39 Weeks Pregnant – Must Be Patient

Hi Everyone, 

 

What a chilly week it’s been!  The first proper snow of winter fell and I think it’s made everyone get into the Christmas spirit already!

I have to say I very much made the most of a snowy, freezing cold day and was extremely lazy at the weekend curled up with a good book on the sofa. I felt a little bit guilty as I woke up and my poor husband had gone out to do the food shopping on his own.  Bless him he even came back with some treats for me – yes I am very spoiled!

So, I am now 39 weeks pregnant! A week off my due date and into the 40th (my God) week of pregnancy. I feel like I say this every week, but I can’t believe it. It has flown by, even this week during which I’ve been incredibly lazy and not done too much. I must admit though, having been so calm during the whole pregnancy, I did keep wondering if I might have a bit of a freak out as the due date approached. And indeed I did; this week I had my mini meltdown as the realisation of everything hit me. I admit, I’d been a bit hormonal and grumpy one day this week and unfortunately my poor husband bore the brunt of it! To be fair he did annoy me big time and it escalated into him wondering why I want to be quite organised and, his words, rigid, about certain things whereas he thinks we should go with the flow a bit more. Now that I am no longer in a hormonal rage I can see his point of view but I disagree and I did say… OK, scream, at him that he has a lot to learn when this baby comes cause it’s not all as easy as “going with the flow”. But, bless him, noticing that I was getting more and more wound up he backed down, made me sit down and quietly asked me to tell him what was really wrong.  To which I replied, as the due date gets closer and closer, I am somewhat petrified!!! I am obviously hugely excited and I can’t wait to meet our baby, but as the mother there is so much to consider. My husband is adorable in the sense that he is just so excited, but now I think about, he really doesn’t have much to get nervous about. Whereas us Mums have to consider labour (the pain, the mess, the after effects), tackling breastfeeding (which comes with many challenges plus you then have to start gaining confidence to attempt it in front of others) and knowing that our hormones (those bloody hormones) are going to go bat shit crazy once we deliver!!! Plus you know you’re going to be sleep deprived and have a beautiful little baby which will require 100% of your time and attention!  Now, even though I do feel prepared, especially from a practical point of view (my house is so organised, clean and ready – I’m such a loser, I’ve even loosed the lids on creams and undone the nappy packs so I don’t have to faff around once baby is here), I don’t know if you can ever say you are 100% fully ready and prepared for the emotional side of having a baby. I think us women benefit hugely because we carry the baby for 9 months; that mothers instinct is already there and I truly believe a mother is born the moment she finds out that baby is inside her. I think a father is born the moment his baby is in his arms and I also think that once the baby arrives that is when the Dad truly “gets it”! That’s when they realise the life changes and how it’s not quite as easy as they envisage. 

 

I’ve already sung my husbands praises a million times about what an amazing father he’ll be; and trust me, he will be. He is so calm, positive and caring and I can’t wait to see him holding his son or daughter. But when a hormonal 9 months pregnant woman wants something agreed to…. fellas, it’s a lot easier to just agree.  Luckily for me mine did once I’d laid my fears out there honestly and he reassured me saying I’d be an amazing mother and reminding me that we are a team and he’ll be supporting me through all of the challenges, good and bad, that may lie ahead. It is so true; don’t bottle things up. Talking helps so much and gets everything off your chest and often you realise you’ve wound yourself up far more than necessary!!

 

So now I am back to feeling calm, relaxed and very excited, I am glad I got my little panic out of the way and now I can focus on the birth! Which I am praying is imminent!!! Here’s this weeks update (and who knows, fingers crossed baby will show up this week and my next post won’t be a 40 week update but a baby is here update)!!! 

How Far Along:

39 Weeks! Oh My God!!!! I know EDD are all guessed, often wrong and it’s all an estimate, but I am still stupidly excited that the end is in sight!! I am trying to prepare myself that I could still have another couple of weeks to go and I try not to get annoyed when people tell me “Oh first babies are always late”. I am getting a few funny signs; cramps and pains, bit of back ache, but nothing hugely significant. I wake up every day feeling so excited. I do tend to have an hour each evening thinking “oh my god what am I going to do if my waters go in the middle of the night” but you know what, bring it on! My patience is wearing thin now and I feel so sorry for my watermelon of a baby running out of space in my big fat tum!! 

Weight Gain:

I’ve not weighed myself this week, but I suspect I’ll have put on maybe half a pound. I have had quite an appetite! But I’ve read that around this time, you don’t tend to put on too much more weight, you’re about as big as you can get. I think baby can continue to put on another 0.5lb per week it is inside you – my estimated delivery weight is 7lb 9oz, but from all accounts this is even more estimated than the delivery date!!! One way or another I’ll get my little chubster out! 

Stretch Marks: I continue to be a very lucky girl; I’m right at the end, and still no stretch marks. I don’t know if it’s luck, genetics or if the stupid amount of money I’ve spent on Bio Oil has paid off and is the reason but I do feel very grateful. However, I don’t want any of my readers to think I find stretch marks a shameful thing!! I don’t, I guess I am just a bit vain (at least I admit it) and I wanted to avoid them and I feel really grateful that so far I have. I just wanted to make that point as I don’t want you guys thinking negatively me in anyway or thinking that I am super shallow. 

