23 Weeks...

I'm over half way there and nearly into the third trimester. Some days I look pregnant and other days not, today I look pregnant and I'm totally convinced it's all baby and not last nights Pizza Hut at all, oh noo...
I'm feeling lots of movement, it's strongest when I'm lying on my back in bed in the morning and when I'm cross legged at the computer. Tom can feel it too which makes me so happy in an I-can't-even-begin-to-articulate-why kinda way.
We had the scan at 20 weeks where I found out that hell isn't fictional at all and actually exists in Birmingham Women's Hospital where I've had previous good experiences but the 357447 wait and 35733573 different appointments along with a fed up Lily just wasn't cool. We did however discover that I have zero intuition and we are actually having a little girl! The shock has worn off a little now and I'm having a meltdown trying to think of a name. Tom doesn't want any 'cast offs' ie; names which were in the running when I was due with Lily and the only one I like so far is Dusty, I love it in fact but I don't want her to grow up hating me for it.

For Tom....

Have a Merry Shatner Xmas :D

20 Weeks

I'm halfway there! Hurrah!
I'm still not looking particularly pregnant and at long last my energy is returning so I'm not feeling very pregnant either. The little one has been moving around lots, s/he doesn't like the hoover and kicks up a fuss, perhaps it's a signal to stop hoovering.. All cleaning and housework in fact.. hmm.

We have the 20 week scan tomorrow at the Women's Hospital where we hopefully discover the flavour of the baby, I hope it won't be awkward and turn it's back on us, I need to know, I won't sleep tonight. Well I will, because nothing really gets in the way of my sleep but I'm excited!

This picture is almost TMI but I like it, even though it makes me feel like I should have a bigger bump and my baby is chubby and floating around in holiday brochure blue water. I also like that it shows the bladder for the tiny, sleep disturbing little afterthought it really is.

We've moved house, into a real house with a garden and a front door and everything. There is a room which can be a tiny little nursery which I'm slowly filling with all the baby stuff I've bought or been given so far. Lily has a big room and loves the house although I do think she misses her private balcony. Kiki has started sleeping in her bed which is sweet but it scares Lily and I know when my parents find out they'll shout at me because they don't think cats should even be allowed upstairs let alone snuggling under the duvet, but I'll distract them with the giant bag of mostly coffee-themed presents I accidentally bought them.

OK Kiki!

Kiki was lying in a position I've never seen him in before, laid flat on his back like a person. Maybe after a year living with us he's now comfortable enough to bare his belly. He even stayed like that while Lily was jumping over him like a maniac. I like to think that it was too comfortable for him to move rather than he's had too much cat chow and the effort would have been both too much and embarrassing for him.










Aaaaanyway... Still pregnant :)

Bumps in the Night

18 weeks

I've been having some definite abuse from the fetus (foetus?) this week, kicks and punches and rolling over. I still don't really have much of a bump but that's ok, perhaps this time I won't get absolutely huge like I did with Lily and will have a celebrity style small and neat bump... I can dream.

I was last sick on wednesday and have been fine since, a little bit of queasiness but nothing to cry about. I have been having the worst headaches ever though, of course I started to worry that it was pre-enclampsia but apparently that doesn't occur until after 20 weeks, but I still worry. It's probably that I don't drink enough water, I try to but I'm useless with remembering. I've also been incredibly tired, napping and such with no energy to get anything done. We're supposed to be moving house soon - how?!

The next scan and ante-natal is on the 8th December, it's at the woman's hospital this time. I hope the sonographer-from-hell doesn't still work there, the dragon that made my 13wk scan with Lily horrible by glaring at me for crying and biting my head off when I asked if she could tell the sex. I don't understand why someone who clearly hates other people would want to spend all day working with emotional pregnant women. Maybe she normally scans peoples kidneys and the like and was called in against her will. I'm hoping I won't have to have more blood taken at this ante-natal appointment, it's horrific the amount they take, although mine does gush when they stick the pin in me so it's usually over pretty quickly, the last vampire even told me my blood was nice and frothy - like I'd been drinking the bathwater! I had to take her word for it as I just can't look.


