SquidgeWatch: 37 Weeks

I reached the 37 week milestone yesterday, which basically means that this baby could come whenever it wants now!

We have been continuing to prepare for a natural birth, organising childcare for Georgie (my MIL is going to come over & watch her), adjusting the contents of my hospital bag, and re-reading the info book the hospital have given us. I’ve even made sure I remember the breathing techniques we were taught last time around, as that is what got me through 58 hours of labour with Georgie with nothing but low doses of co-dydramol.

My spd continues to worsen as my bump gets bigger; I’m so very pleased that it will be over soon! It is starting to cause major problems with my ability to sleep, especially if I wake in the night. Rolling over in bed is an excruciatingly painful experience.

I took Georgie to the library yesterday for a “Mad Hatters Tea Party”, which was a bit disorganised and not really worth the pain I was in by the time I got home! My movement was definitely limited to shuffling by the time we reached the front door on our walk home. Oops! Painkillers & not much movement at all sums up the remainder of my day.

I have what will possibly be my final midwife appointment in the morning. James is going to watch Georgie for me before heading into work, so that we can actually chat about things like my birth plan. My poor midwife does not deserve the yells of hatred & fear Georgie bestows upon her whenever I take her with me! I think that is down to the blood pressure machine; Georgie thinks that Viv is torturing me with the thing, and gets very protective! She is scared of anything with a low frequency buzzing – James’s electric razors, bubble machines, the electronic screwdriver – as far as Georgie is concerned, they’re all very very scary.

I assume that Viv will want to sort out my birth plan with me. That one is easy enough. No pethidine, and hopefully no midwives pressuring me to have some! I don’t really like drugs from that family & I know what small (& large!) doses of codeine do to me, so I am not willing to make myself feel like that, or to send my baby to sleep. Hopefully I will just have some gas & air, and that will be it for pain relief (though I would like to be allowed it for more that just the last few hours this time please!).

I want skin to skin after the birth, and would like to try & breastfeed as soon as possible. I had skin to skin with Georgie and loved it, but we didn’t have a first feed straight away as my poor girl was exhausted from the long labour. The hospital we are going to is really breastfeeding friendly in comparison to the last, and have much better on site support, so I’m pleased about that.

Less than 3 weeks to go till the official due date! I’d rather not wait that long…