Imminentness!

I've been getting pains since about 2am. They started off about 20 minutes apart and gradually went down to about 9 minutes apart. The midwife came at about 10:30 or something and did another sweep. This time it hurt a little. Apparently I'm 3cm dilated! She stretched it a bit or something. The pains have got worse since she left. His head is fully engaged. His heart thingy is 130-140. My blood pressure is 110/70... So all is hoobygroovy!

Apparently I should go for a walk, eat, have a bath and whenever I feel like I need pain relief ring the labour ward... So I shall do all that, but first I shall make sure I have everything I need in my hospital bag!

The midwife said she's almost certain I'll have him in the next 24 hours... so hopefully (unless I decide to blog later on today) next time I write on this blog, I'll have had the baby! =D

Hoobletoodledooo!

1 week late...

I thought I'd do a final bump picture before I actually go into labour. The baby is now a week late, so my belly is HUGE! It looks like someone put a football inside my skin! I've grown hoobloads since my last bump pic... unfortunately, so have my stretchmarks... but hey ho!

I've been meaning to blog about my stretchmarks for months and months but I haven't been able to pluck up the courage until now. I'm past caring about anything like that now though, so I'll take this opportunity to write about them. Yeah, they're fugly... but they exist and I have to deal with that. It's not like I ever used to show my belly or anything anyway! The picture actually makes the stretchies look a lot less bad than they actually are. They're literally all over my belly, all over my hips, right down my legs (almost down to my fucking ankles), probably on my butt and I'm pretty sure they go round to the bottom of my back too. I hate them, but I'm getting used to them. I guess blogging about them is better than hiding them for the rest of my life and being ashamed of them. =]

Anyhow... I can't believe the baby still isn't here! He was due on the 19th and it's now the 26th, almost the 27th! I've tried everything possible to get him out! I had a sweep last week, I've been walking A LOT (even up Bangor Bitch Hill), I've been bouncing on my exercise ball, bouncing on my trampoline, persuading my grandfather to drive down very bumpy roads, eating basil straight from the plant pot, drinking raspberry leaf tea, nipple stimulation (probs not enough though as I got bored and gave up after like a minute), jogging (well, attempting to), cleaning ceilings, asking nicely, eating spicy food (it's so hard to find spicy food that doesn't contain chilli), eating lots of pineapple and various other things! I've tried most things (apart from sex, as there's nobody to do that with) and nothing is working! I even gave in and tried castor oil this morning, which did absolutely nothing... I didn't even get diarrhoea! In fact, I haven't even had a shit all day... Castor oil is crap!

Talking of shit... I'm so worried that I wont poo by tomorrow! When doing internal examinations, midwives take note of whether or not your bowels are empty. Luckily last time they were, but if my bowels aren't empty I'm going to be so fucking embarrassed (I know that sounds silly, but I'm a silly person). I NEED to poop by then!

Tomorrow I have another sweep. The last one didn't work and I'm sure this one wont either, but I'm gonna go ahead with it anyway. I'll find out how things are going (effacement and dilation wise). I'm pretty certain I'm gonna end up being induced. I've given up hope of ever going into labour!

I keep getting pains. Sometimes they even have a pattern to them for a while... but then they just disappear! It's getting annoying because I keep getting my hopes up!

Anyhow... I might blog again later on... but I might not! Hoobletoodledoo!

Slight moan!

So yeah, I had a show on Tuesday evening . Since then I have had no more signs he is going to arrive any time soon! I'm even getting fewer niggley things than I have been getting. I think he's decided he is never going to come out!

I'm getting so fed up of being pregnant and it's put me in a really bad mood. I'm being a bitch to everyone even if they do even the slightest thing wrong. People don't deserve it. :/ I know it sounds stupid, but I kinda feel like a failure for not havinghim yet. My mum is apparently going to stay here until I've had him... I'm guessing she's gonna be here for a while.

I've been trying everything to get him out. The only things I haven't tried that I can think of are sex and castor oil. I think that if there's still no sign of imminent labour by tomorrow night I might try the castor oil even though I've heard bad things about it. I really don't dig the thought of a serious case of the shits, but if it'll get him out this week, it may be worth a try! :/

Show!!

About half an hour ago I went to the toilet. I did the whole checking my knickers for icky stuff thing I've been doing obsessively for months. Much to my disappointment, there was nothing there. I'd practically given up hope of ever having a show. I peed. I wiped and got the shock of my life. There was a show! Never before had I realized how immensely happy a bit of blood streaked mucous could make me. I just wasn't expecting It as my knickers were free from any ickyness. It was the happiest trip to the toilet of my life! I was so pleased I shouted to tell my grandmother (who almost had a heart attack because she thought I was hurt or something) and then I phoned my mum... And then I updated most places on the Internet with the good news. Gosh, it's so exciting.

