilliant and has refreshed our minds on lots of things. Andy is confident he knows how to breath down and out of his vagina so all is good! I feel more comfortable about it all too and at the end of the day Baby M has got to come out sooner or later. Fingers crossed we can make it another relaxing natural birth.
It feels like these past two weeks have been long and tiring. I've experienced a day and night of rib pain which I can only liken to having a broken rib (not that I've had one). I managed to stretch that out, only to be greeted with excruciating abdominal pain. Now I like having a bath but spending two hours in one trying to ease the pain and get Baby M to move was not my idea of relaxing. I am lucky in that I made a teary call to my mum who came and took me to the doctors as well as looking after Jasmine for a day or two. I wasn't concerned for Baby M at all I just wanted to understand where the pain was coming from.
My instincts were telling me the baby position, stretching muscles combined with overdoing lifting Jasmine. Oh, and I did find myself in a pit of foam blocks at Mini Springers (gymnastics at UEA) which wasn't easy to get out of. Probably not my finest hour! In the back of my mind, I had thought appendix which the GP did mention. The whole scenario ended up with Andy taking me to the hospital Delivery Suite, who was brilliant, and made a number of checks. Four hours later nothing was conclusive, but my mind was happier and the pain had subsided. Touch wood, since then all has been fine. Aside from having a cold. Oh, pregnancy, the gift that just keeps on giving!
Onto nicer things, we'd been visiting family in Lowestoft and on returning home I was welcomed by 'Dixie' the cutest little caravan sitting in our drive all set up by Dolly & Belles for a baby shower afternoon tea. A couple of months after Jasmine was born we did a course of baby massage. I made some great friends and three years on five of us still catch up which is great for our sanity and lovely to see the kids grow up together. They were behind this surprise, oh and of course Andy loves being in on a little secret mission too! Thank you lovely ladies for 'showering' me with baby love.
I've read that from now till birth my weight gain will be Baby M and not me. Mmmm, best stop eating those pastries and icecream now then! Roughly about half a pound a week and she's gaining brown fat which isn't the wobbly stuff we get, it keeps the baby warm and protects against hypothermia in the first few weeks after birth. All very clever stuff in my eyes. That aside probably a good idea to get any photos taken now before my face fills out like a doughnut!
The lovely Jess Wilkins has worked her magic and finally shot the infamous bump! All will be revealed in my next posting.
Till then I'll leave you with a little meme which made me chuckle ... 'You know you're in the 3rd trimester when you drop something on the floor and walk away muttering 'f**k it!' Oh I'm definitely in that place!
Wanting to book a bump, baby and beyond shoot feel free to message me via my contact form for a chat.
best wishes
Jess
Pregnancy diaries - 31/32 weeks pregnant third trimester
Pregnancy diaries - 31/32 weeks pregnant third trimester 2017
I am now in my third trimester and this week I had the lovely job of being a superhero in our swimming lesson at the Waterbabies Splashathon, raising money for Tommys.
It got me thinking, if you were a superhero what superpowers would you have. Mine would have to be 'pop off' powers. At the click of your fingers, you could be anywhere - a sun-kissed tropical island, feeding monkeys in the jungle or simply snuggled in bed! To me that would be amazing, however, us girls already have a superpower and that's to grow humans! Believe me, that's not something I've taken for granted as for some it's not always a given but when it happens it's the strangest and most wonderful thing all rolled into one. In fact, I've decided the third trimester is the hardest on the body. Alright, the sickness and nausea (if you experience it) in the first trimester is pretty grim and the second trimester brings with it tiredness and growth spurts but everything is gradual. The third trimester, on the other hand, seems to have everything rolled into what feels like a short 3 months. Your body is managing your extra weight, as well as your growing baby constantly moving around. You may have uncomfortable legs or swollen ankles, a sore back or pelvis, a glucose intolerance, low iron levels, I could go on! And to top it all your emotions don't know if they're coming or going! You're also mentally preparing to birth, organising your hospital bag and a nursery all while carrying on your daily routine. I feel cream crackered just thinking about it!
In fact I've decided the third trimester is the hardest on the body. Alright, the sickness and nausea (if you experience it) in the first trimester is pretty grim and the second trimester brings with it tiredness and growth spurts but everything is gradual. The third trimester, on the other hand, seems to have everything rolled into what feels like a short 3 months. Your body is managing your extra weight, as well as your growing baby constantly moving around. You may have uncomfortable legs or swollen ankles, a sore back or pelvis, a glucose intolerance, low iron levels, I could go on! And to top it all your emotions don't know if they're coming or going! You're also mentally preparing to birth, organising your hospital bag and a nursery all while carrying on your daily routine. I feel cream crackered just thinking about it!
