Well we have been on holiday and very busy with setting up the business and looking for houses. All still in the process of being done.

The holidays in Portugal were great although I did confirm that flying doesn’t agree with me both mentally and physically. My legs looked like tree trunks!

In the 10 day I was away my bump got a lot bigger (no doubt it also has to do with the fact that we get fed till we drop of culinary goodness)

I realise a couple of things:

- I can’t sleep without my maternity pillow! Terrible nights I had with lots of back pain.

- I only have 4 tops left that actually cover my bump

- I now have to tie my trainers sideways cos I can’t reach them by leaning forward.

- It is also very difficult to lean or reach things that are close to the floor.

- I will have to ask Russ to cut my toe nails at some point which will be interesting (I can’t stand anyone touching them)

- My feet and ankles are not skinny any more

- And…

I felt the baby move!!! What an amazing feeling! I can feel it more when I’m lying on by back and it protests when it gets to tight in  there.

I can’t wait ’till Russ is able to feel it too

In the mean time people gave us clothes for the baby to had to what we already bought and Tubbs now has more clothes than me

It was also nice to talk to my mum. I asked her if her bump was big as I have noticed mine is quite big comparing to some other pregnant women. She told me she was thinner than me when she was pregnant and had a huge bump. Even the doctor was wondering if there were twins. Of course I was 8.5 pounds when I was born which might have something to do with it as well.

Tomorrow starts my 20th week (half way through, Woo-hoo!) and I have an appointment with the doctor and an anomaly scan on Thursday. I can’t help but feeling nervous because they are going to check for anomalies but I also can’t way to see Tubbs again

Cat on the other hand is a light sleeper, and often spends hours trying to drift off to sleep. Being pregnant only makes matters worse, as the constant changes to her body, extra pressure on her abdomen means needing the bathroom more often and having a growing bump makes lying down in a comfortable position more difficult.

Enter the pregnancy pillow! I never heard of these before, but there are hundreds of different types of pillow that surround you to provide extra support and comfort to expectant mothers. Cat bought one and tried it out for the first time last night. Did it make her sleep better? Well… no. But she was more comfortable!

Taking this back to the start of this post, surely none of this “pillow talk” affects me? Alas, I have never slept so poorly than this past week. With Cat needing to move, get up to go to the bathroom, and even burst out laughing as she remembers bits from Ice Age 3 which she recently watched, has meant I woke up 4 or 5 times. And to top all that off, the pillow that surrounds her has made snuggling up to her all but impossible!!

So when you all see Cat, and offer her support and sympathy as she undergoes the changes of pregnancy, spare a thought for poor Russ, who is waking up throughout the night, is half asleep throughout the day, and all before the baby is born!

So I bought some comfy pregnancy jeans and some tops. Even Russ said today looking at my tummy that I can’t hide it anymore

Sleeping has become a lot more difficult though. I keep waking up to go to the toilet and then I can’t go back to sleep. It’s also becoming more tricky to find comfortable positions to sleep.Last night I had to sleep with a pillow between my legs but even like that is gets difficult. So now we are hunting for pregnancy pillows. There are so many! Russ wakes up because of me moving around and the pillows are so big he is saying he might have to sleep in the sofa

In the mean time we got the blood test results back from the hospital and it seems like the baby is in very low risk of having Down’s syndrome. That was good to know .We have a midwife appointment on Tuesday and she’ll be taking some more blood out for further tests like spina bifida. It’s always a bit nerve recking thinking of everything that might go wrong but positive thinking!