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2009-05-26 - 10:54 p.m.��previous entry��next entry
33 weeks, 6 days - BH update and name wafflings, etc
Aaargh, internet driving me CRAZY!!! We switched from AOL to Virgin because AOL was so rubbish for sooooo many years, but this is way worse! Tsk! Only the last 9 days though, before that it was a big improvement on AOL. Neil is going to ring them tomorrow (again), so hopefully I'll have better access. It's now midnight again and I was about to give up and go to bed but then suddenly I got access again :) So I just wanted to update as briefly as I can (in case the connection goes again) to follow on from last night's entry.
Braxton Hicks contractions faded off after I finished my entry last night, and I slept okay too. I haven't had any bother from BHs through the day today, just the usual few here and there. I have been so tired today, physically. Tired in general as well (with the late night, probably!), but mainly my body just feels so tired and unable to move itself about! It hurts to walk upstairs (my legs and pelvis) and getting my leg(s) over the safety gate on the kitchen doorway is almost unmanageable now, and sooooo very uncomfortable! I am tripping on clutter more easily, and if I have to lunge at a small person to grab them before they fall or make a run for the top of the stairs or something like that, I hurt a muscle somewhere every. single. time. I think I may have gained about 40lbs now (weighed myself the other day but had clothes on and had already eaten 2 meals that day - I usually weigh myself first thing before breakfast for consistency, and it really does make the difference of 2-3lbs for me), so maybe that's the problem?! Eeeps.
Today I phoned the midwife to cancel tomorrow's 34 week appointment, and I rearranged it for 35 weeks exactly, NEXT Wednesday. I also talked to the midwife about all the BHs yesterday evening. She said usually they recommend to rest up, drink plenty, and take paracetamol if the contractions are painful. If they're still going after the 2 hour point, then I should call and they'll assess the situation and decide what should be done (if anything). I told her that yesterday's contractions went on regularly for 2.5 hours. She said that some women get this for 2-3 hours at a time and then they fade off, and it happens to them quite a bit. Neil said it rings a bell from previous pregnancies that I've had this before, and it hasn't been any sort of cause for concern, and I think so too.
So, the midwife said if it happens again, I should just rest and drink water and so on, and if they're still going after 2 hours, call them. If it does happen again I think I might wait more like 2.5 hours to see if they fade off after that time, since that's how long it took this time. At the 2 hour point everything was still in full swing, but it faded off half an hour later, so I would probably wait a bit longer before calling. I wouldn't even worry about it at 36 weeks I think, because I would just go to bed and know that if it WAS labour starting up, I'd soon know about it! ;) If not, I'd wake in the morning (okay, within 2 hours for a wee) and realise it had all faded away anyway. But at 33 weeks I was a little more concerned.
This evening my Braxton Hicks contractions have stepped up a gear again - funny how it's evenings, but it did always used to be that way in my previous pregnancies. I have had lots of stronger-than-usual contractions this evening, and some close together, but nothing like yesterday evening. Maybe I WAS too dehydrated after all? I did drink a LOT of water through it all, so that's good. I haven't had that as much water this evening, but the BHs are much more manageable tonight, and I feel more confident about it all, having spoken to the midwife. I wish I was having my 34 week appt tomorrow, but oh well. I love my antenatal appointments! :)
Baby boy bean, who I am now NEEDING to refer to by name when I stroke my tummy and talk to him about stuff - and thus pretty much IS Benjamin (yay!), is now heading for 18 inches long and just under the 5lb mark in weight!!!! That's so big! Well, still soooo tiny, but so big for an actual little person inside my body! Nathan was 19 inches and 5lbs 13oz, so it seems surreal to me that I almost KNOW what he looks like in size now (very likely more similar talk on this around the gestation when Nathan was born in a week or two!). He's so vigorous and strong in his movements, but they are mainly "careful" movements, not just thrashy and agitated like lots of Arthur's were (my 4-year-old with the natural agitated tendencies!). He's strong but composed, if that makes sense. Not necessarily mellow but just.... his movements seem calculated almost, although they are very vigorous. He stretches his legs a lot and that hurts the flesh between him and my outer skin now. There's also a lot of sudden jarring pressure against my left hip when he shoves his legs out to the right, as his body forces back suddenly against my hip. He feels so BIG in there. I just wonder what he'll weigh, whether he'll be in keeping with my previous babies' birth weights, or whether he'll be heavier. All my little ones have been about half a lb heavier than average, which is not much really. Matthew was more spot on average for 41 weeks at 7lbs 11oz. Arthur was just over half a lb heavier than average for 40 weeks, and Nathan was the same for 35 weeks. So I'm hoping he won't be heavier than 8lbs and a couple of oz maybe? I hope he's actually lighter! The lighter the better! 7lbs-something would be lovely :) If he's half a lb over average at the moment, he'll be over 5lbs already - wow!
