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2004-08-11 - 11.46am��previous entry��next entry
27 weeks, 5 days - birth pool and other stuff
Back again, without loads to say, but I am just feeling so great and mushy and pregnant that I just needed to write an entry in my pregnancy diary! :)
Arthur has hiccups as I�m typing this. He had hiccups when I was trying to go to sleep last night too. He has had hiccups every day for the last 9 days!!! My Babycentre email update this week says �your baby may have hiccups a lot this week� and that it�s common throughout the 3rd trimester. I love it when Arthur is spot on with things like that! :)
I love him soooooooo much. Seriously. Sometimes I want to cry when I lay my hands on my belly and he starts squirming against them. Partly it�s frustration that I have these super strong feelings and I can�t hold him or kiss him or cuddle him (though my mum says there is no closer �cuddle� than having him in my body), but mostly it�s just the strength of these mushy lovey feelings. The more he wiggles about in there, the more I love him. And since he continues to be the wiggliest boy EVER, I am bowled over these days.
My belly is blipping gently a couple of inches below my tummy button. He even hiccups cutely! Last night for about oooh a couple of minutes, he turned from transverse to breech I think. I was lying on my side though, and that makes him wriggle like anything � probably because it�s not very comfy for a transverse baby to be squished headfirst into the mattress! So anyway he made some enormous movements and then for the first time in 2 weeks, I started to feel some thumps on my bladder and other movements way down in my pelvis. Then after a while I needed to switch sides and during the rollover he went back to transverse. Tsk. I hope I don�t have the type of womb that encourages transverse lying babies, because otherwise we could be in for a problem!
I have been doing more housework lately. I just want to. I wouldn�t say it�s nesting, but it�s certainly not normal for me to switch off a perfectly fun game of The Sims because I FANCY cleaning the bathroom! Yup, I cleaned the bathroom and I cleaned it GOOD! My shoulders ache a bit today from all the scrubbing but ahhh it was actually so much fun to clean! I went back later in the afternoon and scrubbed the floor too, which NEVER gets done. Usually when it�s getting really gross we sweep it, but I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed :) Behind the toilet and under those pipes and everything! Yuck. But it was very satisfying, and I love seeing it clean all over. Now everything that is done to slightly mess it up is bugging me, like a deodorant out of place on the shelf (gasp!) or hair in the bath after a shower. Well, that�s gross anyway, but you know what I mean.
I pick something to do around the house every day and the rest of the day I don�t get on my own case about bumming around and doing nothing. I figure it�s okay to bum around, because I�m never never ever ever going to get the opportunity ever again (ever!), and this is the only pregnancy I�ll have where I am able to do as I want and rest as much as I like. Next time I will have a toddling Arthur. How weird and slightly overwhelming is that thought?! So anyway, yesterday was the bathroom. And the dishwasher (ooh, big task!). And the post office. The day before was the dishwasher again, the supermarket, and something else I can�t remember. The rest of my time I just rest up, read, play the Sims (this week, I haven�t played that for months otherwise), watch some TV or whatever. It suits me well for the hot weather too.
Oooh talking of hot weather, we had lovely lovely rain yesterday! I walked to the post office with my umbrella up and it was first thing in the morning so it was coolish, even though it was humid as anything. Lately the outdoors smells like a hothouse at the botanical gardens. Seriously. That�s the only place I�ve ever smelled that smell before. Sometimes there�s so much humidity that it�s misty, and it�s really weird. I don�t think this is England�s normal weather at all. But hey ho. It�s August, and almost the middle of August too. I am comforted by the fact that summer is self-limiting here, so it can�t stay this intense much into September (at the very latest) � hooray!!
