ProjectXY

I’ve noticed for a while that my bump has dropped quite a bit. It was confirmed by the doctors and the midwife that Tubbs is 2/5 engaged  

The weird thing is, she has gotten into a weird position, pushing with her bottom and feet against the front of the bump and she’s making it take a weird shape. It’s like a Ferengi’s head (for the Star Treck lovers). It’s kind of a weird square shape with big bumps on the edges.

She has been a bit quieter but when she moves she tends to push against the front and it feels like it’s going to tear the muscle  It doesn’t hurt, it just feels really tight.

Still I am enjoying these times. I think we are bonding even more and I can’t wait to meet her, but I love every minute I feel her move

This is my bump at almost 38 weeks. I’m surprised I don’t fall forwards or how it hasn’t burst yet! The only people I’ve seen so far with bumps as big as me are having twins!

And the thing is, if she decides to be born 2 weeks late, I still have a whole month of growth ahead of me!

On another note, pregnesia (or baby brain or whatever people call it) has been affecting me dearly lately. I forget what I am doing often, do things I really didn’t want to do, forget what I was talking about, but worst, I’m losing the ability to speak English. I find myself talking to people and not being able to find the words or saying something completely wrong or with an appalling grammar! If this goes on I might need a translator at the hospital!

The funny side is that Russ, although in a much smaller scale, has been slightly off as well. I wonder if he will feel sympathy pains when I’m in labour?

Sunday, Russ and I went to the hospital to see what is available there. There were quite a few pregnant women and their partners there and consecutive groups so a lot of people giving birth soon. I wonder if, statistically, this is the time of the year when more babies are born…

Anyway we were quite impressed. It all looks brand new – the hospital has been through major works – and it all looks spacious and clean.

There are 18 rooms midwife and consultant led. They all have en-suite and the midwife led ones also have CD player, oil burning facilities for aromatherapy, odd shaped sofa and a bed and loads of stuff to help during labour. One of them has a birth pool There are other rooms like an induction room with 4 beds in them and not a lot of space – especially not for dads to stay there during the process – so I hope I don’t need to use one of them, theatres where the C-sections are done, rooms for rest and reflection, etc.

We also got a chance to see the midwives in action with an emergency. One of the pregnant women in my group lost consciousness. It was very hot and she kept her coat on so maybe that was the cause. The midwife that was doing the tour rang the alarm (available in every room) and about 10 of them came running to help! Very efficient!

We then went upstairs to see the post-natal ward and again it was impressive. Hot drinks available in the corridors, rooms with only 4 beds each, each bed has it’s own tv/telephone/internet connection… All very good.

The best bit was when we managed to see a midwife teaching the new parents to bathe the new born. He/she was put in a see through bucket so that they (and us from the corridor) could see how it’s done. They look so small and helpless!

If everything goes well the discharge happens between 6 hours and 2 days. ou can’t leave until both the baby and the mother are checked by the doctors. You also get the chance, as it happened, to be shown how to bathe, change a nappy and breastfeed. They expect the dad’s to change the nappies while the mother is resting. I liked that

All in all I was really happy with what I saw and the people that work there seems really nice. Can’t wait

(and there were no women in labour at the time so no screams to freak me out )

I have become obsessed with labour and everything around it. It’s driving me mad! All those insomnia hours during the night and every time I stop for a bit (or even if I’m walking to the shops) my mind wonders off to everything that can happen.

When will the contractions begin? will I have the show? will Russ be here or 400 miles away at work? who can I call?  will I need a c-section? will I need an epidural? when will the waters break? will my family be here? how long will it take? will she be ok? will I be ok? how will it be when I bring it home? what do I still need to prepare? I can’t stop it!!! And I am tired of it! I try to think of something else but my mind always ends up going back to the same thoughts. It’s like my brain can’t work on nothing else but pregnancy, labour and babies! It’s not that I’m desperate for her to be born – I am enjoying these last weeks – it’s not having a clue what will happen and what to do. It doesn’t matter how much you read, you never know until you get there and I have no idea what my reaction will be.

One of the things I’m stressing about is that we are expecting a job down in Exeter and Russ will have to be away for a few weeks. We don’t know when it will happen but it can happen at any time, and so can the birth. So I will be home alone for all that time and I may go into labour alone as well. And my main concern is that Russ won’t get here on time…

Being bored doesn’t help as well but then again I don’t feel like doing anything… We don’t see or talk to may people as all the work we have now is done from home. I need to go out and have some fun. But it’s difficult considering that I can’t stand or walk for long and there is not much to do with this weather.

I have no signs that it will be soon so I keep checking my bump to see if there are any differences. She has engaged but it looked like she has come back up for a while which was a huge disappointment. So I’ve decided to do the countdown differently and count it down to the last day before I need to get induced. Just so I don’t get disappointed as most first babies are born late. So I’m almost 6 weeks away. Anything before that is a bonus.

In the mean time (whenever I’m not thinking about labour) I’m enjoying the last few weeks where I can have her all to myself. The kicks, the movements, trying to guess which part of her body is sticking out and seeing my bump taking the oddest shapes After she is born I’ll have to share her with a lot of people