35+1 – Last day at work

Well, I finished work today to start my maternity leave!

I’ve had a really lovely day, with lots of kind things said and lots of lovely presents, not only for me and the baby but also some presents for Lilly too!

It feels really great to finish. Work itself hasn’t really been so bad, it’s the getting up in the morning and getting ready, driving to and from work and then coming in after a full day, exhausted and having to look after Lilly for a few hours before bed. I must also say that I am feeling VERY “pregnant”. I can remember last time feeling like everything was loosening up and I was starting to feel a bit like my hips and everything were slightly wibbly. I think that was only in the last few weeks, but i’ve already been feeling like that for a couple of weeks this time. I’m also getting lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing that resembles “real” contractions. I feel much bigger and more cumbersome than I ever remember feeling with Lilly – I really feel like I’m dragging myself around a bit!

I’ve done some bouncing on my ball, and now I’m just hoping baby has turned and is no longer breech. If she has, I’m not aware of it, and I don’t know how I would tell. I couldn’t get to sleep straight away last night, and baby was moving lots, and I was trying to feel whether I could make out a hand or a head at the bottom of the bump… it was inconclusive! I really hope she has moved!

I have an appointment with the supervisor of midwives now – on Tuesday. I’ve written up my new VBAC birth plan (as I want it to be) and I’m going to take that along. Continous monitoring and mobility being the main issues. So I’ll see what we can agree on.

As far as Lilly goes, we have come to a sad conclusion this week: it is the end of the nap. Her sleeping has been up the wall for a few months now, and only in the last week have we enjoyed a few nights of continous sleeping. And only when she hadn’t had a daytime nap. Yesterday, she had an hour’s nap in nursery and hardly slept a wink last night. That sealed the deal! No sleep today, so lets see how well we do tonight… fingers crossed.

It’s a shame becuase I was really hoping she’d still be napping while I was on mat leave. But it wasn’t to be. RIP daytime naps, you will be missed!

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33 weeks pregnant – and feeling it!

Well, 33 weeks gone now… we’re getting towards that home stretch very quickly now!

I cannot explain how quickly it has gone. Every cliche in the book is true – it has flown! In fact, I’m just gobsmacked as to how quickly i’ve reached this point. When I was pregnant with Lilly it felt like a lifetime – I was so impatient and thought of nothing else but being pregnant and my new baby. This time, I’ve already got one baby, and she takes up a lot of my time and my thoughts, and so the pregnancy has just carried on without me paying such close attention!

I am finishing work in two weeks!!!! And I cannot wait. I decided to bring it forward a week to the 14th, rather than the 21st. Tony, my mum and his mum all kept tempting me into an earlier finish, and I’ve been feeling fairly tired the last few weeks, especially with Lilly being a little bit ‘challenging’ in the sleeping department lately (more of that in a minute, no doubt). I think I always knew that finishing at 36 weeks might have been ambitious. In fact, I’d have been happy to finish work at about 30 weeks if I could have! I do feel heavy and big and slow and tired… but I know I’m very lucky as, aside from that, I’m feeling very good.

I haven’t got around to ringing the Supervisor of Midwives yet to make an appointment r.e. my VBAC. I must do that in the next few days as I don’t know how long it takes to get seen.

My birthing ball has arrived and I have had a few bounces! I’m trying to second guess which way up baby is. Some pregnant women seem so confident they know everything that’s going on on in there – they say they know whether it was an arm or a leg kicking them, for example. I’m afraid I’m not as knowledgeable as that!! I *think* baby might be head down judging by the kicks I’ve been feeling, but it’s really hard to tell. Going back to the midwife in a week’s time, so we’ll see what she thinks.

I’ve also started buying some of the baby bits and bobs. Most exciting of all, the pram! Have decided to go for a Mamas and Papas Sola, which is now ordered and we’re waiting for it to arrive in a few weeks time. Also bought some of the more boring baby bits – dummies, muslins, bottles, maternity pads, breast pads… all the glamourous stuff!

Meanwhile, Lilly’s sleeping is still up the wall. She wakes up at least once in the night. If we’re lucky, she settles back down with a few ssssshhhhes. If not, we have to sleep on a sofa bed on the landing. If we’re really unlucky, she has a screaming fit and won’t settle for ages. Last night was one of those nights. I am knackered! She is also having plenty of toddler tantrums during the day – especially when she’s tired and it’s coming towards bedtime. She had one of those yesterday, too. Huge screaming hysterics at bedtime. Took an hour and a half to get her quiet. Exhausting. Then she was awake at 5.50am. Grrrrrrrr. I’ve been left seriously wondering how the hell I’m going to manage toddler and baby bedtime at the same time on my own once Tony is back at work after the birth. It just doesn’t bear thinking about!!

Oh, and Lilly is back in her cot. The big girls bed just made the sleeping worse. And she could get out, which just added and extra element to the bedtime/nighttime battle. Now, as far as I’m concerned, she can stay in that cot as long as she needs to – even if it means buying another one for her sister!!

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