38 & 39 Weeks

This post is a bit overdue... I have had my hands full as our beautiful baby has arrived! Name, Gender and Birth post to follow! Here is a quick recap of the last 2 weeks to birth.

Weeks 38 and 39 were full of Braxton Hicks contractions or practise contractions. These were completely pain free but my tummy would go into a hard ball and in regular intervals. I woke up with them at the end of week 38 and was fairly excited, got up and went downstairs and started googling whether or not I was going into labour. These are pretty common and do not mean labour is imminent as I had hoped but are good practise for your body. I was happy that it was a sign my body was getting ready in preparation for the big day. These continued on and off through week 39.

At 39 weeks pregnant, despite not being overdue I was feeling very impatient and really wanting baby Paicey to make an early appearance. I did conclude that I wasn't in any pain or too much discomfort which I was grateful for, but I just wanted to get labour over and done with and have our baby in our arms. For me, labour being imminent was not scary, it was just the next step and challenge/hurdle on the way to meeting our baby. Mr P and I researched all the usual ways to induce labour which I think are probably mostly old wives tales but we still gave a few of them a try. We went for an hour and a half long walk when I was exactly 39 weeks, and when I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I felt like I was carrying a bowling ball in my pelvis. This feeling as well as lots of lightening crotch/fanny daggers (this term still makes me laugh) continued for the next day so I do think the walk helped to engage the baby further. We went for a 30 minute walk each night to keep it going and also to get out of the house once the sun had gone down as it was so hot for me in the middle of the day being around 26 degrees. I have to admit that we stopped for an ice-cream on one of our night walks and another time we stopped and had fish and chips despite having dinner sorted at home! Every night before we went to bed Mr P would ask me if we were going to have a baby tonight.

I was given clary sage oil which you can put in the bath or dilute with water and rub on your bump which can bring on contractions however I was too scared to use it after I read a few things online. I ate a few pineapples but I heard that you need to eat about 15 or even more for it to have any effect. We had a hot Thai curry for dinner but Im sure its supposed to be a hot Indian curry. However I don't actually believe a curry would induce labour! Sex is supposed to help too with semen helping to soften the cervix. I do believe that baby comes when baby comes and if labour begins after you've tried one of the above to bring it on and it works, your baby might have been ready to arrive anyway but of course who knows and some woman swear by the above!

It seems funny now that baby Paicey has arrived but I had my little check list of things for myself that I wanted to have done before my due date. I had highlights put in my hair, my eyebrows threaded, and a  manicure and pedicure. These were probably more distraction/time filling activities however It was really nice to have these treatments done and I felt nice afterwards. The man at the nail bar wouldn't let me have the massage chair on whilst I was getting my pedicure. He said it could bring on labour and he would rather I didn't. I was in my 39th week and would have sent him a bunch of flowers if his massage chair had brought on labour at that point!

The nesting and baking was at its highest and I baked banana cupcakes with chocolate frosting from the hummingbird bakery cookbook as well as a roast pumpkin, pine nut and feta cheese quiche. I even vacuumed the house which was unlike me! Time stood still if I didn't have my daily thing to do. I still managed to get a great night sleep although I was waking at 5 or 6 am every day and then needing a nap around 10 am. It is very odd to wake up so early with nothing at all planned for the day, your body and mind just wants you up! Getting ready for no more sleep ins once your baby arrives!

As the week went on we decided that Mr P would not go to France with his team to play in a preseason rugby game against Montpellier which was 1 day before my due date on Friday 8th August. This meant that we would be able to go to Mr P's cousins wedding which fell on the same day as the rugby game, and so on Wednesday we made a late RSVP and I borrowed a Topshop maternity dress from my lovely friend Shauna that she had worn at her own baby shower. That night on Wednesday evening/ early Thursday morning I went into labour... 

30 Weeks Pregnant (75% baked!)

At 30 weeks I am officially 3/4's or 75% of the way through my pregnancy! We are officially on the countdown to meeting baby and time is flying.

