The end is nigh

One week to go until my due date. The midwife says the baby is not quite ready yet and doesn't think it will arrive before Wednesday at least. As D says, it's looking over the edge of the highest diving board but it's not ready to jump yet. I've now had a week of maternity leave. So far it is just like taking time off work when you have nothing in particular planned but you have great hopes of achieving lots of things. Then the week ends and you've not done a whole lot. Except I don't now have to go back to the office! Mwoah ha ha ha ha. Hooray!

At the midwife on Wednesday, my blood pressure was a bit higher than normal. There was a student nurse in and the midwife had me explaining hypnobirthing to her. I think I got a bit excited and it raised my blood pressure. Anyway, she took some bloods to check for other signs of pre-eclampsia and said she'd come round to mine the next day to take my blood pressure again. I'm getting fed up of having blood taken even though I know it's necessary. It never used to bother me but I'm sure it's more sore every time.

She also told me not to do anything for the rest of the day. I was supposed to be meeting NCT girls in town so I cancelled that. Luckily the next day, my bloods came back perfect so she didn't bother taking the blood pressure again. I have to say I wasn't remotely worried about it. I just knew I was fine. But it was nice following orders not to do anything.

We now have wheels! D bought a car a couple of weeks ago so we are finally mobile. It's still really strange that we can drive around together after 14 years together without our own transport.
It's already come in really useful and we've picked up some storage boxes and bags in Ikea, bought plants and compost at the garden centre, been for dinner at the Stable Bar, visited my grandparents, dropped my brother home after he visited. It's great. It's like my life changed overnight. Suddenly I don't have to go to work and I get driven round places.

Because it's Easter this weekend and the Royal Wedding and the May holiday next weekend, I'm going to have D around a good deal. He's just got three days of work between now and 3 May. And, as I'm planning on having the baby on 3 May (!), he'll have two weeks off after that. So far, he's been really helpful getting things tidied around the house. Well, things are far from tidy, but we are slowly getting there and I am slowly getting less stressed about the mess. He's also pretty useful for getting rid of all the spiders in the house. For some reason they are everywhere at the moment. I cannot stand the things. Mostly they are pretty small but the other day I went to put a pot away in a kitchen drawer and there was this HUGE hairy one just sitting there. In the drawer! Euwwww. I've also found a flattened one on the side of my birthing ball - double euwwww.
I have a mantra to prepare for labour. It covers what I want to happen. I thought I'd throw in a date just to see if I can make it happen on a particular day. I thought 3 May was perfect. It's a few days later than my due date of 29 April but not so very late that I get fed up or that I need to be induced. I do have to admit to becoming slightly fed up in the last couple of days. It is difficult to get around and the place is just such a tip. It doesn't do much for my relaxation. Nor does the flow of birth related news that's been coming in during the past few weeks. Most of the women I know (I'm talking 8 out of 9 or 10 pregnancies) have ended in a C section. One of those which hasn't was a 23 hour labour because the baby was back to back and was finally delivered with forceps. But it just makes me more determined to have a quick, natural, drug free birth. Mantra Mantra Mantra.

Today I am 11stone, 10 pounds. Good grief! 2 stone, 3 pound gain. And the baby is still the size of a watermelon. I presume it will remain this size due to a lack of the existence of a bigger fruit or veg. Well, I suppose there is always prize winning marrows - I should be grateful I suppose.

I'm carrying a watermelon

Oh it's been so long since I last posted. It's just that things are so so much more tiring these days. While I'm glad to report that the 'twanged' ligament I had at the end of February didn't come to anything, it hasn't been possible for me to walk any distance at all since. It's just that it's so blinkin' heavy and the baby sits on my bladder and bounces around and it's just too uncomfy to walk. I like to think if we hadn't had a month of snow followed by 6 weeks of yucky weather, I'd have continued walking for longer and maybe even now would have the stamina to keep going. Ah well.

