Journal
Sign guestbook
Arthur's Mummy's Diary
Matthew's Belly Gallery
Nathan's Belly Gallery
Benjamin's Belly Gallery
My Fertility Friend Chart
2006-05-29 - 3.05pm��previous entry��next entry
38 weeks, 5 days - updatey stuff
Still here and my blood pressure remains unchanged. Thanks so much Jemma for leaving me a message about it! :) I am trying to rest and keeping a close eye on my blood pressure.
When I wake in the mornings I take my blood pressure before I even sit up in bed, and it's always normal, usually something like 125/70 or 125/75. That is higher than my pre-pregnancy baseline but still fine for me. Just getting up and going to the loo though, it goes up to where it seems to be staying all day long - either 130/80 or 135/75 or something around those readings. If I'm too active (ie. doing hardly ANYTHING it seems!) then I get a reading of 145/80 or something similar. So I try to rest. I DID varnish those shelves, but only one coat. I checked my BP before it and it was the usual 130/80, so I thought I'd see how I went with a little varnishing - tsk! I felt wiped out after just a tiny bit of work and when I took my blood pressure it was 140/90 - hmmm! So yeah, I stopped and I haven't done anything that strenuous since. I don't think I need to worry about pre-eclampsia, as it does still read normal after sleep and stuff. With pre-eclampsia, you can be woken in the night (if you're in hospital being monitored, obviously!) to be told your blood pressure just rocketed and you need a C-section immediately! But my blood pressure is normal as long as I'm sleeping or totally resting.
At the moment, Neil is out with Arthur, picking his mum up to come and visit us this afternoon. She's visiting London with a friend of hers from church, and thought it would be nice to pay us a visit. While they've been out, I've had a shower and got dressed, and made myself a rather rubbish (but quick) lunch of marmite on toast, and then just picked up a few toys in the living room. I felt breathless and buzzy after that so I went upstairs to take my BP and it was 145/85 :( Poo. I lay down for 10 minutes and it went down to 125/75! My body is obviously telling me it REALLY wants me to rest and NOT exert myself. I don't feel that it's a threat to mine or Matthew's health (ie. not like pre-eclampsia is) but I think it's a warning that I should heed. I think I will phone the Community Midwives' Office tomorrow and see if I can speak to Pat about it. She's coming here for my 39 week appointment the next day anyway, but I think she would want to know, and she'll probably be there tomorrow. I have had no headaches today and yesterday and no upper gastric pain, etc. I just wish I knew if my urine was clear of protein or not though. Mind you, no matter what my blood pressure did last pregnancy, there was never any protein in my urine, so it's probably fine.
Matthew has been unusually quiet today and yesterday. Sometimes it has made me worried, it has been so different for him, but he IS moving throughout the day still, and getting hiccups a couple of times a day, so I don't think I need to worry at all. I HAVE read that it's very common for babies to be very quiet in the 2 or 3 days leading up to labour! I told him he has to stay put till Nana arrives, which is another 3 days yet!
I can't believe I didn't write in my diary that I checked my cervix a week or two ago! I just looked at my older entries and there's no evidence of it, so I guess I forgot to write it. I was careful and made sure my hands were very clean. I think I was 37 and a half weeks or something like that, so just over a week ago. Anyway I could not find it at all, no matter how hard I tried! I didn't try all that hard though, as I didn't want to poke about too much, but it definitely couldn't be reached. That was reassuring because if it's high and not anterior and can't be felt then it's a good sign that labour isn't impending. The cervix moves down and onto the front (anterior) wall of the vagina as it ripens for labour, so I knew that if I couldn't find it, labour wasn't close!
Today after my shower I checked again and this time I could feel it fairly easily. It's anterior and soft. I couldn't feel all of it so it's not ultra-low or anything. I remember during my labour with Arthur, the midwife said that when she checked me and found me to be 8cm dilated, she was surprised at how close my cervix was to the entrance! She said it was "right there", only about 2cm inside! Anyway, I don't want to fiddle about checking for dilation or anything like that, but I did notice that I can feel the opening in my cervix and it feels loose around my finger when I put my fingertip in it. So things are definitely closer now than they were last week, but then, they would be given that my due date is now closer than last week, I suppose! Anyway I was just curious to check, and interested in what I found :)
I have been getting weird feelings lately. I feel like my body knows more than I do about the timing of things - if that makes any sense?! I can't describe the feeling any better than that. Lately I feel strange and fidgetty in the evenings when I'm lounging on the sofa watching TV, because I can't shake from the back of my mind the feeling of wanting to put something waterproof down on the sofa in case my waters break and the sofa gets ruined! It's not the same as when I just feel distracted by a thought, it's like a pressing concern that I can't push away, like almost some intuitive part of my mind that knows more than I do about when my waters are going to break! But they haven't.
The other thing is, sometimes I have such a physical urge to bounce or rock my pelvis. It's like almost an itch that wants scratching, it's so overwhelming. I feel desperate to bounce on my birth ball, but I can't bring myself to do that till I know my mum will be here if I go into labour! There's some part of my body/mind somewhere that I can't pinpoint that simply feels so absolutely on the edge of labour, like I'm sitting on the edge of a fence and anything could tip me over. I feel like it could be very close, but then again maybe it's just normal to feel this way at the end of pregnancy, and I could be a week past my due date before I go into labour in the end?! I don't think I remember this feeling from last time though. But maybe it's nothing, just anxiety about the timing, or something like that?
Matthew still seems low down, and my bump is still sloped and flat at the top. I wish he would move more than he is at the moment, but at least he does give me a little wiggle now and then and get hiccups. Today he was practising his breathing so clearly. I was lying on my side, breastfeeding Arthur to sleep for his nap, and Neil was lying on the other side of Arthur. The side of my bump that was facing up as I lay on my side, literally started heaving up and down in a rhythmic pattern, almost the same kind of speed and rhythm as an adult heartbeat. Neil and I put our hands on Matthew through my bump and felt his little back going up and down, up and down, soooo rhythmically and steadily. My pulse was different so I know it wasn't just my pulse being extra strong through my belly or something weird like that! His breathing patterns are so stable and well-controlled now! I know he is totally ready to be born. It feels weird knowing that and yet still waiting and not knowing when to expect anything.
Well, Neil is home with his mum so I'll stop for now. I'll update again soon!
Recent entries.....
Babies 7 and 8! :) - 2016-01-10
Babies 6 and 7! - 2013-02-17
Baby #5 !! - 2010-04-03
Nearly 3 months postpartum! - 2009-10-05
6 weeks old already! - 2009-08-25