I know it could still be a while before I have the baby, but at least now I know he's not going to stay in there forever! Things are finally starting!

I will keep this blog updated as much as possible.

Sweepysweepysweepsweep

I have now had a sweep. It was nowhere near ad bad as I thought it would be... The midwife didn't even look at my fanny or anything. I'd read that sweeps can be painful but it wasn't even slightly painful... It was a teeny weeny uncomfortable, but that was it! Apparently she managed to get quite a good sweep. It wasn't even completely mortifying like I expected it to be! Hopefully it'll help get things started... If it doesn't, I can have another sweep in like a week and if that fails, an induction onthe 29th... As both of those are too late to be convenient for me, I desperately hope the sweep works!

I'm not dilated yet, but I'm apparently about 50% effaced. My notes now say I have normal external genitalia and a normal vagina, which for some reason I find quite hilarious... Yay for having a normal flange! It's probably the only thing that's normal about me! I also have an anterior cervix... I can't remember what that means, but I think I was told that's a good thing. The midwife apparently felt the babys head and he's 3/5 engaged.

I still had some protein in my pee, but all is good as we know I have no infections or anything. My blood pressure was 117/70, which as normal is pretty good. The baby's heart rate is 138-149 so that is good.

So yes, HOPEFULLY he'll decide to arrive some time soon!

Updateeee

It's now 5am on October 20th. He's now officially 5 hours late and it's rather annoying.

I think I'm going to have a sweep today. It'll be rather embarrassing, but anything to get him out is worth a try! I have no idea what time the midwife is going to come, but I'll probably update my blog soon afterwards.

I've been having the occasional little niggle, but nothing different to what I've been experiencing for about a week now.

I'm pooping quite a lot recently... Maybe that's a sign he'll come soon... Or maybe youdont really wanna be Reading about my bowel habits!

I had heartburn tonight for the first time in about four nights... I thought I'd finally got over theheartburn, but apparently not!

I've been sitting on my exercise ball a lot today. It feels so comfortable at the moment!

Anyhow... I'm gonna go ... I shall update later!

It's tomorrow!

He's due tomorrow... There's still no sign of impending labour...grrr!

Last night I even went on my little trampoline thing to try and get things started... It didn't work. I think I'll try again tonight though. I wish there was pineapple in the house. Pineapple is one of the only things I haven't tried yet... Unfortunately it's sunday and no shops are open so I can't go and buy some. Buying a pineapple will be the first thing I do tomorrow though. Gonna carry on trying to make labour happen, but I doubt it will.

I think I've been experiencing the nesting thing. On top of repeatedly rearranging the baby's clothes, I've found myself doing all sorts of things that are totally uncharacteristic of me. Yesterday morning I went on a cleaning spree and cleaned the ceiling, Walls, doors and everything. I even cleaned an entire door thing using cotton buds and mr muscle. I've even hoovered a few times.

I had to speak on the phone to the midwife earlier. I wouldn't usually do that, but I got tricked into answering the phone. It was terrifying and as usual I didn't know what to say and ended up making myself look quite stupid. But the midwife finally gave me the results of my blood and pee. There was no infection or anything in my pee so the protein is still a mystery, and despite being crap about taking my iron tablets, my haemoglobinz have gone up to like 11 or something which is rather hoobacious. As I haven't been taking iron tablets much, this is proof that vegetarian junk food diets aren't as bad for you as people make them out to be! XD
The midwife was going to come here on tuesday but now she can't, so it's going to be the other midwife I saw once before. I'm glad about that because if I do go ahead with the sweep, it's unlikely that I'll ever have to see this midwife ever again so it takes a teeny weeny bit of embarrassment away from it!

Oh and an update on my ladygarden: it's growing back all stubbly, so I think I'll have to attack it with hair removal cream or something tomorrow night ready for my sweep on Tuesday... Or just as soon as I go into labour if I'm lucky enough for that to happen before then! Gosh, it's so weird how I'm more worried about pubes than pain when it comes to labour stuff!

Byessss!

Ways to speed it up

I know people say the baby will come when he's ready, but I need him out of me as soon as possible. After extensive research (well, googling and asking people) I have decided to use as many different ways to kick start labour as possible. Sex is not an option and I'd feel too weird sitting here stimulating my own nipples, but I'm gonna try pretty much everything else.
I plan to go on a longish walk or something this afternoon. When I get back I will clean the windows (not seen that method mentioned anywhere online but as both my grandmother and mother suggested it, I guess it's worth a try). I will drink more raspberry leaf tea (might help things along I suppose). I'm going to sit cross legged on the floor as much as possible (my auntie suggested it and she's had like a zillion kids so i'll take her word for it). I'll get my grandfather to drive along a dead bumpy road with me in the car (if that fails I'll just get on a bus to somewhere bumpy). I'll eat hoobloads of spicy food too. If none of those things work, I'll just start doing something I really want to do and finish... That should certainly ensure I go into labour.

