Pregnancy week 37 - Summer

Under 3 weeks to go.
I will keep this one relatively short as it is a very trying day today. Its my last day at work and i am surprisingly sad about the whole thing.
Work have given me a nice little monetry bonus and a mother & baby photo shoot voucher where i will get pampered and made over. We are going to the pub shortly for farewell drinks (well coke in my case!). I suspect there may be a few tears before i leave today.
I am definately ready to go though as its quite hard to concentrate on work at the moment when my ankles hurt like hell and my back is also fairly painful oh and the fact that i have to rush to the loo every 5 minutes... Also the drive to and from work had started to worry me as i have to drive along a very busy dual carriageway and i got a bit worried about what i would do if i went into labour while driving.
Oh well, feet up from tomorrow onwards.
Phil has finally got into the spirit of things now and has bought the baby lots of clothes from the pumpkin patch. He is getting so excited. I suppose its not really been  that real to him up until now. He is now planning to have a month off work which will be nice as he will be able to bond with the baby just as much as me. He is going to be such a good dad i just know it.
Well everything is ready for my trip to the hospital and the baby's arrival. There is actually nothing else to do now apart from wait. This is going to be the longest few weeks of my life i just know it.
Had my hair cut last week for the final time so that i look wonderful in thost post labour photos. Nevermind the fact that i will be red, hot & flustered and probably very very knackered but as long as my hair looks good then thats fine!!
Thats really all i have to say this week (i did say it would be short!). If i don't write next week it will be because it has happened early and i am slightly pre-occupied giving birth!!
Might speak to you next week
Mum to be
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Pregnancy week 36 - Summer

4 weeks to go.
I took nest building to an even higher level last week. Something was really bothering me about the nursery - it just looked too crowded. So i decided to remove the wardrobe which led to other furniture needing to be moved around too. In the end i had re-arranged my bedroom, the nursery, the downstairs hallway and the kitchen. Needless to say i was knackered afterwards.
Phil wasn't best pleased either when he came home to see what i had done. It does look nice though but perhaps i shouldn't have done it all on my own. Since then i have had a huge pain in my shoulder blade which i am sure is either a trapped nerve or a pulled muscle, it really hurts all the time but nothing i can do about it as i am not allowed to take any form of pain killers. My own fault i suppose.
My aunty was visiting last week so i spent a couple of days with her shopping which was nice. She bought us a bouncer for the baby.
Had another midwife appointment on monday (might be my last). Everything is fine as per usual. She is in the right place and is getting "engaged". Had more blood taken and now have a huge bruise on my arm! My blood pressure and everything is normal and fine. 
I mentioned about the braxton hicks and that i thought i was going to be early. The midwife seemed to agree with me as she said you only tend to get the braxton hicks at the very late stages of pregnancy. My mum is also convinced that it will be early and has started taking her phone to bed with her!
Everything is ready so i don't know why i am worried about it. My bag is packed & phil knows which numbers to call when the time comes. The only thing i have left to do is to pick some CD's to take with me. I have lots of favourite songs etc but not sure which ones will be good to keep me motivated (thinking some queen or bon jovi classics) something up-beat would be good. I am definately taking Newton Faulkner's new album as "dream catch me" seems to be the anthem of my pregnancy and the one song that will always remind me of being pregnant.
Any song suggestions welcome...
I am now off work for the rest off the week!! and finally leave work next thursday. I am really not sure what i am going to do with my time. Its weird to think i will be having so much time off. I have started selling old clothes on Ebay which is keeping me amused.
Not much else to say really as its been a fairly quiet week. Looking forward to Heroes tonight.
Speak to you next week
Mum to be
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Pregnancy week 34 - Summer

5 weeks to go!!!!
This is a day early because i tend to write this at work and i am now working shorter weeks so am not at work tomorrow or friday.
Wow - its been a tense week to say the least. Braxton Hicks have now officially started. For those of you that don't know these are simply fake/ practice contractions to get your body ready for the real thing. My sister had a party at her house on saturday night and that is typically where they really kicked in. My mum was there and everything so i tried very hard to play it down but they really can take you off guard and take your breath away.
The next morning i popped into Guildford and they came back with avengance. I was with phil but tried my hardest not to let on what was happening as i didn't want him to panic. But i had such a pain in Next that i had to bend over and lean against the wall for support. Phil sussed something was going on. It was at that point that i suddenly realised what an idiot i was - i had been assuming these were braxton hicks but how the hell do i really know they are not the real thing!! its not like i have done this before! all morning they had been getting worse and closer together but at the back of my mind i kept thinking that the real thing must be more painful than this. I started to consider whether i should go to the hospital or not.
