How to Take Care of Yourself In Pregnancy

Image Credit: Pexels

{This is a collaborative post}

Finding out that you're pregnant is a special time in any woman's life. Ensuring that you're taking care of yourself is the most important thing you can do to ensure that you deliver a healthy baby. 

You also want to make sure that you are in the best shape possible during your pregnancy. This will not only be beneficial to you but your child as well. However, taking care of yourself during pregnancy can be challenging as your body is changing dramatically. If it's your first pregnancy you may not be aware of some of the things that you need to do to take care of yourself. 

Even if you have been pregnant before it is still worth reminding yourself of all the things you need to do to keep you and your baby healthy. Here are some of the most important things you need to do and know about to care for yourself during pregnancy.

Your Diet

When you are pregnant, having the proper diet becomes even more important than ever. Whilst there may be several cravings that you encounter throughout your pregnancy, ensuring that you eat the right things is essential. You need to ensure that you are getting enough of all the proper nutrients, as a lack of any one can cause problems with the growth and development of your baby. 

Try to eat healthily, using the healthy plate model, with a good balance from all the food groups and particularly a lot of vegetables and fruits. Rich sources of protein are also really important as these are the building blocks of our bodies.

If your doctor has given you a specific dietary requirement for your pregnancy make sure that you are following their instructions as this will help to ensure that your pregnancy goes smoothly.

Best Maternity Fashion Tips for Women

Photo by Devon Divine on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

You’ve conceived and your little bundle of joy is in your tummy, congratulations! Now is the time to think of the fashion trends that will help you look chic and exquisite. Of course, when maternity fashion is concerned, it doesn’t come in one size or style. Today, with much evolution of the fashion industry, maternity fashion trends have been taken to the next level and you can pretty much wear whatever you choose.

Simply put, when you go through the web, every photo will unleash a different story about what’s trending. Now that you’re about to see yourself expand for the next few months, you have the perfect opportunity at your disposal to get creative with your fashion choices. 

In this feature, we will shed light on the best maternity fashion tips for pregnant women:

1.  Consider Shopping Sparingly

Bear in mind, every passing month will weigh on your tummy and your size and shape will change. Therefore, don't buy anything that can only be worn for a very short time. You can, of course, still wear jeans and short skirts, but you're better to purchase ones with a stretchy maternity panel, so they can grow with you and perhaps go for ones that aren't too expensive or over the top. 

Remember, that even if you choose an item to wear in the early stages of pregnancy, thinking that you can keep it for wearing post-delivery, you never know what the future will unfold in terms of your body shape. Your body shape might not be the only thing to change whilst pregnant or once you've had your baby as hair loss can be common so look for Cliphair on the web to restore your hair's natural look.

The Highs and Lows of my Pregnancies

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This summer my girls turn twelve and that means it is twelve years since I was last pregnant, I can’t quite believe that if I am honest, it feels like it was only a couple of years back; the memories are so vivid. Despite not having the easiest pregnancies or best birth experiences either time, I absolutely loved being pregnant as I felt so special. Growing a small human is an absolute privilege that not everyone gets to enjoy.

I so clearly remember being at work in 2003 and this veil of tiredness fell over me as I sat at my desk. I immediately went out to buy a pregnancy test and recall sitting in the loo silently screaming and thumping the air with elation when the two little lines appeared! My pregnancy with JJ was a good one generally, I was a model student, attending all the classes, reading all the literature, chatting to other pregnant women and mothers, and I think I knew nearly as much as the midwives.

Then for some silly reason a few days before JJ was due to arrive, I got impatient and I decided to see if I could help him along a little by cleaning the garage top to bottom. Straight after I had my routine midwife appointment and found that I had pre-eclampsia; high blood pressure, protein in my urine and terrible oedema (water retention) on my legs. I was sent straight up to the hospital to spend the night on the antenatal ward so they could get my blood pressure under control.

As I’d had such a good pregnancy and done all the things I was supposed to do, I truly believed that I’d have this idyllic water birth. We’d been encouraged in our classes to write a birth plan and mine was full of ideas of soothing music, easing the pain in the warm water and my husband by my side. The reality was quite different; I was forced to have an induction as I had pre-eclampsia, that then failed and my baby getting distressed, so I was whizzed through for a C section, but the spinal blocks and epidural didn’t work so I ended up with a crash section under general anaesthetic.

#TeamMum are Creating Pregnancy Support Groups in Meru, Kenya - Join Us?

