follow him wherever he may go.
My bump's taken on a life of its own in the last couple of weeks. It's at its biggest, and I'm acutely aware that I'm following it around anytime I go anywhere. Tiny's certainly making his presence felt, as no doubt he will in an entirely different way once he's actually here in person.
In the meantime, I'm just getting increasingly uncomfortable and so ready to have this baby. Please come soon, Tiny.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
one more river *
One week today. Well, till the due date anyway. Who knows how many actual days it'll be. As HP said in a text to me yesterday, it could be a couple of weeks, or it could all kick off in the next half hour!
Hopefully it won't be in the next half hour, cos I can smell something delicious cooking, and I'd like to still be feeling like tasting it once it's cooked (My wonderful husband is cooking curry. Yum!).
This afternoon I actually started packing my hospital bag. Well, actually there's stuff piled on my bed, but it's actually there, not just ideas in my head or in my notebook! I will start putting things in the suitcase, but that's currently in the wardrobe and it's booby trapped under something else, and if I try to get it out by myself there's bound to be trouble. But yes, we have stuff. Lots of stuff, ready to be packed in the suitcase. It's definitely better than yesterday's 'start'!
* I was going to title this 'one more week' but that somehow reminded me of a line from a song, which is how it ended up being 'one more river'. That may make no sense to anyone but me, but I get it, so that's ok.
Hopefully it won't be in the next half hour, cos I can smell something delicious cooking, and I'd like to still be feeling like tasting it once it's cooked (My wonderful husband is cooking curry. Yum!).
This afternoon I actually started packing my hospital bag. Well, actually there's stuff piled on my bed, but it's actually there, not just ideas in my head or in my notebook! I will start putting things in the suitcase, but that's currently in the wardrobe and it's booby trapped under something else, and if I try to get it out by myself there's bound to be trouble. But yes, we have stuff. Lots of stuff, ready to be packed in the suitcase. It's definitely better than yesterday's 'start'!
* I was going to title this 'one more week' but that somehow reminded me of a line from a song, which is how it ended up being 'one more river'. That may make no sense to anyone but me, but I get it, so that's ok.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Still pregnant - 8 days til due date
I'm still pregnant. Contractions come and go, but since they're not developing into anything I've told them that I'm ignoring them until they decide to shape up properly and get on with it.
Not a lot else to report. I've written the list of things to take to hospital, that's a start, right?!
Not a lot else to report. I've written the list of things to take to hospital, that's a start, right?!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Showered with blessings
Tiny and I were well and truly showered on Sunday afternoon. A couple of friends organised a surprise baby shower for me, and Menard was in on the surprise too. A bunch of crazy but lovely folk invaded our home for a couple of hours, bringing fantastic decorations, yummy food, and lots of presents for me. It was lovely cos my Mum, Menard's Mum, Yvonne his sister, and my sister Bekki were all there too. A great combination of friends and family.
I didn't take any photos, but I know Bekki and a couple of others did, so I'm sure they'll appear online at some point...!
(Our net's been down for a couple of days. Well, I say down, what I actually mean is we need to buy a new top-up voucher for it. This is written at my Mum's house, but hopefully we'll have the net up and running at our place again soon).
I didn't take any photos, but I know Bekki and a couple of others did, so I'm sure they'll appear online at some point...!
(Our net's been down for a couple of days. Well, I say down, what I actually mean is we need to buy a new top-up voucher for it. This is written at my Mum's house, but hopefully we'll have the net up and running at our place again soon).
Friday, September 18, 2009
More photos
HP's hen party, 25th July.
Yes, I have pants on my head!
At HP and Steve's wedding, 15th August. Check out that bump! And my wonderful purple shoes :)
Yes, I have pants on my head!
At HP and Steve's wedding, 15th August. Check out that bump! And my wonderful purple shoes :)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A few photo highlights from the year
Progression of bump:
At our wedding, 5th April. Not much of a bump, indeed I'd lost weight in the week leading up to the wedding, so the dress actually fitted me less well than it had the week before.
Outside the registry office, May 30th. Definitely the beginnings of a bump. I'd bought this dress the week before in a charity shop, and only wore it the once. By a week or so later it no longer fitted!
At my cousin Pete's wedding, 8th August 2009. Wearing the dress I'd worn to his older brother's wedding back in summer 2007 which was pre-weight loss. I'd been intending to try to sell it on e-bay, but it's coming in handy again as it goes over the bump!