I opted to go home and put my feet up for a bit and sure enough they stopped altogether - thankfully. So it was a false alarm after all.
While we were in town Phil finally bought something for the baby!! He has been fairly supersitious and didn't want to buy anything for her until she was born but Next had a big sale on and he couldn't resist the cute little outfits. I think he is getting really excited now bless him. Everytime that advert comes on the telly where the man is dancing down the street with his baby daughter (i think its for a car) he gets all smiley and says that will be me!
Oh last week i said it was a secret what i was doing on sunday well i can tell you now. We went to the Donkey sanctuary with some friends because my mate Nick was proposing to his girlfriend Clare!! (she has a slight obsession with Donkeys incase the location confused you). The reason we were there too is because my friend Tim works there and had helped him sort it all out. So a huge congrats to Nick & Clare and a big thankyou to Tim for helping out.
The funniest part of the day was the fact that i was attracting all the pregnant animals. This (what looked like) a pregnant donkey kept follwing me and so did this (what looked like)  pregnant cat also wouldn't leave me alone.
I am extremely uncomfortable now and am starting to get a sore back by the end of the day. Sleeping is becoming increasingly more difficult due to regular toilet breaks, heartburn attacks or general bad dreams. I keep having a re-occuring dream that i will go into labour at work. I really do not want that to happen.
My gut instinct about having the baby in August is getting increasingly stronger. I would even go so far as to say i think i will have her in the next couple of weeks. Its very difficult to explain but i just feel like she is ready and trying to tell me she wants out - that does actually sound insane now that i have said it out loud. My bump has dropped really low and she is engaged and in the right position. The best way to explain it is that it feels like she could just fall out at any moment. Obviously that could not actually happen but thats how it feels.
I found out yesterday that at 37 weeks you are actually classed as full term now anyway (40 weeks is the normal full term amount).
I leave work on the 16th but i am really paniking that i will not make this date.
Watch this space!
Anyway the rest of the week will involve lots of sleeping.
Will speak again next week
Mum to be
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Pregnancy week 33 - Summer

Under 6 weeks to go!!!
First off let me apologise for not posting last week. I had the week off work and my home computer decided to play up so i couldn't get online to do this. So i will try my best to combine the last 2 weeks.
Last week (week 33) - Was hugely hectic!
Myself and Phil had the week off and i was exhausted at the end of it but realised we hadn't acually acheived much. On the Tuesday we went to my sisters graduation and i had massive issues yet again trying to find an outfit that didn't make me look like moby dick. All my immediate family attended along with a few of my sisters friends. The first thing my mum said to me was "you have certainly got that pregnancy waddle" - Cheers mum. It was a really nice day and really nice to see my sister doing so well but making my way around london was very tiring and my feet had swollen up like balloons by the time i got home.
So the next day we decided to take it easy and go to the cinema. We watched Harry Potter (phils choice definately not mine!) incase you are interested. Then we had our hospital tour that evening. I didn't think i was worried about the whole labour thing much until after the tour and i just felt so relieved that i knew where to go and what to do. I would definately recommend for people to take the tour. We were shown the birthing pool and it was nothing like what i expected. It is in its own room which also has a bed incase you want to get out. You can only have gas & air in the pool but the water is meant to sooth the pains too. That is also why there is a bed in there too - so that if the pain gets too bad and you decide you want more pain relief you can. The only downside to the birthing pool is that there is just one of them so if its already in use you can't have it! so fingers crossed!
Thursday we went to Portsmouth for the day and just walked along the front and even fitted in a game of crazy golf (which i won). The lady in charge of the course asked how long i had left and when i said 6 weeks she responded by say "bloody hell then you are massive". Not the first time i have heard this in recent weeks and i am starting to get a complex. According to my midwife everything is normal and in proportion so i should just ignore everyone else.
After my last blog where i detailed what i had been told about the C section an old friend emailed me and told me that she had had one 8 weeks ago and that it wasn't as bad as i made out. She said it was relatively painless and easy - so apologies if i mislead anyone i was just relaying what i had been told - Beverley congratulations by the way!
So onto this week.
Its been a very strange week. On Monday Phil found out that he may be facing redundancy again. This time we are hoping he gets it as a lump sum of money will mean i can have more time of work to spend with the baby. He will find out next week probably.
I have really struggled being back at work. By the afternoons i am so tired. My feet are actually starting to hurt now and are pretty much swollen all the time (have to wear flip flops to work now as i can't get any shoes on). I am really starting to feel like i am carrying a huge weight - which obviously i am but i haven't really struggled with the weight of the baby before (or even noticed). I am now going to the loo almost every hour. I am drinking so much water as i am constantly thirsty.