Long term readers of this blog will know that back in 2004 I had an awakening, I'd definitely say it was a spiritual one. For 31 years I'd merilly gone along believeing that charity started at home and burying my head firmly in the sand. Then after becoming a Christian it was as if the blinkers were lifted as I started to see all the injustice in the world.

And you can't see it without it impacting you, so my husband and I started to do what we could, small steps - sponsoring a child abroad, helping with Christian Aid collections at church, giving our time and money where we could, around our work and family.

Then in 2011 my passion and fight intensified and I could see the difference that coming together with other bloggers makes. Each of us making a tiny ripple in a sea of change and those ripples, coming together and creating a wave and ultimately a long-term tidal wave of change that is necessary to erradicate extreme poverty.

Sadly this isn't a sprint, the journey towards an end to extreme poverty is very much a marathan, and one I want to remain in training for. I've realised that my heart is breaking for those who live in extreme poverty, especially women and children, and Africia is the continent that I particulalry have a heart for.

Super Lucky to be Here: Happy Mothering Sunday #isurvived

JJ, my boy who made me Mummy

Happy Mothering Sunday Friends. I wish every woman out there an amazing day, be she a mother herself or a mother figure. This day isn't only to be celebrated and enjoyed by those who have given birth it is also for those who selflessly offer their heart and soul loving others in the way a mother often does.

This is the 16th Mothering Sunday that I have celebrated. Of course JJ isn't actually that old yet but my hubby bought a card from the bump (AKA JJ) back in March 2003, seven months before he was even born. I remember being so thrilled to receive that first card and some flowers (if I remember rightly) as it was the start of my maternal journey, having thought previous to this that I might never have children.

I do remember feeling very special when I was pregnant but I had quite a lot of sickness for the first few months and I just looked extra fat rather than glowing with a perky bump. I did then get about four good months with JJ just before he was born but then stupidly I decided it would be great to have him in September rather than October, as was his due date. So I cleared and cleaned the house and then started to gut the garage. I remember I worked like a Trojan and it was very satisfying, well up to the point when I saw my midwife that afternoon and she started to worry about high blood pressure, excessive oedema in my ankles and belly, and protein in my urine.

Yes, it turns out I had pre-eclampsia. I've no idea if all my 'nesting' added to my getting this condition but it surely didn't help it and I was taken off to the hospital that evening for monitoring and a scan. It was decided that they wouldn't let me go too much over my due date and thus I was booked in for an induction on 3rd October 2003 when I would be 40+2 weeks.

Whilst my induction with JJ was a bit of a debacle and took me quite some time to emotionally recover from, I am still enormously grateful that we have the NHS in this country and that when JJ's heart rate kept decelerating, I could have the C-section without any delay. Then when the spinal blocks and epidural didn't work, there was an anaesthetist on hand who was able to give me a general straight away. Luckily JJ was fine and he hadn't swallowed any meconium as was feared and over the next few weeks I healed too.

8 Ways to Prepare for Baby Number Two

Image Credit: Boy cuddling pregnant belly from Shutterstock

You've found out you're pregnant, you've had the three month scan and all is looking good so now is the time you can start to tell all your friends and family and spread the joy of knowing that a new babe will soon join your family. Of course you are excited, but if you are anything like me you'll also be a little nervous and maybe even overwhelmed. Your family of three will never be the same again!

How you feel might well depend on the age of your first child and the potential gap you'll have between your children. According to the U.K. office for National statistics the average age gap between a first and second babe is about 36 months, although I have friends who had as little a gap as 8 months by falling PG with a newborn and then having their second baby prematurely. That really would scare the pants off me! My age gap was a much more sensible 45 months but the tricky part for me was that babes two and three came at the same time of course!

To help you beat that feeling of being weighed down with worries of what might be it is important to get prepared for your second babes arrival. Try and get all the practical things but of the way nice and early and this means if you do feel tired or poorly later on in pregnancy you are not stressing about all the tasks still to be done.

I'm talking Bladder Weakness - Because we Should!

Pop Photo Art Oops Image from Shutterstock

I've always been very honest on this blog and to be fair, my raw posts are often the ones that I've received the best responses to. The ones where comments, emails, tweets and even phone calls have poured in. It's not as if I'm shy - I've blogged about my issues around food and overeating, giving birth, having a miscarriage, bleeding all over a swimming pool floor and my foray with PND but I've never (yet) written about bladder weakness.

It's just not the done thing, is it? Do I really want to put it out there and say that I have to wear a pad each day and that I am avidly practising my pelvic floor exercises any time I remember. Yes you could be chatting to me in the playground and I look as if I'm concentrating but really I am squeezing and releasing with the hope that things just might improve down below if I'm a really good girl.

