7. 17 weeks.

Hair brained

There are few things to shout about during pregnancy, but one of the absolute best things is fabulous hair. My understanding is that the normal amount of hair we loose every day, simply doesn't fall out, but we continue to grow hair at the usual rate. This makes the mums to be hair look lush and healthy. My favourite part is not needing to wash it. I have tried for years to train my hair to wash it weekly, but only ever managed to reach twice a week. I've suddenly got to a week and it still looks great! Because of this, my lovely friend is going to give it a cut so I can make the most of it, and hopefully look a little better than I feel. After birth, the breastfeeding sweats will mean regular washes, and a few months after the babies are born, all of the excess hair will then start to fall out and it will feel limp and rubbish again. So for now, hair swishing will commence.  

Memory and words

A nice little segway from "hair brained" is the fact that I'm not the best with my words and regularly stumble over what I'm trying to say, and forget words. The first time I registered was when I had been living abroad and simplifying sentences, when I got home I had to concentrate a lot more in conversation. Since then I realised its just something I'm not great with. However, this pregnancy brain fog is another level. I am endlessly tripping over words and completely forgetting even the simplest of things. This got worse after Jack was born, so that's something else to look forward to! 

On top of the forgetfulness,  I have also become irritatingly clumsy and keep doing stupid things. I've knocked over a bowl of cereal, and threw a bottle of milk into the microwave,  no lid on. And today, I was making a risotto so set about grating the parmigiano, it wasn't doing much, and then I realised I was zesting the cheese. How the.....?

17 week midwife appointment.

We went to see our local midwife today for the first time. Our very first appointment had been made by our sonographer at his hospital, so it was nice to be on home turf. 

When I was pregnant with Jack, we had a book which had everything about us and the pregnancy written down in. I carried it everywhere and it was great to have a flick through if I was having a wobble. Each appointment was doccumented with a few sentences, any results of BP, urine, blood tests etc. However, towards the end of our pregnancy, everything was going digital. I'm terrible with tech and wasn't looking forward to having to do anything on an app with the second pregnancy. So far, we have had 2 midwife appointments, and both times the system has crashed so they have had to try and remember everything, to then write down and update on the system. It must be so stressful for them all, and so frustrating. Bring back paper! We have actually been given printouts because of being multiples and high risk to bring with us everywhere incase of an emergency. 

When we got to this appointment she asked for the latest updates with us. I told her that we had had our 16 week scan and will be back next Tuesday for the next at 18 weeks. She asked why we are having that and I said "because it's triplets". She practically jumped in the air with excitement, she hadn't been able to read up on us before our appointment so that was nice. At the end of the appointment she said they usually listen for a heartbeat, but finding 3 is very difficult and she has never managed to find more than two. I said I am happy for her to give it a try. I pointed out where I feel the movement and she set to work, and immediately found all 3!!! I did a little fist pump to my little wrigglers to give her her first 3!  

Work.

I am a painter and decorator which could be seen as not the ideal job to have whilst pregnant. It is and it isn't. Chemicals and ladders are the two obvious issues. When we first started trying for Jack, I was in the mindset that it would happen immediately. I hadn't thought about paint fumes at all until I was glossing all of the upstairs woodwork in a house in the same week I was hoping my period wouldn't arrive. On heavy gloss days, I always struggle with headaches and I can feel it on my chest. I suddenly thought, if it effects me like this, how will it be affecting a tiny little cluster of cells trying to grow? That's when I started reading. All baby websites basically said,  "don't paint, get someone else to do it". This obviously wasn't really an option as I needed to work. I delved deeper and read that paint contains a VOC level. Water based paints tend to contain less than 10g/litre, usually as low as 3. Oil based paints contain 300-500g/l. Big difference. Before pregnancy I had used water based gloss once and hated it. However, the quality now is fantastic, so the timing couldn't be better for this new technology. I tend to choose water based over oil now for coconvenience.

What I did with Jack was to make sure I have good ventilation and use the lowest VOC option available. Wallpapering jobs were top of my list. I couldn't find any actual facts about damage the fumes can cause, but poisons that the mother comes into contact with, especially in the first 12 weeks, can cause issues with the development of the babys organs as this is what's going on in the first weeks of a pregnancy. I had read enough and could work around it, risks are not worth taking. 

Balance is apparently something that changes during pregnancy. This change with steps and ladders is another less than ideal combo. Luckily, with Jack, I had no issues at all. The only time I had a "moment", was when I was using James's steps and I thought I was on the bottom step but wasn't, and gave myself a jolt. Lesson learned, only use my steps! This time, I am getting bigger, faster, so I can see how my balance may become compromised this time. I'm also going to get much bigger so it will probably become very difficult to actually see my feet safely anyway. 

