17 Weeks Pregnant

Oh my God my bladder!!
 I thought that all this bladder stuff was supposed to be done with until the thrid trimester now? Nope! My loo trips are now getting so frequent that I may as well just set up camp there and get a duvet and pillow. This week has been the first time that my bladder has been waking me up every couple of hours and I find that my stomach gets reaaaaaally painful and swollen feeling if I even try and hold in a wee for more than a couple of minutes, I guess my little man is just using my bladder as a trampoline at the moment! Hopefully it'll settle back down soon and start to get less irritating as it's really starting to impact my sleep which is NOT a good idea as I've really noticed mood swings kicking in as well.
 At the minute I'm just super emotional, taking everything personally and am getting far too angry far too quick, like 0-100 in 0.2 which paired with no sleep due to constant trips to the loo is getting really annoying, hopefully I'll chill out soon too.
 Heartburn is less evil this week though it's still here it's definitely getting less frequent and less intense when I do get it.
 This week I got diagnosed with SPD which I talk about in detail here.
 Also, I felt him kicking for the first time this week which was the strangest feeling that I can't even describe but when it happens, you'll know it's happened. So strange but so lovely to feel him kicking and moving around inbetween scans, it just feels like a little bit of a peace of mind that he's still okay and he's growing. It was magical.

My tummy is definitely getting bigger and rounder and harder to hide with baggy clothes and this is the first week I've had anyone outside of my family ask to touch it, which was really strange but at least she asked! 

I'm still totally in love with the name Zachary but now prefer the spelling with a 'h' instead of a 'k' and am thinking his full name will be Zachary Aaron Christopher Corbett. I love it (and his initials will spell his name! ZACC!)

Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction

So today I went to my GP to discuss a real pain that I've been having in my pubic bone region as well as my lower back and hips that's been an issue for a couple of weeks. The doctor I saw was absolutely lovely and had me jump on the metal bed thingy so that she could feel my hips and check the mobility in my legs, my right leg was fine but my left leg just kept jarring and would not play ball at all (as well as being crazy painful!).
She then - with very little warning - jabbed me right in the pelvis just on my pubic bone with some real force! It was such a surprise and so painful that I really could have just jabbed her back, right in the eye!
She then told me that she was a little concerned about the amount of pain and how tight my hips feel and diagnosed me with SPD (Symphysis Pubic Disorder) which should go away straight after I give birth to little one but will most likely be pretty severely painful for the remaining months of my pregnancy.
SPD is a problem with my pelvis that means that through pregnancy, the bones and ligaments that join at my pelvis are getting less stable. This also happened because for some reason my hips aren't getting wider whilst baby is getting bigger which poses no problem to baby but for me my body is finding it difficult to adapt to being pregnant and is intent on staying the same size as my pre-pregnant frame.
Annoyingly there's nothing that the docs can prescribe me as codeine would be too harsh on baby and paracetamol doesn't even touch the pain so my only real option is physiotherapy and a support belt to try and hold the bones and ligaments together until baby is here and the pain goes away!
I've also gotten myself a V pillow:
Which I have genuinely found is a godsend as crossing my legs is one of the things that slightly alleviates the pain so if I put the pillow between my legs and cross them over it it makes it a lot easier to sleep.
That and bouncing one leg up and down quickly helps to make sure that my leg doesn't cease up at the hip which is really painful and super inconvenient when I'm at work or trying to get out of bed!
Other than that, a hot water bottle and paracetamol helps alleviate some of the pain and for me I also find sitting cross-legged useful. And a cup of tea.

Luckily this is something that from what I can gather should go away straight after I've had him so only 4 1/2 months left of this!!

Having an amniocentesis

I was absolutely terrified and stressed out my little mind when the midwife called me and told me that there was a 1:110 risk of Downs Syndrome for my baby which for someone of 20 is relatively high. Not for me but for him, I worried about his future and the struggles that he'd face but my decision was made and I was keeping him regardless of any health issues or genetic disorders that he may or may not have had.
I was given the option to either continue with my pregnancy or have an invasive test called an amniocentesis, I decided that for peace of mind and to stop me stressing for the remaining 5 months that the amnio was the best choice for me and bump.