I was looking for maternity dungarees (overalls) to wear to the post office yesterday. I felt like wearing some, and I figured I am definitely big enough to do them justice now. I have four pairs (!!) which I bought second hand from various people (mostly eBay). One fits beautifully but isn�t denim, and I have a thing for stonewashed denim dungarees. Two are from Mothercare and look nice before you put them on, but are fairly hideous and tenty and baggy once they�re on. I think they will be at their most flattering the WEEK before I give birth, honestly! They are soooo made for a fully ripe pregnant woman, and not really for anyone in earlier pregnancy than full term. The other pair I have I bought before I was pregnant and didn�t like the denim colour (slightly dirty look, yuck yuck yuck!) so I put them at the bottom of a bag of stuff that I�m planning to re-sell at eBay, and they�ve stayed there ever since. But since the Mothercare ones were so crap, I dug these out just to try, and oh my goodness they are SOOOO nice!!! They fit me like a glove, and particularly fit round my bump and show it off, rather than slinging my bump in the sack of potatoes that is most maternity dungarees! I have short legs so I have to roll the bottoms up, but they are soooo nice and I can�t believe I wanted to get rid of them! They are from H&M (or Hennes). I don�t think they�ll fit me to term though, because they are a little snug on the smallest setting and there�s only one other setting which doesn�t look much roomier. But oh well. I can�t wait for the weather to cool down so I can wear them all the time till I grow out of them!
I have 2 nursing bras and a ton of disposable breast pads in the post this morning! :) I am wearing one of the nursing bras � it is soooo comfy. Emma Jane brand. It�s the Bravado style type, but much nicer than Bravado I think. Much comfier anyway. But I think I will have grown out of them for actual nursing � I need to watch out for the next size up (large!!! I�ve never taken a large in ANYTHING before!!) at eBay, because these are comfy but snug.
Oooh I am leaking colostrum again. I notice that my breasts leak for maybe 3 or 4 days, then have 2 or 3 days of absolutely nothing, then leak 3 or 4 days, and so on. This pattern has been round (noticeably) 4 times now. Well, we�re back into a leaky phase! My colostrum has become much more yellow this time. It even stains things if it gets on them. Yesterday I was able to express a little for the first time! And I notice that sometimes just leaning forwards makes the colostrum start leaking out, if I had been sitting back before. When I scrubbed the bathroom floor I was on my hands and knees mostly, so plenty of gravity! I got too hot for clothes so I got colostrum on my legs and on the floor, hehe! I am making plenty right now :)
Also I am gaining weight again. Not that I ever stopped, but things had slowwwed down a lot last week. Two days ago my evening weight (usually about 3lbs heavier than morning weight, which is my baseline weight) was 9st 11.5lbs, 2lbs heavier than last week. Last night I was feeling very heavy so I got on the scales again and my evening weight was 9st 13.5lbs!!! Yikes! I can�t believe I�m going to hit the 10 stone mark pretty soon! This morning I weigh 9 stone 10lbs, and my starting weight was 7 stone 10lbs, so I have officially gained 2 stone so far this pregnancy! Wow. For the Americans out there, a stone is 14lbs, so I have gained 28lbs. That�s actually a lot. Oh dear. I have a whole trimester to go. And my baby has a good 4lbs to gain. Ahem. But I am NOT going to go back on my word and start flapping about my weight. Tomorrow I start aquanatal classes and that might help me to slow down my gain.
I eat well. For breakfast I eat either a bowl of coco pops and milk or two slices of wholemeal toast with marmite and a glass of milk. For lunch I pretty much always eat a wholemeal sandwich of ham and salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber), sometimes with grated cheese in it. And usually dessert of some sort! I am not ready to give up my desserts yet. I usually have various desserty foods throughout the day, sometimes after meals and sometimes as snacks. But those include fruit (mostly grapes or peaches) and yoghurt (strawberry bio). I also like chocolate digestive biscuits, chocolate, chocolate tiffin cakes, mars bar ice-creams or choc ices, chocolate milk (notice a theme here?!), and very occasionally for a treat, jam doughnuts! But those make me constipated (nice) so they really are occasional treats! In the evening we always have a proper cooked meal, like last night we had spaghetti bolognese and salad, and the night before that was roast chicken and potato and veg. And before that was salmon fillets in white wine sauce and pasta and veg. Mmmm� that�s my favourite one to cook � one of my parents� recipes and it�s really easy. It�s also good for Arthur�s brain with all those Omega 3 fatty acids :)
So I don�t over-eat. And I am not constantly gorging on chocolate, despite what the above list might lead you to believe! But I don�t exercise, so I�m hoping that will help balance me a bit more healthily. If it doesn�t, well then I�ll just have to relax and assume that I am gaining what I need to be gaining for pregnancy. Unless I suddenly swell up like a helium balloon and get my health care providers all anxious, I am NOT giving up my chocolate! Besides craving it and therefore NEEDING it (!!), according to some Finnish study this year, it will make Arthur a more smiley, laughing baby! Hehe! I love that study :)
Yesterday I read some more of �The Birth Book� (Dr. Sears). I am trying to read it all before my midwife appointment tomorrow. I also need to read up a bit more on some of those research issues about homebirths that I read after my last appointment. I want them all fresh in my mind so I can have them right on the tip of my tongue incase the midwife is all funny with me again and I need ammunition! Neil is coming with me tomorrow � he is taking a couple of hours out from work. It�s an 11.30 appointment.
