When dogs meet laundry

The wind was howling.  Some of my clothes were no longer on the clothesline, but sitting in a crumpled heap in the grass.  There goes my new plan of hanging them on hangers so they dry relatively crease-free, saving me tons of ironing.  Yeah, ironing is something that just isn’t getting done anymore.  I used to do it every week.  But then I got hugely pregnant.  I don’t particularly want to stand around for an hour ironing shirts while my feet swell and my ankles turn into cankles.  Plus ironing sucks anyway.

I’ve had the same basket of ironing sitting around my room for over a month, waiting for me to iron it.  Well, I ironed Aaron’s stuff out of it, but my stuff is still waiting.  Sigh.  Maybe I should just wash it again and then hang it on hangers on the line so it can dry reasonable crease free and then I can put it straight in the closet.  Skip the sitting around a clothes basket getting super wrinkled part.

Anyway….  I went outside to rescue my the rest of my laundry from certain crinkle death.  I put all the socks and things that were pegged out normally in the basket and gathered all the hangered items.  I was almost done.  Everything was going just fine.  Minus the 1 shirt that lay on the grass in a heap of course.

Zoe, YaYa’s dog, started sniffing around.  No worries, dogs like to sniff.  They sniff everything.  That doesn’t mean anything right?  She sniffed the laundry basket.  Moved on.  Sniffed some hangers.  Moved on.

She went over to the crumpled heap on the grass shirt.  Sniff sniff.

I watched her.  Surely she wouldn’t….

She lifted her leg.  Yes her leg.  But she is a girl, so she also squatted a little.

It seemed to happen so fast, yet also in slow motion.  I still kinda thought she wouldn’t actually do it.

But she did.

“ZOE NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  I yelled.  But I couldn’t get there fast enough.  I can’t even walk without waddling these days.  I can’t see my own feet, there was no way I could get to the shirt in time.

My poor near new, freshly washed shirt was now full of pee.  Dog pee.  Ick.  I don’t even own a dog.  YaYa was laughing hysterically.  “You’ll have to soak that in nappy san,” she told me.

Nope, sorry, I wasn’t touching it.  I left it there in a crumpled, peed on heap.

Ok, so it was kinda funny.  But it still sucked.

Don’t forget to vote once per day (pretty please!!)….

39 weeks

Pregnancy: 39 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 16.9kgs (37.25lbs)
Baby size (approx head to foot): 50.7cm (19.96in)
Baby weight (approx): 3.3kg (7.27lbs)

The count is in the single digits and less then a week away!!! Of course that is assuming Mushi decides to arrive on or before my due date. It’s CRAZY to think that at ANY TIME I could go in to labour!! We are very much ready for it though, we just want to meet little Mushi (and I just want to get him out of my pelvis!)!! The Jess thinks that Mushi will be born on the 1st of July, and has thought so since the beginning. That is her dad’s birthday and babies in the family tend to come on other family members birthdays (Aaron and his Grandma share the same birthday, as to a cousin and aunt or something along those lines). Or, maybe the 12th of July as that is Aaron’s Mum’s birthday (as well as Jennifer, my cousin’s, birthday). I’d much rather it be on the 1st, I don’t want to have to waddle around being very uncomfortable until the 12th. I, on the other hand, think Mushi will come on the 4th. It’s Independence day in the U.S. plus The Jess has a ball that day, and I think it would be funny if she had to turn up to the hospital in her ball gown while a bit tipsy. Would make for some interesting photos. Aaron thinks it will be the 5th.

When I went to the hospital for last weeks appointment, I was told I was “fully engaged,” meaning Mushi’s little head is right down in my pelvis and ready to be born. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be born asap, as first babies can descend a few weeks or more before being born. It does mean that he is in position and ready and could come at any time. The hospital appointments are generally uneventful. They take my blood pressure, measure my fundal height (which is inaccurate at this stage since they can’t measure the bottom of my uterus as it’s sitting in my pelvis), feel the baby’s position (laying on his side, head down, on the right side of my uterus. Good position to be in), listen to his heart rate, ask me how I’ve been feeling. At the appointment before the last one I had to take a lower vajayjay swab to check if I have strep B (or something similar sounding, but I think that is what it was checking), a bacteria that naturally lives down there and is not harmful usually, but can cause strife to the baby while it’s being born. Happy to report I’m negative on that front (which means I don’t have to have an antibiotic drip while giving birth. Phew. Don’t like needles!!).

I’ve been getting heaps of Braxton Hicks contractions lately, but they still don’t hurt at all. I don’t even feel them all. Sometimes if I’m paying close attention, I can feel them start (my uterus becomes hard), but usually I just notice when I touch my belly and find that it’s quite hard, then softens after a bit. Maybe I will be one of the lucky ones who doesn’t even realise they are in labour until the endish of the first stage because the contractions don’t hurt. Apparently that is how some people end up having to race to the hospital and give birth very soon after they get there. Usually you know you are in labour for quite a while before hand. Even though I know that most labours don’t begin with the water breaking (despite what the movies might have you think), I have this irrational fear that mine will break in an embarrassing public place (i.e. on the bus, at the store, at church, etc.). Let’s think about this: say I’m grocery shopping, I have a trolley full of groceries, but am not quite done yet. My water breaks. Do I finish my shopping, go to the checkout, then call the hospital? Do I ditch the groceries, and immediately leave? Of course I don’t drive by myself (Aaron is teaching me to drive the manual car, and I’m not quite confident enough to drive by myself yet. I’m a wussbag), so that would add another element to the equation. Do I then get a cab home, call someone who lives close by to come pick me up, get on the bus, wait for Aaron to come and get me?? Be good water, don’t break in public!

It is getting quite uncomfortable for me to do anything. Every time I stand up, there is a head on my bladder and I always feel like I have to pee (which maybe could be mistaken for a bladder infection except that it goes away when I sit down and take some of the pressure off). Again, due to a head being in my pelvis, there is a lot of pressure on my tailbone, and in the general butt area which can also get quite uncomfortable. Hard chairs certainly don’t help this either. When I eat, my belly prevents me from getting too close to the table. I end up getting lots of my dinner all over my shirt. Why don’t I just lean forward over my plate you ask? Mushi doesn’t like it when I lean forward, it must squish him. He immediately lets me know with a swift knee in the top of my uterus. Not like the kind he does when playing poke my limbs, but a sort of “knock that off mommy, I don’t like to be folded” kind of way. I’ve started keeping a towel next to me so when I eat I can drape it on myself.