1. Stop the taboo and start talking about it
Sometimes I hear or read friends joking about sneezing or using the trampoline and having a worrying moment of 'wee leakage'. 'Ohh make sure you are wearing a Tena lady' is the standard response but bladder weakness really is still one of those subjects that we just do not talk about in a serious manner and I think we need to.

Memories of pregnancy...

There I am, pregnant with twins.  31 weeks + 5 days.

I was listening to a show on Premier Christian Radio the other day and the presenter and her guest were chatting about being pregnant and the different challenges and joys we face in each trimester.  I found myself nodding along and enjoying the walk back down memory lane.  I don’t expect I’ll be walking that journey again but I have to feel privileged to have done it twice already. I think I have finally come to terms with my experiences not being the rose tinted dreams that I had hoped for.

Here, I'll walk you back through my pregnancies and what I recall -

First Trimester

My overwhelming memory is one of the elation I felt at being pregnant.  I had early bleeding with both pregnancies so there was a bit of apprehension too but early scans put those fears to bed and of course in my second pregnancy revealed the joy that I would have twins.

I have to laugh when I look back at my pregnancies and just how tired I felt.  I recall the first time I felt pregnant, the day of my first positive test, I actually fell asleep at my desk briefly and that was the kick up the bum I needed to go and buy a test kit! From that big fat positive result I was unstoppable and a woman on a mission, to provide the best in life for her baby.

Shopping was a big part of both of my pregnancies, but especially for my first.  I can recall starting to buy small toys, neutral clothes and baby supplies even during this first trimester. I had so many books and magazines, guiding me week by week as to what to expect and advising me how my baby was progressing.

I suffered the ‘ill-named’ morning sickness and felt pretty queasy at most times of the day, thankfully by about 14 weeks this was leaving me and I started to feel a lot better.

Second Trimester

The blooming stage; this was my favourite part of being pregnant, I started to look pregnant rather than just fat and of course you start to feel all the flutters and movements too.  Not to mention getting to hear your babies heartbeat (s) on a regular basis too. And as for bigger boobs, yay!  Something I have always wanted and sadly no longer have.

I think this is when pregnancy became real for my husband as well.  It can be so hard for men to engage with the pregnancy, as obviously they are not actually feeling all of the hormones or changes, just seeing them from the outside.

In general I just felt on a high during this part of pregnancy and really enjoyed it. I found BabyCentre and started to chat to other mums expecting their babies at the same time as me, this was the start of some friendships I still have now, 9 years later.  Becoming a Mum is a very unifying process.  You start to share so much more than you ever did before, your dignity and privacy disappears out of the window!

Third Trimester

This is when pregnancy started to take a toll on my body, especially during my twin pregnancy.  I had put on a lot of weight and was suffering with bad oedema in my legs and feet, making movement hard.  Thankfully my hubbie became a dab hand at foot massage.

Heartburn was another thing I suffered with and I would walk around with a large bottle of Gaviscon in my bag and swig from the bottle, I just needed a brown paper bag to complete the look! Lactulose became my friend as well, as my body seemed to bung up and not want to do what nature intended!

With the twins I was in hospital from 34 weeks pregnant with pre-eclampsia so it was very lucky I had got organised and sorted out the practicalities.  I do adore shopping and checked out so many shops but in the end I went with the advice from my friend D to visit Argos for nursery furniture. JJ had a gorgeous set of Winnie the Pooh nursery accompaniments from there and the girls had girlie pink.

Another big buy for us during this trimester for both pregnancies was the buggy/pram and I went through just two with JJ but six with the girls. Six, how crazy is that?  A mix of double and singles as sometimes it was far easier with one baby in a pushchair and the other in a sling. We hit lucky at one point though as another friend, S had bought her Quinny at Argos and passed it on to us, so appreciated when you have loads to buy for twins.

I enjoyed the birthing and breastfeeding classes that were a regular occurrence in my first pregnancy and I loved writing that first birth plan.  The one where I would have a perfect vaginal birth in the water with soft music playing and dh by my side.  Not quite what happened but still… I have my 3 perfect children and what more can I ask for than that?

Over to you, what is your favourite memory from your pregnancy?

This time, 4 years ago...

I looked like this -

I was so ready to pop it was untrue, the blood pressure medication I was taking made me tired and I wanted to sleep all the time, I could hardly walk with all the swelling. I had been in hospital for 2 weeks already with pre-eclampsia, see that wrist band - they just let me home each day to see JJ for a couple of hours.  My Dad would drive to the hospital to get me and I would come home and flomp in bed to watch a DVD with my beloved boy, letting him have some special time with Mummy before those pesky sisters arrived.

