Being a Mother

I've just asked all my friends who have had kids within the last decade (being 37 means that most of my peers who wanted kids have had kids...) to send me their top 5 tips for surviving the hospital and top 5 tips for coping with the newborn. I have loads of books and the internet is a great resource, but advice straight from a trusted friend is invaluable.

I'll be sharing everything they send me over the next few days, and to start here's something lovely from Laura. (I can't find the source for this, so if it is yours let me know so I can credit you)

Being a mother

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family." "We're taking a survey," she says, half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?"

"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.
"I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations...."

But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable. I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking "What if that had been MY child?"

That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.

That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moment's hesitation. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.

She might arrange for child care but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell.

She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep her from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.

I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma.

That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that rest-room.

However she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.

That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child.

That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years - not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that a Caesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honour. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks.

I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.

I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very romantic.

I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my children's future.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.

I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time.

I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.

My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes.
"You'll never regret it," I finally say.
Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter's hand and offer a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings.

House Renovation 2009 - Week 10

I can haz kitchen?




Ok, most of a kitchen anyway... we are still waiting for the black granite worktop which should be another week, but isn't it gorgeous! It's bigger than we envisioned and there is tons of storage. There was a mistake with the fridge cavity which is too small, but that will be rectified in a couple of days. I can't use the sink, dishwasher or oven yet, but I have been packing the cupboards and drawers and I'm very happy.

It totally changes the living space, and now we have a good feel for the lounge/dining areas.

We brought all our furniture back from storage yesterday but we can't really arrange it yet as the walls need finishing and the electrics aren't connected up. We did eat dinner at the dining table last night for the first time in months and it was fab!

This is the laundry - the tiles are down and now we need the plumbing sorted out.


Still outstanding:

• Electrical wall sockets and light fittings. Milord has decided to get the electrician back after all. phew.


• Plumbing (gas and water) in kitchen and laundry.


• Painting of walls, ceiling and trim, and staining of fences and woodwork.


• Skirtings.


• Mozzie screens.


• Front yard prettifying. This is coming along nicely - I have a porch! And steps!


• Kitchen worktop and range hood.


• Backyard tidying - our yard is a tip. Literally.


• Baby's room. We've cleared out of this room but it is still full of boxes waiting to unload into the living room. By the weekend I should be able to start arranging things in there.

We still have no cashflow and are in debt to a number of tradesmen. Oh well. At least the place will look good when they inspect it for the mortgage advance!

Preggy Update

Week: 32 and 4 days

I've been down with a cold for the last few days. Again. Milord has now banned me from taking the bus and drives me to work in the mornings, and either picks me up after work or I take a taxi home. Swine flu is rife in Australia, and although I don't know anyone personally who has had it, being pregnant puts me in the high-risk category and I'm not taking any chances. A couple of days ago a woman lost her 36-week-old foetus due to swine flu, and several other pregnant women from Sydney have been in intensive care because of it, so we're a bit jumpy.

That said, I didn't have flu, just a head and chest cold. After struggling to beat the last cold I had I decided to totally molly-coddle myself and spent several days hardly leaving bed. I had to sleep propped up on several pillows because my sinuses were clogged and I couldn't take anything, and a sinus headache was constantly with me for a couple of days. Not much fun.

Measurements: My weight is down a smidge and my bump is steady.

Since starting the iron supplements last week I feel much perkier (even with a cold), and a side effect of that is not craving carbs and sugar so much! I think I was trying to energy-boost myself in any way possible, so I was turning to the cookies for help. Now that I don't need them I'm back on salads which is probably why I've lost a little weight. Oh, and (TMI) if your digestion is not playing ball during your pregnancy I have one word for you: celery. I brought celery sticks to work as my mid-morning snack all last week and all systems are now clear... hmm that might also explain a slight weight loss!

Here's an annoying thing (also TMI probably) - the last time I was ill I kept peeing a little when I coughed or sneezed, so I've been really good about doing my pelvic floor exercises since then in the hope that if I got sick again I'd be able to hold back during a coughing or sneezing fit. And... I still pee - not every cough or sneeze, mind you, so I think it also depends on how the baby is lying and how constricting my clothes are in the bladder region, but I'm sad to report that the peeing, it still happens.