At HP and Steve's wedding rehearsal, 13th August. I was worn this dress/top and trousers so many times. In fact, if you asked someone who saw me a lot over the summer to predict what I'd be wearing the next time they saw me, if they said this outfit they'd probably be right about 90% of the time! (Obviously I washed it lots too!)
At our wedding, 5th April. Not much of a bump, indeed I'd lost weight in the week leading up to the wedding, so the dress actually fitted me less well than it had the week before.
Outside the registry office, May 30th. Definitely the beginnings of a bump. I'd bought this dress the week before in a charity shop, and only wore it the once. By a week or so later it no longer fitted!
At my cousin Pete's wedding, 8th August 2009. Wearing the dress I'd worn to his older brother's wedding back in summer 2007 which was pre-weight loss. I'd been intending to try to sell it on e-bay, but it's coming in handy again as it goes over the bump!
At HP and Steve's wedding rehearsal, 13th August. I was worn this dress/top and trousers so many times. In fact, if you asked someone who saw me a lot over the summer to predict what I'd be wearing the next time they saw me, if they said this outfit they'd probably be right about 90% of the time! (Obviously I washed it lots too!)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
List writer extrordinaire
As anyone who knows me could probably tell you, I love writing lists. I am a list writer. Whether it's a shopping list, or a to-do list, or a packing list, I love it. There's something about taking a fresh piece of paper, and a pen, and organising thoughts into a logical process.
Some of my lists have become famous, or at least immortalised, within our family. There's my shopping list, which is a tick box sheet of things that we regularly buy, laid out roughly in the order that you encounter each product as you go round the store. It's saved on the computer, so every couple of weeks my dad prints out a few more, and they sit on top of the freezer. That way as soon as someone thinks of something that needs to be bought, they can tick off the item, and when my mum goes shopping, she knows at a glance what needs to be bought. I think I need to steal or reinvent the list for me and Menard to use too, cos it is a handy way of keeping track of the fact you're out of beans or sugar or soy sauce, without having to make sure you tell everyone verbally six times.
Then there's the holiday list. It started off as pen on paper, but later also got transferred to the computer. It was the list we'd use as a reference point when we packed to go on summer holiday together (so again, I'm talking about me and my sisters and parents). Each year I'd update it, taking into account the location we'd be staying, and for how long, and all those sorts of things, but the basic backbone of the list remained the same.
So yes, I love writing lists. I wrote lists for my wedding, I wrote lists for HP's wedding. I even wrote a list for HP (or rather in consultation with her) to help her know what to pack to take on her honeymoon.
I've said all that to ponder the question, why have I not made any physical lists to do with having Tiny? Sure, there are many lists going round in my head all the time. Things like what we need to buy/make/get ready for Tiny's arrival, what I need to get for me before Tiny arrives, what I need to take in my hospital bag, even what to put on a birth plan etc etc. But I've yet to actually put pen to paper on any of these.
I think part of the problem is that I am the sort of person that does things at the last minute. All my best essays at university were written as all-nighters the night or two nights before they were due in (as were my worst pieces of work, but for the sake of argument we'll just talk about the good stuff!). Our wedding was planned in two and a half weeks, we had to just get on and do it, and we did. But, the thing about Tiny's arrival is that it could happen tomorrow (or even today, although it seems doubtful, given that I haven't really noticed my bump drop, which suggest Tiny isn't very engaged as yet), but it could also not happen for another month. Babies are considered to be full term when born any time between 37 weeks and 42 weeks. Yesterday I hit the 37 week mark, which means the end's in sight, but it's not near enough in sight to motivate me to write lists!
I can't cope with the anticipation. Tiny may be born this week, it may be another few weeks. I don't know. And the not-knowing stalls me into inaction. It's almost as though once I've done something, like pack my bag for hospital, I won't have anything left to do. So I don't do it, cos that means I can still have something on my mental to-do list. However, I can't leave everything until I'm in labour, which means I need to take myself in hand. Which means actually writing some lists. The most obvious of those lists that need to be written at the moment is knowing what to pack in my hospital bag. I've got several different suggestion lists from a number of sources, and I plan to consult those, but I'd also like those of you who've ever been there and done that with the whole giving birth thing to weigh in with your suggestions. Pretty please!
