Friday 20 February 2009

39+4 weeks

I have a sore throat. The cramps have gone. Carpal tunnel syndrome made an appearance this morning. The heartburn is still hanging around. Nothing else with me is new.

Happy Friday!

photo: dessert I shared with my mum last week in a local pub

Thursday 19 February 2009

39+3 weeks

Nothing much to report over here, except that I continue to be tired and uncomfortable, as you might expect at this stage. I was up 4 times in the night again and that seems to be the norm now.

A few niggly period-type pains since last night but they are very mild and certainly not enough to keep Adriano home from work.

I'm enjoying making lots of local friends; it's SO much easier when pregnant!

My nesting seems to have ground to a halt now. I wonder whether it will come back with a vengeance just before labour begins... Meanwhile the hoovering will have to wait.

I'm aiming to take at least one decent walk a day now, as I don't move around that much at home. Yesterday while walking I realised that I can't see my legs anymore! The bump really is huge now. I would say there's no chance I'm having a small baby.

Poor old Adriano has a pretty nasty cold. Hope he can get rid of it before the baby makes an appearance.

The postman just knocked on the door with a huge box of organic baby stuff from a friend of ours. It's getting like Christmas here already - yesterday another friend brought around a pineapple (we wolfed it down last night - delicious), flowers, and a toy for the baby. People are so sweet and generous. It's fun to see friends and family go soppy over what is still just a bump! My sister in law seems very excited.

Monday 16 February 2009

Excited

The baby's head is apparently 3/5 engaged now. That means not-a-lot in terms of when the baby will actually arrive, but it's certainly heading in the right direction.

I'm pretty excited.

Off for a nap. Slept badly as usual last night.

Saturday 14 February 2009

Shiny pretty things

Today I have been showered with gifts. As well as a good dose of Lindt chilli chocolate, and a sweet V-day card, I got one of these as a present from Adriano to say thank you for carrying our baby (and as he said "for what you are about to do" - i.e. squeeze the baby out somehow). I am so touched as I know when A buys stuff like this he does lots of research and puts a lot of thought into it.









It is a fab camera, and I love the funky colour too. It has a one-touch setting for recording videos (with sound this time, unlike my last much-loved camera) so expect some on here, particularly once The Squawker is born.

In the afternoon A's sister and partner P and their little boy T came over and we went round the corner to our local greasy spoon for lunch. Then more gifts! I was given this gorgeous changing bag:

















and something I can't find a picture of right now but it's a bright pink snuggly fleece thing for a baby to wear, and has a hole for the car seat belt to go through too. It's really really nice.

I love presents!!!

I've been feeling very uncomfortable today, as though the baby is burrowing her head downwards every time she shifts. Sometimes it makes me gasp. I have my 39-week check at the docs on Monday so we'll see if he reckons the head is further engaged. I truly hope so. Last night I dreamed that I'd had the baby after a pretty OK shortish labour, then woke up and was slightly surprised to still have the unwieldy bump. Then I fell asleep and dreamed it all over again....twice. I'm sure she'll come out when she's good and ready but I'd love it if it was this month at least.

Friday 13 February 2009

For tomorrow

May all readers of this blog have lots of love in their lives, forever!

Thursday 12 February 2009

Dang

With only 11 days to go until the baby's due date, I have woken up to a circle of itchy pink angry stretchmarks all around my about-to-pop navel.

@rse.

Thursday 5 February 2009

Nine feels fine

Adriano and I met 9 years ago today.

It was my friend AM's birthday celebration night, so a group of us went out in Brighton for a (very garlic-y!) pizza. We then went to the pub. Two girls in our group knew that their friend Adrian also happened to be in Brighton that night, so they contacted him and he made his way to the pub too.

When he arrived, we were all deep in conversation. To announce his presence, he pretended to be a barman and said "Are these glasses dead?" As I'd never clapped eyes on him before, I totally fell for it and helpfully passed him the glasses. Then the girls who knew him looked up and said "Oh hi Adrian!" and I felt like a complete wally.

I remember chatting to him and instantly loved his cheeky happy face. He was friendly and easy to be with. The previous month he had started work as a runner and was loving it. We talked about the music we liked and found a common admiration for Beth Orton.

When the time came for us to move on to a club, I found I didn't want to stop talking with him, and I encouraged him (strongly!) to come with us. He decided to come along, and as I remember it we danced with the rest of the group at times but we only really spoke to each other for the rest of the evening.

I was fed up with going out with blokes where we had fun for a while and then it all died a death, so I had decided I would rather be on my own than have all that again. But still it's highly embarrassing to remember that I (somewhat drunkenly) wasted no time in grilling him about his values and his attitude to relationships. All he wanted, he tells me now, was "a snog and phone number" but he was wise enough not to tell me that! Whatever, we had fun chatting and dancing, and flirting. At one point he grabbed my hand while we were dancing, and I remember thinking "I'm not imagining it! He likes me!"

When the club closed at 2am, I was drunk (and therefore brave) enough to suggest that we went for a walk on the beach. He accepted, and we sat talking for hours. I've not got much patience for smalltalk, and I remember him being very open about all sorts of things. The conversation flowed easily as I remember it. He told me later that he was freezing cold the whole time but wasn't about to admit it as I seemed fine. It's so strange that I wasn't too, as it was February by the sea and I'm usually the first to feel the cold.

Eventually we went our separate ways but not before swapping numbers and having a really lovely goodbye kiss. I found it so endearing that he said a few times "you will call won't you?" - so refreshing after all the stupid game-playing.

And the rest is history.

That's not to say we haven't had HUGE ups and downs, and times apart, and crisis points all over the place. But somehow we've made it through, and I still love him, and like him, and want him to be the most important one I share my life with. Finding that 9 years has passed since the day we met is an incredible thing to me.

Happy Anniversary, Adrian.

Tuesday 3 February 2009

37+1 weeks

Disclaimers: please excuse the straggly wet hair (fresh from bath), the dressing gowns hanging up in the background, the blurry photo, the smug smile, and the big bum where my trousers are folded up under the bump!

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* proud new mother * last child * youngest daughter * tallest sister * favourite auntie * honest lover * furtive photographer * diary writer * compulsive dancer * tree hugger * mooncup promoter * chocolate taster * house plant murderer *

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