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2004-08-18 - 11.30pm��previous entry��next entry
28 weeks, 4 days - shopping!
Just a quickie entry (wow!) because I have a couple of things to write about and 15 minutes till a maternity thingy closes that I�m bidding on at eBay! :) I got one or two emails replied to today!!! Yay! I promise I will get to the others that I owe soon.
Well today I went into town to do some shopping!! I never do that, so it was nice to do something different. I have finally had to admit that I do not fit my maternity underwear � it digs in at my hips now :( So I gave in and went to Mothercare to buy the next size up. White knickers will do now. Remember when I was all stressed about there being no coloured knickers in maternity ranges?! I got my pink knickers eventually (which I now don�t fit), but now I just don�t care if they�re white or pink or what, I just want to be comfy! I guess that�s a trademark thing for the third trimester. Desperation to be comfortable! Unfortunately comfort isn�t a natural thing in the last trimester of pregnancy!
Well I bought my white knickers in the next size up, and I have to say I�m kind of surprised/disappointed that they still dig in a little at my hips! Maybe there is a stage of pregnancy where there�s nothing for it but to crack out the full briefs (the ones that cover all of your bump)? So far I�ve been wearing under-the-bump normal knickers. Hmmm. Full briefs just make me think frumpiness, and also I can�t help but think they will make my tummy itch like crazy. But maybe I�ll keep them in mind if I can�t get comfy on my hips in the ones I�ve got.
They had suuuuch cute baby clothes but I was so controlled! I picked loads of them up and looked at them and felt all mushy, but I didn�t buy ANY at all! I did buy a pack of maternity postpartum pads for the lovely days and weeks of bleeding after the birth, mainly just to see how big and thick they are because I am thinking of using some of my nappy-making scraps to make cloth postpartum pads. I don�t know if they�ll do the job or not, or if I�ll like wearing them, but I might as well use up some scraps. Scraps that size are too small for anything else anyway so they�d probably go in the bin in the end otherwise. And now I have a pack of disposable ones to start me off :)
I looked at my original mammoth list of things that we need to buy for the baby, and we have pretty much got everything there, except for toys and things, and stuff that will not be needed at the very early stages, like stair gates and things. But we do still need some linen for the Moses basket. I want 2 cream cellular blankets and a few flat sheets in cream. I have 3 fitted ones for the mattress already. And we need some basic boring stuff like baby lotion and shampoo and that stuff. So today I looked at the linen but they didn�t have what I wanted in stock. I did buy baby shampoo and baby oil though. Oh and I have discovered Mothercare�s own brand of liquid talc!!! I love the smell, and this afternoon I was soooo sweaty again, so after I got clean and dry, I put liquid talc on my belly where I normally sweat the most, and the stuff is FANTASTIC!!! I mean, I have stayed dry and silky smooth! I am sure I will have used it all up by the time Arthur is here, so I will need to buy some more! It�s way more expensive than normal talcum powder but I don�t like the idea of powder and new lungs. I don�t even like the stuff near MY lungs! And I want something that will keep his little crevices dry :) So this liquid talc is great.
Note to self: Never ever ever write a diary entry whilst waiting for an eBay auction to close (particularly one you really wanted to win). You will always forget the time and miss the end of the auction, thereby not winning it and getting irrationally angry at the computer. Tsk.
Oh well, now I�m here I will just carry on then. It was an evening top (reeeeally nice one) that I thought I could wear as part of a wintery wedding outfit for my friend�s wedding at the end of September if it�s too cold for my summer suit thingy. Grrr. I hate losing auctions!
Anyway, so it was fun to buy things in Mothercare. MUCH more fun was the fact that I was huge and full of bump, and really obviously so! I notice that when I am out in public, everyone notices me. I mean, strangers all look at my bump, or else they go to stare past me and then it�s like their eye gets caught by my bump and so they look properly at it. I really like that. I can see how some would hate it, but I love it! I like noticing how different people look at my bump in different ways. Some get a smile on their face, and some just smile in their eyes. Some look mushy like they just saw a cute baby in a pram, and some look hard and even unhappy or wistful. They still look though, even if they don�t seem to like seeing it. Some go to meet my eye and give me a smile, and others avoid me, like they�ve just invaded my privacy and feel embarrassed about it. Children seem to just stare until I�ve gone out of their range of vision (!), and I like that the most, because children are so busy taking everything in around them that I know I have to look pretty interestingly different to catch their attention. I know my bump has to be really pregnant-looking to distract a child from a busy shopping centre or a crowd of people. I like that I look that pregnant! :) Seeing other people�s reactions as I pass them gives me a real boost, because I can tell that I look big and pregnant now by how it�s reflected back to me. Men seem to look at my bump as much as women, which for some reason surprised me. That must be me being stereotypical or something.