*sigh*

Top Ten Things to Not Say or Do to a Pregnant Woman

This is totally lifted from Growing a Blueberry, because I thought she had it down perfect.

#10: Any sentence that starts with the phrases, “Are you allowed to… ?”, “Are you taking/eating ____?”, “Should you be… ?” or, if you’re a barista at Starbucks, “Was that decaf?”
Newsflash: From the second a woman finds out she is pregnant, she is inundated with a barrage of sources telling her what she can/can’t/should/shouldn’t do/eat/think/feel/want/see. She gets it from friends, relatives, doctors, television, magazines, baby sites and total strangers. I can almost guarantee you that whatever it is she is doing that you are questioning her about she is not doing with thoughtless abandon.

Unless you’re her midwife, doctor or nutritionist or she has asked for your sage wisdom on the topic, then shut it. The child is not going to come out with three heads because you didn’t tell her that you read in your friend’s copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” that she should eat five pounds of spinach a day. Those books, by the way, should be burned. They are full of outdated, 90’s information and scare tactics and no pregnant woman in her right mind should expect or be expected to act, eat, or think that way during pregnancy. Or any time in her life, for that matter.

As long as she’s not smoking, doing crack, or drinking a fifth of vodka a day, the baby will be fine. You, on the other hand, will not be fine if you keep insulting her intelligence by questioning everything she does.

#9: The follow-up question to “Do you know what you’re having?” should not be, “Is that want you wanted?”
No, it’s not what we wanted. We thought about trading it in for a puppy when it was born, but we figured we might as well just keep it and see how it goes.

When pressed to be totally honest, most parents-to-be have a preference for what they want(ed) the baby to be. But guess what? Most parents-to-be get over what they “want” and are thrilled to have a healthy baby of either sex. There is such a thing as a stupid question, and this is one of them.

#8: “Are your ankles that swollen from the pregnancy?”
Is your ass that big from sitting at a desk all day? Actually, my ankles aren’t swollen. They almost always look like this because I have fat legs… thank you for pointing it out. I didn’t already feel like a gigantic heifer.

There are probably multiple things about a woman that you didn’t really notice (or wouldn’t have commented on) before she got pregnant. Apparently, for some, pregnancy miraculously dissolves any sort of social propriety about remarking on physical appearance and it’s suddenly okay to make such brazen comments. If you wouldn’t bring it up when she’s NOT pregnant, don’t even dream of letting it slip past your tongue when she is. Period.

#7: Any statement that begins with, “Wow, you…“
…Have gotten big? …Eat a lot now? …Must be having twins? …Look really uncomfortable/tired/sick?

Thank you, Dr. Obvious. Any other genius observations you’d like to make? Trust me, pregnant women are all too aware of how big they look, exactly how many pounds and inches they’ve gained and how pregnant they feel. Pointing it out is not a conversation-starter. This is a human being you’re talking to, not a baby machine. If you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything at all. I’d much rather talk to a person who doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m pregnant during conversation than someone who makes the first inane observation that pops in to his or her head because they feel like they simply must say something pregnancy-related.

#6: In response to hearing about a pregnancy complaint or problem, saying, “Oh, it’s just _____.”
I’ll tell you exactly where this one comes from… a family friend of ours. He was asking me how things were going after my kidney infection absence, which landed me in the ER with early labor contractions and a subsequent week of mind-numbing pain whenever I tried to eat or drink anything. His response? “Oh, it’s just Braxton Hicks.” What… the… f@&$*%?! It took every ounce of restraint I had to not rip him a new one and drop-kick him by the nuts right out the door.

First of all, they weren’t BH contractions. Second, you’re a male so you’re automatically not allowed to speculate on pregnancy symptoms. Third, if what we were talking about was related to BH contractions, there is no such thing as “just” in relation to pregnancy. Everything affects every woman differently… what bothers one to no end will be no big deal to another. So, even if you’re a guy who has been through a pregnancy or two (or five) with your partner, or you’re a woman who has been pregnant, don’t assume that something you didn’t mind must not be a big deal, or something you didn’t experience isn’t that bad.

