Still here...

Sorry for the silence. A few things are going on but everything is fine with bub.

I spent most of last week at my mother's house cashing in on some much needed pampering. It was great to escape from my noisy, busy house and catch up on some quality rest. I think bub appreciated it the most. Every night s/he would put on a show for our hosts by rolling from one side of my stomach to the other. My mother keeps telling me that although this will be her 5th grandchild it's special because she can be more involved with me than with her daughters-in-law. I hadn't really thought about what that meant until we were in the Ob's office and she said she'd never seen an ultrasound. The Ob was gorgeous with her pointing out all bub's features and printing out a pic for her to show off to her girlfriends.

My blood pressure was up a bit high which earned me another round of tests and a repeat visit last Saturday. I failed the Group B Strep test but passed the pre-eclampsia blood and urine tests which was important. We also got to experience the wonderfully named Pregnancy Day Care Centre while they recorded bub's movements over an hour. We had the bags packed for this appointment just in case... and I think DH was disappointed we were sent home. I have another appointment on Friday and a date with the chemist every other day to keep an eye on my blood pressure.

I have got the most hilarious waddle going on this week. I think bub must be pushing on a nerve somewhere because I am experiencing intense discomfort in my lower pelvis which is making moving around an interesting exercise. Otherwise all is going well. I have always had a feeling that bub would arrive early but at this stage it appears likely we will go full term. Not long now!

An emotional week

After bragging last week about how good I'm feeling physically, this week has been an odd one emotionally.

I think I've been in tears every day for some reason or another - well, mostly for no reason at all! Poor hubby is a fixer, so does not cope with me in tears - least of all when I'm unable to even articulate why. Maybe its just hormones. Maybe its just a stress relief.

The other day I went into a carpet store to choose carpet for bub's room but left almost in tears because I just felt so overwhelmed. I left an electrical store at the same time as a woman who must have been at least 80 years old, we did the "no you go first" thing but then she said "I've been there done that darling, I know how tired you must be feeling". I sat in my car and cried "Yes, I am tired. No-one understands how tired I am." But of course they do.

Everywhere I go lately women ask me when the baby is due, how long do I have to go. When I tell them 6 weeks, the majority of them say things like "oh I found that the worst part" or "I cried so much in the last 6 weeks, I was so over it". A lady said to me today "You'll be so happy when it's all over".

But you know, as much as I long to meet my baby, I wonder if I will miss feeling him/her flopping around in my belly. Trying to guess if that bulge is a head or a bum, a hand or a foot. Wondering what the hell is going on when the movements are so quick and fluttery. It's such an amazing, intimate connection. One I thought that I would never have the opportunity to experience, and that I will never be able to experience ever again. The kids make fun of me always rubbing my tummy, but I just love it. I never want it to end. I just want to savour it forever.

So far, so good

After years of feeling disappointed with my body, I can't believe how well it's coping with this pregnancy so far. The frequency and severity of my headaches have been reduced to almost nothing and my back is holding up really quite nicely. I don't think there would be a pregnant woman on the planet who didn't suffer some sort of back pain, but given my history I am surprised (and oh so very grateful!) it hasn't been anywhere near as bad as I thought it could be.

I am sure I will lament my stretch marks in the future but for the moment I just don't care, and I haven't gained as much weight as I thought I would - and probably should considering my infantile aversion to green vegetables and total lack of interest in cooking.

My mother has the most appalling varicose veins you will ever see. She's a master of guilt my mother, and will point to the ugly purple ropes entwined around her legs and remind my brothers and I who caused each particular one. When she was carrying me, for example, both feet from shin to toe turned completely purpley/black, while the boys caused the ropes and subsequent clots in the calves and thighs. She often likes to remind me they are hereditary. But so far, so good - neglected hair growth is the only ugliness going on with my legs at the moment.

Tiredness seems to be my main problem at the moment (and most likely will be for the next 5+ years!). DH ringing at 11am and asking "are you still in bed?", and the fact that our house is still crawling with noisy men of the building variety, are basically the only reasons I get out of bed at all some days.

But being me, I have been blessed with a small number of your more weird pregnancy afflictions. Mind you every time I raise a new one with my Ob, he just nods wisely and tells me "oh yes, that's quite common during pregnancy" then bursts out laughing once I've left the room (well, he might!). Then why can I not find any information in the books, or online? So I ask you dear internets what are/were your strangest symptoms/ailments during pregnancy that no-one talks about?