The baby's movements are getting so intense that they are really making me feel queezy. arms & feet sticking out all over the place. The midwife said she is laying in the correct position (head down) and is basically ready to be born.
I am definately experiencing braxton hicks (fake/practice contractions) which is leading me to believe that i am going to be early. I have had a gut feeling for a little while now that i will have this baby in August. My gut feelings are usually right. So for precautionary reasons i have finished putting my hospital bag together, now got everything i need for the baby including bottles, a steraliser and bedding. I am 100% ready now. I am also going to make sure we both know how to fit both car seats this weekend.
Most people are very shocked to hear that i am not leaving work until the 16th of August and keep pointing out that i am leaving it very late. But to be honest i would rather be at work keeping busy than sat at home doing nothing and getting very bored.
Ooh changing the subject slightly, i can't remember if i told you about phil wanting to cut the cord. I couldn't believe my ears when he blurted it out in the ante-natal class but he is adament. I have now put my birthing plan together with my midwife and it has been put in writing now so he can't back out (well he probably can if he wants i suppose).
The weekend ahead holds a busy time for me. I have a party on saturday where i am sure i will play the part of taxi driver very well again and i can't really tell you much about sunday - will have to tell you next week as its a secret.
See you then
Mum to be
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Pregnancy week 32 - Summer

Under 8 weeks to go...
Lets start off with something that is fresh in my mind - last nights ante-natal class! The strange couple didn't turn up this week much to the midwifes relief. Me and phil were the first to arrive (again) and had a giggle with Tanya (the midwife) about the previouse week. She promised that we would be finished much quicker this time.
We went over assisted labour - what happens when things go wrong! The look on my face must have been quite something as she kept apologising to me specifically everytime she said something gory. Funnily enough i can handle most things but when it comes to having the drip tube in your wrist or the epidural cord in your spine i get incredibly squeemish. She ran through the realities of a C section and its much more scarier than i had first thought.
I always thought you couldn't feel anything but she said it actually feels like someone is doing the washing up in your tummy. Also that you are only anethasised from a certain part down and to be aware that the skin on your upper body will still have complete feeling and will get pulled and stretched which can feel very horrible. Then they have to touch your ovaries at one point which will hurt like hell aparently. Anyway i really do not like the sound of that.
The main thing she kept drumming home was the fact that you must stick to your guns and don't let the medical staff do anything you don't want them to and to make sure they keep you updated on what they are doing. That is where Phil comes in, i have to make sure he fully knows my wishes and can communicate them on my behalf as i may be a bit pre-occupied (ie whether i want an epidural or whether i want the injection after the birth to help the placenta out etc). I have decided that i will go onto gas & air then pethadine and will try my hardest not to have an epidural (but i am not ruling it out). Its just the fact that an epidural is a anesthetic and they give you an anesthetic injection to be able to put the cord in for the main anesthetic (anesthetic for the anesthetic - how mad is that) hopefully you are still with me here. Also if you have an epidural you have to have a drip to keep your fluids up and i hate the thought of having a drip. Besides i would be so proud of myself if i a managed to go through it all on gas & air and pethadine.
Anyway moving on. Midwife said i had a urine infection last week so has put me on some antibiotics. Unfortunately these antibiotics have given me thrush so i have to pick up some other antibiotics tonight to take on top of the original ones now. I am pretty sure i have now had a touch of every minor complaint you can get while being pregnant!!! Oh the joys!
Baby is still kicking like mad but it is so much more intense. As i said before you can see arms & legs moving about now which is so strange. She keeps rolling around near my bladder which is driving me mad as i am never out of the loo now. If i plan to go somewhere i have to be sure there are toilets available otherwise i may just wee myself!!! Not that that would even embarrasse me anymore i am so past caring about my dignity.
My ankles are still huge. I went to a wedding on saturday and couldn't even get my feet into a pair of heals which had previously been a size too big! so i had to go in flats looking mightily frumpy and short.
We dug the camcorder and the camera out ready for the big day. Which has promted me to have my picture taken as i have none of me pregnant. It seems a shame not to have a record. IF i can take a nice one i may post it on myspace to show you my hugeness, i may even take one of the fat ankles just to prove that i am not over-reacting about their size.
Anyways thats about it. I am an expert about child birth now after my classes so if you have any questions you know who to ask.
