So I have reached TERM!! Wheee! As of last week I can have a homebirth any old time I feel like it! ;) It feels very surreal to be 38 weeks, more so than 37 weeks even. That's REALLY pregnant, isn't it?! And that's sooooo surreal. Surely not me, that pregnant already?! And it's really beginning to hit home that I'm about to have a baby girl. A baby GIRL! How will I ever wrap my head around that? I still can't grasp it, and feel giddy with excitement when I try. :)
I had a midwife appointment the day before yesterday for 38 weeks, and Mandi (my favourite midwife, who delivered Benjamin and Samuel) came. I have ended up requesting not to see one of the midwives on the team, which is reeeeeeally awkward and waaaaay out of my comfort zone, but I was strongly urged to by Heather (who has no such qualms or discomforts!) because this midwife isn't one I "gel" with at all. She seems unconfident about my choices and uses negative tones and it's frustrating, so yeah. I contacted Jackie who is the head of clinical midwifery at the hospital (my very important link - it's great knowing people in high places!) and who delivered Elijah and arranged for me to see NO consultants at all this pregnancy! :) It has been so lovely not to have that this time! Anyway, she was wonderful and has arranged for home-only appointments for me, and the midwife in question isn't seeing me any more, and nor will she attend my birth even if she's on duty. I feel better about that, but you still never know who you'll get... There could be worse midwives to attend me, so I'm just praying over it! Mandi is just back from maternity leave, and only works Mondays and Tuesdays, so I'm hoping things will be well-timed for her to be with me again.
Anyway, on Monday she did my blood pressure (120/84 - up a bit from my usual low norm, but still fine), and my urine (clear), and then went to feel my tummy. She immediately said, "Do you feel that the baby has grown much?" and I said I didn't know, because on thinking about it, I couldn't say that I had noticed much growth. She felt her position - head down, back on my right side and feet on my left (she's usually the other way: back on the left, feet on my right), head not engaged yet - and then measured my bump. She said that I was measuring 36 weeks, which is what I measured 2 weeks ago (at 36 weeks). She remeasured a few times, but got the same. And then she said that the first thing she had noticed was that the baby felt the same size as last time she came round. Because it was her doing the feeling and measuring both times, and because I have been measuring spot on or a week ahead throughout this pregnancy, she decided it would be best to send me for a quick scan to check that Lydia's growth rate is okay. I was happy enough with that, and amazingly, when she made the phone call from my house at 11.45am, she arranged a 1.30pm scan the same day! What a quick result! :) I made a couple of phone calls, and Neil came home from work to work from home the rest of the day, so he could be with the boys while I went for the scan. Heather dropped everything and came with me to the scan - she's "on call" for me officially now that I'm 38 weeks pregnant! :) That means there's nothing, day or night, that she won't drop to be with me if I need her for anything pregnancy or labour related. Very reassuring! :)
So I got to have another peek at my darling baby girl! :) So unexpectedly too! I didn't have time to get worried about her, though I was a little nervous that she'd have some bizarre placenta or cord problem that was slowing her down. I didn't get any pictures from the scan, and I didn't get to double (triple!) check that she's definitely a girl, either. But I caught a flash of her legs from underneath and didn't see anything sticking out, so that's something! ;) I did have a momentary paranoia that she'd have grown boy bits or something, hehe! I just don't think I can believe she's really a girl until she is in my arms and I get to take an actual LOOK and know for sure!