I've been relatively well during this pregnancy but have just experienced a two-day taster of Baby M being in the most uncomfortable position ever. Possible breach, I'm not sure but it felt like I had broken ribs, chronic neck and shoulder pain and flu. Oh and 3lb of baby weight pushing down. I spent a day in bed and then trying to mobilise Baby M through stretching and moving on my gym ball. It worked thank goodness. I can't imagine feeling like that for the rest of my pregnancy. Fingers crossed that's not coming back.
From a family perspective, Andy has been an absolute trouper. He puts up with my completely mushed baby brain and helps out when he can after a long day in the big smoke. We haven't quite got to the rubbing feet and massage stage yet but it's coming. I hope ;0). If not I'm sure Jasmine will help do that! In fact, she's been talking about her little sister a lot. Allocating toys and clothes she's going to give her and looking forward to playing and doing cartwheels with her. Cute!
I've been reading my hypnobirthing notes to get set for our birthing workshop run by the lovely Jackie Heffer-Cooke of The Orange Grove Clinic. I'm looking forward to feeling in control of my birth which up until now I've felt a little anxious about. This pregnancy has been different to the first in many ways and I feel apprehensive. Still, only time will tell. I'll let you know how the Birthing Toolkit workshop went next time. Now I'm grabbing 5mins to put my feet up while Jasmine is sleeping!
click here to read Ali's other blogs , we can't wait for the next installment.
Pregnancy diaries - 29/30 weeks pregnant
Pregnancy diaries - 29/ 30 weeks pregnant 2017
wheredo I start? It's been a mixed bag of things this past couple of weeks really. My emotions have been heightened and I've had a couple of teary moments for no particular reason. I had news from the midwife that my iron levels have dropped a little low which made me feel pants, but I've sprung into action and am eating beans and spinach at every meal. Fingers crossed that does the trick. Andy's suggestion to boost my intake was to make sure I get the ironing board out every day. #joker #nochance
Jasmine has now finished nursery for the summer, which brought a tear to my eye and it struck me that I need a plan of action to keep her busy, as well as making sure I can put my feet up. Yeah right! Luckily the local Children's Centres have holiday activities we can get involved with as well as pottering at home. Oh we've already started with baking! Plus I need to get Jasmine riding her bicycle by the end of the summer so I can avoid getting a double buggy.
Birthing has also been on my mind which for some reason I feel a little apprehensive about. Entirely no reason to as I had a lovely birthing experience with Jasmine. I know once we have our hypnobirthing refresher and Jackie Heffer-Cooke has worked her magic I'll be focused and feel more at ease with my S-breathing and feather breathing!
I feel a little bit out on a limb in that people assume because you've had one child you'll be fine with another. No doubt I will but I still want to do some new things so I've signed up for pregnancy aqua with Babyfit which kicks off next week. As well as having some 'me' time I'm looking forward to being around other pregnant women. #watermumma
Baby names are still bubbling around and we've been talking about what baby M will look like. I have everything crossed that if nothing else she will have curly hair like mine. Only time will tell! I'm also hoping she's not gonna be such a sicky baby like Jasmine was. I can't think how many muslins we got through a day!
On a more practical note, we've sorted the nursery and have unearthed all the baby grows and clothes that we kept of Jasmines. Nothing like recycling!
I'm now equipped with a birthing ball and foam roller which have helped to ease my creaking body. Pelvic pain has been manageable but I've had days this week where I've felt really 'low down' and achy. I'm sure a lot of you mums out there can relate to this, especially second time round. It's all slightly more puffy 😉 Plus the third trimester is growing time so with baby M at around 1.5kgs extra weight on top of that is bound to put the pressure on!
Here's to another 12 weeks of growing that special little girl of ours. (Officially 10 but the mills-o-meter says 12). #cantwaittomeetbabyM
Read Ali's other instalments here
Norfolk Blogger - Pregnancy diary part 4 : baby names?
Norfolk Blogger - Pregnancy diary part 4 : baby names? 2017
Week 24 and its all about baby names!
In the words of Will Smith 'Summer, summer, summertime' or should it be Nellie 'It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes!' Don't worry I've not felt that hot yet despite the temperatures soaring these past couples of weeks. Even though us pregnant ones have more blood pumping around our bodies, something like 50% more than pre-pregnancy, I'm lucky I've not been affected by the heat. In fact I love it! Ask me again in another 10 weeks and it may be a different story!