Also, as a slight aside, I look at some of the lists and think "heck, that's a lot of stuff", so I'd also like to know what you actually packed your stuff in. Is this a pull out the holiday suitcase type of event, or a couple of rucksacks, or what? (I know at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what you take and what you take it in, it'll just be comforting to me to know what other people have done!)
Oh, and yeah, it appears I'm blogging again. I have got some belly pics from the course of the pregnancy that I want to share at some point, but I really need to upload stuff from my camera - it currently still has photos from our wedding way back in April on it, not to mention all the other stuff that's happened since!
Some of my lists have become famous, or at least immortalised, within our family. There's my shopping list, which is a tick box sheet of things that we regularly buy, laid out roughly in the order that you encounter each product as you go round the store. It's saved on the computer, so every couple of weeks my dad prints out a few more, and they sit on top of the freezer. That way as soon as someone thinks of something that needs to be bought, they can tick off the item, and when my mum goes shopping, she knows at a glance what needs to be bought. I think I need to steal or reinvent the list for me and Menard to use too, cos it is a handy way of keeping track of the fact you're out of beans or sugar or soy sauce, without having to make sure you tell everyone verbally six times.
Then there's the holiday list. It started off as pen on paper, but later also got transferred to the computer. It was the list we'd use as a reference point when we packed to go on summer holiday together (so again, I'm talking about me and my sisters and parents). Each year I'd update it, taking into account the location we'd be staying, and for how long, and all those sorts of things, but the basic backbone of the list remained the same.
So yes, I love writing lists. I wrote lists for my wedding, I wrote lists for HP's wedding. I even wrote a list for HP (or rather in consultation with her) to help her know what to pack to take on her honeymoon.
I've said all that to ponder the question, why have I not made any physical lists to do with having Tiny? Sure, there are many lists going round in my head all the time. Things like what we need to buy/make/get ready for Tiny's arrival, what I need to get for me before Tiny arrives, what I need to take in my hospital bag, even what to put on a birth plan etc etc. But I've yet to actually put pen to paper on any of these.
I think part of the problem is that I am the sort of person that does things at the last minute. All my best essays at university were written as all-nighters the night or two nights before they were due in (as were my worst pieces of work, but for the sake of argument we'll just talk about the good stuff!). Our wedding was planned in two and a half weeks, we had to just get on and do it, and we did. But, the thing about Tiny's arrival is that it could happen tomorrow (or even today, although it seems doubtful, given that I haven't really noticed my bump drop, which suggest Tiny isn't very engaged as yet), but it could also not happen for another month. Babies are considered to be full term when born any time between 37 weeks and 42 weeks. Yesterday I hit the 37 week mark, which means the end's in sight, but it's not near enough in sight to motivate me to write lists!
I can't cope with the anticipation. Tiny may be born this week, it may be another few weeks. I don't know. And the not-knowing stalls me into inaction. It's almost as though once I've done something, like pack my bag for hospital, I won't have anything left to do. So I don't do it, cos that means I can still have something on my mental to-do list. However, I can't leave everything until I'm in labour, which means I need to take myself in hand. Which means actually writing some lists. The most obvious of those lists that need to be written at the moment is knowing what to pack in my hospital bag. I've got several different suggestion lists from a number of sources, and I plan to consult those, but I'd also like those of you who've ever been there and done that with the whole giving birth thing to weigh in with your suggestions. Pretty please!
Also, as a slight aside, I look at some of the lists and think "heck, that's a lot of stuff", so I'd also like to know what you actually packed your stuff in. Is this a pull out the holiday suitcase type of event, or a couple of rucksacks, or what? (I know at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what you take and what you take it in, it'll just be comforting to me to know what other people have done!)
Oh, and yeah, it appears I'm blogging again. I have got some belly pics from the course of the pregnancy that I want to share at some point, but I really need to upload stuff from my camera - it currently still has photos from our wedding way back in April on it, not to mention all the other stuff that's happened since!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Back to work AGAIN
Tomorrow school starts again and I have to go back to work. I have no idea where I'm gonna find the energy to survive it, but at least I only have to do 7 days of it, and then I'm off on maternity leave.
Being realistic, I'm likely to be scarce around here again for a bit, but I'll be back again once I'm done, hopefully!
Being realistic, I'm likely to be scarce around here again for a bit, but I'll be back again once I'm done, hopefully!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