Next week the ante-natal class are meeting up the Royal Surrey Hospital to have a tour of the ward. In fact i have a very busy week next week as me and Phil are taking a week off work. Not going anywhere just having days out. Booked so far is a manicure on Monday, my sisters graduation on tuesday and an ant-natal class on wednesday. We may go shopping in Gunwharf Quays, go to the cinema, go out for a meal (Phils treat) erm i think thats it so far.
Anyway speak to you next week (if i get time to write a blog!)
Mum to be
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Pregnancy week 31 - Summer

Ooooh i am now in the single figures for the count down - 9 weeks to go!!!
Its been fairly uneventful this week again. Although on Sunday i took nest building to a new extreme. I decided to get a new computer desk and bring it into the living room and out of the conservatory, i also decided the conservatory needed a new floor laying down and to be completely re-arranged to make it a nice dining room / chill out room. So we did it all in one day as i simply couldn't wait once i got the idea in my head and Phil wasn't going to argue with a hormonal pregnant woman.
It looks great though and i am really pleased. We have been in that house for a year now and for the first time it is set out the way i want it.
Oh i won that dress from ebay (the one i plan to wear to this wedding on saturday). It arrived yesterday and i tried it on. It looks fab. I am out to prove that you can look great when you are the size of a house! The only thing that lets the outfit down is my flat shoes. Flat shoes just make you look frumpy whoever you are. I tried on some black sequined heels that i had in my wardrobe and they would normally have looked great with the dress but with my ankles the size of tree trunks they look awful and are slightly uncomfortable. I may wear them to the first bit and later on when my ankles start to swell i will put my flats on (people will be too drunk to notice by then). Should be a good wedding though - just a shame i can't drink... anyone need a taxi.
Phil went out with the lads last Friday. Its Safe to say he had a great time as he fell through the door in the early hours of Saturday morning. I practically had to carry him to bed - i was not impressed. At first he couldn't understand why i had the hump until i pointed out that it was pretty stupid to get that leathered when i only have 9 weeks until my due date. What would he have done if i called and told him i had gone into labour!!! The penny dropped and he has decided that he will ease up on his drinking for the last stage.
I had a midwife appointment on monday which went alright. Everything is as it should be. The baby is the right size and all my levels are back to normal again.
We went to the first of the preperational antenatal classes yesterday. Oh that was very informative....good god, why do people have more than one baby if they know what is going to happen? I knew the basics of what happened but we went into great detail about the labour and the drugs etc. I won't gross you out with the details now (i will save that for the final blog entry - the birth) but its safe to say that i will have no dignity left by the end of it.
There were some nice people too. There was a couple who are due the day before me so there is a good chance we will cross paths later on, there was a lady there who i recognised and later realised was my friends sister (will have to say hi properly next week) there were some other couples too and this very interesting couple who i have forgotten their names now. They were a little odd just because he kept interupting the midwife and spouting stuff about shakras, Central gravity, the miams, jesus's time, fertility worships, thai chi etc i think you get the idea. He just kept going off tangent and giving us all lessons in something we were not there to learn. Nice enough fella though. He had just had his tooth sergically removed about an hour before the class so he could have still be under the influence of the sedative he was given (he was definately under the influence of something).
And of course me and phil have a reputation for attracting these people, sure enough we ended up giving them a lift home. I think we made a friend for life there (well at least the next two classes!). It will be just my luck that we end up on the same ward at the same time.
Anyway back to the class. One of the things i questioned the midwife about was breast feeding. Don't all shout and judge me at once but i have never had any inclination to breast feed. I have absolutely no real reason for this i just don't want to. But more often that not i feel very preasurised about this and get the impression it is very frowned upon by alot of people. The midwife (Tanya) had said that they make you breast feed before they let you leave the ward so i asked what if you choose not to breast feed. She proceeded to tell me that they do not have facilities on the ward for formular milk so you have to bring formular milk packets with you and some steralised bottles. If i go into labour suddenly i will not think to quickly steralise some bottles ready to put in my bag so i can see where this is going, i will end up having to breast feed as i have not taken any alternatives with me. It just makes me cross that they tell you its your choice and then try to pressurise you into doing it. I may compramise and breast feed until i get home and move straight onto bottles.
At next weeks class we will be discussing assisted deliveries. So C-sections etc. We will also go into more detail about epidurals and the other drugs you can have.
I have given work (in writing) the date of my last day. It will be the 16th August (6 weeks time). But this leaves me with 4.5 days holiday to take up beforehand. I decided instead of leaving a week early i would have shorter weeks leading up to the 16th. As i have a week of in July already it means that next week is my last full week at work which is great.