There doesn't seem to be much of a bump going on in the picture above, the baby still seems pretty inside the body. Apparently the baby weighs 7oz now and is getting fatter and growing hair. I wonder if this will be a hairy baby, Lils was and, old wives tale or not, I had such bad heartburn.

The Saddest Lion

Since this pregnancy seems to make me an emotional mess most of the time I've stopped fighting the crying and actively seek out things which will make me blub.

Like Christian the Lion.



Christian the Lion -


I'm actually in tears now, it's the bit where he pauses as he's coming down the hill and his jaw seems to drop when he recognises the two men, it gets me every time and I've watched this, and other soppy variations, lots.

I'm beginning to think I have way too much time on my hands.

It's all pants...

17 Weeks

We had the scan a week ago and everything was fine, he was dancing around like crazy, shaking his little fists and annoying the sonogropher by moving whenever she wanted to take a measurement. We get to see him again in the first week of December and will find out whether he is a he.

I'm still felling a little sick, it's not as bad as it had been and there has been no vomiting. I still feel completely exhausted constantly, and emotional. Gosh it's fun. There's a definite bump now, baby has popped out of my pelvis. I braved town yesterday to buy maternity jeans which are crazy, they're nothing like the ones I had with Lily, they pull straight on with no buttons or zip, they're like baby's jeans, or fat man trousers. I also got some pregnancy knickers which are huuuuge, they're bigger than some dresses I own and I don't have enough bump to fill them yet but they're so comfortable and so ugly that I'm wearing them anyway.

Whilst I was in Kent visiting my folks I was really craving offal which I have never ever ever viewed with anything other than disgust. I innocently asked if the local butcher usually had liver and my mum screamed (and she never screams) and said that I was gestating a devil baby just like Rosemary's Baby. Well the cravings passed and I also discovered that liver is a no-no in pregnancy because of the high levels of Tannis Root or Vitamin A or something but I decided to re-read the novel over the last two nights and now I really wish I hadn't..

14,15,16 Weeks


I'm on the brink of 16 weeks and don't appear to have a bump yet. I've been feeling like a pervert scouring the internet for pictures of women's naked tummies at 16 wks and they all look huge. We have the ultrasound scan tomorrow and I'm quite scared really, I'm afraid that there will be no baby there and the positive pregnancy test, constant sickness and feeling movements are all symptoms of a never before known deadly illness. I remember feeling the same way with Lily although as I had my first scan at 9 weeks I was reassured early on.

Seriously, I am worried that something has gone wrong, I've stopped feeling so sick and have convinced myself that it's due to a drop in pregnancy hormones because the pregnancy has stopped. I know this is all worry-warting and if there was anything wrong I would have had pain and bleeding but worry fuelled by hormones is such a difficult thing to ignore.

I have stopped feeling so sick which is a giant relief. The last time I was sick was on wednesday morning after one of my dads huge fry-ups. I spent the last week in Kent with Lily and my parents for half term. It was fun, although we missed Tom horribly, it was nice to go to petting farms and eat out and see all my brothers and their various kids and bumps. We took Lils Trick or Treating which was awesome, my folks live in a friendly village so there were lots of sweets to be had. She dressed up in some kind of Eddies Goth dress costume we got from Woolworths and we took the dog in fairy wings.

I'm still buying gross maternity clothes from Ebay although it hasn't been too bad, the top I've had so far was washed and clean and came with a greetings card! I've missed the internet, mostly Ebay really, my parents don't have the internet and when Tom told them about this blog my mum said 'So Clare's in the computer? Ooooh!' and didn't understand at all.

To stop myself worrying all day about the scan tomorrow I'm going to peruse Ebay for Christmas presents, read yesterdays Observer and eat all the leftover Halloween sweets.

