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?

First I got rid of the cold which makes my life a lot easier.

My bump is dropping by the day and I can feel the baby a lot lower than before. It is bigger though and getting out of bed and moving became quite amusing at times.

I’ve been getting a shooting pain in my bladder which the midwife said is the baby trying to engage. I’ve been having painful spasms on my back and my hips feel like they are going to dislocate at any moment. One false move and the pain strikes me like a lightning. It got to the point that I actually start laughing at the sorry image of me. These symptoms (although painful) don’t bother me nearly as much as the past month (see previous moaning posts). I don’t know if it’s because they are easier to deal with or because I see them as my body doing the final preparations for labour.

It feels like we are getting there. We don’t have to wait for ages anymore and soon enough we will have our baby in our arms. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I think ‘blimey, it is really going to happen!’

It’s a bit of a scary thought. We still have no idea what to do or how we will be as parents but we are thinking that so many people have done it, we can do it too.

I’m trying not to think about labour as it scares me a bit, I’m just focusing on getting through it as quickly as possible and on the fabulous result. My ante-natal classes start next week. I hope they don’t show videos of labours though. The effect of women screaming the times I’ve been to the hospital was enough, if I see the whole thing I might change my mind and not want to do it anymore . Not that I have a choice.

So now that the time is coming I don’t feel impatient anymore. I’m just trying to enjoy these last few weeks as much as possible before our lives change completely, and I’m enjoying the time getting everything ready for the new arrival.

Oh and btw, when we started telling people about the pregnancy we were amazed on how so many people we know became pregnant at around the same time. So far two babies are born already

Congratulations to S. and C. on the arrival of baby J. and S. and M. on baby M. (you know who you are)

If it was just the cold it wouldn’t be so bad but at about the same time I started getting a sharp strong pain on my ribs on the left side. The result is that I can’t sit down unless I’m leaning backwards and the worst of all, I couldn’t sleep on my sides. Right or left. Sleeping on my back is not advisable especially at this point in the pregnancy and it certainly isn’t comfortable. Worst bit even? Asthma came back and together with the blocked nose the result is I can’t sleep on my back! So I couldn’t sleep! I got to the point of desperation!

Fortunately the asthma eased and the pain in the ribs decreased so I can now sleep on my right side for short periods. But I still have a blocked nose and a pounding headache. But much better than before

My bump has dropped considerably (might have helped with the ribs) but it’s still growing and Tubbs is certainly still moving a lot. I think more than ever. And it’s really funny how she responds to external stimulation

One thing that I’ve noticed is that whenever Russ puts his hand on my bump she calms down. Guess who will be putting her to sleep?

Anyway I have been reading lots about babies and found some books that are a bit more real and prepare you for what can go wrong even with breast feeding. Until now the picture was painted as a perfect one. It is slightly concerning but I think I prefer to be prepared for it than to be caught off guard and feel like a failure or like I’m not a good mother.

I’m also getting quite impacient! I can’t wait to see what she looks like and to be able to hold her. I mean she is inside me but I can’t touch her.

I already packed my hospital bag (I like to be prepared) and realised that she has loads of clothes but only up to 3 months. Nothing above that! We are going to have to do some shopping. We have almost everything else. All we need is some sheets and  a mobile for the cot, some towels, a thermometer and a couple of toys she can look at and touch.

34 weeks tomorrow

We are less than a week away from moving into our new house (whoo-hoo), so I registered with the doctor in Heanor. It’s less than 2 min walk from the house so really handy. I had to go and see the midwife so she could get to know me and check my notes and also to be able to order the Anti-D that I need to have this week

Russ was in a workshop near London so he couldn’t go with me. Instead Sophie drove me there.

The midwife is really nice and for a change I can actually hear what she says. She told me that Sophie better come in as well because it was going to take a while. You see Derby hospitals use different maternity notes so she had to transfer all the information from the old ones.

I was so impressed. The pack the hospital gives you is great! It has loads of information I didn’t know before, maps of the hospital, help of all kinds and the notes are so much more detailed. They even have a part where all the feedings from when the baby is born are recorded to make sure I’m doing it right!

Anyway she checked everything. She took my blood pressure which is a bit low as usual and took blood for all sorts of tests. She said the usual ‘what fantastic veins you have and the blood comes rushing out it makes it really easy’ I find it funny that the blood fizzes, hehe. We also heard the baby’s heart beat

Anyway, at the beginning of the appointment I told her I felt ok, just a bit big. She measured my fundus height (size of my uterus) and she said that I really am big! I just hide it well. Apparently I am right at the upper limit of what is normal. I should be 27cm and I am 29. Added to the fact that I have relatives with diabetes she said we better make some tests to make sure I’m not developing gestational diabetes. This would make the baby too big which may make labour complicated and if it’s too bad that baby might be producing too much insulin to compensate. It’s not a very serious thing, and it happens quite often in pregnancy. It’s easily manageable and it goes away after birth so I’m not too concerned. Besides I still have to do the test to see if I even have it.

Now the test is the bit that is leaving me and Russ slightly worried. It’s called a Glucose Tolerance Test. Basically I can’t eat for 12 hours (only allowed to drink water). I go to the hospital, they test my blood and then I’m given a glucose drink. Then they test my blood again several times over 2 hours to see how I react to the glucose.

The bad bit about it is the not eating. Anyone who knows me know how my temper gets even worse if I’m hungry. Spending more than 14 hours without eating is not going to be nice. Russ told me he doesn’t want to go with me and that he would rather eat a bowl of spiders than to be with me if I haven’t had breakfast!

Anyway it’s going to happen on the 24th November so I advise you not to talk to me until lunch time

P.S.- And just because I like to make it difficult I am allergic to Latex gloves which might be a major pain. Everything in hospitals is latex!! So I am going to see a consultant at the hospital over this as well to see how serious it is. It might mean that I have to be followed by a consultant as well besides the midwife. My dentist had already complained about the fact that I am allergic to latex AND penicillin. He said ‘what an interesting combination’ with a not very happy face. But it could be that it’s just a small reaction and nothing to worry about.

In MK no one seemed to give a damn about any of these things. The new midwife wasn’t very impressed that they didn’t make more tests.

So far it seems like Derby is the place to be! I’m being well taken care of

The test results came out ok and now I am waiting for an appointment with the midwife at the new surgery close to where we are gong to live. She should do a general check up as well.

The baby has been kicking A LOT! Sometimes it even hurts. You can actually see my tummy jump and it doesn’t make things like driving easy. She seems to be all over the place and you can already tell she doesn’t like loud noises (just like mum).

The bump is growing and growing. Getting into a car is becoming more difficult and I can’t bend or reach things that are too low down. Low seats and sofas are a no-no. I also stopped being able to see a few parts of my body

I also lost my skinny hands and feet. They are swollen. Lets say there is nothing even remotely skinny about my body anymore

But the worst is the insomnia. As if t wasn’t enough to be too big and struggle to change positions, I can’t go back to sleep for hours after I wake up to go to the toilet. Her kicking doesnt’ help as well. So lately I’ve been waking up at 3.30-4am and having no choice but to get up and do something useful. I usually go back and have a snooze after 7, but my sleeping patterns are definately weird. I guess it will help me get used to the not sleeping at all that comes after the baby is born