I'm starting to think I'm not actually pregnant and I just have some sort of weird disease that makes me swell up.

If anyone has any suggestions of anything else I can do to help, please suggest. I need stuff to happen!

Hurry up!

Oh my god. I am literally willing to do anything for the baby to be born before Tuesday. If he's not here by Tuesday I'm going to have to have a sweep because I need him to be born as soon as possible. I am moving into my flat thing on November 1st and would quite like some time to adjust to the baby and stuff so that when I'm all alone I actually know what to do with him! On top of that, my grandmother got told she can have the operation she's been waiting a long time for on the 25th. She really wants to be there for the birth and I want her to be there too. So I need him to be born in the next week, so a sweep seems like the only option as I'm pretty sure he's going to stay put until after the due date (which is on Monday). I really don't want anyoneputting their fingers up my flange until I'm actually in labour, but I have a feeling it's going to have to happen. Not fair at all. I need to find a way to make him arrive by Tuesday!

I've decided I can't keep names secret for any longer. I'm going to have to tell you the ones I'm considering most at the moment. I have no will power whatsoever LOL. PLEASE DONT COMMENT ON THE NAMES. I don't want to know which one anyone prefers or anything like that. I'm going to look at him when he's born and see which name I think he should be called. I'm pretty sure I'm going to call him either Zebediah (shortened to zeb) or Isaac (shortened to ike). :)

Anyhow, I'm gonna go ponder ways to get this baby outta me! Bye!

Updateyness!

I am now 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant. The baby is due in SIX DAYS! I had a midwife appointment today.

The midwife couldn't give me the results of my blood or urine stuff because the computers weren't working... but she will phone me tomorrow and tell me shizz.

There was still protein in my pee today... Not as much as there was last time though. My blood pressure was 120/65. Fundal height was 39... So it once again corresponds with how many weeks pregnant I am. He's still 3/5ths engaged and his heart thingy was 135-147.

The midwife said I could have a sweep on my due date if I want, but then she realised she wasn't working on the 19th... So I can have a sweep on the 20th if I want one. I'm going to ponder it. If I do go until next week, I'll be super fed-up of being pregnant and stuff... but it seems like a little too much unnecessary fiddling with my flange as I could just wait to be induced. I shall ponder though! Hopefully I'll go into labour before I have to decide about sweepageness!

In other news, I messed up completely with hair removal cream and ended up having to shave off all my pubic hair. It wasn't the smoothest of shaves and my poor fanny is a little itchy and whatnot as a result. I just hope there are no ingrown hairs or any spots or anything down there. If there are and I have to give birth, it'll be bloody embarrassing!

Midwife and stuff

I just had a rather annoying midwife appointment. >.<

I peed on the stick like I usually do. For once, I actually needed to pee when I did it, so it was easier than it usually is. There was apparently quite a lot of protein in my urine... So I have to pee in a stupid little thingy tomorrow. I hate that I keep having to do that (well, it's only the second time I've had to... but mooo- last time I peed on my hand). >.<

Then it was blood stealage time. It failed. After spending ages trying to find a vein, she finally put the needley thing into my arm. I thought it meant she'd be able to steal some, but I was wrong. Not even a single drop of blood came out of my arm. Twas immensely annoying because I now have to go to the hospital tomorrow to get my blood stolen. I hate hospitals and was hoping I wouldn't have to go there again until I was actually in labour! >.< Meep, might be a good thing she didn't manage to steal my blood though as I keep forgetting to take my iron tablets.

My blood pressure was 115/75, which is slightly higher than my blood pressure usually is, but not high enough to be worrying.

Fundal height was 39cm. Rather annoying as I have a feeling he's gonna be quite big. Not abnormally big, but I'm guessing at least 8lbs or something... I might be wrong, but I really do have a feeling he's gonna be big considering that on the fundus chart thing on the back of my notes, it says it's in the 80th percentile. =/ He's nice and healthy though as his heart thing was 140-160.