A few people have asked me if I’m going to have photos of my labour. I do want photos, but only of the waist up. I don’t mind having photos of me making hideous “oh my goodness, this really hurts” faces, but I don’t need to see photos of the baby coming out or anything. I don’t need to see that place anyway, I certainly don’t need to see it with a head sticking out, and no one else should be seeing that part of me either (except Aaron and the doctors of course). I’ve heard that some people have those photos in an album at home, and actually show people. To me that is like saying “hello, here is my vagina.” So no, no photos South of the border thank you very much.

I finally took my citizenship test on Tuesday. It took me about 3 minutes (which was going through it twice to make sure I didn’t accidentally choose the wrong answer for any of them), and I got 19/20. I couldn’t remember who Australia’s first prime minister was. If you have read the citizenship textbook, the test is quite easy (well, except the one question…), but if you haven’t read it, you probably would fail miserably. I was going to eat lunch with Aaron later that day, since I was already in the city anyway, but I finished so quickly, I had 2 and a half hours before our lunch. Even though I’ve always been embarrassed by this prospect, I went to the movies by myself. I didn’t particularly want to walk (I mean waddle) around for 2 hours as my feet would end up the size of fully inflated balloons. The only movie that finished in time to meet Aaron for lunch was in Gold Class, so I thought what the heck, I just passed my test, I’ll treat myself. I was still quite embarrassed to be going to a movie alone (no offence Dad, I know you do that a lot), but then the only other person in the gold class cinema was a random guy who was also by himself (several rows in front of me, luckily not nearby as that would have been very awkward). Oh, did I mention I was watching a total chick flick, The Proposal? I didn’t feel so embarrassed after that. Although expensive, Gold class is very comfortable. They have big overstuffed recliners that you sit in. Perfect for a very pregnant woman who needs to put her feet up.

Thursday, I had someone from Baby BeeHinds come over and do a nappy (um…diaper) demonstration. As I said in the blog months ago, we are going cloth. Cloth nappies are not like the used to be. Now they are fitted, have inserts to catch more pee, have snaps to make them bigger or smaller depending on your baby’s size, etc. They are very good. The ones I got are “one size fits most,” so I won’t need to buy anymore nappies, they are good from newborn to something ridiculous like 3 or 4 years old (I hope Mushi is potty trained before 3…). Sure I spent $533 on them, but if I were to use disposables, I’d be looking at at least $2000 (and that is a conservative estimate) for the time Mushi is in diapers. Plus, we can use these for our next baby. They will take about 10 days to get here, so hopefully we will already have a baby by then….

I know this post is long, but what the hay, I’m going to keep going. No one is forcing you to read this. Saturday, The Jess and I decided to go to Pancakes on the Rocks (for those U.S.Aliens reading this, Pancakes on the Rocks is a Pancakes restaurant at the Rocks in Sydney. No ordinary pancake place though, this one serves chocolate pancakes with chocolate syrup, and chocolate ice cream. That is one of their concoctions anyway). I wrote down the driving directions, and we set off. Things got hairy only a few minutes into our trip when we accidentally took the harbour tunnel instead of the bridge. The directions tell you to take the Bradfield Highway (not actual name, but I can’t remember it’s actual name at this time), but then the road signs use no such highway name and just give you highway numbers (like 1). So, I ask you, how are we to know which lane to be in?? We chose a lane that takes you over the bridge, as we knew we needed the bridge (we knew that much at least), but at the last minute the silly lane forked, one to the bridge, one to the tunnel, and we ended up in the tunnel. We did then find some of the roads listed later in the instructions, but didn’t realise we were now coming at them from the other direction, so turned left when it should have been right, and ended up having to pretty much tour the whole city. An hour later, we found the road that Pancakes is on. Or so we thought…. After we parked, closer inspection of the street sign revealed that some hooligan had turned the sign so it was pointing at the road we were on, but should have been pointing to the road next to it. No big deal, we’ll just walk. That’s all fine and dandy usually, but it turned out to be quite a long walk, and I really really had to pee. We had to stop at a very posh hotel on a pier and ask for directions, as well as to use the bathroom. Luckily they humoured us (probably because a young guy was on the desk, and guys always take quite a shining to The Jess). Finally, an hour and a half after leaving the house, we got to Pancakes (this should normally take under half an hour). By that time, I wanted a real meal and not just something sweet (what is wrong with me?!?!), so after all that, I ordered a savory crepe, and The Jess got the nice black forest pancake (but I stole some of it). After sitting at the table for a while, another waitress came and insisted we move to a booth as it would be more comfortable, and then had a go at the other waitress for putting a heavily pregnant woman at the table with the hard chairs. I have to say, I did appreciate the booth. I like booths anyway, but at the moment, they are even better!

Ok, last paragraph, I promise. I read that babies tear ducts work in the womb, but can’t yet function outside the womb. I think that is probably a good thing. Seeing your tiny little bundle crying will be hard enough, but imagine if it also had all those tiny little tears coming out as well. It will be a shock to see tears for the first time though. I just can’t wait for Mushi to come out!! Come on Mushi, we want to meet you. Hopefully by next weeks blog we will have a little Mushi to write about (although then it won’t be Mushi anymore, it will have a boys or girls name…).

