Mum to Be Monday #3 - 21 weeks pregnancy update

Time for an update ladies! 

How far along? 21 weeks plus 2 days! Half way there ladies...whoop whoop!

Total weight gain: None, according to my GP I've lost weight. I am eating...all the time! 

Maternity clothes? Not yet but I did receive a "hands off my bump" T-shirt from one of the girls in work. Bump is still too small to fill it though! I wore it shopping the other day and got some evils from heavenly pregnant women!! I've just been buying bigger clothes to be honest. I checked out the on-line maternity clothes sales and I have to say the options available are not in anyway shape of form cute.  

Stretch marks? None but I haven't been gaining weight and I've been lathering myself in lotions and potions daily.

Sleep: Currently waking up in the middle of the night for toilet breaks but apart from that sleep is good, getting at least 7-8 hours a night. Can only seem to nod off while sleeping on my left side.

Best moment this week? Purchasing baby bumps future wheels. We could not resist the Cosatto Giggle Oh la la! Travel set. We must have walked away from it at least five times and kept going back over to look at it again. We practised clicking the car seat out and popping on the carrycot more times than and I can remember but finally decided that baby girl would love it as much as us! Fingers crossed with the pushchair we will get three years out of it! 

Miss anything? I miss being able to swan off to the pub for a drink but I have to say I enjoyed my Non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris at my Christmas works party and only got charged €2.70 for a Mr Slushy...winning!  

Movement: YESS! I finally began to feel flutters of movement from bump. I have to say the last two weeks people kept asking me...they're curious I know but every time I said no I felt a little sad about it! Have to stop comparing myself to other peoples experiences. 

Food cravings: None and I have noticed I can't eat as much as I usual would be able too! It kills me to wake away from a plate with left overs!  

Symptoms: I was suffering with sciatica in my left leg but after spending the Christmas season with my feet up it has eased off. I woke up last week during the night and couldn't get back to my bed the pain was so bad. I just have to rest and not stand for too long. 

Gender: Girl.

Mood: Mostly relaxed apart from emotional drives on icy roads. Icy roads + car slides = crying pregnant lady. I've certainly been taking it easy cheesy since I found out I was carrying a small human inside me. 

Looking forward to: Watching bump get bigger and finally getting some bump pictures taken for my baby book. 

That's it for this week, if there is anything you want to know ask away...forever on facebook and twitter! 

Love,

Sarah and bump

Mum to Be Monday #2 - Gender Reveal

I've been dying to share the news of our gender scan with you after we told all our family members over the Christmas holidays first! I'm going to start from the very beginning so this might be a long post. Finding out the gender was something that we both wanted to do, some people prefer to wait until their child is born to find out but this was a personal choice and we will cherish the experience forever.

When we went for our twelve week scan in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda I was told that we wouldn't be having another scan until I was 34 weeks to check the positioning of the placenta. I was suddenly taken by surprise, I thought all women had a twenty or twenty one week scan to check the babies development and if possible they would be able to find out what gender the baby was. Seemingly this was not the case for all women. First time mam here so there is a lot for me to learn!! The lady was happy with what she had seen in our scan and sent us on our way.

On the way home that day we talked about finding out the sex of the baby or leaving it until the very end and I think we both decided instantly that we wanted to know as soon as possible. There was no specific reason why. It had noting to do with purchasing gender specific items for our child we just could not wait to find out. We are just so excited about becoming parents that we wanted to know would a little boy or a little girl be changing our lives forever.

It looked like a private scan would be on the cards for us so while we waited for baby to grow and develop past the recommended eighteen weeks we looked into different types of scans available. My brother and his partner are also expecting and they had a 3D scan at the Babyscan clinic in Swords, Co Dublin. They had a great experience and it was only a short drive for us so myself and John opted for the gender scan there. Booking was so simple, you can ring in and also book on-line. There was no waiting list. I was even given a list of available appointments that week and I selected the best time for us. What better time than the week before Christmas, my favourite time of year.

Skipping straight to the scan I just want to say that the women we dealt with at the clinic could not have been nicer. They genuinely seemed interested in our pregnancy and made me feel very comfortable and at ease.

