Sunday 31 May 2009

biggus bumpus



On the left, 35 weeks with Junior Mint. On the right, 34 weeks with Mia.
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Thursday 28 May 2009

hi ho, hi ho, it's off on leave i go


Just a few hours ago, I finished my last "day" of work. *dances* Oh my, I am so very happy. Everything hurts right now and I've got a hideous cold (just for shits and giggles), so going into the office has been a real chore lately. I'm having a lot of problems standing and walking without feeling sharp pains in the front of my pelvis, and this cold is making every muscle hurt right now. I'm having problems sleeping because of all of this, plus I'm experiencing that "I've just had 10 shots of espresso" feeling at nighttime that I get every pregnancy at some point. Welcome to Afternoon Napville, population: ME.

It's all a little surreal, though. I always feel like I'm just on holiday for the first week or so of maternity leave and find it difficult to switch gears so quickly. And the thought of giving birth in another 5 weeks or so...gads. Time has truly flown. I still find it very difficult to equate this wriggling baby bump with an actual newborn baby, and am somewhat in denial about the whole baby coming out of my belly thing. I'm still looking forward to labour and birth, but I cannot get my head around having another little baby in our family. I know I went through this when I was pregnant with Mia too, though. You get so used to life a certain way that it becomes difficult to imagine anything else. But of course, it all becomes very natural and you can't remember what life was like before.

And now, I nap. Nite nite.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

bits n' bobs


Had a midwife appointment today with the lovely Jane. I've been feeling pretty rough lately (exhausted, nauseous, dizzy, headachey, and generally very, very crappy) so I'm glad I saw her today. My blood pressure was higher than usual, but not high (120/78, normally 120/70). I had a small trace of glucose in my wee sample today, but she thinks her peesticks are at fault because they might be a little out of date. She's not worried about it at the moment, and will test me again in a week. She took some blood to check iron levels, so I'll get the results tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm taking Floridex to see if that helps with my energy levels (or complete lack of.)

Baby is fine, head down with his/her back to my left side, I'm measuring 2 weeks behind (so pffffffffttttttt to the people who keep commenting about how huge I am!), and the heart rate was 130-136.

Still feeling pretty crappy at the moment, but I'm just about to take a nap. I'm not in the office today, I hasten to add. Mia had a rotten night last night, which I'm sure isn't helping. It was kind of cute - she kept waking up crying and going "Cuddle! Cuddle!" Well, cute up until the 10th time she did it in the span of an hour. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who spent the night in the bed next to her cot so that we could all get a little sleep.

Speaking of which, night night.

Baby Shower



On (North American) Mother's Day, my very lovely girly friends threw a baby shower for me at Caroline's house. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, filled with sunshine and lots and lots of chocolate! The theme was chocolate and mint (for Junior Mint - get it? No? Oh come on!) and all the guests were asked to bring food containing one or both ingredients. Most people went the sweet route and my god...I was in sugar heaven! Chocolate mint cake, mint Bailey's cheesecake, minty-iced cupcakes, brownies, and more minty chocolates than you could shake a stick at. YUM. We also had kebabs with minty sauce, minty pasta salads, and a chickpea and mint salad just to balance out all the sugar. We had chocolate-scented candles, chocolate face masks, peppermint foot spray, and minty green nail polish.

I was so surprised and touched to receive gifts - they just aren't the "done thing" here before baby arrives. I know how weird it must have been for people to buy things for the baby (and how difficult because we're not finding out the sex this time until the birth.) The girls bought a load of adorable clothes, little toys, and a custom made Junior Mint sleepsuit (see photo)!

Caroline got a friend of hers to do Indian head massages and Hopi ear candle therapy (don't ask - I'm still not sure what this involves, but I have images of my friends with birthday candles melting away in their ears.) The massage was heavenly! It was a chilled, fun, sunshiney day. I cannot thank my friends enough.

The day before, Paul and I went up to Peterborough for a 3D scan. It was AMAZING! I was worried that we'd see an accidental willy/hooha shot, but because the baby was quite big at that point (32 weeks), the sonographer just had to stay focussed on the face to avoid giving the gender away. For the first few minutes, Junior Mint hid his/her face hidden behind the arms completely. The stinker. I had to roll over onto my side and jiggle my belly around (not pretty) to coax the arms away. Finally, we saw the little button nose and chubby cheeks and got some amazing shots:

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We're still thinking boy, although the smiley photo really reminds me of Mia.