38 weeks

Pregnancy: 38 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 16.5kg (36.37lbs)
Baby size (approx) head to foot: 49.8cm (19.6in) although all the websites and books differ a bit on the baby size and weight guesstimate
Baby weight (approx): 3.1kg (6.8lbs)

38 weeks, almost there!!!!!!!!! I’ve now had a taste of the hospital after spending 3 hours there on Friday night. I had a bright red bleed (not a whole lot of blood), so I called the hospital straight away. Anytime you are bleeding they want you to come in (unless it is old blood with lots of mucus which at this late in pregnancy, would be the mucus plug. Eww…). Hmmm…should we bring the hospital bag? We decided that we should, just in case. Oh, and the bag with all the snacks and drinks (very important!). We did have to add some things to it first, as it wasn’t quite finished. The bag now lives in the car so it will always be ready. We arrived at 10pm, and they took me to a room which seemed to be used as some sort of check up/recovery/waiting for the doctor room that held 4 beds with curtains around each one (Aaron was parking the car). I was hooked up to a fetal heartbeat monitor and contraction monitor by a midwife as soon as I got there. We found the fetal heartbeat monitor is kinda like a campfire, you just can’t stop watching it. Then the questions started. “Is the bleed from high in your vagina, or low.” Um…if I knew that, I wouldn’t need to be here now would I? “When was your last anti-d shot (because I have a negative blood type)?” Hmmm… week before last? You have my chart right there in your hand, why don’t you open it?? “Why did you get your last anti-d shot?” Because they told me to. I certainly didn’t invite a shot in my butt. What kind of a question is that? How am I supposed to answer that? “Where is your placenta.” Now the only reason I knew the answer to that question is because I had an ultrasound to find out if it was too low still. I’m quite sure that normally, people don’t know that. Seriously lady, have a gander at my file that is in your hot little hands, all this info and more is contained there. “What were you doing when you started bleeding.” Oh the embarrassing question… I had just finished using the epi-no. I figured this is why I was bleeding, just a bit of over zealous inflation resulting in a little tear, but they have to be sure…. She said the baby is doing great, it seems like i’ve just had a small tear low down, not anything to do with the baby or my cervix, but I would need to wait for the doctor for the final “you can go home now.” And so we waited…. And waited…. Apparently the ward was busy that night. Lots of babies being born. A couple of times I heard faint screaming followed closely by little baby cries. The rooms are mostly soundproof at least. Meanwhile, the person to the left of me (only separated by a curtain) was also attached to a fetal heart rate monitor, only her baby’s heart rate was going crazy and kept setting off an alarm (which was driving us nuts, it was so loud, and continuously going off). Seems she can’t go home until her baby’s heart rate settles down into a normal range. A bit later, they wheeled someone in who had just had a baby and then gone into theatre for a small surgery. Some of her placenta did not come out and was stuck inside. She had to have it removed surgically and then they inflated a balloon inside her uterus to prevent it from collapsing (or something along those lines. Your only separated by a curtain, so you can hear everything, but at the same time, do you try actively not to hear, to you just casually listen, do you actively listen to find out what sort of problems you can have in your own labour, what do you do? I didn’t hear every single work, so I’m not 100% sure about why the balloon was there, or when it would be removed. We could hear her baby crying, so it too was there with her. Every time Mushi moved around, his heart rate would go up, then back down again when he stopped. That is normal though. We were also amused watching the contraction monitor. It was usually quite low, between 10 and 20 (not that we know what those numbers meant), but then it climbed all the way to 80 for a little bit, then went back down. I didn’t feel any pain or anything, my belly just felt a bit tight if you touched it. Hello Braxton Hicks. I thought I’d only had one of those (because I had one that was quite painful), but I’ve been proven wrong. I just didn’t know that I was having them. Good uterus, try not to cause me too much pain.

Finally, 3 hours after coming in, we finally saw the doctor. I had to remove my clothing from my lower half to have an invasive exam. In goes Mr. Speculum, another person is there to shine a torch into my nether region, and the doc checks my cervix. No sign of trauma, cervix hasn’t started softening or dilating yet, and all is well. I just tore myself a little tiny bit with my epi-no (I got it pretty big, but I got it the same size the day before. It really does feel like giving birth when you push it out when it’s fairly big. Only it’s not as big as a baby’s head, so it gives you that feeling without all the pain. I feel much more empowered knowing the kind of feeling there will be though. It’s not so scary anymore). Doctors orders “No sex or epi-no for a few days to let yourself heal, then you will be fine.” We gathered all of our stuff (I brought water and a magazine, had taken off my shoes and coat), and then Aaron went to go get the car. Just when I thought we were free, the nurse came up and said to wait a couple of minutes, I may need a blood test. Awesome. Blood test at 1am while Aaron has already left to go get the car. Sure enough, they did want to take my blood. Wanted to make sure I had enough antibodies for the rh factor (you get them from the anti-d shot). I thought maybe I’d have to wait ages again for the doctor, but they were all about to perform a c-section, so they got to me right away so they could then go operate. And finally we got to go home. I think I will be more comfortable in the delivery room now after spending 3 hours in the hospital bed though, so it wasn’t all bad.

We had a very busy day the next day. We woke up late, had an hour and 15 minutes to shower, eat, get ready, grocery shop, get some weight plates and weight bench, then get to our friends house for lunch. Needless to say, we were 45 minutes late, but that was still a really good effort I thought. Next up was a manicure party for another friends birthday (for me, Aaron stayed at the other friends house and played wii with the boys). We gave ourselves lots of time to get there, but it was pouring down rain and Sydney drivers are not so used to that, so traffic was crawling. Then we discovered none of us had the unit number we needed to go to and we couldn’t get a hold of the boys to find out for us. Eventually we did though. We entered an apartment building, but oddly it didn’t say it’s address anywhere (helpful, I know). We decided chances are this is probably the right place, so we buzzed the unit number. Some man answered and didn’t seem to speak a lot of english, or just had no idea what was going on, but buzzed us up. Hmmm…. We got in the lift where we finally found the address of the building (on a little plaque thing in the lift), and found we were not in the right place. We’re not quite sure why he buzzed randoms like us up, but whatever floats your boat. We didn’t go up though, so he was probably very confused after that. We did find the right place, and had a good time at the party.

As soon as I got home, Aaron and I were going to visit Grandma and The Jess for dinner. It was still raining out, and I was nervous, but it was time for me to drive all the way to Penrith (I’m learning to drive our manual car). I successfully got us there in one piece (after missing the entrance to the motorway and having to turn around). Long day, but good. Yesterday we had a good rest.