She looked very squashed and folded up in there, but I guess that's usual at 38 weeks! I forget already what Elijah was like in the two scans I had done at 37 and 39 weeks for his growth checks. Squished up, at the 39 week scan, if I remember rightly! We saw Lydia's heart beating merrily, and her little stomach, kidneys and bladder were round dark circles full of fluid, so she's been busy drinking her amniotic fluid! I know she's been practising breathing as well, because I've seen my tummy going softly up and down where her back is. Earlier it was very jerky and arrhythmic, but now it's smooth and rhythmic all the time, and at a slower rate like a newborn's breathing, which is pleasing to see! :)
Anyway, they measured her abdomen and I saw on the screen that the measurement was 38 weeks and 4 days, so I relaxed immediately! The lady said, "Normal tummy size!" Then they measured her femur which was... I can't remember exactly now - either 38.1 weeks, or 37.8 weeks something like that. Pretty much spot on to the day anyway. Neil's body shape, by the way - my leggies (and Arthur's, and Benjamin's) are short and the boys who have inherited them were always 2 full weeks behind in femur length, bless their hearts! ;) Their heads were bigger than dates (apparently this is my gene as well - Neil has a little head!). Her head measurements gave a date of 37.1 weeks - aww! :) Definitely Neil's daughter! ;)
They were obviously satisfied with her measurements, so they didn't go on to check placental function and umbilical cord blood flow like they did with Elijah (whose growth they were not happy with). They had me wait in the waiting room until they brought out the report for my notes. They came out and showed me the graphs with her measurements marked on them, SMACK on the average line, and they were really nice and reassuring. They estimated her weight that day to be 3071g, and since I have no idea what grams mean (!), I asked what that was in pounds and ounces. The lady seemed pretty confident that it was somewhere around 7 and a half pounds, and I was like, "WHAT?!?! She's still got 2 more weeks!!" lol! I did not expect her to be that heavy already, and for some reason I had really hoped she would be quite a little baby. I love having little babies! I have loved my big hefty babies too, of course, but there's something so gorgeous about a 6-or-7lb-something baby. All those teeny tiny clothes fit up to 7.5lbs, and I have some things that I'm desperately hoping she'll fit into at birth! Such a silly reason, but hey ho. I still hope! :) If she's as big as 8lbs she should still fit her tiny newborn clothes for the first few days maybe... Anyway, I knew she would be a good 8 and a half pounds if she was 7 and a half now.
Heather was tut-tutting about my minor freak-out, because she kept saying how inaccurate those estimations are, and also her focus was on the fact that it doesn't make any difference to BIRTH, big baby or little baby, despite what people believe. It's true for me - my 9lbs 9oz and 8lbs 11oz babies were no harder to birth than 5lbs 13oz Nathey or 6lbs 8oz Elijah - I think Elijah was my easiest, but NOT because he was small. Because he was sixth, and I had a very smooth labour and was completely in control of my own second stage rather than having any sort of coaching or instructions. Not a piece of cake by any means, but easier!
Well, when I got home I looked up 3071g and was thrilled to discover that it equates to 6.77lbs!!! Yay! At first I didn't engage my brain and thought she was 6lbs 8oz, but of course it's 6-POINT-77lbs, so that is more like 6lbs 12 or 6lbs 13oz. Anyway, yay for still being under 7lbs! ;) Hopefully if she is born around her due date she will still be under 8lbs, but we'll see. And I mustn't forget that those scans can be out by half to a full pound in their estimation! At Elijah's 39 week scan he was estimated to be 6lbs 4oz and he was born 11 days later weighing 6lbs 8oz, so I think he must have weighed less than 6lbs 4oz at 39 weeks - they gain roughly half a pound per week at the end of pregnancy.
I am thrilled that Lydia is doing just fine in there! It was good to get that reassurance, whether or not my tummy measures up for the number of weeks pregnant I am. I know she's growing still, and measuring right on target for her gestation.
Mandi is coming back again for my next appointment, which is my - gulp! - DUE DATE appointment!! 40 weeks!!! Can't believe it's right around the corner!
We've done quite a lot to get ready since I last updated. We've put a ton of boxes in the loft to clear my room. That's all the baby boy clothes which have been piling up as Elijah has grown out of various sizes. There were still 0-3 month baby boy clothes in the baby clothes drawers!!! lol! I had given up with drawers months ago and we were pretty much just using the boxes as his clothes storage - *sigh* MUST get more organised and tidy this time around! They're not delapidated cardboard boxes, just to say! Clear plastic crates with flap lids on hinges - one box for each clothing size, which is helpful for me so that I don't allow the clothing to get out of hand!