The procedure
2 weeks after my initial appointment with the midwife I went to the hospital for my amniocentesis, you don't have to take an special precautions like not eating or anything but they recommend you drink a lot and don't go to the toilet immediately before as they do an ultrasound whilst doing the amnio.
The initial part of the procedure is an ultrasound where they take measurments of the baby and make sure everything seems fine otherwise, they also use this time to find the best place to perform the procedure which is far enough away from baby that they won't catch him with the needle and but still enters the amniotic sack so they can draw fluid.
After they are happy with the measurements they have taken and are ready to continue with the procedure they then sterilise your whole stomach and all of their equipment.
When everything is sterilised they then insert the needle through your stomach in the area that they decided was safest for baby, for me there was no pain when it went through my stomach.
Then, they insert the needle further through your uterus and into the amniotic sack, this is what I personally found painful, it was like sharp period cramps and bruising but was manageable. They then withdraw 15-20ml of amniotic fluid dependant on how big baby is as this is how they are able to check the chromosomes and determine if baby has any genetic disorders.
After they've drawn the fluid, they then continue with the ultrasound to make sure baby settles down and for me they let me listen to his heartbeat.
They then clean you up and you're then free to go home!
I had to then go and get an Anti-D injection because my blood is rhesus negative but this is not something everyone has to have.
They told me that the results generally take 2-3 working days and offered me either a phonecall or appointment to find out the results, I chose a phonecall so I didn't have to take any more time off work and so that I'd get the result faster.
During the test I was also given the opportunity to find out the gender, I chose to find out (he's a boy!) but this is obviously optional.

After the procedure
It's recommended that you rest for a few days (48 hours) and refrain from any strenuous activity after the test as with it being an invasive test there is a 1% risk of miscarriaging.
Personally I just slept for the rest of the day and took some paracetamol as I found the test to be relatively painful and I was pretty emotionally warn out afterwards so needed a good kip!
The next day I received a phone call telling me that my little boy has no risk of any genetic disorders whatsoever and confirmed his gender again.

I personally am glad that I opted for the amniocentesis as now I can enjoy the rest of my pregnancy without any stresses knowing that I've got a perfectly healthy baby boy growing inside me!

16 Weeks Pregnant

This week the main thing that I have noticed getting more intense is heartburn! I haven't had heartburn at all yet in my pregnancy yet in the last 3/4 days of being pregnant I have noticed it's gotten really bad, especially at night if I've eaten something particularly salty, not fun.
I've also noticed (touch wood) my skin is getting really good and I'm not really suffering with the same skin issues I had post-pregnancy like spots and unevenness in skin tone, which I'm absolutely fine with! My hair is also in a really good condition despite dying it which usually frazzles my hair straight away.
Also I'm having to go to the toilet soooo much more frequently again which is annoying when my bladder wakes me up at 4am every day! This was a problem until about 11 weeks and then it went away but now it's back!
This week I had to go and see the GP to talk about sickness because I've been having really bad nausea and migraines - which I have never suffered with before; So the GP decided to sign me off for a week so I can have a week's bedrest which is really useful.
This week I also had my amnio where I found out that baby is at no risk of any genetic diseases and he's a beautiful baby boy!
I'm starting to crave cookies more, the big round smartie filled ones. They're so gooooood.

I've now gained 2lbs since I found out I was pregnant but I'm sure that I'll start gaining more soon.

My tummy has also popped right out this week and I'm starting to feel more like a pregnant person and less just chubby now that my tum is starting to look more defined and round. But this is the first week I've been finding sleep more difficult as I tend to sleep on my tummy and now I can't because it's so uncomfortable!

I've also been looking at baby names and I'm totally in love with Zackary which some people aren't liking at all buuuut I think it's gorgeous!

So

I'm currently 17 weeks in to my pregnancy so a little late to start documenting however I want to try and remember as much of this as I can and with my sieve-like memory, that isn't very likely without writing things down.
So far, I have tested positive for Group B Strep, which isn't really an issue, just means that I will have to be given intravenous antibiotics in labour. I've discovered that my blood type is the rather undesirable Rhesus negative, also not too bad, just means that every time I have a little bleed I have to go to the hospital and have an injection called Anti-D.
Unfortunately this seems to be a regular occurrence in my pregnancy with 3 trips to the hospital due to bleeding so far but hopefully that'll calm down soon.
The one issue I did have was finding out that bump was at high risk of Downs Syndrome, (1:110 risk), which left me with a dilemma - carry on for the rest of the pregnancy and find out if they suffer with Downs when they arrive or have an amniocentesis, an invasive procedure where the docs use a needle to go in to my womb (through the belly) and draw 20ml of amniotic fluid to test bump's chromosomes in finding out if he is positive or negative for Downs. (I'm going to explain the procedure fully in another post just in case I ever have to have another one). I chose to have the amnio.
The reason that I wanted to find out for sure if baby had Downs was not because I would have terminated the pregnancy in the event that they had downs, purely because I am a little ball of stress so I decided that in my personal situation that it was better for me to have the amnio and find out rather than continue for the remaining 5 months stressing and wondering if baby were going to be affected or not.
Luckily, bump is 100% free of any genetic disorders and is growing at the exact pace that they should be which was a huuuuuge relief! Due to the docs checking baby's chromosomes, they were also able to tell me the gender of the baby and they are an absolutely beautiful, bouncing, active baby boy.
I'm absolutely over the moon and couldn't be more excited to meet my little dude. <3