#5: Telling pregnancy or labor “horror” stories.
Somehow people think they’re doing pregnant women a favor by passing along what happened to their brother’s co-worker’s niece who was on bed rest from the first trimester, induced at 42 weeks, in labor for 39 hours with a failed epidural and then forced to have a c-section to deliver her 12 pound baby that landed her back in the hospital a week later for an infection. That’s like telling someone who is flying for the first time that they have a better chance of winning the lottery than surviving the trip. Why would you do that?

Fear & stress are the top causes of problems in pregnancy and birth. They are also the reasons why women are scared in to modern methods of prenatal care and “delivery” where interventions actually cause more complications than they alleviate. Instead of educating society on how normal and safe birth is, it’s more fun to pass along urban legends and traumatic tales. This is not the Discovery Channel high-risk birth show. Chances are, the Mom-to-Be will have a relatively healthy, very safe experience. There are enough natural worries that come with being pregnant and having a baby without you adding to them.

#4: Asking about birth or post-birth decisions… and then offering your (unwanted) opinion on the answer.
Breastfeeding or bottles. To circumcise or not. Natural birth or anesthesia. Cloth or disposable diapers. Home birth or hospital. There are tons of choices and very, very personal decisions to make during this time period and, as with the mother’s health-related topics, she will be inundated with information from every angle including well-intended “advice” from family, friends and perfect strangers. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t talk about these things at all. I’m saying you should be prepared for a difference in opinion and willing to accept that your advice may not always be heeded or even appreciated.

Things have changed and are changing on a constant basis with the latest trends, wellness concepts and medical studies. Barring the unlikely chance that you’re a doctor or midwife or you’ve given birth in the last few years, you’re probably behind the curve. If you feel very strongly about a certain topic and you think you really need to add your two cents, it would behoove you to research what you think you know before you go running off at the yap about it to an already overwhelmed Mom-to-Be.

#3: Everything you need to know about reacting to baby names (or lack thereof).
As I mentioned in a previous entry, there seems to be a growing trend to not share potential baby names before the birth. It’s also a trend for grown adults to whine like five-year-olds about not being in on the decision. This is a baby being born to two parents, not a moon-child being born in a commune. You don’t have a right to know. Also from the “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” school of thought… incessant whining and bringing up the topic again and again is not going to change their minds and make them want to tell you even more.

If you’re privileged enough to be told the names, making faces or disparaging remarks at the choices is not appropriate, even if they are better suited titles for fruit, pets, or your 90-year-old great-grandmother. A better idea is to make a big deal out of how great the names are that you do like and refrain from commenting on the rest.

#2: Stating — whether implied or directly — that something a pregnant woman says or does is “just because you’re hormonal.”
This may very well be case, but if hormones are really the cause of the outburst, blog, road rage incident or crying jaunt to which you refer, is it really a good idea to further exacerbate the problem by telling her she’s hormonal? This ranks right up there with saying to a non-pregnant woman, “Geez, are you PMS’ing or something?” People who have won the Darwin Award have had better ideas than this.

Pregnancy hormones suck. The only thing worse than feeling completely out of control over the way you think, feel, and act is feeling like people expect you to be able to behave normally because they have now pointed out why you are thinking/feeling/acting this way. Even if you’re only trying to be sympathetic and understanding… don’t do it by using any derivative of the word “hormone” in a sentence for at least two hours. Your best bet is to be vewwy, vewwwy quiet and not make any sudden moves.

And the #1 thing to not do… unauthorized belly touching.
I have been poked in the stomach like the Pillsbury dough boy, rubbed as a manner of greeting – usually in conjunction with a comment on how big I’m getting, asked by acquaintances and near-strangers if they can touch (if you have to ask, the answer is “No”) and even got violated by a belly rub before I was showing at all!

Here’s the rule: If you didn’t put it there, you don’t get to touch it without permission.