I have been studying the “Becoming an Australian Citizen” guide this week as I take the test tomorrow. Australians don’t even know the answers to a lot of the questions. I don’t really know why I need to know which Australian’s over the years have won the nobel prize, why and what year, in order to be a citizen. Wouldn’t speaking english fluently be more useful since Australia is an english speaking country? Some of the questions and info is good, especially if you come from a completely different culture and have no idea what would be expected of you as a citizen, but then some of it is just ridiculous. Oh well, I have to take the test to become a citizen, so wish me luck! FYI, the national flower is the golden wattle, and Australia’s constitution came into effect 1 Jan 1901.

37 weeks

Pregnancy: 37 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 15.8kgs (34.83lbs)
Baby size (approx head to foot): 48.6cm (19.13in)
Baby weight (approx): 2.8kg (6.17lbs)

I’ve been getting nosebleeds on a near daily (nightly to be more accurate) basis. I woke up with one last night, and have had one 4 in the past 6 nights. Only my left nostril though, nothing from my right. I guess if the little blood vessels in my right nostril would like to escape, they will first have to emigrate to my left nostril. Then they can burst and go free just like their lefty neighbors. I’m beginning to think that maybe my left side is just defective. When I was little, it was one of my left toes that broke when my horse backed into a fence, scared the bollocks out of herself, jumped forward, and landed on my foot. I broke my left leg, and then a bone tumor and bone graft in my left leg (ok, so my leg broke because of the tumor, but that is not the point). It was my left that had a lump that needed a biopsy (cancer free, but not a fun process). My left eye’s vision is worse then my right. And now, my left nostril likes to gush blood in the middle of the night (nosebleeds are normal for pregnant women. I asked at my last appointment just to be sure). It’s no wonder Mushi likes to reside in the right side of my uterus.

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and given the epi-no a go. I can’t say that it’s at all pleasant, but each time I use it, I can blow up the blue silicone contraption a little bigger then the last time. Hopefully my lovely perineum will remember all the work I’ve put into it, and while I’m giving birth, not tear on me. I have to hold the contraption in place the entire time because it seems the female body doesn’t like such torture and tries to push it out all by itself. I suppose that comes in handy during delivery though.

I am still having very vivid dreams (a normal part of being pregnant). The other night I woke myself up with my “don’t tickle me” grunt/whingy noise, and really thought that Aaron was tickling my feet. Poor Aaron didn’t know what was going on when I told him to stop tickling me. Turns out I was dreaming. Other dreams are quite vivid too, but I know they are not actually real because they usually include things like my pony talking to me, or being on the Island from Lost with Aaron trying to figure out what the heck is going on. It’s the realistic dreams that cause problems. I couldn’t figure out if I actually had a conversation with Aaron about going grocery shopping together, or if I dreamt the conversation. I had to ask him, only to find that it was indeed a dream. I like the strange dreams better, at least I know they aren’t real.

height (measurement from pubic bone to top of uterus) was actually less then the week before because Mushi has descended into my pelvis (not all the way, but most of the way). I knew when he was doing it because of all the wiggling, but the next day, we could actually see that my belly was lower. At my last hospital appointment on Friday, my fundalMushi has moved down and they can’t measure accurately when the head is in the pelvis (as it is lower then the pubic bone). This new position brings good and bad news. The good news is my lungs have a bit more space, as does my stomach, so I can eat a full meal without feeling sick. The back news is every time I stand up, I feel like I have to pee (due to a head putting pressure on my bladder).

How to torture a pregnant woman: Get a wonderful looking piece of chocolate cake (with strawberry on the side, and chocolate sauce zigzagging back and forth over the top), keep it in front of you for half an hour, but don’t eat one little bit of it. Don’t even touch the spoon. But, don’t offer it to anyone else, just leave it there, making the pregnant woman next to you wonder the whole time if you are ever going to eat it. Aaron and I were on a comedy cruise around Sydney Harbour on Saturday, and that is exactly what happened. Aaron and I were both served the cheesecake (which was very yummy), but were hoping that they would do the traditional thing and alternate the 2 dishes with every other person. We had it all figured out before they started serving that we would go halves so we got to try both. The person next to me didn’t take even one little taste of his cake, so I was tortured by it staring at me, wanting me to eat it for quite some time. By the time we docked, it was still sitting there, but the man who it belonged to had not come back to the table. I contemplated grabbing it many times, but we were at a table with lots of randoms, and I’m sure that would’ve looked a bit sketchy. I like to tell myself that it didn’t taste very good as no one who had the chocolate cake finished it, and everyone who had the cheesecake left no remnants on their plates.

as her attire allowed her legs plenty of moving room. Her skirt only came down to the end of her bottom. I don’t know how someone can leave the house in such clothing. 1) wouldn’t they be cold, it’s winter! 2) wouldn’t they be “You may have seen our first guest on The Footy Show, or Rove Live. Give it up for (insert name here, I can’t remember what his name is). Hmmm…. He certainly does look familiar…. Oh, they should have said “or you may have seen him keeping you in good spirits and amusing you during ad breaks if you have been in the audience for Ready Steady Cook.” That is where I’d seen him before (which I thought was hilarious and random). He was very funny, especially when poking fun at the guy from Rooty Hill with a mullet at the first table. There were a couple of disturbances early in the night though. One of the passengers missed the boat and then got a water taxi to bring him to us in the middle of the harbour. It cost him $80 which was more then the cruise itself. We felt comforted after seeing the water taxi pull up though. At least we knew if my water broke or something, all we had to do was call a water taxi and we could high tail it off the boat (luckily we didn’t need to). Later, a girl fell down the last couple of stairs from the top deck. I don’t know how that happenedembarrassed (I would!)? 3)wouldn’t they be worried that the tiny skirt would head north and expose their bottom and nether region?? 4) is it really necessary to show that much skin? The cruise was very fun though, we had a really good night out.

My pregnancy books are telling me to get as much rest as I can from now as labour is very tiring etc. Ok then, if the books say so… I’m going to spend half the day with my feet up. I like that idea.