So it's a shame I've not been updating because I'll probably miss lots of details out from the last 4 or 5 weeks. I'm very pleased to say that all the ante-natal classes have finished. The final NHS class was quite good - it was held by a Health Visitor and actually told us a little bit about what to do once the baby is finally here. We saw how to wash the baby and were told that baby products were not necessary! This was bad news for the girl next to me whose Aunt was creating a hamper for her by buying a well known brand of baby products to it each week. Even talc is evil. And baby wipes. And nappy cream. Seemingly all you need is water and perhaps Vaseline and aqueous cream.

And then the NCT classes FINALLY finished. They were fine and it was nice to meet the other people but it was getting soooo boring going out there every flippin' Sunday. Two of the women from the class have now had their babies - both boys and both C sections because the babies were breech and not for turning. In fact, 2 other women I know have had boys since my last post and one of them was also a C section - not sure about the 4th but he was a hypno babe. Not heard how that one went yet. One of these babies is my friend M's who was 4 weeks ahead of me - that brought home how close we are to the birth.
On the home birth front, we'd pretty much decided against it. We'd heard nothing more from the midwife after she was round to tell us about it. I'd assumed that we'd been forgotten about and fully intended to confirm it was a hospital birth at my appointment this morning. Then on Friday I had a missed call from the NHS saying that they had tried to deliver my gas and air and birth box for my home birth. Ooops. Mind you, a bit of communication wouldn't have gone amiss. We had a meeting with the midwife to 'find out about' home birth then we hear nothing. The next thing, we are confirmed for one and they are trying to deliver birth boxes and gas canisters. And then getting stroppy when I'm not in. Hello! I have a job!
So on Saturday, I got a call from the on-call midwife saying that they were having 'a lot of difficulty' delivering it. Which means they tried once without even telling me to expect it first. But she was lovely when I explained we hadn't actually decided on the birth yet and she offered to come round to chat about it. After we talked, we agreed not to cancel the home birth and that I'd make a decision after my next appointment. So, anyway, at the appointment this morning, the midwife couldn't tell what way round the baby was although it's back is on the left hand side of my belly with all it's limbs at the right hand side, which would explain all the kicking action going on there. I'm to go for a presentation scan on Friday to find out where baby is exactly. I'm really excited to be getting another scan but I suppose it will probably be over before I blink. If it's still breech, then I have to go and discuss my options. I think it's moved though because it's heart beat could be heard in a totally different place from last time.

Also at this morning's appointment, I did cancel the home birth. I'm feeling quite happy about the idea of being in hospital because I do not intend to be there for long at all. And just cos they are more readily available there, it doesn't mean I have to use their drugs.
And maybe we will get a water birth without having to faff with a pool ourselves and clear up the mess afterward.

Only 7 more days of work left and only 4 more in the office. I'm trying to work 10am-4pm and am certainly leaving earlier than usual. We live in a terraced house and usually use our back door. To get to it we walk up a path between a break in the row of houses behind ours. Two houses from the row behind and four from our row access our back gardens from there and it's not a public footpath. There is a little broken bench there - no idea whose it is. Today, there were 4 youngish teenagers sitting there smoking! I was so surprised, I didn't say anything. They were pretty sheepish and one even said 'sorry' even though I acted like they weren't there. Then they ran away. I wonder if they are always there at that time and I'm going to spoil their smoking den by coming home early every evening. One of our neighbours told us that he found an old couple sat there once 'just having a rest'.
I had my leaving lunch at work on 31 March as no one had faith that I'd still be at work in April. Pah! It was very nice - we went for tapas. I got a very generous gift of John Lewis vouchers and a lovely soft toy bunny rabbit. Without an 8 stamped on it's ass. But you can't have everything.
Now if you'll bear with me while I weigh myself for the first time in weeks.......oh my ....11 stone, 5 pounds. Nearly a 2 stone increase overall. And the baby is the size of a.......watermelon!