My main issue this time has been my energy levels. I'm working 3 mornings a week still and have been able to do 5 hours on a few days now, some days as little as 2. It's my back that is dictating my ability to work. It starts to ache if I'm on my feet for long periods of time, so that's that for me. Also, I find customers tend to be happy to see me go. There must be a little worry for them having me doing a "risky" job in their house. Maybe they don't like the thought of issues happening on their watch. 

It's a shame I'm not working full time this time around, but I would really struggle. But these are the benefits of being self employed. I can clock off when I need to. The other benefit is picking and choosing jobs that are the safest. I had to cancel a lot of work when I found out about the triplets, the first were jobs over stairs. I didn't want to be balancing on a ladder over a flight if stairs. Others were heavy chemical jobs and, obviously the last people on my list. The biggest downfall of self employment is the fact that if I don't work, I don't get paid. Just something we need to swallow this time. 

Chocolate hankerings.

I'm not a victim of a seriously sweet tooth, but I do like a little bit of chocolate sometimes after a meal. This obviously disappeared with the nausea but little glimmers of it are showing up again. However, if I eat chocolate now, my restless legs are triggered with the caffeine. I know what I prefer! But Christmas is looming and bowls of mini chocolates are popping up everywhere now. Not to mention all of the mouth watering adverts on TV. And the weather! I would love a brew or a hot chocolate! White hot chocolate is OK, but it just doesn't hit the spot the same. I would much rather just wait it out and avoid the caffeine than to risk restless legs. Sleep has never been more precious than it is at the moment. 

Singleton baby jealousy.

I can't tell you how excited I am to have 3 babies with us, but I must confess that I do feel a little pang of jealousy when I see Emily with her little baby boy, and having time to fully absorb every little ounce of him. I will of course get lots of 1 on 1 time with each baby, and if I manage to breastfeed, this time will be so precious for us all. But I look back so fondly on the hours I spent holding Jack while he fed and slept. It wouldn't be quite the same with another singleton as we still have Jack to look after and entertain. And when they are here, I will be so absorbed in them all, all four of them, that I won't think about it at all, and probably just think about how lucky we are to have such a gift. 

The gym.

Loads of people are surprised I am still working, which, to be honest, surprises me that it surprises them. It keeps me active, keeps a routine, and brings in a little bit of money. The second thing that people are surprised I am trying to do, is go and do aerial hoop and aerial silks classes. I have only been to one of each, simply because I felt too unwell up until recently. I think I mentioned it before, but I continued with hoop until 11 days before Jack was born. My instructor, Gianne, was brilliant, and kept my confidence up, which in turn, kept my fitness and strength up. I was back at it as soon as Jack was in a good sleeping routine at around 5 months. I also did aerial hammock with Natasha, and it was often just the two of us, so we just did stretches to help my back and hips. 

This time around, I have missed 3 months of fitness, and during that time, I have been able to do very little indeed, and gained rather a large weight on the front of me. I spent weeks doing not much more than sitting or lying down. I couldn't even walk into the village without needing to sleep for another couple of hours. So going back to these classes is hard work. I struggle to lift my weight into the hoop or climbing the silks. And it feels like the bump has completely stolen my stomach muscles and core strength, which didn't happen until the end with Jack. 

I don't intend to do much in the classes, but if I can try to maintain a little strength, especially in my back, it's going to help me a lot. During our warm up for hoop, one of the exercises was to help build bum muscles. Lots of leg lifting from hands and knees. It was like instant relief for a few hours. And when I went to silks last night, Alice reminded me to check my posture and keep my glutes tight. I need to tuck my bum under and pelvis more forward to help my lower back and hips. It makes total sense that I've probably been leaning my body to the weight of my belly. I've been keeping it in mind today, especially when I wondered to the shop. Fingers crossed, these little things will help me out. 

The emotional benefits of aerial.

Hoop and hammock were also a godsend for my mental health first time around. I couldn't keep on top of my emotions last time. If I started crying in the morning, I would be unable to stop all day. I would cry all the way to class, but it was like an off switch was hit and I snapped back to normal. I have thankfully not had any days like that this time. I've had a few teary moments when I was feeling really ill, just drained from feeling so poorly. And if I sleep badly, it's pretty much guaranteed I will have a meltdown the following day. Not unusual when I'm not pregnant to be honest! I learned my lesson when I took Jack to the supermarket on one of these days. I lost it in Aldi and sat sobbing in the car until I could see again to drive. I won't be doing that again!