Sleep: Well, as I said last week, things had improved a bit. But now I am back to no sleep! It is so annoying. It’s taking me ages to get to sleep when I get into bed cause of my bloody restless legs (I am not going to miss that side effect at all) and the last few nights I’ve been incredibly restless. I struggle to get comfortable and trying to roll over or get out of bed to go to the toilet is, I can only imagine, like watching a walrus trying to move itself; uncoordinated, a huge effort and borderline embarrassing! 

Best Moment This Week: 

 

The husband and I had a really nice weekend together just relaxing and taking it easy. As I said, I was really lazy on snowy Saturday and really didn’t do a lot.  But on the Sunday we went shopping and I think it did me good to do lots of walking, and then came home and had a cheese and biscuits afternoon with a film. As I’m sure any pregnant woman will agree, it’s quite hard to have a cheese dinner when you’re banned from eating half the cheeses out there, but we did quite a good job of finding some that I really enjoyed, and the pizza dough balls on the side definitely helped.

I’ve had some more of my lovely girlfriends come to visit this week; any excuse for hot chocolate, cake and a good catch up. I love having my friends come and see me and seeing how excited they are about the baby. One of my closest friends is 17 weeks pregnant and it’s lovely for me to see her excitement about feeling those early flutters cause I remember it so clearly as it wasn’t long ago at all! And equally she gets very excited seeing my big bump and seeing how much she has to look forward to

Miss Anything: Sleep again! I long to get into bed at night and just drop off to sleep (and yes, I know this won’t happen when I have the baby but I could do with it for now), it’s quite upsetting knowing when I go to bed I’m not going to just fall asleep especially when I am shattered. I still miss my wedding rings too 😦 I miss the sparkle!! 

Movements:

Still feeling baby move plenty which is obviously a good thing, but it is clearly restricted for space now. I still feel the babies feet and hands kicking and punching on my left hand side, and sometimes I think it is trying to have a stretch and it’s bum sticks right out the other side which is a very funny sight. But I am also feeling a lot of movement, presumably his or her head, very low down as baby gets into the right position. It’s a very bizarre feeling but a reassuring one as at least I know baby is in the right position and trying to snuggle down! 

Food Cravings: Crumpets is becoming a daily feature! I had to ask my friend to bring some over when she came to visit me yesterday. And I’ve been told to try peanut butter and marmite on crumpets; yes both on the same crumpet. I might brave it this afternoon. Another friend mentioned she had bought some brownies the other day, and since then I’ve had to buy (yes, I can’t be bothered to bake) some to satisfy my craving! 

 

Although they aren’t cravings, my husband and I made a list of all the foods I’ve not been allowed due to my pregnancy and it’s going to be our New Years Eve feast; parma ham, soft blue cheeses, pate and of course a glass of champagne! It’s safe to say we’re pretty excited. 

 

Sickness: I am so over sickness. I’ve continued to have it on and off. Yesterday was the worst; I had a really weird day because I’d not slept well at all the night before, I was really restless and was seriously agitated when I got up. All morning I felt sick and nauseous but I made myself eat some porridge and toast to keep my strength up. And then I spent the whole day pacing around, from my birth ball to the sofa, feeling really sick and restless. I didn’t really know what to make of it and obviously it didn’t amount to anything as I am sat here typing this. But it was a horrible feeling to have all day and although it hasn’t 100% disappeared I do feel a bit better today. 

 

Mood/Looking Forward To: I’ve meshed these two together cause I’ve no doubt you can guess my mood and what I’m looking forward to! I feel so ready to meet my baby especially now I’ve got my fears off my chest. Every day I am full of anticipation but in a positive way; I’m not counting down and allowing myself to get horribly impatient or winding myself up, but instead just looking forward to it and embracing what is yet to come. Of course I am a bit nervous about birth, and the pain. But my hospital and consultant have taken such amazing care of me throughout my pregnancy and I feel so reassured that that will continue as delivery takes place. 

I am of course also looking forward to Christmas – I feel as though it has cropped up from nowhere as I’ve obviously I’ve been on baby countdown instead! I want to put our tree up early next week and I’ll be on my usual mission of putting fairy lights everywhere! We are planning on seeing family over Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day before coming home to our house and having our very own little family Christmas with the baby! I am so excited; I know the baby won’t know a single thing about Christmas but it’s so important to me and I can’t wait to have a day as a little family of our own.

So that’s this weeks update; a nice quiet one, which could well be the calm before the chaos. I am hoping so. Now might be a good time to mention that of course, with a newborn baby, my weekly updates may slow down a bit as we adjust to life with our new son or daughter. Of course I will keep you all posted when the baby arrives and there is every chance there will be the usual post next week if I get to 40 weeks with no sign of baby. But I just wanted to say having baby doesn’t mean I won’t be blogging still, I will definitely be continuing to blog and I can’t wait to put into writing this new and exciting chapter in our life. 

 

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this weeks update and thank you so much for the many lovely comments I’ve been receiving; they mean a lot to me. 

 

Have a great week xx