The Birth Experience I Did Not Want...

I have been waiting to write this post for a very long time and today feels right.  I think I am finally ready to get everything out. You see I was traumatised by the birth of my first child, JJ back in 2003. I knew back then something was wrong but I did not know what and being the logical kind of person I am, I just pushed my feelings aside and told myself to stop being silly. 

However, now spurred on by many inspirational friends I feel I should and can share my story. Someone else may be reading this and it may resonate with them and they may be reassured to know they are not alone and that it is OK to be really sad after the birth of your awaited and loved child.  Giving birth can be a really big deal and it can effect you in so many ways.    

So, roll back to 2003 and I find out I am pregnant in late January when my period does not arrive.  Dh and I are ecstatic, if a little surprised.  I came off the pill in October after 10 years and we expected it to take us a long time to fall pregnant - not so. We just moved into a bombsite in September 2002 and now we are expecting our first baby - arrgghh, better get Dad up here quick to make the house good.  Wonderful Dad obliges.

The Gallery: Before & After

The prompt from Tara for the Gallery this week is Before and After. Tara asked us to take a photo from the past and to recreate it today.

So here is a picture of me blowing a raspberry on JJ's belly when I was 8.5 months pregnant with the twins.

Then we got home from Messy Church today and I bribed him (with cuddles whilst watching TV with me) to help me to create the scene again.

I suppose the before and after could apply to the fact that the first picture was before the twins were born and the second was after. Or it could be before our recent redecoration of the lounge (goodbye yucky orange wall!)

But of course as soon as the girls saw the 'fun' JJ and I were having, they wanted a piece of the action too, so first Miss M joining in...

..and Miss E just could not control herself and collapsed in fits of laughter!

And this awful picture is what prompted the fun in the first place, back in July 2007. I was 36 weeks pregnant with the twins and JJ wanted to give them a kiss and then asked me to kiss his tummy, but of course Mummy blew raspberries instead!

My Sad Day

I am feeling sad today and kind of empty inside but technically that is not true as I still have a babe inside me but just not a living one to be born into our family.

I had some bleeding over the weekend and pain this morning and my cervix just did not feel right. I expect many people have no idea what their cervix should feel like but after charting my ovulation symptoms for a couple of years before the girls I got good at knowing my bodily changes. Anyway after about 3 hours at the doctors and then at the hospital in the early pregnancy unit I had a scan and found out my babe passed at 7+5. I should of been near 11 weeks today, so this was a little while back. It feels completely strange as I was just getting used to this babe becoming part of our family and thinking about all the changes that would come about.

At the moment I am in the painful place of waiting to see if I will miscarry naturally and scared about how much this might hurt and whether anything I pass will be recognisable (I am sorry if this is too gory for you). If nothing has happened within the next couple of days I am booked in for an operation under general anesthetic to have the babe removed. I am not looking forward to that but the prospect of just leaving this to go on for potentially weeks is just too much for me to shoulder.

Dh has been a wonderful support and came straight home from work to be with me, of course this is his loss too and I must be mindful of that. I think to be honest the biggest thing on his mind at the moment is ensuring I am well. I was over the moon to pick JJ up from school today and give him a massive hug and then to collect the girls too for a squeeze and nose kiss. We all went into town for tea and to enjoy an hour together.

I have not really cried much, I expect I will at some point. Just when I do not want to the urge will hit me and embarrass me in public I expect. I do not suppose there is a way you are supposed to feel when something like this happens but I am not as mortified as I would expect. Yes I am mourning the loss of my babe that I will never meet, the one I hoped would be a boy called Samuel Noah. The can did reveal it was just one babe I was carrying, that had been my biggest fear until today, having twins. Now of course I realise my biggest fear should of been something quite different.

Logically dh and I know that three kids really is enough for us and that it is just the right amount of children for us to be really great parents to. When out and about one parent has JJ and one has the girls and everyone feels included and we have time to spend alone with each of them. Another child may of upset this balance and someone could of ended up being marginalised, of course this would not of been on purpose but I could have foreseen it happening to some extent.

I think that is enough wittering for today, I am sure I will be back to pour out some more of my heart when it hits me further.

A week in the life of Mich (babies, nits and bits!)

I have become very slack with my blogging of late, I take a 6 week break and expect to come back to it full of gusto and a million and one posts in my head and instead I am enjoying living my life! Now, that is not to say that those of you who blog lots are not, blogging for you is obviously a more integral part of what makes you happy than it is for me.

