Labour, it’s not at all like the movies, dammit.

ARRRRRGH!  ANOTHER DAY OF FALSE LABOUR!  I can’t believe it.  Seriously, my body is like some weird engine that just can’t quite gets the gears to all work at the same time.  Who knew nature could be so haphazard..

In the movies, it’s all so simple.  The lady gets pregnant, spends 9 months shopping, looking fahbulous and feeling like an earth mother.  With lots of crying thrown in, and crazy mood swings.  Then, magically, at 9 months, her waters break in some crazy and exciting way or situation, and she hails a sexy cab driver or partner to whisk her to the hospital, usually in the middle of the day, where she gets on with having a baby as soon as she gets to hospital.

Can I have a Family Fortunes UUUuu-urrrrRRR please?

Real pregnany is a bit different.  You get pregnant after trying for a bit longer than you thought.  Or at least, often it’s not instant.  You spend 9 months worrying if you’re doing it all right, and attempting to look vaguely pregnant and not just fat for the first 7 months, and then look vaguely human and not just blimp like 7 months on.  You get hormonal but in ways you didn’t expect, and then by month 9 you figure you’re nearly there.

Only, you’re not.  You get all the signs – the shows, the cervical plugs dropping out (I’ve lost about 2 now!  Yes, they grow back.. They don’t tell you that in the movies) and you think, ooo, here we go.  Another couple of weeks pass, nothing.  At 39 weeks you’ll probably start to get a false labour or two.  I’ve had four now, but then I am 41.5 weeks now so I suppose I get to have more of a crack at it than most.

My first false labour was for 2 hours, at 38 weeks.  I had painful cramps 10 minutes apart for 2 hours.  They vanished into thin air.  At 40 weeks I spent the whole of the Sunday having painless Braxton Hicks every 20 minutes for TEN HOURS.  They vanished to nothing.  On Wednesday this week just gone (41 weeks) I was up every hour from 1am to 5am with teeth clenching pain.  They vanished to nothing.

Today, I woke at 6am to mild pains, AND contractions.  Ooo, I thought, this is different again.  How interesting.  They got closer – from every 25 mins, to 20 mins, to 15 mins.  I get up, have breakfast, they vanished by 10am.  Returned by midday to the point of having the TENS machine on.  And have found no pattern since.

Why no big WHOOSH of waters, followed by some hilarious incident involving John Travolta?  Why the weeks of am-I-aren’t-I?  ARGH!

I give up.  I really do.  Roll on Induction Day Tuesday!!!

Starfish baby

Went to get my final ultrasound today, to find out how big baby is before induction to check she’s not *too* big for a normal natural delivery.  Turns out she’s fine, 9lbs, give or take a 1lb either side, so looks like we’re on!  Now if I can just jolly her along before the induction date, we could still have our waterbirth!  Well, we can but hope..

Funny thing was, she is 5/5 head down engaged, spine coming up my tummy dead centre, with her arms and legs either side of my tummy, like a great big starfish!  She does crack me up.  That’s what I do in bed when Jake’s away, so perhaps there’s a chip off the old block in her there

Membrane sweeps and induction date

Well, I’m still here, little Nemi didn’t want to put in an appearance on her due date, despite a membrane sweep in the afternoon, and plenty of hoping!  Sadly the membrane sweep didn’t work within 48hrs either, so we had a weekend of just waiting and wondering.  Sunday came and I have Braxton Hicks or possible pre-labour contractions, for 12 hours – 7am to 7pm every 20 minutes, but then they faded to nothing.  Shame – we really thought it was the start of it all.

I’ve been back to the midwife today for my weekly appointment, and she performed another sweep.  Fingers crossed this time.  But, if not, then she also booked in my induction for 6pm on Tuesday 11th November – which is a week tomorrow.

I hope that baby comes before then, as I really wanted to try for a natural birth, and delivery in a water pool.  But hey, whatever is best for baby, and so long as I have a gorgeous healthy daughter at the end of it all then it will all be worth it.

Tired and emotional

Today is the big day!  Well, you know, in theory.  Today I am officially 40 weeks pregnant, which means today is my due date.  Around 5% of babies are actually born on their due date though, so I’m not holding my breath.

