Category Archives: Personal

Letter to My Baby – Gestational Age 36 Weeks

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Dear Baby

One Month Left. 🙂

Have been very busy getting your room ready.  Your clothes are almost all washed and put away.  The bumper is on your cot.  The sheets will be on tomorrow or Thursday for sure.

You are being a major wiggle worm, constantly stretching and moving in my tummy.  Its so nice to feel.  It lets Mummy know that you are okay in there.

Mummy has been sleeping very well, which is a  nice change from normal!  I think it helps that I have no real stress at the moment.  The lack of going to work is ace!

Daddy totally charmed Mummy this week when he was helping out taking your laundry out of the dryer.  Cries of ‘Oooh little socksies!’ was just wonderful!

Mummy didn’t see the doctor today, so she’s not exactly sure how big you are now.  She knows you were 6lbs last week, she imagines you’re even bigger this week.

Next Tuesday she’ll see the OB again, and quite possibly have your eviction date.  How exciting!

Love

Mummy

And So It Begins

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the baby’s laundry, I mean. 🙂

Just spent 45 minutes unwrapping, reading wash tags and separating in preparation for washing.  First load is in washer.

The problem with not knowing the gender is that almost everything is white or off white.  I am actually doing a white load and an off white load, there is so much!

And I was right…I still do need booties, hats and mitts.  My mum keeps asking why I need those for a June baby.  Well, it is a June baby in Belfast!  Could be 5 C when its born.  Although we are having some heat at the moment.  That will probably end soon though.

After baby clothes are washed, I can begin putting them in the baby’s dresser, which doubles as its changing table.  By the end of the week, the baby’s room will be ready.  So very exciting!

Excellent, and Quick, Customer Service

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So, when the OB said ‘come back in 2 weeks and then we’ll schedule a C-section for 10 days after that’ I went into panic mode a bit. Not about the baby nearly being here, but about being ready for the baby to nearly be here!

I still did not have:

The Amby Hammock

Sheets for the cot

Bumper for the cot

So I went online on Sunday and bought the Amby.  It was delivered yesterday. WOW!

Then on Tuesday, I remembered that a friend on Mumsnet, when I had expressed concern about the lack of a baby bumper, which are not recommended for small babies due to possibility of suffocation, whereas I was worried about baby hitting its head, told me about the Airwave Cot Bumper.  That was ordered Monday.  I received it yesterday. WOW!

Then Wednesday I popped into Mamas and Papas to look at their sheets, as they had been recommended by a friend.  The problem I had was that they had no waterproof mattress covers.  In fact, when I asked about them, the sales woman looked surprised I would even want them because ‘all of our mattresses are specially covered already.’  To which I replied ‘lovely, but I didn’t buy my mattress here.’  And promptly left.  So a web search for waterproof mattress covers sent me to: John Lewis.  Where I also found sheets.  So those were ordered on Wednesday.  They arrived today. WOW!

So within 5 days, I had everything left on my list for baby.

Now I just need to put the sheets and bumper on the cot and set up the Amby.

And have a baby. 🙂

Well, It Finally Happened…

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I had to take off my rings.  They still come off and on, but are really tight and uncomfortable.  My claadagh ring will stay in my jewelery box for the duration, my wedding and engagement rings are on the necklace I always wear.  I now clang when I walk. 🙂

Bit of a eye opening moment when my 5 weeks left were reduced in about 3 in the mouthing of the sentence ‘come back in 2 weeks and about 10 days after that we’ll schedule your C Section.’ Gulp.

Has given me a little shove. Finally ordered sheets and the cot bumper (its one for newborns, that is breathable, so it will protect little heads but they can’t suffocate against it).  Amby cradle is on its way.

Still have to finish setting up the baby’s room, in terms of putting things like cotton wool and such on shelves!

Oh and packing the hospital bag.

But I have nothing else planned other than antenatal appointments, antenatal classes and a meeting with the solicitor about wills.

Bring on the baby!!

Letter to My Baby – Gestational Age 35 Weeks

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Dear Baby

Well, here we are. On Maternity Leave. And not a moment too soon!

Mummy is exhausted.  Even with a good nights sleep, she is tired by lunch time.  Today she has an antenatal appointment so she won’t get her nap this afternoon.  Too bad!

You are still being a very active baby.  Kicking me regularly at all hours of the day and night.  It is so lovely!

Every day Mummy does a little bit to get your room in order.  Today she ordered your Amby Cradle, so you’ll have some place to sleep in her and Daddy’s room.  Hopefully it will be here next week!

Tomorrow Mummy is pampering herself at a Day Spa.  Lots of beauty treatments scheduled.  She’s really looking forward to it.

Mummy was at the clinic today.  You are still measuring large for your dates.  OB said to Mummy ‘come back in 2 weeks.  We’ll probably schedule you for a C Section 10 days after that!!’