I sorted through all the tiny baby, newborn, 0-3 month, 3-6 month, and 6-9 month baby boy clothes boxes to get out all the whites and neutral stuff for Lydia. I was surprised to find that sorting the tiny baby boy clothes made me feel kind of... a pang of sadness that for the first time, I am not using them. The very first time! After all these babies! I've never not used them before... It made me wonder if that's the end of using them - if there will be no more baby boys to use those clothes, and no more baby boys to grow into some of my favourite clothes that Elijah grows out of. I don't think I could ever feel like I have "enough" sons! I so love having little boys! To think of having another baby boy one day makes my heart sing! But how lovely it would be to have another baby girl so that Lydia has a sister one day! I just hope I have time for more babies yet, and that God will bless us again...
We still haven't moved Elijah to the boys' bedroom - he is still nursing on demand at night by my side! Eek! I'm slightly reassured by reading my blog and discovering that Samuel was still in my bed at this stage with Elijah's pregnancy too. Two things have delayed us - one is that we need to set up the toddler bed for Benjamin, and we discovered that we haven't got all the bolts and screws to put it together! I don't know where on earth they are - I have eventually found all the screws, and two of the bolts, but the bolts are essential and there are two more missing, so we can't set it up. We also had no mattress for it! I remembered after a while, that I think there was a yucky spill on the old toddler bed mattress when we last used it, and we tossed it, intending to replace it when we next needed the bed. Anyway, I ordered one and it's here now, so maybe we'll just have to put the mattress down where the bed is meant to go for a temporary measure? We'll try to source the bolts at B&Q this weekend but they might need ordering from the bed manufacturer. *sigh*
The other thing in the way was the 2nd cold in a month, which had poor Elijah so stuffed up and sad at night, and I don't want to move him when he's unwell. Samuel has had a horrible cough with it as well, and coughs a lot in the night for ages, which would undoubtedly wake Elijah up if he was newly in the room. Samuel is STILL coughing, but Elijah is almost better now, and I'm PRAYING (desperately!) that we don't catch anything else before Lydia is born. I feel so paranoid about it now, with the time of year, every time the boys go anywhere, urgh. People just don't take care to keep their kids home when they're infectious with stuff, so I know they're at risk - run of the mill for any child, but something that could be really really awful for us as a family just as we're about to have a new baby. :( Of course parents who don't take that care, don't actually think about things like that. It has always bugged me so much. Bleh. Today several of the boys played with toys in a waiting room, while the other several went out to a playground with Heather - both have me slightly hyperventilating in my hormonal paranoia, and praying hard that they haven't been exposed to ANYTHING. Tomorrow the boys are going out to a big event for children in London and I'm struggling to stay at peace about it. I absolutely want them to have the experience (Heather is taking them), and they are definitely GOING, but I know people are going to go with kids who are still infectious with various things, and it scares me. I don't want to be dealing with vomiting children for 2 straight weeks (yes, it takes that long with 6 young children!) up to and beyond my due date, or dealing with the same myself at this point in my pregnancy - and I would be heartbroken if I or my kiddies were infectious with anything viral when Lydia was born, so that I had to be paranoid about them being near her or even ME holding and snuggling my own precious baby - it would ruin her arrival, and I think that's a big enough deal for it to be reasonable to have frustrations and worries over infectious kids everywhere at this stage of my pregnancy! :/ I'm just hoping so so so much that the boys will stay well now.... Please pray for our health! We went to church last Sunday for the last time until after Lydia is born, for that very reason. It's just not worth the risk (both our colds have been from Sunday school groups that the boys go to), and we're off this Sunday to a miniature railway with my family - who we only see twice a year, and which is ANOTHER reason that I'll be gutted if we have to cancel because someone has taken their infectious child somewhere and infected my children! And then the following Sunday is almost on top of my due date, so we won't go anywhere that weekend.