This week I am really tired, and feeling quite emotional – pretty anxious, and if I’m honest, scared.  On Monday I went to my usual midwife’s appointment and my midwife couldn’t feel the baby’s head, it was so far down in my pelvis.  This is quite unusual, so to double check it was that far down and not actually popped out and somewhere in my back, I got sent for a special positioning scan in the fetal assesment unit at hospital.  They confirmed that yup, she’s just *really* engaged, if there was a measurement of more than 5/5 engaged she’d be that one!

This is good news as far as labour goes, means she’s ready and totally in the right position.  However, for me it’s not so good – I have been developing SPD (http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/physicalhealth/pelvicpain/) and it’s now at the point where I’m nearly in tears at night when I turn over, or have to get up in the night for my 3 or 4 toilet trips   Also, getting up and down off the sofa is very sore, and I take about 2 minutes to adjust to standing up.

This has left me pretty much housebound, and often in pain throughout the day, so I’m starting to feel very isolated and nervous about how much more painful it can get – afterall, it’s getting worse everyday and I still have in theory, 2 weeks I could go overdue… Hmm!

Not seeing anyone for the last few weeks has been quite hard too, I wasn’t really prepared for being totally stuck at home, and watching everyone else from inside my little bubble.  I’m looking forward to when she’s out and people will come and visit.

Lastly, the midwives told me on Monday and Tuesday that she is over the 9lb mark now, and that has scared me too.  “They” say that bigger babies are easier to push out, but from where I’m sat it just sounds a bit terrifying that something that’s getting bigger by the day and already considered a “big baby” has to come out of me still.  She could be over 10lbs if she stays in for another week or two.

Sorry for the moany and anxious post, but it’s a real reflexion of how I’m feeling right now, and I wanted to try and keep this as an open record to my thoughts during the pregnancy.

We can haz LOLbaby!

Just got back from the midwife, and baby is 4/5 engaged now, so she’s heading in the right direction at least   She was 3/5 last time.  Also, spotted written in “position” notes, midwife has put LOL.  WE HAZ A LOL BABY!

“LOL: left occipital longitudinal lie (baby is lying sideways with the head on your left)”

Awsm.

Nope, my prediction failed :)

No baby arrival this weekend just gone, and we’re edging close to the 39 week mark now (on Thursday).  I did loose my cervical plug yesterday, which means things are moving along, but sadly it’s not time indicative – just means I’m progressing.  Could mean labour at any time, or up to a couple of weeks!  D’oh.  Nature is truly a beast unto itself.

It’s now physically hard to do anything much other than sit on the sofa, lay in bed, bounce on my birth ball and do basic yoga (which I try and do every day now, to keep the baby in a good position).  It’s getting a bit boring, but I try and keep myself busy with baking, and cooking, in particular I’ve pre-prepapred a bunch of nice wholesome food in the freezer for the first week or two of baby, so we can eat well without me having to stress on cooking.  Lots of dhal, soups, curry, lazangne etc.

Little Nemi Bump is kicking about with abandon still, I personally think she is quite happy where she is thank you very much, and despite her dwindelling amount of space will probably stay there as long as she can.  But then it is warm, and floaty, and total abstract.  Why would you want to leave? !  We keep talking to her, telling her how much we want to meet her now, shower her in cuddles and swaddle her up in blankets and show her where she lives, but I don’t think she’s taking much notice

It’s amazing to watch how many of my pregnancy peers are now giving birth all over the place, on the forums I read and the lists I’m on, there’s a birth or two a night now, always good news to wake up to.  And also interesting to see their birth stories, and how much their pumpkin weighs.  Wonder when it will be our turn?

Any day now… and retrospection

We’re 37 weeks along now, and that means full term.  Blimey, never thought I’d see the day!  I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, 9 months is a lot longer than you think it is when every day counts and you don’t get to go on any benders!  Watching what you eat, do, and to a certain extent think for the past 259 days is hard!

So, our due date is 31st October, however, I’ve always had a feeling we’ll be 2 weeks early.  I’m not sure why, I just have.  So, that would mean a small baby girl appearing next weekend, I wonder if it’ll turn out to be true?

I’m really really heavy now, and simple things like turning over in bed to get up, putting socks on, tying up shoes laces, walking about and bending down are really hard.  Walking up stairs is enough to make me sound like an asthmatic, and apparently I am now snoring louder than a Harley.  Poor Jake.  He has to wear ear plugs.