36 weeks

Pregnancy: 36 weeks 2 days
Total weight gain: 15.5kgs (34.17lbs)
Baby size (head to toe): 47cm (18.5in)
Baby weight (approx): 2.6kg (5.7lbs)

It seems I’m getting bigger and more awkward by the day. My involuntary grunting noises when getting up are getting louder, my feet swell more, I get more reflux, I have to pee more often, my internal organs are getting more squished, and feet in my ribs are becoming more frequent. But, it’s all part of the experience, and I know that soon we will have a little bundle of joy. I am to the point where I just want to get it out of me though. I think you know you’re ready when the “get it out of me” feeling becomes stronger then the fear of labour itself. I’m certainly getting to that point, and fast.

Last week was my first week off work. I feel so much less tired now that I don’t have to wake up at 5:15 every morning. Now the alarm goes off at 6:30 (for Aaron), but I don’t get up until 7 which is awesome!

The other night Aaron showed me a website called broken telephone picture (http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/). It’s like telephone (chinese whispers for the aussies), but the first person writes something down (can be anything, like half human, half bear, half pig (I know that doesn’t equate, but it’s funny), eating a pie), then the next person has to draw it. The person after that gets the drawing and has to write it, then the next person draws it and so on. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much since the hypnotist show in Vegas. I was laughing so hard, I was honestly scared that I might A) wet myself or B) prematurely break my waters. Luckily neither happened, but if it had, I would have been unsure if I had wet myself, or my waters had broken. I can just see that, going to hospital saying my waters broke, docs have a look, give me a puzzled expression, then tell me I must have wet myself because my waters are indeed intact. Note to self: do more pelvic floor exercises, just in case….

Speaking of that region, my shiny new epi-no came in the mail last week. What is an epi-no exactly, you ask? The epi-no is a contraption made of some sort of squishy, maybe soft plastic material that is attached to a little hand pump ball. You put the blue squishy oval thing in your nether region, then pump the ball so that the blue squishy thing expands, therefore stretching your perineum. It is supposed to make you less likely to tear or need an episiotomy during childbirth. As I’ve said before, anything to lower that risk, I’m going to try. You can also use it to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles before and after birth (so you don’t wet yourself…).

My second baby shower (put on by my church) was on Saturday, and I had a lot of fun. There was a game where everyone had to bring a baby picture of themselves, then we had to guess which one was who. I only got 2 correct. Newborns don’t look anything like what the older person will look like! I know I certainly didn’t (I’ll put a photo of myself on here just to prove my point…). There was so much food there! Cupcakes, cake, some sort of chocolate slice, peanut butter cookies, muffins, quiche (which was really really yummy!), it was all so tasty!!!!!!!! I got lots more good baby stuff too, which means we don’t have to buy too much stuff.

Yesterday we went to the supermarket and fruit shop to get some groceries. I have been craving pudding for a week now (yes I’m strange, but we all know this), so we wandered around Coles looking for the pudding aisle, and couldn’t find it anywhere! How dare Coles hide the pudding from me. They should have a giant flashing sign with arrows that points me in the right direction. Or at the very least put pudding (or even jello/jelly, since they’d be on the same aisle) on the sign that tells you what is in each aisle. I still don’t have my pudding. I’m going to try a different coles on Wednesday.

We decided to go to Kmart while we were at the chase (the shopping centre where we went to coles and the fruit shop) to get a cute little dresser for Mushi that we had seen there a while back. The Chase is doing lots of renovating and remodelling, and adding of sections, and even though Kmart is staying exactly where it has been for years, Kmart is remodelling. Every time we go there, things are in a different spot. We wandered around the store for quite some time looking for said cute dresser with no luck. We finally asked someone who worked there (when we could find one that wasn’t already trying to show someone else where to find something) who pointed us towards one end of the store. No dresser there. We asked someone else. They pointed us in a different direction. On our way over, we saw someone else and asked again (we had already been where we are going and didn’t see any furniture). Person number 3 pointed us in an entirely different direction. We decided to follow 3rd person’s directions via 2nd persons, just in case. Good decision, we found the dresser hiding on the back wall with a couple of other dressers just where person 2 told us they would be. They used to keep all of the furniture together, but it seems now everything is everywhere. At least we got the dresser. Now we actually have somewhere to put Mushi’s clothes. Bonus, the dresser has a giraffe on it, is very cute, and was only $50.

I haven’t said anything about the “baby brain” for a while now, but I’ve certainly still got it. We went to church on Sunday after eating dinner (we go to the evening service) only to discover when we got home that I had left the oven on the entire time. I’m glad I didn’t burn the house down!

As of next week, I will be considered full term, so not long now!!!!!!!!!!!

35 weeks

Pregnancy: 35 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 15 Kilos (33lbs)
Baby size (head to butt): 31cm (12.2in)
Baby size (head to foot): 45cm (17.7in)
Baby weight (approx): 2.3kg (5lbs)

I finally had my do I need a caesarian ultrasound on Wednesday. The appointment started out ok, the technician checked Mushi’s size and measurements, which were all spot on what they should be, with Mushi’s head down, and bum pretty much right under my boob (so where my stomach has migrated to, I’m not quite sure), laying on his/her side. I asked if I get a disc full of nice images like I did at my other ultrasounds (which were performed elsewhere, this one was at the hospital). She said no. Darn. I couldn’t even see the screen as she was performing the ultrasound. At the other place, the screen is positioned so both the mom and the technician can see it, so the mom doesn’t have to just stare at the ceiling the whole time. Then I was told I needed an internal ultrasound (“transvaginal” I believe is the technical term…). Not again. I’m not really a fan of being probed in my bits, but if it means I don’t have to have a c-section, then go for it. I had to put on one of those open at the butt gowns and then hello camera (well, ultrasound instrument). Mushi’s head is right down in my pelvis, so the technician tried to push the head up a little to allow some amniotic fluid to get under his head. Mushi was having none of that though. He seems quite comfortable down there and refused to move his head (and instead protested by kicking me in the ribs). The technician was amazed at how much Mushi was moving during the ultrasound. I told her he is playing games. Usually when you push on my stomach that means it’s playtime, and Mushi pushes back. Clever little baby. Anyway, after much prodding, the end of the placenta could not be seen at all by the internal ultrasound as it was too far away (which is a good thing). In the end, it was determined that my placenta is 7cm from my cervix, and no scheduled caesarian is needed. My placenta used to be 7mm from my cervix, so that was great news.