Let’s talk about permission. Permission does not mean asking, “Can I touch your stomach?” while reaching towards the belly in question. Putting a pregnant woman on the spot like that is just as rude as touching without asking. Permission means the Mom-to-Be says something along the lines of, “Oh, feel this!” and places your hand on her belly. Permission is a one-time, limited offer and does not mean that touching privileges are extended beyond the present moment.

Possibly the most disturbing phenomenon to us round-bellied beauties, is the common misconception that once people know there’s a bun in the oven, the pregnant stomach is miraculously transformed to some sort of hands-on public petting zoo exhibit. How would you feel if every time you encountered someone you had to worry about them poking, pushing or prodding you in the stomach? It’s not a good feeling. If you really need to rub a belly rub your own, get someone pregnant, or get a dog.

Preggy Update

Week: 31 and 4 days

Measurements
Weight: 78kg (+1kg from week 30, +6.5kg since start)
Waist: 98cm (+2cm from week 30, +13cm since start)

Holy crap- up 1kg and 2cm in one week! Slow down kiddo, we still have 8 weeks to go!

I'm starting to make a list of things I will do in approximately 2 months time. I'll be adding to this as we go along I'm sure:

1. Sleep on my front and back. I end up on my back a few times through the night to ease my shoulders and hips, but I know I shouldn't be there so I roll onto my side as soon as things feel better. My favourite way of sleeping is on my front though, and I haven't been able to do that for a very long time... for a while I could sort of prop a hip and shoulder up on pillows and sleep mostly on my front, but the baby gets super-squirmy now if I try which totally defeats the object!


2. Have a really hot bath


3. Get tipsy!


4. Go for more than an hour without weeing


5. Roll over in my sleep without waking up. And without buffeting Milord with my body pillow!

This week I had a checkup with my doctor and he had the results of a couple of tests. I passed the Glucose Tolerance test (so I'm not diabetic), but failed the Group B Strep one (I have bacteria down below). Drat. This just means that I'll need some antibiotics during labour, so no real drama but I was hoping not to need it.

He also had news about my iron levels. I'd dropped from a pretty good iron store level to borderline anaemic! My baby girl has sucked the iron from my bones in spite of the preggy supplements I take - that's amazing. I know I haven't felt like greens or red meat during this pregnancy but I'd have thought the special vitamins would pick up the slack. He's put me on iron supplements (a special non-constipating one, yay), and here's the funny thing: I feel perkier already! Everything I read tells me I shouldn't feel different for a couple of weeks yet, but I swear I'm already a whole lot more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Placebo effect perhaps?

I still need to be in bed by 9pm, but I no longer feel like a somnambulating baby bump during the day. Milord has his wife back - I even laughed at his jokes yesterday! The poor guy - I haven't had mood swings but I have been a washed-out version of myself for most of the year.

What else? BP good. Uterus still growing and now at 31cm. The baby moves most of the time, especially after meals. Today she is kicking me solidly in the bladder. Not. Very. Comfortable!

I'm starting to look at lists for the hospital bag and at birth plans. So far my birth plan is pretty much:

1. No induction.


2. Let me move around until I am ready for the


3. Epidural!


4. No C/S.


5. Ignore all of the above if the baby is in danger.

House Renovation 2009 - Week 6..8

Ok, I don't know what happened to weeks 6 and 7! Lots of work has been going on but it isn't very exciting to me - fencing, waterproofing, plastering, wiring etc.

Fence (on shitty-loud-music-neighbour's side):

Stairs to the back deck:

Last week we got home from a few days away to find our stunning Tasmanian Blue Gum hardwood floors sanded and sealed. Its a glowing blonde wood - slightly pinkish to begin with but that fades after a bit. Gorgeous.



Over the last couple of days the plasterer has been finishing off inside and today I think he'll begin tiling the laundry, and Milord is going to start painting. We'd much rather Milord was in paid employment for this half of the week (his main employer has cut him to 2 days a week), but I suppose we are "saving" a little money by DIYing where we can.

