naming baby

I am now 32 weeks pregnant, and we are still struggling to come up with a boys name for this baby, we just recycled the girls name we had choosen for last time, but I am finding it so hard to come up with something that we both like for this wee one.

In other baby happenings, I am 32 weeks, bump is measuring 34 weeks, and is 3/5ths engaged, my Midwife is happy with how things are going at the moment, my blood pressure is good, and the acupuncture is keeping the nausea and vomitting at bay. I went to an osteopath yesterday to see about some relief for my hips, so far it seems to have worked, I arent waddling as much today and I dont have pain shooting up the middle of my pelvis which is great.

D

due dates

Sometime lately it would have been my due date for the ectopic pregnancy that I had in February, it was kind of strange thinking about it, possibly because I hadn't know I was pregnant there was no emotional attachment to a possible due date.

Not like at the moment where I am counting down the days to my due date and beginning to think about getting ready for bubs arrival, things like packing our hospital bag, putting the clothes in the drawers, bringing the cradle inside.

September would have been the month for doing this if the ectopic pregnancy had occurred in the right place, I have wondered a bit about it, would the pregnancy have been easy, would the smaller gap been ok, all sorts of thoughts really about what might have been if the circumstances had been different,

Instead I am thinking about things for this wee bubba who is due in around 8 weeks, wondering if its a boy or girl, hoping that my hips don't get too much worse, thinking about names, birth plans, breastfeeding etc.

I am also thinking about the fact that this is the last pregnancy that I will carry, I am 32 now, I don't want to be having anymore children, and 34/35 yrs of age had always been my cut off point.

I will miss the growing bump of pregnancy, the first kicks, the tummy rolls from movement, the excitement of a new child but I also know that my body isn't up to another go at this, we will outgrow our wee house if we had more, and probably outgrow our income too.... yep this is it, four is enough.

I wonder how my Grandma coped having 8 children, it must have been hard and she didn't have things like microwaves, automatic washing machines etc. I also wonder how her body coped, she was 40 when she had her last child, so she spent over 16 years of her life being pregnant or breastfeeding which must have taken its toll..... my midwife tells me that bubs has lots of room because everything is stretched from the previous babies and that's a factor in it being a good size, I wonder how Grandmas was by the time she was having number 8.

Anyway, this baby I carry is making me very sore tonight, it seems to have changed where its laying so its off to bed for me.

D

31 weeks today

yay the countdown to baby number 4's arrival is on. 63 days till our estimated due date, so really bubs could come 2 weeks either side of that date.

I actually took a picture of me today, I will upload it to here this evening so you can all see how big it is. I saw my Midwife on Saturday evening for monitoring cos I hadn't had enough movements and she thinks that my dates are more accurate for my size, anyway bubs is growing nicely and we are both happy with how things are going, my SPD hasn't been as bad this time which is really good, and I have some extra hands around the house till after bubs is born.

damn.....

I managed to hurt my hip today, was parked beside another car and didnt open my door far enough, so when I got out I some how managed to twist my hips the wrong way. My left hip is aching and hurts like anything when I walk, am gutted as its my weaker hip from my last pregnancy. Am waiting for Ben to get home so that I can have a bath to ease the pain a bit.

I am pleased that I was wearing my smiley belt though otherwise I think I would have hurt it even more.

D

Been to the midwife today

and everything is going really well. I am 30 weeks and 1 day but measuring around 31 weeks, bubs is still lol or maybe lop and is head down. The interesting thing is that bubs is also 3/5ths engaged which is quite early, great for birthing, not so great for the next ten weeks :)

We did some acupuncture to try to relieve some of the morning sickness that has returned, the nausea I can cope with, its the throwing up my breakfast that I aren't so keen on.

I have started thinking about what sort of birth I want, and have decided that I would really like a water birth this time if possible, labouring in the bath was really good with O so I want to give it another shot. I was talking with another lady at the clinic I go to and she said why don't you try prebirth which is a homeopathic remedy to speed birth up, I told her no thanks under 3 hrs is fast enough for me.

So its all good so far, polycose test came back normal, am a bit anaemic but am taking iron so just going to relax and enjoy.

I cant count lol

my maths was faulty, the 126 weeks of pregnancy didnt count the bubs that I am carrying, so all up it will be 166 weeks of pregnancy.... the 6 weeks is for the one I lost, then its 41 weeks for L, 39 weeks for O, 40 weeks for K, and hopefully around 40 weeks for this one. We are pretty certain given my previous lengths of pregnancy that I should go to full term with this baby too. I am just a bit worried about how big it might be, pushing them out isnt painfree. I have got my midwife appointment tomorrow so will get to hear bubs heartbeat and see where its laying.

D

Monday monday

I don't know if I actually like Mondays at all, but today has been ok, I managed to get washing out which was good, without too much pain either, I haven't done much else today though, have been trolling the net looking for boy names that would work for this baby, We are both really struggling to come up with a name that we both like and that works with the ones we already have.