So far I have three:-
1.) Blood blisters on my lady parts
2.) Small brown spots on the skin of my breasts and belly (raised mole/freckle-type things, i think some people call them skin tags)
3.) Carpal Tunnel syndrome in my wrists (hands numb during the night and are sore/stiff for a few hours in the morning)

I am delighted and terrified in equal measure about hitting the 33 week mark (and the second-last frame in my ticker!). In childbirth classes they talked about "term" being between 37 and 42 weeks, which means bub could be here in as little as 4 weeks or as long as 9 weeks! At this week's Ob visit bub looked great, still splashing around with plenty of fluid, and measured 36 weeks. I have submitted my birth plan (OMG I have to give birth?!) which I hope goes more smoothly than my trying to conceive plan!

IRL this week, my brother and SIL's friends gave birth to healthy twin girls at 38 weeks gestation (3rd IVF), and a work colleague's daughter miscarried at 20 weeks. Lots of love to both families.

Be careful what you wish for...!

Last year our builder told us that work would begin on our fire repairs and house extension in January and take approx 6 months to complete. I think it was actually late Feb by the time anything really started and then only in dribs and drabs. We had very dry weather over Summer and Autumn, during which time I repeatedly said "I wish these damn builders would hurry up and get into it".

Today is the first day of Winter and the weather bureau is predicting cold and wet weather all week. Today is meant to be the first day of my maternity leave.

Coincidentally, today we have what sounds like a half-dozen men removing part of our roof.....

THE BIG 4-0

I turned 40 yesterday!

Yep I am officially a middle-aged woman. If something newsworthy happened to me today I would no longer be reported as a young woman, nor a woman in her 30s, I would be a middle-aged woman! Or, as in the case of a woman who drove her car over an embankment last week and almost landed in the Yarra river, a heavily pregnant woman.

I had been planning a big party for this Saturday, a kind of last hurrah before bub arrives, but I've decided that I just don't have the stamina at the moment. By 10pm I'm exhausted, my skin is so itchy I can no longer stand to have any clothes on, and my legs are kicking up a storm. Hmmm, a cranky, naked, twitching middle-aged woman who can't drink or dance - not exactly a party animal!

Anyway, I had a great day yesterday. My friends took me out to lunch then DH and I had a beautiful romantic dinner for two.

We are down to 3 weeks between Ob visits now. Last week I had more blood tests and another Gestational Diabetes test (the non-fasting one) which I passed. Fundal height measured 31cm, so a week and a half to 2 weeks ahead, but the Ob said he's not yet ready to call it a big baby. Which is strange, because every man and his dog I meet in the street feels adequately qualified to tell me I'm either having a ten pound boy, or there is another, ultrasound-shy baby hiding in there too.

We attended 2 classes at the hospital last weekend - 'Labour & Childbirth' and 'Early Parenting'. Both of which we found pretty uninformative. The hospital is meant to be Melbourne's best private maternity facility, and each of the 15 couples paid $170 for the day, you'd think they could at least ensure their facilitators turn up on time and include a tour of the facilities. A decent cuppa would have been nice too while I'm complaining.

Shock

I had intended to write a post today about how fabulous I am feeling and how excited I am about being almost 30 weeks pregnant.

Unfortunately we've just found out that Batman's (eldest stepson's) best mate's sister died last night. She hung herself. She was just 16 years old.

All 3 kids knew her really well. They are all devastated. It's going to be a long, sad and confused weekend...

Livewire

The belly shot as promised. This was taken while we were away last weekend. I am 26 weeks.

My baby is not even born yet and already s/he has been labelled. After seeing lots of movement on the ultrasound the Ob wrote in the file that s/he is a "livewire". Please don't think that's something you have to live up to bubby!

S/he does move around quite a bit at the moment I must admit. I can tell that she can hear things in the outside world now as everytime I tell someone she's moving and they want to feel it, s/he stops immediately. Also, while the builders were attaching the roof to our extension the other day they dropped a large piece of tin and s/he jumped in fright. Bad mummy laughed.

I have been feeling ok this week, not quite so exhausted as last week. We had a relaxing weekend away last week and I have been trying to take better care of myself. I scared myself badly last week with a few episodes of feeling faint and nauseous and teary, and then feeling Braxton Hicks contractions at the same time I almost lost the plot completely. The Ob thinks the faintness was probably low blood pressure but it measured fine at his office.

I have put on 8kgs in weight to this point so it will be interesting to see how I go in the third trimester. I haven't been doing much in terms of formal excercise, but certainly feel as though I am being very active everyday. My latest favourite passtime is shopping - I may be inside a shopping centre but I'm still walking, and carrying lots of bags could be considered lifting weights. It all counts doesn't it?!

Labour and birth discussions have begun. Hospital classes are booked in for late May and I have a questionnaire from the Ob to help us start thinking about a birth plan. Scary, scary stuff. Most women talk about how much more they enjoyed .s.e.x. during pregnancy, but my lady bits have clammed shut of their own accord since that first ultrasound, making intimacy extremely uncomfortable to the point where I am wondering how on earth this baby is going to get out! Please tell me this has happened to other people.