Money is an issue. We spoke to the bank about another mortgage advance and they said "Uh, didn't you just have one a little while ago? You might have to wait." So we are waiting... as are the tradesmen to whom we currently owe tens of thousands of dollars. The credit cards are starting to smoke. Hmmm.

Last week all the kitchen appliances got delivered. Look at the size of our new fridge/freezer! It's ginormous and I love it! Once it gets plumbed in we'll have constant ice and chilled water. The side-by-side doors open onto a single huge fridge area, and the bottom drawer is a sort of chest freezer with a couple of sliding sections.


Our kitchen cabinets arrive today and should get installed by the end of the week. Then we have to get the stone benchtop people out to measure and install the "granite" (fake but almost the same) benchtop.

Still outstanding:
- Electical wall sockets and light fittings. Milord has decided our electrician is too expensive and he'll do this himself.
- Plumbing (gas and water). He won't be doing this!
- Painting of walls, ceiling and trim, and staining of fences and woodwork. I can help with this provided it's not at floor-level.
- Skirtings.
- Front yard prettifying. We're going to tidy up the front porch, build steps to the porch, repair the front wall, paint the front of the house, get a doorstep and lay big cement pavers with a surround of low tough native grass. While this task is hardly essential it will totally transform the feel of the house from the street!

And finally, I spent most of the weekend in this chair in a patch of sun at the back of the living room:

It's my "breastfeeding chair", strongly recommended on most of the mommy forums - an Ikea Poang armchair. Decent back support and a slight bounce, and we got this one off ebay for $200 less than the price of a new one. Perfect!

Book Review - Blueprint by Lynnette Vaughn

I read a lot of books from the library - at least one a week. This is one I picked up because the cover was interesting.

Firstly, Lynnette, if you find this via google... I'm really sorry. I hated your book.

The premise is that Christian souls are reincarnated again and again throughout the universe until they have learned all the needed lessons. Before each incarnation the soul gets to choose their parents, location and goals - the "blueprint" - then off they go and hope for the best.

In this case the soul, Arielle, has a bunch of (way too many to keep track of) friends over for dinner (no one needs to eat, they just do it for fun and you can't get fat. But you do get hangovers. Meh) and they each get to suggest a path she could follow... and most of them decide to tag along as players. Arielle amalgamates their suggestions into one life path and picks whom of her friends will embody main characters.

Then suddenly Arielle is hustled off to get born with her blueprint unfinished, and her friends have to finalise it...

And that was it. That's the book. The whole thing was just a prologue! It took me about 2 hours to read, although I admit I went faster and faster until I was super-skimming because: I hated it. Thank heavens it was short!

I'm a bit of a pedant when it comes to spelling and grammar. Well, I say pedant... it's only pedantic when you correct your friends or husband. When reading a published novel I demand correct spelling and grammar!

(These are not verbatim quotes, just how I remember them)

Misplaced apostrophes! "you're book" (no I'm not)
Wrong word choices! "Of Irish decent" (descent)
Spelling errors! "Whoppi Goldberg" (In the same para with Whoopi spelled right)
Bad quotes! "Yes. Arielle said" (eh?)
Questions lack question marks and statements get them.

Right, so that's just spelling and grammar, which gave me a headache.

The story itself was irritating. Of course everyone is gorgeous. And witty (apparently). But for thousands-year-old souls they're a bit uninformed. They ask silly questions about religeon and reincarnation, which one would assume they'd know by now. If the characters were new souls just starting their journey I'd get it, but they are not, therefore it is a condescending device to educate the reader about the author's views. Heaven, as she writes it, sounds really dull - I'd be drinking in spite of the hangovers.

Lynette, you self-published this book didn't you? I wish you'd had the funds to hire a proofreader and an editor too. I see you are about to publish the "sequel" to this story... I will not be reading it.

Preggy Update

Week: 30 and 4 days

Less than 10 weeks to go! Woohoo the end is in sight! Milord turned to me this morning and said "Hey, you were already born by this point right?". I think so. I need one of my parents to remind me exactly how premature I was, but I do know that I was very early and very lucky to be here today.