Thursday was my last day of work. I finally get to sleep in!!!! They took me out to lunch and gave me a cute little polar fleece blanket with a zebra on it for the baby. Now I get to rest up before Mushi is born, get the room ready, etc.

I mentioned before that I like surprises, but not surprise shots. Well, I got another surprise shot on Friday. I really wish they would warn me. Maybe something like “on your next visit, you will need to get another anti-D shot.” Although, then I may have been stressing about getting the shot (I HATE needles!), so maybe I don’t want warning. The Jury is still out. This time the midwife asked me if I wanted it in the arm or the butt. What? I have a choice? I didn’t get a choice last time. She said she likes to give people a choice. I asked her which hurt less, and she said the butt. Butt it is then. Last time it didn’t really hurt when I was getting it, and it didn’t hurt at all afterwards. This time, it was quite painful, and my butt was sore for hours afterwards. I think maybe that particular midwife needs some more practice giving shots. She was quite young, so I suppose she was not as experienced as the older midwife I had for my last butt shot. Luckily I don’t have to have another until after Mushi is born. Word on the street is they won’t be routinely giving negative blood type pregnant women anti-D anymore because it takes too many blood donations (they are made with blood or platelets or some part of human blood) to make them and there aren’t enough donors. There also isn’t a huge chance that the baby’s blood will mix with the mothers before birth if you haven’t had any sort of bleeding or anything. The midwife said that Mushi is thriving in there. I never tire of hearing that. The ultrasound tech said after taking all measurements, heart rate, etc. that he/she is perfect. Good baby.

I had my first baby shower on Saturday. The Jess (my sister in law) organised it, and had it at her and Grandma’s house. The greek in The Jess (I call her the Jess, she calls me The Sheri, that is just how we are) really came out, and there was food everywhere. I certainly wasn’t complaining! I even got to eat oreos. Finally, I’ve only been craving them for like 2 months. I didn’t want to buy any because I knew I would eat the entire pack. We played some funny games. Guests had to team up look through magazines, and then cut and tape onto a piece of paper to make their idea of what Mushi will look like. Oh was that funny. There were 2 comical entries, and one realistic one. The realistic one was really good, they even had the eyebrows and hair. I got lots of good presents as well, which is really helpful considering all we really have so far is clothes. My host Mum Linda even made us the cutest quilt for the cot, as well as a cute little knitted sweater. My host sister Lauren knitted us some booties and a beanie that match the sweater. Awww….. At the end, everyone had to take some yarn and cut a length that they thought would be the measurement of my belly. Everyone but Lauren was WAY off!!!! The Jess’ string was nearly as long as she is tall (she’s not that tall, but still…). Come on people, I’m not that fat! Most pieces were at least a foot longer then necessary. Lauren was only off by about 3 inches. She said she guesstimated how big she would be if she were pregnant, and then halved that. You’re funny Lozza! FYI, I’m 97cm (38in) around the belly at the moment. The month I got pregnant, my waist was 60cm (23in). Of course now I’m measuring the biggest part of my stomach, and then I was measuring my waist, the smallest part. I don’t want to measure my hips/butt. I’m not game enough to see how much bigger they are.

My stomach looks even funnier now. Apart from the battle zone that is my belly button, I now have a line running all the way down the middle of my belly. It looks like I have dipped a very small paintbrush in the cheapest, most orange, ugly self tanner I could find, and then drew a line all the way from the top of my belly to my bikini line (well, I’m assuming it goes all the way down to there, but since I haven’t actually been able to see my bikini line for some months now, that is debatable. Lucky it’s not summer, fixing up my bikini line doesn’t go so well when you can’t actually see it). According to the pregnancy magazine I was reading on the weekend, this line usually appears around 14 weeks if you are going to get it. Some women don’t. I guess I’m just a late bloomer.

34 weeks

Pregnancy: 34 weeks 2 Days
Total weight gain: 14 kgs (30.86lbs) but I did weigh myself at night rather then first thing in the morning before I’ve eaten or had anything to drink….
Baby size (head to butt): 30cm (11.81in)
Baby size (head to foot): 45cm (17.71in)
Baby weight: 2.1kgs (4.6lbs)

34 weeks. Wow, not long now! Good thing too because I just keep getting bigger! I can’t believe I have gained 30 pounds! If I sit too long, my back starts to ache, if I stand or walk for more then about 2 minutes, my feet swell. If I lie down (on my side of course, wouldn’t want to cut off blood flow to Mushi) too long, my hips hurt. Lucky for me, my couch seems to be quite comfortable for long term sitting (with me sideways, taking up the entire couch, with my legs extended). Some chairs/benches/couches make me ache in 1 minute flat. The very worst culprit: the pews at church. Luckily we only have 6 more weeks until I can be comfortable in the pews once again. After lunchtime, I will have reflux for the rest of the day and half the night as well. I suppose this is not surprising considering that my stomach is now smushed way up, and I’m pretty sure is sitting nearly level with my boobs. It doesn’t seem to hold much anymore either, and I can never finish my dinner. When you look at this depiction of a 34 week baby, you can understand why:
Ok, that little copy and paste thing didn’t seem to work… I’ll put it on the side with all the other photos. Sometimes cheeky little Mushi likes to kick me in the actual stomach, which really doesn’t bode well in the reflux department.