I haven't worked during pregnancy and I know I have been very lucky to have had this time to myself to relax and enjoy each day. During the first trimester I would have to say that time felt like it was moving very slowly, and I believe not working compounded this as I had nothing to take my mind off the growing secret inside of me that I was bursting to tell everyone about. That being said, I am so grateful that I didn't have to be on the packed train into London everyday and work through the nausea. I left my job as an accountant at the end of September last year due to many factors, two being the late nights and the travel into Leicester Square each day. The plan was to have a month or two off (as I was studying for two CIMA exams in November to become a chartered accountant) and apply for a new job closer to where we live. We found out I was pregnant in November and I never went back to work! I honestly know believe there would have been a lot of tears and stress for myself (and for Mr P) if I was still in that job, and when I say that so far I have had a wonderful pregnancy, I know a lot of it can be put down to the fact that each day has been at my own pace, waking up late and lounging around, holidaying or having a bath or a walk into town when I feel like it. So I'm very aware that I'm extremely lucky in that respect and I take my hat off to all pregnant women who get on with it and work whilst they are pregnant! 

Mums to be in the UK can take maternity leave from their job from 29 weeks pregnant, if they wish to go early or they can work up until they are ready to give birth. Despite my current unemployment status, I qualify for statutory Maternity Allowance as I worked for 26 weeks in a 66 week test period prior to the babies due date. The weekly amount is £138.18 which will not go far however I am extremely grateful that I qualify for this and this week I received my approval letter stating that my first payment will commence shortly. I have many little bits and pieces to pick up for baby Paicey, just small things like nappies, wipes, creams etc and I think I will even treat myself to a pedicure with my first payment! After not working it is very exciting to get a payment regardless of how small it may seem to some!

This week I caught up with some of my girlfriends from Australia for a lovely dinner cooked by my gorgeous friend and foodie, Melodie who is about to set off filming a television series, cooking her way through Italy. If you like food and recipes,  be sure to check out her blog here. We had a truly lovely evening catching up and the bump seriously received the most rubs and hands on it than its ever had! The girls where trying to feel kicks but I had to tell them that baby Paicey wasn't moving at that moment and I would tell them when he or she did! They loved my big tummy and I felt the love. We were celebrating my friend Jess's 30th birthday and I must have eaten about 36 cupcakes at the end of the meal. They were gluten and dairy free and as I was assured they were apparently healthy, that was enough for me!

Lots of pregnant woman go through a 'nesting' faze at some point, and this week I think it started to happen in our house. Our house is small but quaint and our living room is not very big. Our sofa is on the extremely large size, so it takes up a lot of space. We don't have a coffee table as we think it would take up too much precious floor space but I've started to think about the logistics of having a baby and trying to have a cup of tea/coffee or even a bite to eat and also a place to put the babies bottles, dummy, infacol (if needed) etc. So we hit Ebay to look at our options and settled on a 'nest of tables'. We didn't win the first set that we bid on but we are now the proud owners of these refurbished beauties that tuck away in our bay window. I think they will be perfect.

Archie clearly didn't get the memo and thought we brought them for him.

Just enjoying a decaf perched on the littlest table.

We also upgraded the cushions on our sofa as I was never entirely happy with the browns and greens that we originally had and went for a mix of blues, cream and grey. We got them from M&S and they brighten the room just nicely. Now I just need to get the sofa cleaned before the baby comes along. Unfortunately we had a huge water leak causing damage to our bathroom, spare bedroom, kitchen and dining room, but I won't go into that. Hopefully it will all be fixed up soon because I hate to look at the damage. Lucky I like taking baths as our shower is definitely a no go zone at the moment!

New cushions!

This week on Saturday it was raining so went to a boutique cinema in Walton called Everyman cinemas. Its a small screen that seats around 40 and every seat is a comfy couch with a little side table for yummy snacks! We seen X-Men and took a moment to think it may be our last or close to last trip to the cinema before we have a little one keeping us at home! We had lunch in Nandos prior to the movie and I couldn't tell if it was just me or if I was sitting in the smallest booth seat in the world! I was so squished I felt I could barely get in or out. Mr P said it was OK for him so the expanding bump was just taking up all my space. I snapped a pic below when I thought no one was watching.

The bump closing the gap between table and me!

Well that was our quiet-ish week at 30 weeks pregnant with a trip to the cinema, a good girly catch up dinner and my first bout of nesting. I've got plenty of bump photos lined up for my 31 week post as I wasn't very good at taking them this week. I hope you enjoyed reading xx