35 Weeks Pregnant

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So I’ve kissed goodbye to 35 weeks and now the countdown can really begin. Just one more week and I’ll be officially considered ‘full term’. I’ve done all my homework and collated a bunch of natural labour inducers (from the whacky to the scientific) and plan to pack them all in over the next few weeks. My diet will consist of raspberry tea, curry and pineapple (I expect I’ll get some strange looks in Tesco when stocking my trolley with this lot) and my evenings will spent frantically trying to fit in hour slots of Wii, bouncing on gym balls, breast pumping, and sex.

Too much information? Trust me they’ll be nothing glamorous about it! week 35 35 Weeks Pregnant

In other news, I had my final midwife appointment last week. I had been really looking forward to sharing the news that Mini Madam had nosedived but unfortunately my midwife was at a conference. To my frustration, the stand-in was the very midwife we moved GP surgeries to avoid with this baby. Luckily, I didn’t have any real concerns to raise so could just about tolerate her lack of English, half-arsed conversation, and generally scattiness. We just have one more consultant appointment and scan left to go then we’re home free. No more weeing in pots or being poked and prodded until D Day.

Unfortunately, most of the exciting symptoms I’ve experienced over the last few weeks have dried up now. I’m still getting random tightenings and I can feel her exerting pressure on my pelvic bone whenever I’m upright, but the actual contractions have stopped. All this downward momentum has led to even more frequent trips to the loo which is beginning to get on my wick. I seem to be up every single night at 2.29am for a quick pit-stop so the Mystic Meg in me is wagging her finger furiously.

In truth, I’d be hugely relieved if this turns out to be middle of the night dash to the hospital as the drama will give me less time to tot up all my little niggles with the NHS. If I’m stuck on a hospital bed all day you can bet both Craig and I will be swapping complaints under our breaths and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. I’m actually a fairly placid person but I tend to lose all power of diplomacy when I’m feeling nervous or frustrated.

The biggest concern right now is that I’ve become a real basket case. I spend most of day crying, slamming doors and generally ranting. I’d make a great a candidate for Gogglebox but I won’t be winning any Parent of the Year awards anytime soon. I think these last few weeks are definitely going to test my metal as I’m now really frustrated, tired, and fed up. I struggle to pick up Dexter so he’s bored to death and acting up as much as I am. I tried to do some pregnancy yoga yesterday, but let’s just say it doesn’t have the desired effect when you’re being pelted with wooden puzzle pieces when your eyes are closed.

Right that’s it. Let’s get week 36 out of the way and I’ll start blogging about my ‘experiments’ to try to tempt her out. Over and out.

 

 


26 Weeks Pregnant

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I’m now 26 weeks pregnant, and I’m feeling brilliant. Finally.

I can overlook the constant need to pee and the not-so-elegant roll-and-fall out of bed in the mornings as the sickness and exhaustion finally seems to be over. Hopefully now I’ll have a months respite before Bump and I go crashing into the third trimester.

Once again, this week has flown by. This is probably down to the fact I had several antenatal appointments which, barring my 35 week consultant check, should have been my last. I had a routine midwife appointment, and a blood test for gestational diabetes - but unfortunately I somehow managed to mess both of these up. It seems I was some 3 weeks early for the midwife so she’s asked to see me once more, and I overlooked the copious notes advising me that I needed to fast for 2 hours before my blood test. Having walked into see the nurse at the blood clinic with a cereal bar and coffee in my grubby hands, she quickly waved me out of her room and told me to re-book. Despite feeling like a bit of prat, I’m actually secretly pleased that I’ve diddled the midwife and will get to hear Mini Madam’s heartbeat in stereo again.

The midwife did point out that Mini Madam is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This is nothing to worry about but I’m keeping fingers and toes crossed that this is just a ton of amniotic fluid and not a 10lber in there. This is (hopefully) the first baby I’ll be birthing naturally so I’m hoping she’s of weeny proportions so I can cough her out demurely and not disgrace myself on D-Day. Still, I’ve gone ahead and booked in a private 4D scan to make sure this baby isn’t unnaturally HUGE and isn’t, in fact, sporting a willy. Having had previous experience of these scans, I suspect baby will spend most of it showing me her bum or hiding behind the cord but hopefully she’ll give us a sneak peek of her face.

Speaking of unflattering pictures, here’s Bump and I at 26 weeks. I’m looking a little like Harry Enfield’s Waynetta or my old English teacher who went to great pains to tell us all that “It’s fluid retention, I’m not really this fat” when someone wrote something mean on the wall in the school toilets. I’m surprised I’m not being followed around shops in town by security, my bump is easily the size of a decent House of Fraser haul! There’s no denying I’m growing a little one in there anymore and no amount of sucking in restores my former hour-glass figure (Ha!). Nope, now it’s clear to everyone that I’m an unmarried mum-to-be - oh the shame!

But I can’t blame Mini Madam entirely for my super-sized bump. I am craving cherry bakewells and other Mr Kipling treats like a deranged and less-discerning Nigella Lawson. This is very unlike me as during my non-pregnant days you’re far more likely to spot me sneaking out of Greggs with a sausage roll stashed in my bag, than you are hiding behind a menu at Patisserie Valerie. But this diet can’t be all that bad as I mentioned last week I’ve lost weight throughout this pregnancy. I’ve actually lost a further 3lbs this week *mustn’t grumble*.

Right, that’s it - my 26 week update over. I’m off to raid the treat cupboard then sit and cry at adverts with small children in them. Until next week.

pixel 26 Weeks Pregnant