But I did get too hot in town. I sweated and sweated. I seem to be a crazy sweating woman when pregnant! It was warm, but not too bad. I was wearing jeans though, not a summery outfit. When I was in town I remembered something my friend Katie (who just had a baby) said to me. She said that I should buy thank-you cards before the birth, as I would probably get gifts and it would save a big chore of going shopping for thank you cards with a new baby. If we get gifts then I would like to give thank you cards rather than just say thank you. So I found some really cute thank you cards in packs and bought a couple. I like feeling more prepared with every item I buy or check off my list!
I was quite excited about going shopping in town, because I love to parade my pregnantness (!), especially now that I have such a big bump. I loved that I have finally become one of the pregnant ladies shopping in Mothercare that I envied all those months ago when we were shopping for the travel system and I had no bump yet. In fact I have felt wistful and out of place next to a pregnant woman in Mothercare since my teens, so it�s the most wonderful feeling to BE the pregnant woman, big bump, waddle, and all!! A lady with a little bump looked at my tummy like I have looked at other pregnant tummies in the past, and wow that was such a rush to see! :) I LOVE being pregnant! But I was kind of surprised to find that it wasn�t all as much fun as I�d expected, because as I walked through town I realised that I actually feel tired and large and achy, and walking isn�t comfortable. My pelvis and my back ache, and I have to walk sort of�. not like I am uncomfy, but I notice these days I walk more tenderly, because yeah if I don�t then it IS uncomfy. I have to walk at a pretty gentle pace too, or I get out of breath or my pelvis starts to hurt way too much. I am getting slightly worse pain in my pubic bone too, which I hope will not get much worse. I just feel like I am needing to be that little bit more careful in my movements because my body is under pressure and strain a bit. I get tired quickly, and I feel very heavy when I am walking. My legs get tired and achy quickly. If Arthur pushes his feet or bottom out in my side while I�m walking it seems to ache my back more, and it�s uncomfy in my side so if he does that then I walk with one hand pressed against where he�s pushing, sort of to support it. I suppose I must look pretty pregnant to the observer now! I did catch an unexpected glimpse of myself in one of those tinted shop windows as I walked past it, and it was weird because I KNOW I look that pregnant, but seeing me in motion unexpectedly, my eyes nearly fell out of my head! For the first nanosecond I thought I was seeing another pregnant person, like someone reeeally pregnant, until I realised it was me! So weird. But lovely. But weird. Nice weird though. I think!
So that was my day. I slept really badly last night again, even using that new sleeping position. I seem to wake up soooo frequently, like at least every hour � well, with one block of a few hours somewhere in the middle of the night, but other than that it�s very frequent. Not necessarily to pee, although I did pee 4 times last night. I am pretty sure that was because I did most of my water-drinking in the 2 hours before bed again! Not a wise move, but I am finding it so hard to drink in the day, and in the evening I finally feel able to guzzle down more fluids, so I do. I usually have Braxton Hicks that are way too frequent by the evening, so I need to drink all evening to get hydrated enough to calm them down. I need to figure out a way to drink loads in the day, but I just feel so queasy with fluid in my tummy during the day, and my stomach capacity for fluids is also decreasing rapidly. Two sips and I feel like my whole stomach is full and sloshing with liquid! I don�t know. I will think on it.
But anyway, I don�t know why I wake so frequently. I don�t need to pee every time I wake or anything. I got my week 29 update from Babycentre today, and funnily enough it says that I may be having trouble sleeping, so I went to that link and the page said that pregnant women in their third trimester are unable to reach the level of deep sleep that other people can. This leads to more frequent waking, and more tiredness in the day, etc. I can�t understand why that should happen � surely by nature your body should be increasing the efficiency of rest and sleep that you take, in preparation for birth and the exhaustion of early motherhood?!! It�s crazy to do the opposite. Some women wake a lot due to leg cramps as well, and many have restless leg syndrome by the third trimester which keeps them awake. I have had restless leg syndrome pretty badly since childhood so I learned to live with it a long time ago. I remember it keeping me awake regularly since my early teens, so this is not new for me. But last night was a pretty bad night for my restless legs! They were so uncomfortable and jumpy that I simply could not sleep for the way they were feeling for 2 hours. They are feeling pretty naff now so I hope they won�t keep me awake for a long time. The one thing I don�t seem to be kept awake by much (yet!) is Arthur kicking me. He is mostly wriggly, although he does do some pretty good wallops! So wriggles just distract me rather than jerking me awake when I�m dozing off. I usually need to fall asleep by accident anyway, I have been like that since birth apparently! ;) Anyway so today I am feeling a bit woozy and tired from a bad sleep, but Babycentre weren�t too encouraging because they said I should get used to it, and even expect some sleepless nights before the end of pregnancy! They said it would get me used to the way nights will be after the baby is born. Well thanks for that! Nothing like encouragement! Tsk.
