Oranges and Melons

I've been meaning to post a new entry for ages but I've found that I've had very little to say so I've been put off. Things have been so tame that the best I could come up with a couple of weeks ago was that my satsuma had a baby satsuma growing inside it. Riveting.

However, things have moved on a little when you take the last 4 weeks together. There have been 3 National Childbirth Trust (NCT) classes and three NHS antenatal classes. D has been to them all with me except the most recent NHS class which was a breast feeding workshop. I let him off the hook because the previous week he had a 'mare with his remote access and had to go into work at 2.30pm. He was so angry. I hadn't seen him angry for 12 years. He doesn't do angry. He had actually headed off to work intending to miss the class as he had so much to get through. I turned up at the class by myself and 5 minutes later, in walked D. Awww. But actually, he's not going to miss much by skipping the last two because it's all covered at NCT on a Sunday.

The NCT classes are a right pain to get to. I think we were assuming we'd have a car by now but the snow put paid to that with David having had two tests cancelled. Happily, he passed on 14 February but it might be a while before we have a car. So it's two buses for us on a Sunday. We are out from 2.30pm to 7pm for a 2.5hr class at a village hall type place in scheme-ville. We are already half way through. Tomorrow is their breast feeding workshop. I wonder if there will be a knitted boob like there was at the NHS class this week.

On Monday of last week, I tried to walk to work. It was a lovely, frosty morning but with a hint of Spring in the air. After 15 minutes, I twanged what I presume was a ligament under my bump. I did this by walking up a gentle slope. Thinking I could 'walk it off', I carried on. Five minutes later I was in some agony and hobbling towards a bus stop. I'd quite happily have been stretchered off. I could barely take another step.
I was raging. I think it means no more walking to work for me. Urgh. I called the midwife because it was soo painful, but it did ease off and completely disappear by the end of the day. However, I've had a few pangs since. Boo.

I'm 32 weeks pregnant now and apparently the baby's movement is at its peak. It is certainly active. The last few days it has barely stopped moving. The only time it seems to stop is when my brother or Mum are trying to feel it kick. It's a tricky wee thing. I'll miss it when the moving stops.

On Wednesday evening, we had a visit from the police. Eek. We had had a card through the door on Friday asking us to call the West End police station from Tuesday onwards. I thought 'from Tuesday onwards - can't be urgent!' and promptly forgot. So they turned up at the door. We had just been practicing hypnosis and had only just finished. I was zen-like. Normally a visit from the police would have my heart beating nineteen to the dozen despite my innocence. The hypno must really be working. Anyway, someone had stolen a 'device' (they wouldn't be more specific) which had GPS and its last known position was our street. So they wanted to know our names, ages, work places, our movements on a particular date and whether we'd had any visitors that day. Luckily, because we are so busy these days, I could actually remember where we had been. Cast iron alibi. Kind of.

So that's the latest. Also - I am so so so so so tired, and am 10 stone, 10.5 pounds. 'Mare! And the baby is the size of a honeydew melon. Now, THAT I believe.

Baby Boiler

The day after my last post was D's birthday. We were woken up at 5.45 to a very loud and terrifying noise coming from our heating system. The baby was leaping about all over the place because I gave it such a fright waking up so suddenly with my heart pounding. I was still on holiday from work and so was able to get the boiler man round in the afternoon. Turns out our pipes were blocked. They think. It was either that or the pump. Except he couldn't find the pump. In a two up, two down, tiny terraced house, he couldn't find the pump. So he said we didn't have one. In any case, the system was pretty screwed and there was no simple way to fix it in the long term.

So we chose to just replace the 26 year old boiler and be done with it. With a baby on the way, it's probably for the best although it will totally blow our hard earned savings.

I spent all the following weekend drawing up a baby-boiler budget spreadsheet. With hindsight, I could have named it better. All frivolous spending has been banned. Supermarket shops are to be strictly monitored and no more coffee at work for me or posh sandwiches for D. Sigh! And of course, no spending money to have Lost prints professionally framed.

Anyway, the boiler is in now and everything seems to be fine and the pump was safely located and replaced. It's good to be warm. And we get a £400 rebate from the Scottish Government to help pay for it. Thank you Scottish Government.

My next project is to think about getting a tumble dryer. Even though we haven't much space. We'd need to get rid of our kitchen table. But with a baby coming and taking up our current clothes drying room, it may be the only option when my life becomes laundry-tastic. It's not going to look good for re-sale of the house to have what is a quite spacious kitchen filled with white goods that aren't neatly under the counter top (freezer is taking up floor space since D let me have a dishwasher). But I guess selling is a long way off.

In other news, we finished HypnoBirthing last Sunday. Or I should say, we had our last class. We met with the other 2 couples for lunch beforehand just as we did last week and had a good time. At the class, we saw a video of a British water birth at home. It convinced us to ask the midwife about a home birth. She is going to come round in early March to chat about it properly.

At my midwife appointment, I had blood taken again and got my anti-D injection - in my backside!

That all went fine except she had to draw blood twice because she wrote my name wrong on one of the vials. It was the first time she'd EVER done that. Lucky old me. At my appointment there was also a midwifery student. She got all the good jobs - like testing my pee. She also got a shot at palpating my tummy. I felt for her as she wasn't too sure what she was doing and the midwife left her with me alone for ages. But she found the heartbeat of the baby with the doppler while the midwife was out the room. Then the cheeky baby moved so the midwife didn't believe that she'd heard it when she came back in and asked where the student had been holding the doppler. The baby is breech at the mo but there's plenty of time for it to move.

Since my last post, I bought a nursing chair for the baby's room. It's a modern rocking chair which glides rather than rocking. We now have far far too much stuff in the house and that's only going to get worse.

This week the baby is the size of a butternut squash (!) and I am 10 stone, 6.75 pounds. That's only 0.25 pounds heavier than two weeks ago although I'm definitely way huger. So the six jumpers I had to wear the last fortnight were probably masking my true weight.