Speaking of bubs its moved around again and seems to be laying on my right side instead, I find the nights that it does a big move around are the nights that I have a really bad nights sleep.

Tomorrow is 10 wks till due date, seems a bit scary when I write it down like that, the last quarter of my last pregnancy, by the time bubs is born I will have spent over 126 wks of my life pregnant, (2 years and 4 or 5 months), and if I feed it till over 12 months I will have spent 4 years breastfeeding, I have spent every birthday of mine since 2003 either breastfeeding or pregnant which is strange, but it will be kind of strange not ever having another baby too in some ways, we have always just seen how we go with each one before deciding on having another baby, this time though we are very definite that this is it for us.

Miss K is really cool about "cheeky monkey" as she calls it, she will come and place her hand on my tummy to feel it moving, and she talks to it, tells it whats shes up to or just calls it cheeky monkey.... Mr O has started calling my tummy baby, not that he really knows, but its cute, Miss L is a bit hit and miss with her interest, I think she will be best though when its born, shes more patient than her two siblings.

I can hear the three of them playing outside at the moment, I have to get the washing in so might go and play with them a bit too.....

D

ps... have just gotten all the washing in, and tea in the oven, not bad for only 5pm, maybe Mondays aren't so bad :)

wide awake and damn sore

I have got a UTI, its damn sore and woke me up just over an hour ago.... I am now sitting on the couch in my dressing gown waiting for the panadol to start working and thinking about ringing noise control as my neighbour has music playing... its not hugely loud but enough that I can hear the words for most songs.

I actually really want to be asleep, but my tummy feels really sore so I just cannot find a position that is nice to sleep in.

L turns 4

my wee girl is 4 today, shes currently out with her Papa for a horse riding lesson which is what shes been asking for for a long time. I blogged about her big sisters birth so thought today i would write about L's entrance into the world.

Firstly she was due on the 30th of august, but she wasn't having a bar of this, she eventually came into the world on the 6th of Sept, a beautiful sunny spring day, much like today actually. Because she wasn't in a hurry we decided to give her a wee bit of a hand... my midwife (the same one I had for K) gave me a stretch and sweep on the Monday as I had been niggling all weekend, we then did the same the next morning, Lee told me that everything was ready to go and we just had to wait a wee while, by 1:30pm that afternoon I was in labour, we had been out to Ben's work to get some stuff for him to do at home while we waited so were driving back when things started happening, we rung Lee, arranged to meet her at the hospital and went and dropped K's car seat at Helen's so she could pick her up from daycare for us. We then went up to the hospital to meet Lee.

We met Lee going in the entrance where she teased me that I wasn't in labour cos I wasn't working hard enough. She knew too well that I was though. We had a student midwife present too which was quite neat as she was able to stay with us while Lee set up a drip and other things just in case I hemorrhaged again. L came out quite quickly, I only pushed for around 2 minutes which was rather intense but good as it didn't last long, so at 15:52 on the 6/9/05 we welcomed our second Daughter into the world, she was perfect, weighed 3.5kg (7lb 11oz), had some hair and was just lovely.

L wasn't as hard as K to breastfeed and K was brought up to meet her after tea that evening. I aren't sure that K really understood as she was only 2 yrs old, but shes been a good big sister to her ever since. The next day L's bilirubin levels went high which meant a 2 day stay in neonates for light treatment, but it wasn't as scary the second time.

So happy birthday miss L, I am pleased that I have you and your beautifulness in our lives. love Mama

LOL not just laughing out loud

for those that haven't had a baby (or arent medically educated) lol is just a Internet term.... for me its the position (left occiput lateral) that all of my babies have preferred to lay in for the last trimester of each pregnancy, its actually not that uncomfortable and they seem quite happy there. Bubs dropped a bit yesterday which is good but chose to do it just as I was lifting O out of his cot, wasn't very comfy.

I had to get monitored last night at delivery cos I hadn't had the compulsory 10 kicks for the day, was good though because they did a ctg and bubs is nice and healthy according to it, and I am measuring well for 28 weeks and my midwife thinks baby will be a good size. I am predicting that it will be over 9 pounds this time, K was little at 5 pd 1oz, L was 7pd 12 oz, and O was 8pd 12oz. I am still not sure on gender but leaning towards boy at the moment, just purely based on where my bump is/how it looks and lack of boys names.

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Random acts of kindness day

was actually yesterday but I was on the couch for the afternoon so didnt get to do the act I wanted, so I did it today instead. My random act of kindness was to buy my midwife some flowers. I left them at the clinic this morning for her... and she loves them, yay.

I think I will try to do this sort of thing more often for people that dont always get acknowledged or people that I care for. We also gave some flowers to one of L's kindy teachers too....

its nice to see people smile about something simple.

D