So hopefully we'll be well this weekend and can move Elijah in with the boys. If we can't, then we're a bit scuppered, because I'll be 39 weeks pregnant!! Neil is home so late from work that it has to be a weekend to move Elijah, for both of us to be present with enough time at bedtime to do something that big a deal. I'd hate to move him out literally because his baby sister has taken his place in "his" bed! :( And I can't fathom co-sleeping with two littles. Elijah would be disturbed a lot (I keep the lamp on at night for the first few weeks to deal with the newborn explosive poo, and establishing breastfeeding), and he would be really cross not to have immediate milky and snuggles to get back to sleep every time, which I am sure I would not be able to do for him! Anyway, hopefully we'll be well, and the move will happen in the next 4 or 5 days and go well.
I MUST go to bed, but I still have so much that I wanted to write!!
I had an evening of painful tightenings and Braxton Hicks contractions with low backache at the weekend. I think I had done too much on Saturday - I was clearing space in the boys' bedroom for the toddler bed, and searching for the fittings for it. I took care not to do lifting and stuff, but maybe I overdid it anyway? I had constant discomfort from about 6.30pm and it was distracting enough so that I couldn't focus on anything else. I had tight BHs with it, but it was the constant pain in my lower bump and back that was the most bothersome. I was also pretty nauseous. I phoned Heather and she said it sounded a lot like pre-labour, but that it could also just be me "limbering up", which can obviously take weeks. I hadn't had a show or anything, so I just ate something in the end and felt a bit better. The next day I wasn't in pain or discomfort anymore, except that I'm fairly constantly uncomfortable in my bump, hips and lower back now. Sometimes it's properly painful, but not contractions or anything. Ligament pains that won't shift easily are bothering me a lot again, in the lower sides of my bump, both at night and in the day. Those are searing and impossible to move against, but they're really hard to get rid of! The back of my pelvis hurts a lot, especially when I lie on my back for even a short time, and I can hear and feel little bones grinding and clicking when I try to move from my back to my sides or to sit up. Yeurgh! Everything is loose in there (thanks, relaxin!), and ready to move about for my baby to be born, which is good news I guess! Just uncomfy right now.
Sunday I did more sorting and clearing, but tried to be careful again. I had similar discomfort in the evening but nowhere NEAR as bad as Saturday evening, and since then I have just had the occasional BH contraction - those are tight and very uncomfortable, and sometimes painful, but nothing regular or labour-ish at all yet.
I finally got Neil to take a belly pic this evening! Yay, finally a belly pic at 38 weeks - I think that's 10 weeks since my last one! :( Not including the family pic at 32 weeks which I posted last entry. I went to look at my belly gallery for Lydia's pregnancy and was dismayed to find that there were only two photos in it - 6 weeks and 12 weeks, I think! :( But when I went to photobucket to see what I had there, I was happy to find that I DID take two photos which I never got around to posting - 20 weeks, and 22 weeks. So I have now updated my belly gallery (that link takes you to a big page with ALL my belly galleries, except Arthur's, and Lydia's is at the top), with new photos for 20 weeks, 22 weeks, 28 weeks, 32 weeks, and tonight's 38-week belly picture. Now it looks much better and less sad and empty! Also, I notice that I look MUCH smaller than 38 weeks with ANY of my boys. At least I think so anyway. I didn't get as far as 38 weeks with Nathan, and I didn't get belly pictures beyond 36 weeks with Elijah either, but I still think I am looking more compact and small this time around than with the boys. Also I haven't gained nearly as much weight! It HAS to be a girly thing, because I've had six pregnancies before this and have gained a ton by this stage with all of them. Last time I weighed myself was at 34 weeks (I think??) or around that stage, and I had gained 28lbs. Normally I have gained about a lb per week until around the early 30s, and then I start gaining more than a lb per week (hence the 45-55lb weight gains each pregnancy!). So I knew I was already lighter at that stage than ever before, having gained only 28lbs so far. I know I will gain faster now, and I haven't weighed myself since, but I can tell from the photos that I am not as humongous in the thigh, face or upper arm departments (!) as with my boy pregnancies. I am stuffing myself with sugary treats just as always, so it can't be that! :p
I am utterly addicted to extra strong mints this pregnancy. I mean, I crunch my way through a pack or two every day. I know it's awful! I feel yucky for it sometimes. But it's a proper craving and I can't run out of them or else I'm literally wringing my hands until Neil gets home with more, lol! I have always liked mints in my 3rd trimesters, but nothing like this. The boys are quite amused every time they see me frantically pulling the mints out of the kitchen cupboard and crunching away, hehe!