Tomorrow I am going to my grandparents� house for lunch, which is nice. I haven�t seen them for a while, and Grandoug had surgery on his shoulder last week, so he�s feeling pretty grim and could do with a visit from his �favourite grand-daughter�, or so he calls me (I�m his ONLY grand-daughter!)! I warned them that I seem to get tired quickly so I may not stay all afternoon. I don�t want to get so tired that I can�t drive home again � it�s a 30 minute drive and I�m more used to 5 minute trips in the car or not going out at all! I am looking forward to seeing them though, and for them to see how much bigger I am now! I last went to see them at 22 weeks, so I know I will look a whole lot bigger to them now!
Then on Thursday I have aquanatal class � I can�t WAIT!!! I love it. I want to rest up on Thursday so I feel okay at the class. I don�t want anything to spoil my class! On Friday I have my friend Emily coming round in the afternoon to chat and pray. She was meant to come round last Friday but I felt so exhausted after my aquanatal class that I had to cancel. I wish I had thought ahead and rearranged for a different day than Friday (incase the same thing happens again!) but oh well. I don�t want to cancel on her again.
I phoned the Health Visitors office today and asked about my NCT antenatal classes. She asked when my baby was due and then went off to look at which class to book me on. When she came back to the phone she said I could go on the one that starts October 14th. I thought, um NO, that�s too late, so I asked her how long the course runs, and she said 7 weeks. Hello?!! My baby is due 3 weeks after it starts, and 4 weeks before it finishes! So I pointed this out and she said the only other one starts August 31st, and runs for seven sessions every Tuesday and Thursday, so 3 and a half weeks long. The only bad thing is that it�s an evening class (good though, because Neil can come with me), and I have aquanatal on Thursday evenings. I told her this but she said that�s all she could offer me. I have decided to book for the classes anyway because it�s really important to me that I go to antenatal classes for my first pregnancy, and they are free for me because of a pilot scheme being run by my doctor�s surgery. Anyone else would have to pay �100 for the classes, so I am really lucky. NCT classes are supposed to be really good, better than the normal ones you can attend at the local hospital. So I want to go to them. I checked the calendar and it turns out that I only have 2 aquanatal classes that clash with my NCT classes, so I may skip the NCT class on those evenings (since I�m paying for the aquanatal and I value the weekly exercise) unless the topic for that evening is something really valuable like breathing during labour. I need to know that stuff!
Okay my back is protesting increasingly as I sit here typing, and it�s late too, so I am going to go to bed. It�s raining, I just realised that�s the shushing tapping sound I can hear outside! I love the rain. It�s a shame it�s too warm for the fan to be off in our bedroom, because I love hearing the rain as I go to sleep. It usually helps me sleep, so it would be good if I could listen to it tonight, but I will melt and become one with the sheet if I don�t have the fan on me, so never mind!
Can you believe I am more than halfway through another week?! Arthur is 15 inches long now, and weighs at least 2 and a half pounds. Don�t worry, I am not giving the 29 week stats early, he will be more than that by then! He is growing fast. He had hiccups twice today. He has been more quiet than usual today, and not really kicking at all during the day, although he has been doing the odd wriggle or squirm. Early evening I decided to listen with the doppler, and he was being all quiet at first � his heartrate was the lowest I�ve heard yet (though still perfectly healthy and normal) at 136, and then he started to wiggle and his heartrate shot up while he was active and wiggly! It was yet more confirmation that he is indeed head-down, because I found his heart beating nice and clearly down by my bikini line, and I found his umbilical cord whooshing away up near my tummy button. He�s such a good boy :) He has been a lot more kicky this evening though, so that�s nice.
Okay I am going to bed. But I�ll be back soon with another update! :)
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