26 Weeks Pregnant | Pregnancy Diary

26 weeks pregnant + 6 days

I lost track of these weekly updates as appointments and movements started to pick up. As there was no way I could backtrack and even attempt to fill out the missing ten weeks, I figured I’d just pick it up from my current week (week 26 – oh my gosh!) and try my absolute best to continue from here. 

Stretch marks?

Not yet. Fortunately I haven’t had any rapid weight gain, so this has likely helped.

Sleep?

I’m in and out of sleepless nights. My main struggle has been getting comfortable to begin with – some nights that can take 10 minutes, others it takes a couple hours to the point where I’m close to tears of frustration. But, sleep has improved a little so I’ll take that as a positive. 

Best moment this week?

All the movements – this isn’t anything new for me at this point, as I’ve been feeling daily movements since week 20 and established a pattern by week 22 which the baby has stuck with since. But, this week the movements have been so much stronger and most kicks, punches and turns we can see from the outside now. Such a lovely (and still surreal) feeling. 

Miss anything?

Feeling comfortable – whether sleeping, sitting or walking.

Movement?

Absolutely, and will remain that way until D day!

Food cravings?

Flapjacks. I haven’t had any cravings up until this week, so nothing you’ve missed out on there. But from 25 weeks all I’ve thought about daily is flapjacks. I hadn’t even eaten a flapjack during that time to trigger it, so it’s baffled me how our minds work when it comes to cravings. I found myself looking at flapjacks in shops and refusing to buy them, not because I’m trying to be ‘good’, but because they weren’t “the one” – but I had no idea what kind of flapjack was! I then was googling flapjacks for delivery and recipes galore and just nothing would strike me as something I wanted. So in the end, I simply made a batch of plain flapjacks on Saturday and my gosh, that was so satisfying when I finally took that first bite. I’ve not thought about them since though… is that a normal pregnancy craving? I’ve no idea.

Symptoms?

Tiredness has started to return this week, and for a couple weeks I’ve been suffering with lower back, pelvis and hip aches and pains. My mother-in-law bought me a bump support strap from our Amazon Baby Wishlist and it’s been the best thing to ease some of those aches – I highly recommend one if you’re also struggling with the additional weight of the bump.

Belly button in or out?

It’s still in at this stage, but it almost sits flush with the bump so I think as I start to grow bigger and quicker in the third trimester, I may be getting an out-y!

Wedding rings on or off?

On. I’ve thankfully not experienced any swelling to date and have had regular reflexology per month to help prevent this, so hopefully that continues to help.

Mood?

Great! Yes the tiredness and aching is difficult at times, but I remain positive regardless. It’s probably helped that I’ve been off work for half of this week to use up annual leave before maternity leave.

Maternity clothes?

Up until this week, I’ve been able to stick to just maternity jeans and underwear, and then get away with just wearing my normal dresses and tops so long as they’re elasticated at the waist. However, my tops no longer fit in terms of the bottom half being too short due to bump, so I’ve purchased oversized-style, long jumpers in my normal size to accommodate the growing bump. My skinny pair of maternity jeans are now super tight, so I’m sticking with my maternity pair of Mom jeans which are far more comfortable. Then I’ve had to gave in and buy maternity pyjamas as my husband’s pyjama shorts no longer fit me without the waistband digging in. I’ve mainly been shopping on Vinted, or found some good deals on ASOS.

Looking forward to?

I’ve got my first growth scan next week to see where we’re measuring on the chart, so looking forward to (as well as being slightly anxious) knowing where we’re currently at.