Measurements:
I left these at home today, so I'll just post what I remember
Weight: 77kg (+2.5kg from week 27, +5.5kg since start)
Waist: 98cm (+3cm from week 27, +11cm since start)

Ooooh an extra 3cm on my bump in 3 weeks. Yowzer.



I am well but certain things are getting hard:
Picking anything up off the floor.
Scrubbing the bottom of the bath.
Walking up an incline - I get really puffed really quickly.
Standing for more than 5 minutes makes my feet ache.
Walking for more than 10 minutes makes my hips ache.
I can still touch my toes - but it's not easy to breathe at the same time!

Milord has been very good. Until this past weekend he hadn't realised just how much I struggle at stuff - we went for a few walks and while I was fine on the flat the moment I had to go up a hill I'd just about die! I also refused to do some rock-hopping... my balance is a bit shot and I've lost all confidence when it comes to jumping around. I feel really "precious" actually... I hope I'm not as annoying as I feel!

Hmm what else? My wedding rings are getting tight, although not all of the time. I always take them off at night so hopefully I won't get caught out when they get too tight to wear and jam on my finger!

Today the baby is kicking and squirming all in front. This tickles and sometimes makes me jump. And yes, Kat, it is very wierd and freaky and just like that scene in Alien when the creature is about to burst out of that guy's abdomen! On the one hand I'm chuffed because it means the baby is alive and kicking (ooh a pun!) but on the other it is kinda "wtf?!".

Weekend Away - Hyams Beach

We needed to get out of our house last weekend as the new hardwood floors were being varnished. The process takes a couple of days and then you can't walk on them (or breathe) for 2 more days. So we decided to take a winter-break/baby-moon on the coast a few hours south of Sydney, in a village called Hyams Beach.


We stayed in the little blue house...

I found a little bungalow right on the beach and Milord is already talking about our next trip there with the baby! It was a lovely lazy 4 days - we read a couple of books and did a jigsaw and watched movies in between naps, gazing at the view, too much food and the occasional walk on the beach. The wind was freezing but the sun was warm, and with a heater running indoors we were very cosy.


I've been a bit jaded recently - fed up with renovations and work and the city in winter, so this trip was just what I needed to recharge a bit.




We watched the sun rise over the sea every morning from the bed, fed flocks of cheeky parrots and had a big grey kangaroo turn up to be hand-fed slices of bread.


Dolphins at dawn

This post is a bit photo-heavy, sorry ;-)





Just beautiful ;-)

Preggy Update

Week: 29 and 4 days

Warning! Warning! Growth spurt!

76.5kg today.

Wow. Since I last posted about my pregnancy I've put on 2kg. I'd plateaued there for a few weeks so a growth spurt is ok and I'm still following the target curve for weight gain, but still. Wow.

Forgot to take any other measurements, but I'm pretty sure my belly is bigger!

I've been feeling ok and I'm sleeping a bit better. This week the baby seems to be turned inwards so she kicks me in the organs... a bit ouch but for some reason easier to sleep through than when she's kicking outward.

I did the glucose tolerence test this week - it's a standard preggy test looking for gestational diabetes. First they take a blood sample, and then hand you a cup of glucose solution. The sweet drink is not as nasty as I'd heard - it's a lot like undiluted softdrink cordial, which I used to like to sip when I was a child! Then you sit around for an hour and then they take some more blood. For this test I didn't have to fast (there is a more accurate test where you fast overnight) so I made sure I had a decent breakfast in case that would help my body metabolise the sugar! We shall see.

My doctor also took a vaginal swab looking for Group B Strep, a bacteria harmless to women but dangerous to newborns.

Plus they're going to check my iron levels as a matter of routine. I wonder if my iron is low - that would explain why I'm so tired. Although it's not a "falling-asleep-at-my-desk-tired", it's a "can't-be-arsed-to-grocery-shop-tired". Probably just "pregnancy-tired". Growing this new person is a bit draining.

Here's a shot of me at the end of the day after a huge meal... and clothes make me look bigger. Eh... who am I trying to kid? I'm huge! ('scuse the rosiness - I'd just cleansed and moisturised before bedtime)