The only thing positive thing that I have managed, regarding the promise, is to continue going to the gym.  On some days, it has been nothing more than a leisurely few lengths of the pool, but on other days I have managed to work out to pretty much the same intensity as I did pre-pregnancy, and haven’t really had to change my routine at all.  All well and good for now, but last time it fell apart at around the six month mark, and I only swam from thereon in.  So this time, I decided to consult an expert before that happens: Simone at the Virgin Active in Notting Hill, who is specially qualified in pre and post-natal training.  

 
The first thing she did was to dispel the myth that your heart rate isn’t supposed to go above 140 when incubating a baby.  Your heart rate can go up as high as it is used to going – so there’s no excuse for me to ease off on the cardio.  She then took me through a good range of squats, lunges, and various exercises to strengthen my back and keep my arms toned, the emphasis being on endurance.  (Well, labour is tough!)    

 
Otherwise, in terms of the body beautiful, my efforts are fairly superficial, but nonetheless important.  I have a proper bump now (and I know I do:  I got offered a seat on the tube) so the Basq Belly Oil is out in force – I’d forgotten how good it smells.  My nails have finally stopped splitting, and so can once again be painted pretty colours, courtesy of Posh Nails on the Portobello Road.  My skin still isn’t looking perfect – what is it with the spots?  I didn’t get them last time – but it’s beginning to look vaguely better.  Oh, and it’s sale time, my favourite time to shop.  Online.  While eating jam doughnuts.

Looking back, second time round I feel that I’ve taken pregnancy slightly more in my stride.  There’s been a little less pouring over pregnancy websites, fewer phone calls to Maternity and not so many panics about the baby not moving.  Up until now. 

Now, with less than two weeks to go, I’m slightly starting to freak out.  How on earth am I going to cope with two? Especially post C-Section and the Cub is wanting to practice his new found ‘squeeeeze’ technique, kick footballs at me all day long and then, fit in time to dote on our new tiny Cublet?  

Not helping with the newfound fear is the fact that someone has been seriously testing me and I’ve had the week from hell.  I went up to London for a few days on Monday, primarily to take the Cub for a checkup at the hospital.  Sitting in traffic I got an email from my nanny – who had taken a good few months to acquire – resigning, a record two days after she’d started.  (“Nannying was not for her and she hoped it wasn’t an inconvenience”) Seriously, two weeks before I give birth?

Ten minutes later came a parking ticket for £136 and then the final nail in the coffin, we turned up at the hospital and guess what, the appointment had been cancelled. 

On the positive side, things could only get better.  My wonderful friends threw me the most sensational baby shower full of cupcakes, rose petals and pink champagne and sent me home laden with new bunny suits, cashmere booties and star printed swaddles to wrap the new arrival in.

We are now home and settled.  The changing table from the Little White Company has just arrived and the cot has been built.  Not knowing the sex has meant decorating the room’s been hard.   For now I’ve bought hundreds of starry wall stickers and we have cut up and framed pictures from our favourite books we’ve collected in charity shops.  Sophie Dahl’s Man with the dancing eyes being my fave so far…

The last thing on my to-do list is to get a present for the new one to give the Cub.  I’m thinking a mini guitar but wondering if this is recipe for disaster. He’ll either end up keeping his new small friend awake all day or he’ll use it as some kind of weapon in his fight for my attention.   Decisions decisions…

So this will be my last pre-baby post and I will be back to report on the joys of two when I am back in the land of the living.  Wish me luck, I think I’m going to need it…

We would like to wish the couple well and good luck with the first addition to their family!

Well, actually, there’s no ‘oops’ about it.  My hormones went haywire, and screamed ‘get pregnant! get pregnant!’ so insistently that we decided to throw logic and caution to the wind, and forgot about our initial thinking that a three year gap would be the ideal.  Baby number two is due on the 6th July; there’ll be twenty three months between it and Sholto.  I am beyond excited.

I do concede that it might be quite hard work, initially at least.  But Sholto spent the first year of his life accompanying me on shoots, to interviews, not to mention endless breakfasts at Cecconi’s and lunches at the Wolsely. (I miss those days.  He’s no longer even remotely restaurant-friendly, and I had to stop taking him to work when he learnt to crawl/climb and could therefore reach the photographer’s equipment.) The point is that I figure that his little sibling can spend the first year of its life accompanying Sholto on his play dates, and to Gymboree classes, Baby Picasso classes, and everything else – all from the comfort of Sholto’s Bill Amberg papoose.

Oh yes, because this time, I’ve already got everything.  Or at least, I’ve nearly got everything.  My husband’s first comment on seeing the pink line was “Okay, but, just so you know, we can’t afford for you to ‘nest’ this time, so don’t get any ideas about re-doing anything.” (He might have been referring to my accidental 38-week shopping spree on Walton Street. Or the fact that I persuaded him to spend a whole week sanding down and re-painting the banisters of our staircase.  Or the two weeks we spent re-painting the whole house . . . .)  However, this time I’d like one of those bassinet things that attach to my bed (forget the Moses basket), Sholto is going to need a bed so that the new baby can eventually go in the cot – and I’d love to get our skirting boards painted.  Today, I’m thinking charcoal grey.

And then of course, there’s me.  I’ve still got the cotton jersey skirts from American Apparel that did so well for my last pregnancy (they’ve had to go on rather earlier, this time – I started showing almost immediately) and a whole wardrobe of Issa and Anne-Louise Roswald silk jersey dresses.  However, as I no longer have to dress for the office, there’s rather less call for them this time around.  So I invested in a couple of bias-cut velvet maxi dresses (the Handwritten sample sale) which I’m wearing with long, over-sized cardigans.  Perfect for this time of year – and they’ll work when I’m not pregnant, too!  In terms of maternity tights, the Spanx ones are my favourite, alongside regular Falke 90 dernier in extra large.  I’m not that tall, so can pull them right over the bump.  (A lot of the other maternity tights don’t work properly for me as the bump is not yet big enough – and yet I still have to allow for it.)

However my absolute favourite bit of this pregnancy is that, now that I’m freelance, I can fit in a post-lunch nap with Sholto every single day.  It’s made dealing with the exhaustion SO much easier.  I’m fifteen weeks though now, and can feel the energy returning.  Hello second trimester.

We would like to join in sending our regards to the couple and wishing them and their beautiful daughter well!

It would seem that congratulations are in order for Sienna Miller and her boyfriend Tom Sturridge who are reportedly expecting their first child!  The information comes from US Weekly magazine, though the couple have yet to confirm.  Apparently Miller and Sturridge shared the exciting news with their families in London at Christmas before travelling to Paris to spend the holidays together.  Friends have said that they are ‘not surprised by the news of the pregnancy’ and are incredibly happy for the couple.

We would like to wish the pair well and good luck with baby number one!

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