I think when Mushi gets older, he/she will really like to play games with us. Already, Mushi plays games with Daddy while Mommy is sleeping at night. Aaron told me that when he comes to bed, he puts his hand on my belly and then Mushi will kick him and have a good old time for ages. How I can sleep through all of this, I’m not sure, but do. Mushi also likes to play the “poke my limb” game. He sticks out a limb (not sure which one, it’s really hard to tell!) so we can feel it from the outside, then we push it, he takes it away, and then returns it in another spot where we poke it again (and repeat). Sometimes I think it’s an elbow, sometimes a foot, but as I said, really hard to tell!

plate. Anyone who knows me well will be quite shocked/flabbergasted/amazed at something I did this week. I, Sheri Thomson, tried beef. That’s right, you read that correctly. It’s very hard to argue with Aaron’s logic. He said to me “aren’t roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes some of your favourite foods?” Why yes, they are, I really like them (we had them this week, prompting this little discussion). “And you used to always say you hated them until you tried them a couple of years ago.” Uh oh, I see where this is going…. “So if you thought you hated potatoes and sweet potatoes because you didn’t like them when you were little, then you tried them and loved them, then maybe you will like beef if you try it.” Slam dunk, how can I disagree with that?? We made an agreement that next time we went to Bento-ya (a good excuse to go there really), he would get the teriyaki beef and me the chicken (because that is what I get every time we go there because I have never tasted such good teriyaki in all of my life), and I will try some of the beef. Nervousness rising…. Also, in exchange for trying the beef, Aaron would buy me some gelato (mmm…). The day in question came all too soon and I found myself with a bit of beef staring at me from between my chopsticks. “Keep an open mind,” Aaron said “you’re not going to like it if you convince yourself you won’t before you try it.” Ok, open mind. He decided to mark this fateful day with a photo of me about to eat the beef. Ok, just go for it (I know these thoughts should be in italics, but you know what? I just can’t be bothered). I put scary beef in my mouth and started chewing. That’s right, I didn’t just swallow it, I actually chewed it (not like when I started eating peas…put some in, swallow whole, wash down with water, repeat). At first, I was pleasantly surprised. I quickly realised though, that the pleasant surprise was just the teriyaki sauce coating the beef. Once I got past that, I really didn’t like the beef. I did swallow though, so that in itself is an accomplishment. Now we know I definitely do not like beef. Not because I tried it when I was like 2 and didn’t like it then, but because I actually tried it in adulthood. It’s been about 24 years since I last tried beef, and sorry beef, I still don’t like you. You can moo on someone elsesGelato, here I come!!!!!!!!!!

Disturbingly, I saw what Aaron would look like pregnant this week. The men were encouraged to try on the “sympathy belly” at our antenatal class. I asked the teacher how much the belly weighs, and she said it would be fairly heavy as it represents a nearly full term baby. We were all curious after that, so she went off to find the exact amount in the brochure or manual. “8 kilos,” she said. We all laughed. That is a lot less then any one of us has gained. Later they showed us a video of babies bonding with their parents. Even when they are newborns, they will look into your eyes for a couple of minutes. It was so cute! I keep finding myself getting cluckier by the day. I suppose it’s all the hormones.

we went again (after Aaron picked me up in We have decided that we need to either get rid of the computer, or tv to make room for a small home gym to keep us fit and healthy. First we thought maybe we would get rid of the tv, get a tv tuner card for the computer, and get rid of the tv and stand (or keep both, but get a small computer desk to put in our room). Off to IKEA we went. We looked at some computer desks, but then realised that we probably should have measured the proposed desk area before purchasing. After navigating the maze filled to the brim with crazy shoppers that is IKEA, we went home. Next we decided that we would get a big tv with the same resolution as Aaron’s monitor so he can still play games on it by plugging it into his computer, but we can still use it as a tv. Off to IKEAParramatta as I had a girlie night with The Jess and Romana. It took us about 20 minutes to find each other in Parramatta. Would have been easier except the Church Street mall cuts Church street in two and I was confused as to which side Aaron and the car were on…). We picked out a nice compact tv stand that would leave lots of room for our future exercise bike and weights, as well as a little dresser for Mushi. Completing the maze once more, we finally found ourselves at the self service pick up point (for those of you who have not yet ventured to IKEA, you find what you want from the displays, write down the aisle and row number, then go to the giant warehouse and pick out the boxes yourself). First up, new tv unit. Out of stock. That’s ok, let’s get Mushi’s dresser. Out of stock. We must have good taste. Another fruitless trip to IKEA. Lucky though, Aaron got the new big tv later that day and I don’t think it would have fit on the stand we chose. Apparently we didn’t learn our lesson about measuring from our first trip. We did at least get a very cheap breakfast, mine was $2.00 and Aaron’s $2.50. I think maybe the eggs were made from powder, but I suppose that is to be expected for such a cheap meal.

Later that day, I went to Equip, a Christian women’s convention/conference at Darling Harbour. I have never seen so many women in my entire life. I went to the elective on Hospitality, which I found quite good. After, they had an afternoon tea, but no food. Mel, Katherine and I decided we were quite hungry, so, tea mugs in hand, 10 minutes until the main talk, name badges on, we set out to the shopping centre food court. We found a Macca’s (McDonald’s for you non aussies), and finally, we could satisfy our tummies. I’m sure people thought we were quite strange walking around the shopping centre with non disposable tea mugs. The talk started with, well, I’m not quite sure what you call it really, maybe dramatic reading? There was someone reading for each character in the book of Esther. There was also a narrator, who I think, should have a career in movie trailer voice overs. He was just that good. The talk was very good also. The only problem was I couldn’t get comfortable. Even though the chairs were nice and cushy, no matter how I sat, some part of me would be very uncomfortable, usually my back. I’m just getting too big and awkward I think! I suppose traipsing around Parramatta as well as IKEA earlier that day didn’t help things. I’m still not sure why, but as we were coming out of the conference, there were fireworks going off in the harbour. Some from stationary platforms (or something) out in the water, and others off the back of 2 jetskis. It wasn’t a holiday or anything, but we were complaining, everyone loves fireworks! We ate dinner at Wagamama, where, of course, I got the teriyaki. Not as good as Bento-ya though. As I said no one beats the teriyaki at Bento-ya. Embarrassingly, my nose decided it was a good time to start dripping blood. At least we had all finished our meals by that time. Nothing to see her folks, just pregnant woman nose bleed! By the time I got home, I think my legs were about to fall off. For the first time, the feet swelling went past my feet, and all the way up to my knees. I think I walked around way too much that day.

Tomorrow I have my last ultrasound to see if my placenta has nicely moved itself up. I hope so, otherwise I will need a scheduled Cesarean! I am looking forward to seeing Mushi again though. Hopefully they won’t accidentally tell me Mushi’s sex. I’ll have to tell them when I first arrive that we don’t want to know.