Pelvic girdle pain, on the other hand, is becoming an annoyance. Nothing major and I remember having it very briefly when I carried Jasmine as I joked with my husband saying I had a cracked pelvis. Luckily it only lasted a couple of weeks. This time round I don't have severe pain just more of a bruised sensation to the left of my pelvis. Self-massage has helped, along with thinking I'm a mermaid and keeping my legs as close together as possible!
I've contended with half-term which before Jasmine I really didn't have a clue about as I had no reason to. That said we've had a great time. A trip to the zoo, continuous play, some paddling pool fun oh and role play to the point of feeling that I'm living in a Disney princess world with friends called Belle, Aurora, Tiana and Moana, I think you've got the picture.
At the beginning of last week, I had a 'birth' moment. Yeah, I've done it once already but I still think you should treat it as your first. I don't want to be complacent and want to do all I can to have a comfortable birthing experience like the first. I'm not kidding myself though that all births are the same. If my pregnancy is anything to go by I definitely need to be prepared. Being a massive advocate of hypnobirthing I've booked onto a refresher course in July with Jackie Heffer-Cooke based in Norfolk at The Orange Grove. Having already done the full course I cannot recommend it enough. At the end of the day, we're made to give birth. Our bodies instinctively know what to do and it's our mind that needs to work with our body rather than against it. My husband also found it gave him a purpose and how as a couple we could work together during the birth. He also loved the breathing techniques as they helped his sleep no end! I'm sure I'll talk more about birthing again so I will move on to the important matter of names.
Baby names: Do we go traditional, alternative or unusual? Decisions decisions. If you've got any suggestions let me know. Jasmine has come up with baby names Emily, Poppy, Gracie, Maui, and Izzy but I don't think we're quite on board with all her suggestions. 'Maui' the demigod of Hawaii in Moana, doesn't feel right for a baby girl! That's as far as we've got with names but I'm sure we'll toy with more ideas as the pregnancy progresses.
Only 16 weeks left to go! Here's to another fun packed couple of weeks.
You can read Ali's other guest blogs here - happy reading or to book a shoot at my baby studio in Norfolk contact me today!
Guest blog : Pregnancy diary part 2 Ali Mills - 20 week scan
Guest blog : Pregnancy diary part 2 Ali Mills - 20 week scan - we welcome Ali back for another installment of her pregnancy journey!
2017
What's happened since I last put fingers to keyboard.
I've bought dungarees, started moving more and found out we're having a .... ?
Well, first of all let's get priorities straight. I've joined the dungaree club and bought two pairs! Sooo comfy I'm practically living in them. I've managed to kick myself into gear and started yoga with Debbie Bagley, Babyfit at Rowan House Wellbeing Centre. Love it! I've not been able to get to a pregnancy yoga class because of various commitments so my little hour of breathing and stretching on a Tuesday morning is fab. It's been particularly helpful for stabilising my pelvis as I think it's starting to feel the strain. Swimming has been a blessing too. You can't beat that feeling of weightlessness until you have to drag yourself out, then you feel like a sack of potatoes! The main thing is my energy is back thank goodness and I can go a whole day without sitting down for a nap. Tiredness drifts in and out but that happens pregnant or not! Headaches have been uncomfortable and come and go but I think it depends what I'm doing and how hydrated I'm keeping. It's amazing how much growing tiny humans zap out of you, let alone the ones already here!
It's felt like a complete age waiting for our second scan (20 weeks) to come round. Bubs has been kicking but I want to make sure all is ok, plus not knowing the gender is killing me! So the moment came on Thursday. We had a late appointment just to eek the wait out a bit more. We finally made it and I lay on the bed. Jasmine wasn't particularly impressed with the amount of ultrasound gel the sonographer used, however loved seeing the baby wave and then waved back! It never ceases to amaze me how much detail you see on a scan. The heart pumping away, brain a butterfly shape and the spine moving as the baby moves. Totally mind blowing. My husband can't get his head round the fact I have, in effect, two hearts, two brains, twenty toes etc. Plus he says he's suffering from Couvade syndrome. I'll let you google this one. Makes me chuckle!
Once all the checks were done and measurements made we found out the gender. Drum roll ... we're having another little girl despite me feeling sure it was a boy! Jasmine is over the moon as she wanted a sister. Andy and I are chuffed to bits although I'm contemplating what it'll be like with two girls. He's slightly more relaxed about it as he'll be at work most of the time! It means we're pretty set up for clothes, although I'm still gonna buy that first newborn outfit. Just got to be done.
So, twenty weeks and half way there. It'll be bump growing time now and continuing to keep myself fit and well. Plus I've volunteered to be a bump for the sonography school training so I'll get to see little Miss Mills a bit more. Exciting!