The Mammoth "Baby Update & Belly Shots" Post

Well, the baby is almost here and I feel it's certainly missed out on it's fair share of blog posts.  Time to remedy that with this post that has been drafted, re-drafted and re-re-drafted again and again.

In case you have forgotten the baby is due on 27th June, also Brian's 3rd birthday.  We couldn't have planned it if we were silly enough to want to!  That brings us to today, being 36 weeks pregnant and at the start of the 4 week countdown.  Things are getting tougher, making me feel much further along, even sitting sometimes isn't fun.  Both Kevin and I are betting that the baby will be one week early.  He/She has already been warned not to turn up on 22nd June as that's Kevin's last exam day.  My Sister In Law has put in her order for 15th June as she will be in town and is pretty eager for some tiny cuddles.

16th February - 21 weeks, 2 days.

My first belly shot this time round.  Slightly late on the uptake!

On the health front I spent an afternoon (Thursday 19/5) about a week and a half ago now in hospital with high blood pressure.  My Doctor has been monitoring it fairly closely as it can be sign of pre-eclampsia, something that developed at around the same 34 week mark with Brian.  All hospital tests were clear, so that's a good sign.  But my blood pressure remains high.  Between the Doctor and a loan of my Brother's bp machine we are keeping an eye on it.

I've put on about 11kgs now and a few weeks back was beginning to worry my Doctor with weight gain.  All has been steady on that front for a couple of weeks now and I've been laying off the naughty snacks and bad lunches!  Favourites right now are pear and parmesan salad and Ski D'lite Wild Strawberry yoghurt.  And anything anyone else cooks for me = )

I do however feel that my fitness levels are non existent and am a little worried about how that will translate when it comes to the labour.  Not sure I can handle it!

30th March - 27 weeks, 2 days.

Do you see those varicose veins?

On the "to do list" front we are rather behind.  Kevin said to me last night that he's really looking forward to this weekend to get stuck in to a few things around the house.  Between work and uni he hasn't been here much to get those "projects" done.  I must say it was nice for us to do a little impromptu grocery shop on Saturday afternoon.  I can't remember the last time all three of us shopped for groceries.

I'm now on the 8:30pm bedtime routine (normally 9:30pm) and have been for about 2 weeks.  I've been eating a little better, totally disregarding the grocery budget and buying what I think my body needs (and balancing that with what I have the energy to prepare!).  I'm finding the two week gap between our new fruit and veggie delivery is getting too long.  Need more mandarins!  Driving is now "to Doctor's appointments only" and is self inflicted.  Speaking of which, Doctor appointments are weekly.  Brian's "big boy" car seat is in my Dad's car for the "just in case" and the "this is it" moment/s.  Brian will stay in his "little boy/baby" car seat until the baby comes home from from hospital.  

19th April - 30 weeks, 1 day. 

Big Brother love on our way out to lunch.  This felt like take 100!  I've used the automatic timer on the camera for every shot and Brian would kiss my tummy and be done by the time the camera actually took the shot.  My facial expression is saying "don't move your head for one more second!"

The nursery is not done at all.  It's still as we left it that day when we closed the door on Brian's old room and opened the one to his big boy room.  I'd like to move some furniture around, finally find a chair on ebay and fill the drawers with little clothes and nappies.  I'm thinking that we will be doing all of the things we hoped to do before the baby arrives during the month of July when Kevin is off work.  That also might be positive thinking as sleep might become more important during those days!

14th May - 33 weeks, 5 days.

This is my only belly shot with dry hair!  Looking good clearly isn't a priority right now.  We were about to head out to dinner, something we rarely do so we all decided to get a little dressed up.  Including squishing pregnant feet into cute shoes.

I've really been taking the time to appreciate these last few weeks of bumps and kicks from the baby.  Feet are generally on my right side now and the little one enjoys kicking the mattress or couch when I'm laying on that side.  It's a pretty special experience to see my tummy jump up and down and move in all directions too.

Brian has been giving the baby lots of snuggles and kisses.  He's quite particular to pull my shirt up and kiss the baby before he goes to bed.  He also stands right by the Doctor imitating him as he uses the Doppler machine on my tummy.  Kevin asks Brian to look after me each day and he says "Yes, Daddy".  So I get lots of "tell me if you need to go to the toilet Mummy" and "does your tummy hurt?" as well as shoving tissues up my nose to wipe it even when it's totally fine and pats on my leg to show he's caring.  

Life is surely going to change in the next short while.  We are all looking forward to it.