I had a few reflections in the last week, so I wanted to share them.

NOTABLE CRAVINGS:

• Early days, fruit fruit fruit, especially pineapple.
• Chocolate has been throughout – but then I’ve always loved chocolate, so is this just an excuse to eat some everyday?
• Middle of the pregnancy – Fruit n Fibre cereal.  OMG, there were days when I got through whole boxes.
• There was a strange week of shortbread addiction, thankfully just the one week.
• Later stages, MILK.  It’s all about the milk right now.

On the whole I’ve managed to eat very well, plenty of variation, lots of healthy foods, and the only aversion has been garlic.  Which is a pain as I normally love it and it’s in EVERYTHING.  I mean serioulsy, crisps, most meals out, every single commuters breath.. you name it, it’s got garlic in it.

On the whole the pregnancy has run very smoothly, and although it is definitely tough going, I feel like I’ve coped really well compared to a lot of people I’ve been watching on forums and blogs.  Also, I’ve not had any notable preggo problems, so I’m really happy and thankful about that.

So now we’re just waiting for labour, which could happen any day now.  I’m really looking forward to it (no, seriously!) and can’t wait to find out what my birth story will be.  It’s going to be such an exciting and life changing day, and of course, to meet my daughter for the first time will be breathtaking.  Bring it on

Oh, and last minute update on the little lady herself, her measurements were taken by a sonographer on Monday (2 days ago) and she weighs 7lbs already, and measures above average for height and weight for someone of her age.  But then, she’s my daughter, what did anyone expect!

Braxton Hicks, Antenatal Classes & just a few weeks left

We’re nearly there now!  Baby could arrive anytime theoretically, but as each week passes the probability goes up.  After 34 weeks (which is next week) the baby isn’t classed as premature anymore, although at 37 weeks onwards she’s classed as full term.  Either way, we’ve got 4-6 weeks to go now!  Eep!

Our little lump has hiccups loads now, which is really cute, and funny.  At least 3 times a day, sometimes more.  Feels like a small walloping heartbeat every other second for about 5 minutes at a time.  Funny thing!

I’ve started to notice my Braxton Hicks this week, after doing lots of reading about them and really listening to my body I’ve picked up when they are.  And now that I know when they’re happening it’s really obvious to both Jake and me.  My tummy gets this funny rush, a bit like the feeling of how goosebumps spread – which must be the feeling of the tightening of the uterus.  Then it peaks and holds for about 10-30 seconds, and then disapates.  It doesn’t hurt, just feels strange.  And my tummy goes rock solid to the touch   Very strange.  I’m glad I can feel them now though, as it feels like I’m a step closer to labour, and understanding what it’s going to be like for me.

We started our antenatal classes on Tuesday just gone, we are doing NCT ones about 20 minutes walk up the road (up the hill! ARGH).  At first I was really anxious; you walk into a room of 20 people (10 other couples) and just sit there in a big circle doing the creeping death of introductions.  I hate that.  By the end of the session though (they are 2 hours long) I felt like I knew everyone quite well, and was entirely comfortable.  Phew!  It’s really interesting to see how other couples are progressing, both physically and mentally.

Oh, one thing that’s been happening the past week is Spitz, our cat, has started acting up a bit.  We’re not sure why.  The vets did some prelim checks and found nothing, but she had a week of peeing on the carpets.  As a cat that has always done her business outside, this is odd (and annoying, and gross).  We’ve reduced her territory at night to just the kicthen (lino, phew) and outside.  In the day she’s allowed in the bottom of the house.  We’ve also brought back a litter tray for her, which she’s using, and prefering over outside.  So either a naughty male cat has been nasty to her outside, or she’s sensing the impending arrival and getting a bit weird about it all.  We’re not sure.  Not had any more “accidents” since we changed her territory though, so fingers crossed that’s the end of it…

So everything is done at home now, ready for the little one.  Well, there’s some bells and whistles for the nursery, but otherwise we’re all set to go!  All we need now is a little baby!

First photos of our little girl

We went and had our 3d scan done on Friday, and got to see our little lass bumping about, yawning, sucking her fingers and her thumb and generally being very relaxed about life

Here are some photos:

Cute isn’t she?!

My birth plan

I plan to do it just like this panda – http://tinyurl.com/5vo2vh – plop!  Don’t blink or you’ll miss it