Believe it or not but i am still getting bigger. The baby's movements should be slowing down now as there is very little room for the little tyke but i should have guessed that i would be the exception to the rule. She is moving much more and the movements are so much more intense. When she punches you can almost see the hand poking out and when she kicks you can pretty much make out the outline of the foot. But mainly she keeps wiggling her bum. Its quite good actually as the midwife showed me exactly how she is laying and where all her body parts are so with every move i know what it is. Lucky for me she is head down which is just the way she should be at this stage as she is getting into position to be born.
Blimey there is alot on here this week - sorry if you are half asleep now!
Best go. The week ahead brings a wedding on saturday, coffee with a couple of very good friends on sunday, and another ante-natal class on wednesday. I also have a call booked in on monday with Phils solicitor but thats another story...
Bye bye mum to be
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Pregnancy week 30 - Summer

Hello,
This week i have mostly been e-baying. God i forgot how addictive it is. I now contantly have my ebay summary up on screen in the background to keep an eye on items i am bidding on - its so sad!
Anyway down to business. I had the all clear from the diabetes tests so thats a definate plus point. I have my next appointment with the midwife on Monday, i think i have to see her every 2 weeks now until the baby arrives.
I have booked up the other anti-natal classes (the ones where you practice breathing and discuss the drug options etc). The first one is on the 4th July and i am really looking forward to that, so is Phil strangely.
Phil went away last weekend fishing so i thought i would take the opportunity to get a few things done around the house and pack my hospital bag (the one you keep by the door ready to grab when you go into labour) but to my annoyance i got very little done. Phil had left my dad with strict instructions to not let me overdo it (he knows me so well!). My dad even had to escort me to Tescos and would not even allow me to push the trolley!
I got too tired to do most of the jobs anyway and by sunday night felt a bit off colour again. I did start my hospital bag though. I printed a list off the internet of the basic things you will need and there is so much. My bag is huge but i can happily say that most of it is for the baby like a pack of nappies, cotton wool, baby wipes, baby grows, towels, blankets... the list goes on and on. But the list of things i need to pack for me is horrible: old knickers (as they will get ruined - nice!), breast pads, an old nightdress that will also get ruined, maternity sanitary towels, two towels (preferrably dark colours as they will also be ruined) and they also suggest you take ear plugs and an eye mask as you will probably end up on a noisy ward full of screaming babies. Its safe to say i am now in full panic mode! All of this did however give me an excuse to splash out on all knew toiletries and stuff which is nice. Anyway its basically ready now i just need to make sure it is kept somewhere Phil can find it and that on the day he does not forget to grab my make-up bag too. I could not imagine being parted from my make-up bag especially with visitors coming to see me and the baby. I also don't want my baby to be frightened of me the first time she sees me.
Speaking of seeing i came accross an interesting fact the other day that i would like to share with you. Babies can see when they are born (in fact they can see inside you from around 30 weeks pregnancy) although they can only see a very short distance. Children do not form full 20/20 vision until they are around 8 or 9 years old. Honestly i read this from my pregnancy development website and have since read it on a few other sites. Fascinating stuff.
I am feeling much brighter recently but still get very tired very easily. My ankles are still swelling like balloons but i am starting to get used to it. I am extremely pleased to announce that my belly button still has not popped out!! It has definitely evened off though (its like i don't have a belly button at all). Hopefully it won't suddenly pop out in the last few weeks as i am definitely growing bigger at a very fast rate.
Strangely i had expected to have alot of back pain by this stage with the extra weight. My back has always been fairly weak due to an incident when i was younger. I was in a park with a boy from middle school (Gary Sherlock for those of you that care) and we were on the seesaw, he thought it would be hilarious to jump off while i was in mid air but i neglected to see the funny side when the seesaw came crashing down at full spead and jarred my back. I couldn't walk (or even breath) properly for a little while after and have suffered with a bad back ever since. It gets much worse on cold days or days when i have overdone things a bit but during pregnancy it has been pain free (apart from early on when i threw it out cutting the hedges but that was my own stupid fault).
Anyway... Have you been watching Eastenders??? i can barely bring myself to watch it now as i just want to cry every time Dawn says her baies name. Phil is adament he does not want to change it as he has really got used to the name now so i think he will get his own way on this one. Curse Eastenders.... damn you, damn you to hell!
Not much else going on this week really. Its my friends 30'th birthday at the weekend and we are popping over to her BBQ (weather permitting!) which will be nice as i haven't seen her since being pregnant so its been a long time. Next week will be much more eventful as i have my midwife appointment, anti-natal class and my friends wedding.
Speak to you next week
Mum to be
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