Hubby and I joke that she will indeed have her Dad's sense of timing (when she's good and ready) and not be the organised, scheduling freak her Mum is. And that may be a good thing; we'll soon find out anyway! Otherwise I think she may be waiting for our lovely OB to get back from his vacation, which isn't until Monday (40+4). Either way, I am teetering on the edge of insanity as my sleep schedule becomes smaller and smaller, and my belly keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I seem to be losing the last scrap on my sane mind to nesting and sleep deprivation.
Sunny Baby
Have no fear, she is doing just fine. Having an extra long sleep in seems to be doing her the world of good. Intra-uterine life seems to be the way to go. Food on demand, sleeping all day long, have an occasional stretch and bout of hiccups. She seems completely oblivious to the fact that she no longer really fits in there very well, and those hard objects she's kicking around are my ribs and hips. But oh well, such is the life.
In fact I think she's so happy in there that she continues to grow at rapid speed. At our due date OB appointment this week she measured at a massive 44 weeks and had increased the weight estimation to 8.5 pounds; a whole two weeks and half a pound bigger than last week. I sure can bake 'em well!
I've started having dreams about what she's going to look like. I haven't had any appearance-specific dreams about her before now. In fact, she hasn't ever really made my dream rotation at all until now. In my dreams she is born with beautiful, thick dark hair and dark brown eyes like her Dad, but has my lips. I don't imagine she'll get many of my features, like the green eyes or blonde hair, but that's ok. I've always thought Hubby is quite aesthetically pleasing, so she'll be a lucky little thing if she ends up looking just like him :)
Belly
Oh my goodness, what a mess this has become! I have gone from having very few small stretch marks, to a stomach covered in fresh, bright pink, itching tiger stripes over the last fortnight. The appearance doesn't bother me so much because they tend to fade into regular skin tone pretty quick, but the stretching, pulling, burning and itching sensation is driving me up the wall. I've been keeping a tube of either moisturiser, body butter or tissue oil in every room of the house for those extra annoying moments when I want to peel my skin off, but so far I am losing the battle. Otherwise I continue to grow rounder and lower.
Symptoms
Where to begin? (now I feel like a whinger)
I have not been sleeping well at all for the last fortnight. I think it's a combination of no longer have a regular daily routine and pregnancy hormones. If I'm really super tired, I can usually get around four or five hours a night, but only after about 3am and only after I've eaten two pieces of toast, a glass of milo and guzzled down half a bottle of Gaviscon for the wicked acid reflux which has suddenly come on. On days like these I make sure I have an afternoon nap so I can try to catch up and restore in preparation for the impending labour.
Oh and the peeing! Holy moley, I don't think I've ever needed to pee so much and so frequently in all my life. Just when I finally roll my whale of a self into a comfortable enough position to sleep, I have to roll myself out of bed again to go to the bathroom. What's up with that? I swear last night I must have set some kind of twisted urinary record for the highest volume/time ratio.
Otherwise the nesting continues. I have completely cleaned, dusted, polished, redecorated and resorted our lounge and dining rooms in an attempt to make space for baby bouncers, bassinets and the barrage of visitors we're going to have in the next few weeks. And it was all looking beautiful and magazine-like until we actually had to use the lounge to sit on and all the cushions got thrown around and the coffee table got moved and I gave up the idea of having a perfectly styled house. Instead I've settled for clean and practical. Oh well, didn't really have anything else to use those four hours on yesterday...
Nursery
The nursery has been done for weeks now. Every day I pop my head in and marvel at the transformation from guest bed/studio to Sunny Baby's room. I sit down on the day bed and stare at all the little nick-knacks that babies require to keep them bathed, dressed, happy, comfortable and imagine myself using them in the not too distant future.
Our beloved old lady cat, The Boo, has taken it upon herself to test each and every soft surface for quality and comfort. So far I have found her in the cot, the bassinet, on top of the change table, in the bouncer and curled up inside the rolled up floor mat. And so far they've all been given The Boo stamp of approval! Bless her little heart for caring so darn much!
Anyway, so that's about it for the time being. I'll endeavour to keep you updated as the excitement continues. I'm hoping that Sunny Baby decides to make her long-awaited appearance in the next couple of days, but who knows when exactly...
Despite all my griping this time, pregnancy really has been the greatest experience for me. I have learned so much about what the human body is capable of; what my body is capable of. It has given me back faith that even though I may not have been able to naturally create my children, I am able to carry them, grow them, nurture them, and that for me is so precious.
I am not scared about the birthing experience. I am excited and totally ready to face this next challenge, because I know at the end of it we'll be holding our gorgeous daughter in our arms.
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