*GULP*  Suddenly your birth is imminent.  I mean, of course I knew it was coming.  I have been keeping track.  But those words just made it all seem so real.

And I.Can’t.Wait.

Love

Mummy

Simon Asked Me Two Questions This Week

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that made me think.

  1. Knowing how much you’re not liking the 3rd trimester, do you appreciate your mum more for going through it?
  2. If you knew 7.5 months ago what you know now, would you still do this?

My first response to #1 was no, I didn’t.  And then I thought about it some more and realized, yeah, maybe I do.  Not because once upon a time she carried me in her tummy.  But because she’s never mentioned it.  Not that I would expect my mum to be moaning about something that happened nearly 41 years ago, but because it gives me hope that I really will forget how huge and uncomfortable and awful I feel once this baby is in my arms.  As unlikely as that seems right now.

As for #2…I honestly don’t know.  On the one hand, I am so in love with this baby already, I can’t wait to meet it and find out who it is.  And I love the feeling of it moving inside of me.  To the extent that I wonder how much I’ll miss that part of being pregnant once I have babe in arms.

On the other hand, I’m exhausted, I hurt, I’m out of balance, walking down the hall from the front room to the bedroom puts me out of breath.  I do not, for one second, regret having a baby.

But I sure am thinking awfully hard about ever doing this again.

Letter to My Baby – Gestational Age 34 Weeks

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Dear Baby

Truly in the home stretch now.  6 weeks to go.

Mummy is exhausted.  She is struggling through her last few days of work and cannot wait to be able to rest whenever she likes.

As Mummy has said before, she is really not enjoying be pregnant.  She loves feeling you move.  She loves when you kick so hard Daddy can feel you move as well.  She hates her achy bones and exhausted state of mind.  She feels totally incoherent most of the time.  And ancient.  And on the edge of tears.  Some say this is perfect practice for once you’re born.  I say that once you’re born, Daddy can stay up all night with you on occasion!!!

All this is leading to the fact that you just might be an only child.  On the one hand, Mummy has no problem with that.  There is nothing wrong with only children.

On the other hand, I’d hate for you to miss out on how great it is to have a sibling.  Your Uncle J and Mummy are very close, for example.  As are your cousins S and R.  Besides, who else can you gang up on your parents with?!? 🙂

Of course there is no decision here.  This is just Mummy complaining a bit and thinking a bit.  Everyone says I will forget how horrible I feel after you come.  Maybe they’re right?

This week you are growing like crazy.  You’re pretty much fully developed, just putting on fat and practicing breathing.  If, god forbid, you were born right now? You’d probably have very little if any problems.

Daddy and I have been attending Antenatal classes, learning about how you get out of me!  Daddy didn’t know a lot of this stuff and is wondering if he can bring his DS if this is going to take 30 hours! No, he may not!

What a long way we’ve come, my little love.  See you soon.

Love

Mummy

What a Difference

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a good nights sleep followed by a 2 hour nap after being awake for a few hours can make.  I am think of taking a second nap in a bit.

And this is why I am counting the seconds until maternity leave.  Having a newborn is tiring enough without going into it with weeks and weeks (or in my case, months that go back to before I was pregnant) of bad sleep behind you.

4 more days of work and I am off.  And then I planning on taking my mornings to get things done and my afternoons to rest.

Or vice versa. 🙂

Baby is being very active.  And kicked really hard when its daddy sang silly songs to it yesterday! Simon liked that.

Also having some Braxton-Hicks contractions.  Which don’t hurt, but are kind of distracting and annoying.  Nothing like your entire stomach going rock hard to break your concentration!

And speaking of concentration…somehow managed to send the Board last September’s report rather than the one for May. Um…ooops?  And no one will let me forget it, of course.

Letter to My Baby – Gestational Age 33 Weeks

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Dear Baby

Mummy’s a day late this week because she was very very busy yesterday.

You see mummy starts her maternity leave in about 7 working days, so she’s been training her replacement.  She’s trying to dump 4.5 years of knowledge into someone’s head in about 2 weeks.  Just not possible, but she’s doing her best!

Also last night mummy and daddy went to their first antenatal class.  It was very informative about normal labour and birth.  Hopefully we’ll have one of those!

Mummy also saw her OB yesterday.  You are a bit big, coming in at the top of the charts and weighing 5lbs already, but no one is concerned yet.  The doctors will keep good track of you for the next 7 weeks and make sure you don’t get too big.  And you seem to have moved head down already, which is very helpful of you! Of course, you could move back and forth a few times in the next month and a half!

Mummy’s job is to keep track of your movements and let them know if you start moving less.  So far? Not a problem!!

7 more weeks my little love.  And then you’ll be in my arms.

Love

Mummy