The room where the scan took place was very spacious and John got to sit right beside me and hold my hand. At the hospital for the twelve week scan he had to sit on the other side of the room and look at a different screen. I didn't even feel like he was in the room with me. I was so happy that this gave us the opportunity to have a more intimate experience. Walking into the room the sonographer could see that I looked uncomfortable and a few moments into the scan she told me that my bladder was too full and that the baby was a little squished in there so after a quick trip to the toilets I came back to find out the good news. She already knew the sex before I went so we spent the next 15-20 minutes looking at our babies hands, feet and beautiful face.

She asked us our predictions, we both said boy. 

She said " well, it's a baby girl"

Well...I just burst out crying! I was so shocked. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I kept thinking boy. Every time I seen something even remotely related to do with girls I just thought ah, maybe next time. I was so convinced we were having a boy.  John had the biggest smile on his face, we both actually had the stupidest big smiles on our faces. Now we knew....it felt much more real than it did half an hour beforehand. 

Another plus to having the gender scan done privately was that we received a tonne of photos to take home of our lil baby girl. The whole experience really was worth every penny and I would do it all again in a heart beat...I'll just drink less water next time! 

Oh my god I just remembered, she actually yawned during the scan and we seen it all in almost slow motion on the huge television monitor beside us. It was so surreal. At one point she (I can also say she now!) kicked her two legs up to her head. She's going to be tall just like her parents! 

So we have a little girl on the way.....far too exciting. Still searching for the right name for her. We had a name all set if it was a boy...how wrong were we! 

As I write this post I am currently twenty one weeks and only began to feel little flutters from within my bump a few hours ago. There is so much to look forward too and time is going by so fast, I'm trying to enjoy each moment as it comes. 

A bloody girl lads! Who's up for dress shopping in the new year?!!!! 

Love,

Sarah & Bump! 

**WIN** LUSH Little Ro's Flowers Gift box Giveaway

Back in October (which seems like only last week!) I blogged about this years LUSH Christmas gift guide and I'm delighted to now offer one of my readers the chance to win this luxurious Little Ro's Flowers Christmas gift box. This amazing box contains six products to treat you from top to toe with sweet scents and floral fragrances. 

Little Ro's Flowers contains:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is restricted to Ireland and the UK only. Stay tuned over on my Facebook page for international giveaway's. The lucky winner will be contacted and announced on the 16/12/14.

Love,

Sarah

**WIN** Cocoa Brown Tan - My Party Season Must Have

It's officially party season girls and I'm going to tell you why Cocoa Brown should be on your shopping list when you dash out the door to buy a new dress for that all important Christmas work party or girls night out. 

I have three simple reasons why you should include Cocoa Brown on your must have's list. 

Affordability - From the first moment CB came on the scene I was surprised and delighted at just how affordable the tanning range was. With prices ranging from €2.99 to €7.99 it's very easy to understand why this has become the fastest selling tan in Ireland.

Quality - I would not be one for regular tanning but when an event does arise I always reach for Cocoa Brown. I love Tough Stuff and Chocolate Whip for preparing my skin prior to applying the 1 Hour Tan. You can see instantly where you have applied the tan and washing off the excess tan after your desired time leaves little room for error. I also love the colour and scent.

Improved Confidence - I don't wear tan to give off the impression that I've been sunning myself in the Bahamas. I wear tan because like most of the female population in Ireland I have pale skin and Pale skin does not go too well with that perfect little black dress (unless you're Nicole Kidman...damn you!). Wearing tan gives me the confidence to get dolled up and enjoy my night out. If I can do that with a product at a fraction of the price of other tanning products and get results that I'm happy with then you can bet your bottom dollar that this brand will be in my life for a very long time! 

 Cocoa Brown also have a range of Tanning sets on the market that would make perfect gifts for friends and family. There's the Be Bronzed & Beautiful gift set for €9.95. The set contains Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan that Delivers a radiant, bronzed glow in just 1 HOUR. Cocoa Brown Tough Stuff Body Scrub 50ml which Exfoliates your skin in preparation for the tan, plus it also removes your tan when you’re done! And lastly the Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze Gradual Tanner.