So much more to say, but I'm tired out of my brains (feeling generally better, anaemia-wise, but still so tired these days) and must go to bed.
Oh, but all of Lydia's baby clothes are present and correct! :) I have been given, or bought on eBay (nothing brand new, budget won't allow for it, but I love browsing eBay anyway so it's okay!) EVERYTHING she needs in size "tiny baby - up to 7.5lbs", newborn (up to 10lbs), and 0-3 months! I have quite a bit of 3-6 month clothing and some bigger sizes too, but almost all hand-me-downs - I haven't really shopped for those sizes yet. I have now had the absolute pleasure of washing ALL the newborn clothing and folding it - here's a photo which I couldn't resist taking a couple of weekends ago when I did it all (I actually did squeal quite a bit, lol! The boys were all at the park so it was okay, hehe!):
This is most of her stuff, minus a few dresses which were not washed with the light/white loads - all size tiny baby or newborn. I had SO MUCH FUN washing and sorting! :) They are all tucked neatly into her drawers ready for her to wear, and I admit, I do open them and hug myself with glee from time to time, just seeing all the PINK in there! :) I don't care if I'm going to tire of pink eventually - right now I am absolutely LOVING it!!! :D
Tonight a Tesco order was delivered, which contained loads of cotton wool (newborn nappy changes), packs of maternity pads, and some breast pads, although I don't leak much now after the first few babies - Heather says this is more to do with my body being efficient at storing milk with the greater number of babies, than producing less (which I was concerned about at first). I'm glad anyway! I always used to leak like crazy and soak the bed at night, and breast pads never held all the milk I leaked out, etc. Now I just have a pack of slim breastpads handy so that I can pop one in if I'm going out somewhere and don't want to leave a random patch on my clothes when my milk lets down. It doesn't last more than 6 months-ish so I don't use them after that. Also a travel pack of toothbrush/toothpaste/floss, etc. to put in my hospital bag - which is almost completely packed and ready, by the way! :) Getting the Tesco order made it really hit home for some reason, that she's really coming, and SOON! The clothes did too, but something as random as a pack of maternity pads is really hitting home with me tonight - I'm going to have a baby really really soon! She's coming out! Soooon! I can't believe it!!! :D I'm so excited, and so terrified, haha! NOT feeling warm and fuzzy about impending labour and delivery yet, but hopefully my anxiety will die down as it gets nearer, not the other way around. I just hope she doesn't come any later than my due date... I want to be well in time for Heather (with her craft fair starting 6 days after my due date). I met the back up doula who is lovely, but I still want Heather with me!
A friend at our old church had her baby in the small hours of the morning today, and that was another reality check for me, as we've been exactly 2 weeks apart in our pregnancies this time around. That seems very close, and here she is having had her baby (and not before her due date either!) today! They didn't know what they were having, and this morning before I heard the news (I knew she was in labour last night) Neil and I suddenly got anxious that they'd have a baby girl and call her Lydia! ;) Neil started to say that we'd have to think of a different name because it was just "too close" otherwise. I checked on the smartphone while we were in the waiting room with the boys this morning (Matthew had a play assessment) and discovered that they had a baby boy, and named him Daniel! :) I wonder what their girl choice was, because funnily enough we had come to the point where if Lydia turned out to be a boy, our name of choice would have been Daniel. We both love the name now - maybe next baby?! ;)
Anyway, reality checks left, right, and centre. Really actually going to give birth to a baby soon, and then - even more surreal - will actually (really!) have a newborn baby in my arms of my very own to snuggle and feed and love - and this time, to dress in pinks and florals and little ribbony things!!! Wheee! :) I'm so unable to believe it, and it's so exciting!
Okay, Elijah is waking! Back soon! :)