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!

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!

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!