Also available this Christmas season is the Luxury Gift Set for €19.99 and currently on special offer on Feelunique.com for €12.80 or in Tesco for €13.33 until the 24th of December. This set includes the 1 Hour tan, Tough Stuff Scrub, Chocolate whip moisturiser and a pink tanning mitt. 

My favourite set is the Ultimate Travel Set. It costs just €10 in Penneys and is perfect for travelling obviously but it's also handy if you're getting ready for a night out at your friends and don't want to be arriving with a heap of products. It contains a cute 100ml 1 Hour tan, 75ml Chocolate Whip body moisturiser and 75ml Tough Stuff body scrub. 

Win yourself an Ultimate Travel Set and a 200ml of Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze by heading on over to my Facebook page.

Also head on over to the Cocoa Brown Facebook page to stay up to date with new products and offers.

Love,

Sarah

Mum to Be Monday #1 - Baby News

Hello Everyone,

If you follow me on any of my social media websites you would have heard the big news that I'm going to be a mum.....ek! I am currently eighteen weeks pregnant and thought it would be a great time to start a "Mum to Be" series here on my blog. I want to share my journey with you and I also want to use the series as a platform for me to interact with other mammies and mum's to be out there. I'll be asking questions over on my Facebook page over the next few months and would love to see your interaction over there.

So I've been checking out a few other bloggers pregnancy updates and they seem to cover a number of changes week by week which I will cover for you below. If there is anything you are interested in or want to know about my pregnancy leave it in the comments below!

Due Date: 9th May 2015 *whoop whoop*

Total weight gain? I have no idea, I didn't weight myself at the beginning and to be honest I'm not too hung up on the weight gain. So far I haven't gained any noticeable weight apart from my baby bump of course! 

Best moment so far? That would have to be our 12 week scan. Getting to see our baby for the first time was so surreal. I will do a post on this amazing experience because it was such a big event for us.  

Miss anything? There have been a few moments when I have missed the sweet taste of amber nectar (alcohol) but that was just at family events when I felt like I was missing out but it wasn't a big deal. 

Movement? No movement yet but I know this little one will be very active because at the 12 week scan he/she was doing summer-salts! 

Food cravings? The first craving was Rice Crispies. I'm not a big fan of cereal but between week 5 to 15 I was having at least two bowls a day. For the last two weeks I've been craving orange juice a lot. My babies way of telling me I'm not getting enough Vitamin C! 

Supplements? I began taking Sanatogen Mother to be Multivitamin and multimineral food supplement while we tried to get pregnant and then for the first 12 weeks I switched to Folic acid. I'm currently taking Pregnacare Original, when I remember too, baby brain kicking in!  

Anything making you queasy or sick? I have to say in 18 weeks of pregnancy I'm very lucky to report that I only had two days where I couldn't keep a thing down. It was not a pleasant experience but I'm just thanking my lucky stars I didn't have to go through that for longer like so many other women during pregnancy. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Current turn off is sausages! 

Gender: Hopefully we will find out before Christmas.

Will I be doing bump updates? Maybe when I get a little bigger but at the moment it's not something I plan on doing. 

Stretch marks? No new ones. I have a few from my teens when my weight went up and down like a yo-yo but as far as I can see I have no new ones. I've been using a range of products to combat the possibility of new ones, I shall share them with you in another post.

Anything unexpected? Crazy...and I mean cray-cray dreams! 

Wearing? I'm still wearing my own non-pregnant lady clothes! The only thing I have purchased is a new pair of trainers for work because I spend a lot of the day standing. 

Buying: I'm waiting until next year before I start going baby mad! So far all I have bought is a hand made knitted mickey mouse hat from a local Christmas fair. Couldn't resist it! I'm very lucky that a few of the larger and expensive baby items such as the cot, basket and pram have been kindly offered to us by family and friends. 

That's all I can think of so far but as I said before if there is anything you want to ask pop it in the comments below. I'm so excited to share this journey with you and to also have it documented. 

I can't believe it's finally happening. I'm going to be a mother! Is it corny to say that I have always dreamed of the day I would be saying that?. At 28 years of age I thought it would have happened a lot sooner but I know times have changed and couples are having babies later and later in life. I can't even put into words how excited I am! 

Stay tuned for more updates and don't worry I won't be bombarding you with baby posts....well, not many!! 

Love,

Sarah