The internet has gone AWOL again, tsk! I have this window open with the box for the diary entry, so I might as well keep on waffling for a bit and hope it comes back before I need to switch it off and go to bed (which I should do NOW anyway!), so that I can post what I've written. Otherwise I'll have to copy and paste it into Word or something and come back tomorrow to post it. Tsk!!!
Well, I'm 34 weeks pregnant tomorrow - today really! Yay! Getting so close, only 6 weeks left to go!! I still haven't managed to upload the photos of the thing I won at eBay, but I will if the internet lets me, tomorrow I hope. It's also time for another belly picture, so I'll try to get Neil to take one tomorrow evening and post that when I have it.
I'm currently working on clearing out the main bedroom to change the furniture in there. Matthew's toddler bed is in there right now with our big kingsize bed, and I don't plan on taking it apart for a while yet. He's sleeping every night in the bottom bunk, but he likes to go and see his little bed at bedtime, and umms and ers over which bed to use that night still. I encourage him to choose the bottom bunk, but will not make him if he doesn't want to. I want to leave his toddler bed up for a good while for his security. I am taking apart our triple wardrobe and sorting/culling/storing the contents which we rarely use anyway. I want to find a second hand (thus cheap) double chest of drawers like we did for the boys' room before Nathan was born. Theirs is FABULOUS and it was �50 at eBay - we had to pick it up ourselves. It will hold ALL the clothes for ALL three boys! Such a great buy! I want a similar one for our room to hold all of Neil's and my clothes (which are currently split between a bit of wardrobe space, one aging chest of drawers and, well, just piles around the house!) and then get some little wicker baskets or something to sit across the top, for storing all the baby clothes. Nathan's clothes have been stored all this time in a 4-drawer narrow bedside table! It has been a squeeze to fit them all in there, and I'm so glad to move them all to the big double chest of drawers in the boys' room now. I want those bedside tables out of the bedroom, and the aging chest of drawers too, and just replace them and the triple wardrobe with a nice double chest of drawers and some easy-access, nice-looking storage baskets along the top. I think the room will look a lot more spacious that way too. The toddler bed will actually fit opposite the double chest of drawers at the foot of our bed, and that will leave space NEXT to our bed for the new baby to sleep (where Nathan was till recently). But a MUCH less cluttered-looking room! I'm excited! :) I just need to find a double chest of drawers, and I' watching eBay, but it's hard with the diddly-bobbling internet on the blink all the time! Just checking (in another window!) if it's working yet....
Nope. Tsk! Looks like I may have to copy and paste this into Word and update tomorrow for 34 weeks. So annoying!
Neil and I talked about the baby's name again tonight, because I told him how I was just starting to call him Benjamin when I talk to him, because I'm starting to NEED to have a name to put in there when I talk to him. I don't know why, I just do. Maybe it's because I always have with other pregnancies so it feels weird not to, and also because I'm feeling so much more bonded with him lately - he needs a name to go with the intensity of the bonding! So I'm thinking Benjamin is the most likely, so I'll use that, if only temporarily for my own relief! ;) So, I told Neil that's what I've been doing, and he is still a little worried about my family and the name Benjamin, but I keep telling him that I am so OVER that, and they'll have to just lump it. I feel a bit sad that they made a bit of a big deal about it because it has led to me not sharing anything about his name for the rest of the pregnancy, and that just feels sad and awkward, because I always always share everything with my mum when chatting with her on the phone, and she always knows all our thoughts on names from very early on, all the way through to the end of pregnancy. I find that I don't even want to tell her that I've been calling him Benjamin lately, or even anything to do with the name Benjamin that has been occurring to me, and that is a strange feeling for me (and probably her too, though she isn't saying anything about it - she was a bit defensive the last time I mentioned not knowing what to do about the name anymore, asking if it was her fault in a certain tone *sigh*).