I'm losing hope of him coming before he's due. He's only 1 more 5th engaged than he was two weeks ago (2/5 palpable). I know that how engaged they are isn't really a good indicator of when they're going to arrive, but it would have been nice to know he was more than 3/5 engaged. I am very fed up of being pregnant and I just wanna meet the little dude! >.<

Anyhow... Yesterday I bought a baby name book. I don't particularly need to add any more names onto my list and I *did* get a baby name book free with a magazine last week... but I bought it anyway even though my grandmother tried to talk me out of it. It was a total waste of £7, but it's quite a good book so hey ho! XD

I neeeeeeeeed to not be pregnant anymore. I hate waking up every 1-2 hours during the night to pee. I hate getting heartburn so much. I hate all the little pains. I hate the backache. AND I FUCKING LOATHE THE STRETCHMARKS! ::)

So yeah, hoobletoodledoo!

Pains, tea and dreams...

I've been having lots of weird niggles, twinges and pains today. A few different kinds of pain. It makes me wonder how many days I have left. He could be born at any time in the next 23 days.

One kind of pain only happens occasionally when I'm walking, getting up off the sofa or changing position in bed... It's kind of like someone has kicked me in the fanny and butt-type-area and it feels like it's bruised. That never lasts long though, just when I move in awkward ways.
Another kind of pain is like someone is pinching my cervix or something pretty hard. It's not very nice at all and hurts like fuck. That only happens when the baby is moving though.
I've also had a dull kind of backache which is different from the backache I've generally been getting. It's accompanied by a period-like kind of pain. I've never really had exceedingly painful periods, but whenever I have had any form of period pain, it's felt like this. The backache and periodishness unnerves me a bit as it sounds like the kind of pain I've been told is a sign of going into labour. The pains aren't too bad yet though and I haven't noticed a pattern to them, so I'm definitely not in labour yet! XD Maybe it's the start of things though!

I finally plucked up the courage to try my raspberry leaf tea a couple of hours ago. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. It wasn't the nicest kind of tea I've ever had, but it was drinkable!

I had a dream last night. I was in some book store with my mum, my half-brother and the squigglytiddlypeep (who was somehow the same age as the half-brother who was still the same age as he is now). The squigglytiddlypeep asked me why he didn't have a name like everyone else. I told him it was because I couldn't think of one for him and asked him what he would like to be called. He decided he would like to be called [insert the awesome name that's currently on the top of my possible names list but everyone else finds weird]. I told him that [the name] could be his name and his middle name could be [the name that I've wanted to use as a middle name ever since I started pondering names] but he had a tantrum because he didn't like the middle name.
Maybe the dream is an indicator of what I should call him...

Anyhow... I'm gonna go watch American Dad or something. Gosh, I can't believe there's only 13 days until the due date... Hoobletoodledoo!

Shizzle

I just got shown around the labour ward and stuff. It made me want to have to give birth in the hospital even less than I already did. It's horrible there. The only place out of everywhere I was shown that was vaguely ok was the operating theatre and hopefully I wont need to go in there! The rooms had been described to me as 'homely'... Yeah right! I'd feel more at home in like... a convent or somewhere equally unappealing to me! XD
Unfortunately, I have no choice but to go there some time in the next few weeks. I'm just going to have to put up with it. =/

I think I've pulled one of my intercostal muscles. It's fucking painful and makes it a lot harder to move than general pregnantness already does. Moving around gets harder and harder every day. I even find it exceedingly difficult to put on my shoes these days.

I've had some raspberry leaf tea lying around for a couple of weeks now. I might try some later... I've heard it's vile though, so I'm not going to try it until I'm feeling particularly daring.

Blah, blah, blahh, waffle, waffle, moo. My back is fucking killing me.

I just want the baby to come soon. I don't want to have to wait until the due date (which is in 16 days). I'm fed up of being pregnant and want to get the whole birth thing out of the way so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Anyhows, hoobletoodledoo.

It's October!

OHMYGOD! It's finally October... So eepyayyyfuckgollycrappycrapwowza=]o_O to that! XD I will have to have a baby by the end of the month. Well, by the 29th anyway as they wont let me go more than 10 days over the due date. The baby could decide to arrive at any time now! I hope he comes before the 19th, but not until at least next week. It'd be pretty awesome if he was born on the 11th because then his date of birth would be 11/10/09.

People keep nagging me about getting my hospital bag packed. I now have most things I need to put in the bag (maternity towels, stuff to wear whilst giving birth, nappies, etc.) BUT I have a slight problem... I HAVE NO BAG! I can't find a suitably sized one that I actually like anywhere! I am going to try Matalan today and if I can't find one there, I'm screwed!

I think I have it narrowed down to four names. What I think is my favourite out of the four names would probably be classed as a weird name by most people, but it's not like a made up name or anything... it is one of those names that people will inevitably be bitchy about. It's quite long too... Not quite as long as Charlotte, but it seems longer because it has four syllables. Gosh, I love the name though. I just can't decide whether or not naming him it would be a good thing. Hmmm... Ponder, ponder, ponder! XD