Tuesday 12 May 2009

excessive consumption of whine


First, let me just say that the baby in my pregnancy ticker at the top of this page is mooning us. It must be a boy.

You know how people say that everything happens sooner the more babies you have? It's true. I've now reached the stage where everything annoys me to no end. I expect I'll soon enter the "Muttering to Myself in an Annoyed Fashion Over Things Like the Dishwasher Being Loaded Incorrectly" phase.

These things annoy me:
-people saying how huge I am/gasping in horror when I say I still have two months to go/asking if I was "this big" with Jack and Mia. Stop it. Stop it now.
-being hungry ALL THE TIME. And not having what I want to eat readily available.
-waking up every hour to roll myself over because whatever side I'm lying on has gone numb and/or is painful.
-being at work.
-having arms like a t-rex and not being able to reach anything because my belly's in the way.
-my bellybutton is starting to turn into an outy. That's never happened before. I don't like it; it creeps me out.
-constant Braxton Hicks.
-stupid posts written by stupid people on pregnancy web sites.

I'm starting to freak out a little about having three children, too. Mostly the logistics of it. I'm going to have to do the school run starting in September because Paul will not be able to leave work early enough, and I may have to do this with two other children in tow. The current plan is to greatly reduce Mia's hours at nursery after we're settled into life with a newborn, so I'll likely have her and the baby with me when I go get Jack. That's a lot of child juggling. Thankfully, the school is just a short walk up the road so it's not really that difficult to do...but then it's the thought of having all three kids, on my own, for a few hours a day before Paul gets home. Where am I going to find the energy? I'm old. I don't have much left to give.

But otherwise, everything's peachy, thanks. I'm still feeling a zen-like calm about the birth, and counting the days to maternity leave (8 1/2 more working days.) In the meantime, I just need to chill. And eat an entire cheesecake. That's definitely make me feel better.

Thursday 7 May 2009

still here


I don't know why I'm so horrible at blogging lately. I've got BlogBlock. It could be because I tend to post notes, links, or status updates on Facebook every day, it doesn't leave a lot to say here. But then one of the main points of this blog is for me to look back on this all one day and marvel at the wonders of the past...and to give my children something to be really, really embarrassed about in the future.

So, here I am. Feeling pretty darn good at just over 31 weeks, remarkably calm about the upcoming birth. Every now and then, Paul and I experience a mild case of "Holy Shit, We're Having Another Baby" panic, but mostly we're okay. I really haven't had much to complain about this pregnancy (not that it stops me), and I'm still very much looking forward to the birth. At the moment, I'm looking forward to maternity leave - starting three weeks from this very day. Afternoon naps! Getting caught up on the 12 episodes of Desperate Housewives on my Virgin box! Going shopping - alone! Afternoon cake with my girlfriends! Lovely, can't wait.

My baby shower is on Sunday at Caroline's house, which is so fabulous. I never expected one (I was thrilled to have one for Mia, but didn't think I'd get another this time as they're not really the "done thing" here) and I was so touched when the girls offered to throw one for me. All I know is that it'll involve sitting outside, eating, and a massage. What more could a girl need? I've got to do some experimental cookie making (and eating, for test purposes only) tomorrow for the goody bags. I don't think I've ever made shaped sugar cookies before. I'm trusting Nigella on this one, so fingers crossed.

The baby is wriggling loads, which amuses my little boy to no end. Mia now says "Baby kick!" when she looks at my belly. She also likes to say "Baby milk" and hike up my top, but thankfully she's only been doing this at home. I don't think Mia really gets what's going on and what she's in for in two months, but Jack seems to be more aware of his impending sibling (who he is sure is a girl and that we will call Olivia.) Liz loaned me a great book called "There's a House in Mummy's Tummy" about a pregnant mummy, that both Jack and Mia love. Although now Jack is convinced that there's a television in my "tummy house", because he claims that the baby is in there watching TV. Judging by how huge and heavy I feel right now, he might be right.

As I said, I'm feeling good on the most part. The only complaints I have are heartburn (same old, same old), aches and pains every now and then, and constant Braxton Hicks. I surprised myself when I realised that I'm still lifting Mia in and out of the cot (it doesn't have a drop-down side) because I stopped doing this at 20 weeks with Jack. At that point, he was 2 and we moved him to his bed because I just couldn't bend and lift him anymore. Mia's such a wee thing, she's pretty easy to lift.

I'm due two months from today. TWO MONTHS. How mental is that?