So to try and capture some of the things that I have wanted to blog about but have been too busy, here is a week in the life of Mich.... (with a revelation - keep reading!)

Wednesday 14th April
We have been at Spring Harvest (massive Christian festival at Butlins, Skegness) since Sunday and we are all having a ball. JJ is enjoying his kids club, Powerpack and the girls are heading off to their nursery class with no tears or moans - joy! I have been going to the Activist zone each day and we have been discovering what it takes to be a Christian in today's society; our need to be distinctly different but in a good way! The worship here is amazing and I am really enjoying praising God and taking time to be with dh, the kids and God.

I think dh and I have been convinced of our need to find a Church closer to our home when we were asked what was the best thing about the Church we attend and we both struggled to answer that! So the next few months will be a time of exploration to find a new spiritual home where there is a really strong local community feel.

Thursday 15th April
The girls God Parents were also at Spring Harvest on this same week so we met up with them today and it was lovely to have some time catching up and playing with the girls all together. Then in the evening I went to the service with them and really enjoyed the live atmosphere rather than watching the service on the TV which is what I had done the other nights while I looked after the kids and was too pooped to move from the couch!

Friday 16th April
Time to head home today but not before we have our final celebratory service. This was the first time dh and I had some alone time together this week and it reminded me that I missed being out with him and enjoying his company. I was pretty over whelmed at this service and found myself singing my heart out to 'Glorious' and 'Faith is rising' while booing my eyes out! Not because I was sad but it felt like a real release, I think I was touched and filled with the Holy Spirit (probably too much info for any non Christians reading - freak alert!, believe me that was what I used to think, lol).

Saturday 17th April
This could be named the weekend of washing and ironing! I did at least 12 loads of washing and ironed it all over Saturday and Sunday nights, which felt good afterwards but already the rail is re-filling itself again! agghh

We decided that it was a luxury to have dh home on a Saturday and the weather was fantastic so we should not waste it. At St Albans Cathedral we had a picnic and then headed to see the ducks and for a play in the park. After a tad of shopping it was time to head home but we all had a lovely family day together and for absolutely minimal cost.

Sunday 18th April
Church this morning as I was on creche, the girls protested about going as they wanted to go to the 'big holiday church', it was great to hear they had such a fab time at Spring Harvest too.

We had a nice relaxing day really with Church, lunch cooked by my mother in law and another trip to the park.



Monday 19th April
Busy day!! Back to work which I was not at all looking forward to as we have a new HR system coming into play and we are starting to parallel run but seeing as it has not been properly tested we are also testing at the same time. Complete balls up is the best way to describe it!

I was happy to have a lunchtime appointment for my booking in appointment with the midwife. Yep I am pregnant again! Whoops, how did that happen? Well of course I know but I had stupidly convinced myself that God did not want dh and I to have any more kids and that three really was enough! not so, number four is on its way (well I pray it is only number four and not four and five, there is about a 1 in 12 chance of me having twins again!). Roll on 6 May when I have my scan and will know how many babies I am currently cooking. So I am about 10 weeks pregnant and my due date is about mid November but this could all chance as I really can not swear that I even had a period in February. I had got so busy and pre-occupied that I forgot to track it! So now I have revealed the real reason why my blogging has been so poor since being back after Lent - I have been knackered, feeling sick and wanting to talk about my PG. You may never get me off here again now! lol

After returning to work for just half hour I then get the call I always dread - the nursery. 'Oh what now?' I am thinking. This time Miss E has head lice - err my gorgeous babe with the beautiful hair and then I realise I have been scratching too - yuck. I leave work immediately and luckily dh is home with JJ so I drop the girls home and £20.50 later I return from the chemist (how expensive is it to have nits nowadays????) and treat us all to some lovely oily treatment. I am still not convinced everything is gone but the nit comb shows no signs of the nasties and it will become my best friend from now onwards. I will be 'Nitty Nora' checking the kids each week.

A word of warning to those unwise people like me, Headrin stains your clothes. JJ's and my tops could be heading for the bin!

Not content with my eventful day so far I venture out to meet the ladies from my Church House Group. It is a social so basically I stuff my face with nice munchies and we have a good laugh playing a quiz game called Buzz on the PS3 - what fun!

So there you have it, a week in the life of me, never boring!

Wordless Wednesday

18+5 weeks PG

28+5 weeks PG

31+5 weeks PG

33+1 weeks PG


The end is near..... 36+5 weeks PG!

A twin pregnancy journey. Boy - do I never want to be that big again!!