Emote Control

I knew feeling better wouldn't last, saturday saw me losing my lunch and my dignity, throwing up into a Lidl bag in the car. I wasn't sick yesterday but that's because I didn't eat anything except half a can of peaches but I've been making up for it today by non-stop munching on oranges and fake frazzles, I'm almost certain I'll see them again soon though. Oh well, at least the heartburn has gone.

Pregnancy hormones are making me crazy, I don't feel too scared about it as I know it's the hormones and every woman I know who has been pregnant has had at least one psychotic episode, from running at their other half with a knife to tiling the whole bathroom. I'm sure I wouldn't go to those extremes - DIY? Me? - but I know I've been super duper crazy and that it's really difficult for those I love and care about to understand, having never experienced a woman under the complete control of pregnancy hormones before. Lily says every day that the baby is controlling me and she's absolutely right!

I've been looking at baby bottles and have decided that I want NUK glass bottles, I'm already watching some on Ebay. Ebay is becoming a major addiction, I've got 50 things on my 'watch list' and it's only going to get worse once we find out the sex of the baby. I'm hoping they'll be able to tell us at the 12wk-but-actually-16wk scan.

The best thing about pregnancy so far are maternity tights which are the comfiest things ever to grace my pins and the waistband comes up to my chin!

Gaviscon, Oh Gaviscooooon!

Now that the sickness has ebbed ever so slightly (for now) I have HEARTBURN!!

Can I start enjoying pregnancy now please?

These stupid things are addictive....

He Heeeee!

Oh Baby!

This is going to be a mainly pregnancy related rubbish blog now - yay!

13 weeks

The official start of the second trimester, when I should be getting my energy back and start to feel less sick. I feel about a 5% improvement on last week, it's now thursday and I haven't thrown up since monday and I haven't day-napped since tuesday. The last time I began to feel better it was followed by around 10 days of solid puking and lethargy so I'm not expecting anything. I'm just keeping quiet.

I'm not exactly 'showing' yet but I'm always finding myself undoing the top button of my jeans. I looked in Topshop and H&M for maternity clothes but they were all vile and overpriced so it's come down to buying other peoples gross used pregnancy threads from Ebay. With Lily I spent practically the full nine months in tracksuit bottoms but then I didn't really have to go anywhere, there's no way I'm taking Lils to school in a tracksuit, poor kid doesn't deserve the humiliation!

According to the stupid pregnancy book we have the baby looks like a baby now and not like a prawn, weighs about and ounce and is as big (small) as half a banana. I'm almost certain I've felt movement, it's highly unlikely and the midwife will probably say it's gas but believe me, I know what gas feels like, this feels more like an egg rolling around my tummy.

Here's how he looks now:

working hard or hardly working..?

queen of the castle

Whilst looking for a picture of a wonderful red and shiny lobster I came across this - Kramers shirt!!!! I don't think I've ever seen him in this, although he does seem to have a lot of shirts. There's a whole Seinfield store I want one of everything, the seduction picture of George is particularly nice and I love the Elaine t-shirts*

*this is not a hint!

the green

The view from the Kings Norton shop is much prettier than outside in Kings Heath, even with all the rain. It looks sunny but I just went crazy with the camera they have here, making everything bask in a summer sun that refuses to be a reality! I'v even almost forgotton about the evil sunburn that almost ruined Paris and still leaves flakes in my dresses.

superbear heroes

Lily decided that we had to draw 'super heroes who are bears who are called John and Rita'. So we did.

smooth blob one

jail bait

On my lunchbreak (actually, I was going to the bank, I don't do lunchbreaks) I had the following exchange:

Annoying Littlewoods Catalogue woman: Hi, would you be interested in.. Oh, sorry, you have to be eighteen or over and you're not are you?

Me: GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

I'm still not losing the pigtails though, they're my default.

post secret

This is my favourite postcard from postsecret this week, sometimes I feel the same about Kiki when he stares and stares at me, what's he trying to say? Probably 'don't change the brand again - I'm a Whiskas cat through and through'.

ebay puppies

Hi!