Getting closer

Saw the OBs again last friday at 34weeks. Our gorgeous student midwife was there for the appointment as well which was lovely as I got popped onto the heart-rate monitor for half an hour or so, and it was nice to have someone to chat with while baby went nuts trying to kick off the straps (have I mentioned how much he hates any kind of pressure on my belly! lol) 

My blood pressure was still stressing them out, but had dropped a lot closer to my standard 'at home' levels by the end of the appointment. But I'm still on weekly checks, and there's another scan booked for the 36wk check in. I'm so curious to see how much of a growth change there has been since the scan at 32wks. 

I'm still feeling rather large, and tired - as you can see in the photo below! The skin on my belly is becoming really itchy lately too - another symptom I don't remember from my previous pregnancies. It's that strip of skin between my ribs and my belly button that seem to be copping it the worst - but I think this is where baby has decided to park his chubby little bottom - so that could be the reason. 

Heart-burn is a daily occurance - but I do spend a lot of time sitting on the floor to do my work, and kind of leaning over to draw patterns/cut/sew etc (you think I'd sit at a table hey! :P). And I think it's the process of sitting cross-legged and leaning forward that pushes baby up into my stomach and makes the heart burn worse. If I wasn't such a stickler for my floor-position while working, I'd probably be a lot more comfortable! lol It's a little like my persistance in wearing high-healed shoes, despite walking like I have a watermellon resting in my pelvis! :P

Let's put it down to being a slow learner! :P

I think I mentioned in the last post that the view I have is different to the side-on belly shots I post. So I decided to take a top-down shot to show you what I mean. This is what I see when sitting on the floor to sew. You can see how baby has his bum over to the right-hand side of my belly here too.

He's pretty quiet and 'well behaved' during the day now, and then comes alive in the evenings/overnight/early morning. His mum and dad may be in for an interesting few weeks while he adjusts to the day = awake, night = sleep routine.

Emotionally I feel like I'm cruising along quite well at the moment too. I swing between really really wanting my body back for me, and making the effort to enjoy having this little man bunkered down inside of me. I keep getting asked questions about what the plan is for delivery/labour, but find that there are just too many variable at this stage to really have a solid plan. Baby's parent's move down to stay a few minutes away from us once we hit 36weeks, so they won't miss anything! I think it'll feel very real once they're here. And until they arrive, I don't really have a plan for what would happen should I go into labour. 

There will even be variables once bub's parents are here - it'll depend on what day of the week, what time of day, if it's spontaneous or induced, fast or extended, complicated or uncomplicated... too much to try and plan and organize around. So I have a very basic idea of what we'll do... and will just go with the flow when the time comes.