We have pretty much decided tonight that we WILL name this baby Benjamin, and very likely Benjamin Isaac. Neil likes the way it sounds, and I told him that if we DO end up calling him Benny/Bennie in an affectionate way as one of his multi-million nicknames (you know there will be MANY, don't you?! hehe!), then it really will just be for OUR little household/family only, not for the extended family to hear on a regular basis. It's like Matthew's name. We were asked a lot when we chose to call him Matthew, about whether we'd call him "Matt" or "Mattie" or something like that. We were kind of surprised at that, because to us, the name Matthew is, well, the name Matthew! Not Matt. We don't actually like the name Matt, and I for one don't really see how it comes so naturally from the name Matthew (similar for getting Nate from Nathan). The sounds in Matthew are soft, and the same for Nathan, and that's one of the main reasons we chose those names - we love the soft sounds! We don't want to cut them off with a hard consonant and get rid of them! So, everybody knows Matthew as Matthew, and that is totally his name. When I phone my mum and tell her that he's done this or said that, I only ever refer to him as Matthew. If he could introduce himself to you, he'd only ever call himself Matthew. Arthur is constantly introducing Matthew to anyone we meet out and about, and he always calls him Matthew. His name is 100% MATTHEW. But, if you were a fly on our wall in our house, you'd hear him called Matthew maybe 50% of the time, and the rest of the time affectionate nicknames that are only used within our family (that is, within our household - the 5 of us), and those include Mathie, Mathsie, Math, and Maths. There are, of course, a whole bunch more (from me!). But those four are used regularly and consistently throughout each and every day when I talk to him, call him, refer to him when talking to one of his brothers or to Neil, etc. Mathie is the most commonly used. Arthur uses them all to talk to Matthew (as well as "Matthew", which he uses the most frequently) during their play and conversations (and arguments!) throughout the day. If they are having a VERY pally game, he will call his brother "Maths" a lot of the time. I love Math and Maths, and prefer them muchly over Matt. It keeps the soft sound in that we love, suits Matthew much better, and I honestly don't think about arithmetic at all when I say them! ;)
Anyway, if my parents (or anyone else) comes to visit, they might well overhear me refer to him as Mathie or Maths a fair bit when I am talking to him, so they'll KNOW that I call him those things, but it's never a name that anyone else has "permission" to use, you know? It's clear that it's for family-only use, and I never refer to Matthew as anything but Matthew in talking to other people, even if I've just turned to them from talking to Matthew as "Mathie". So that part is pretty clear I think.
I just think it will be the same way with Benjamin. His name will be Benjamin. His brothers will introduce him to others as Benjamin. When I talk to others about him, I will only ever refer to him as Benjamin. Telling my mum on the phone that he has cut his first tooth, I will be referring to him as Benjamin, not whatever cutesy nickname I just spend the whole morning using for him! And that won't seem formal of me in any way, because his name will be BENJAMIN! We'll call him that at least 50% of the time, and the rest of the time, yes, we'll likely call him allllll manner of variations on the name that are clearly cutesy and for intimate family use only. So, that should be fine, shouldn't it? Even if I DO end up calling him Benny-boy or something. That won't make him "Benny" for my family to struggle with like they are thinking (or my mum was, when I last talked to her about it some months ago). Even if she visits and hears me call him Benny, who cares! It's not his name for anyone else to call him but me, his daddy, and his brothers! So I think it should be fine. I said all this detail to Neil tonight, and he felt reassured and agreed with me.
So I think his name really IS going to be Benjamin, and we both like Benjamin Isaac best, for a full name, though we haven't 100% finished deciding. I'm feeling pretty confident that this will be his name :) Of course, on the internet I will be using the cutesy nicknames all over the place, as you know I already do with the others! That's different. And I don't too much mind when online friends refer to Nathan as Nathey, like I do. But I think it's generally clear (ish?!) that the cutesy nicknames aren't his actual main NAME and that the world in general does not really know him as anything other than Nathan, since that is his name. You know? I hope I'm making sense!
Well, the internet looks like it is working again for the moment (aaaargh, it's so late!!!!!) and so I'll try to post this (copy and paste first, just in case!), and go to bed. I guess I'll leave this up for the 34-week entry, but I will be back before long with the 34 week belly pic and the photos (and news!) on the "thing" I bought at eBay! :)
I also wanted to finally confess that I keep this diary/blog at blogger now too. I am updating both diaries every time I write an entry, with the intention of moving over there permanently in the end. I have sooooo many archives to transfer. I have made a basic layout (BASIC, people!) and transferred all the belly galleries, ultrasound galleries, and birth stories for all to see. There are quite a lot of entries up already, including the second half of this pregnancy at least, as I've been adding them. Now that I've "revealed" its existence, please do feel free to switch over to Blogger and follow me there instead of here, if it's easier. Or continue to read and comment here, if you like, that's fine too. I won't switch till after my gold membership runs out here, as that just feels WASTEFUL, lol! ;) I can't remember when that is - another couple of months maybe? Anyway. If you want archives, you'll have to come back here for a good while to come yet! It will take me a while to transfer them all, and I'll be less able to do that kind of thing over the next few months. But my initial update is at Blogger, then I copy and paste to Diaryland. If I only have time to do one place, say during labour if I am going to blog my labour LIVE (!!), then I will likely just update at Blogger and not here (until I copy and paste after the event to catch up).
The link is (surprisingly!) http://alicesbaby.blogspot.com. I was so happy that my cosy familiar username was available! :) So, feel free to come on over. I have no idea how to make a nice layout any more, and I was going to get Jennisa to do it (who designed my arthursmummy blog recently), but it's an expense and I figured I could do just as well with a free background and basic "homemade" layout for now. Maybe next time I get a positive pregnancy test I will splurge to celebrate, or something! :)
Going to bed! I hope this posts okay...
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