Last night I had a dream about getting the right birth people for my baby�s birth. I saw a midwife and she referred me to this American clinic, and they flew a team of reps in from the States (!!) to see me, and when they got here I had to get the bus to some clinic in a place I didn�t know very well, and I got a bit lost, and then when I got there they were reeeeally awful. They kept telling me it was medically necessary for every pregnant woman to give birth lying on their back with their feet in stirrups, and how I needed an IV drip, it was responsible procedure and I would be irresponsible otherwise. I said I wanted to stay mobile throughout labour, and they all looked at each other like I was some silly little girl who didn�t have a clue, and I was getting so cross but there were sooooo many of them, and they had come all that way. I made them miss their flight home because I was so wussy about telling them there was no WAY I was using their clinic for my baby�s birth, and then everybody was cross with me because I�d brought them all that way for nothing � even the English clinic because they would have got commission (!!) for a transatlantic referral! Weird dream. Neil was around but he was forever parking a car and not able to be in the room when I needed support. It wasn�t his fault though. Then on the way home we got the train, and it was the wrong line so we ended up somewhere we didn�t know and got completely lost. And I felt really sapped of energy and deflated about my birth choices :( Sucky dream. But I hope reality will be easier! I am nervous about this appointment tomorrow � I guess that�s what this dream was telling me too. I know I can get this midwife taken off my case, but I hate that kind of confrontation and I�d much rather just feel supported and not have to go through that kind of hassle. I can�t imagine she will be all magically supportive this time though. We�ll have to see.
Tomorrow we have the joy of letting an unsupportive midwife know that we are HAVING a waterbirth, not just a homebirth. My lovely friend Yvonne (hello Yvonne, will email soon!) who is only about a week behind me on her first pregnancy, is buying an inflatable birthing pool, and Neil and I were looking at the hire costs for a solid birthing pool, and man are they expensive!! We had chosen one we wanted and the money would have just about been okay since we had put aside money for a 3D ultrasound and then decided not to have one. But then I went to the website that Yvonne gave me for the inflatable pools and the girls at UKparents recommended a UK site for buying inflatable birth pools, so I went there, and we have decided to buy one of those. I had originally been put off by the image of a floppy paddling pool in my mind! But these are sturdy and what�s more they don�t need returning to a hire company, so you don�t have to worry about the baby arriving outside the hire period, or getting the thing back when you�ve got a newborn to take care of. Also if for some reason I need to give birth in hospital, like if there are any complications between now and the birth, then it�s not a wasted purchase. We can use the pool every time I have a baby. And then some!
Anyway the website is here if you�re interested, and we�ll be buying the larger of the two pools with the deluxe package of accessories :)
Hmmm, there�s sure to be more waffle I could spout, but it�s late morning now, which means it�s hot enough so that I am sweaty and need a shower and then to put the fan on! So I will update again tomorrow after my midwife appointment. I doubt I�ll be home before 1pm, but I�ll update sometime in the afternoon probably.
And oh, I just need to say that I love my husband :) He is so sweet to me. He loves to cuddle me with his arms around my bump (which he can only just reach round from behind me now!) and he calls me his �little Rolo� because I�m all round :) I like his affectionate nicknames. This morning when I came downstairs after he had gone to work (I slept in more than usual today), I found a note from him just saying he loves me, with a little drawing of a smiley face. Neil is so cute. He loves Arthur soooo much already. He kisses my bump and talks to him, and when I say to him that Arthur�s kicking or wiggling, or that he has the hiccups again, he gets such a sweet mushy expression on his face and says that Arthur is so lovely or such a sweet boy, or something like that. Yeah, we�re besotted. I can�t believe we�ve become three people. There�s three of us. Us. Not just �us� and Arthur. We�re all �us� now. Wow. I love it � it feels more right than anything ever felt.
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