33 weeks

Pregnancy: 33 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 13kgs (28.66lbs)
Baby size (head to butt): 29cm (11.41in)
Baby weight: 1.9kgs (4.18lbs)

Boy am I getting bigger (even though I didn’t gain any weight…)! My belly button has pretty much popped all the way out (except for a little at the bottom, but I’m not entirely sure that will pop out), and I’ve had a few people tell me I look like I’ve swallowed a rather large basketball. I currently have one tiny stretch mark located on my belly between where my belly button ring went in, and where it came out. As I said before, that part of just can’t stretch anymore! Now my belly button looks a bit like a war zone. First you have the target freckle, next to that (but still on my actual belly button) are two reddish wrinkles (that before this week had never seen the light of day). Move a bit north and you come to stretched out belly ring exit hole, little purple stretch mark on top of that, then stretched out belly button entry hole at the top. Oh, and the holes are quite red from all the stretching. I hate to think what they will look like when my tummy goes back to normal size (I’m telling you Mom, I will get it back to normal size!).

People keep telling me that I “look tired.” Now I know they are trying to be sympathetic, but really, what they are saying is “you look a bit crap today.” They usually follow up the tired comment with “how long have you got to go?” Conversation according to me: “You look a bit crap today. Good thing you don’t have long to go, I can’t imagine how crap you would look by the end if you had a long time to go.” Thanks people. I much prefer the people that tell me I “look healthy.” I’ve had quite a few people say that as well. I think they are the people who have been pregnant themselves, or had a spouse that was pregnant, and know that a compliment is much better then telling me I look crap. Here is a little etiquette guide to use when talking/interacting with a pregnant woman:

1. NEVER tell us we look tired. In our mind that says we look a bit crap, bags under the eyes, droopy eyelids, and so forth. We know we are tired and look a bit crap, but we certainly don’t need you to tell us that.

2. Compliment us. Tell us we look healthy, that translates to “wow, you must be eating all the right things, exercising, and taking wonderful care of your baby. Good job!” Or, even better, tell us we are glowing. Even if we are not either of those things, it will still make our day (because involuntary grunting noises when we try to pick ourselves up off the couch or chair, and waddling like a duck don’t make us feel overly wonderful).

3. If we are carrying something, offer to help (we like the gesture and attention), but if we say no, don’t insist (and then take our bag while we are trying to fight for bag retention), that only makes us feel completely useless (and this after being told we look crap, I mean “tired” really doesn’t go over well in our minds). We are pregnant, not quadriplegic. It’s not like we are carrying a backpack full of bricks.

4. If the train or bus, etc. is full, offer us your seat. We get swollen uncomfortable feet, and really enjoy sitting down if we need to. Again, if we say no, don’t insist. Usually if we say no, we are not quite as pregnant as you might think, and enjoy standing up while we still can (we still like the initial gesture of offering though).

5. Don’t get annoyed or cranky with us when we forget things/forget to do things, etc. We have the “baby brain” and would forget our head if it wasn’t attached. We genuinely don’t mean to forget what you said/did/told us/what we were supposed to do, and we do feel bad for forgetting.

Once again, Aaron and I had an antenatal class on Thursday. We find these very informative, but sometimes they are rather frightening at the same time. Last week, they showed us an ancient torture device. Metal, large, a bit like gigantic salad servers. They could only be used for torture. But no, they were forceps! No thank you, do not come near me with those things or I will punch you in the nose! I don’t know if you’ve ever seen forceps, but as I said, LARGE, metal, a bit like a giant pair of salad tongs. Girls, think giant metal speculum from hell. Not only does the torture device actually have to go um… inside, but you also need an episiotomy for them to be able to make an exit with the baby. Episiotomy to me seems like torture also. They also passed around a vacuum (the pulling out baby kind, nothing like the household cleaning kind, don’t worry). This device was much more forgiving, and not bigger then the baby’s head, so no need for the dreaded episotomy. Luckily they say forceps are not used very much anymore.

Later in the class, they showed us another birth video (again from the 80s). This time the woman had an active birth, on the ground on all fours. The head came out during a contraction, but what I didn’t realise until then (I suppose I didn’t really think about it) is that the head then just kinda sits there, for what seemed like hours waiting for the next contraction. I found that bit quite disturbing. The baby still had it’s eyes closed, wasn’t breathing or moving yet, it looked a bit dead, and just sitting there, hanging out of the mom. There was blood tinged mucus coming out of the baby’s nose, which they told us was being expelled from it’s lungs by the pressure of fitting through the birth canal. This is a good thing, otherwise the baby couldn’t breathe upon full exit due to it’s lungs being filled with the amniotic fluid it’s been “breathing” in. Of course it might have been even more disturbing if the baby was looking around, and/or crying. On the next contraction, out popped all of baby, it started crying/moving/breathing, and all was well. We were also told that sometimes the mother, amongst all that pushing, does a bit of a poo. Now that’s all well and good (well, extremely embarrassing, and probably horrifying for her husband to watch), but as I said, the head comes out and then sits there. If you did do a poo with all that pushing, depending on your position (remember, laying down on the bed is not the optimal position for giving birth), you could be pooing on your baby’s head. Maybe the midwives catch it, I’m not sure, but hopefully I won’t be a pooer as I’d like our baby to come out poo free.

I realised the other day that Mushi hiccups a lot. I don’t know if he just started doing it, or if I just hadn’t noticed when he was head up, but I feel it at least once per day now. Since he is in the correct position (head down and facing my spine), his cute little hiccups seem to reverberate through my intestines. I suppose that makes since as the little head is right next to my innards. Sometimes, I know he has his head turned to the side (usually when I’m laying in bed) because the hiccup reverberation is felt on my side, rather then my insides. FYI, hiccuping is normal for babies in utero, and once they are born.

I’ve started packing my hospital bag. I don’t think the baby will come early, but you never know, and I like to be organised. I have all the important bits in there, muesli bars, fruit cups, gatorade, and hard candy. Apparently you can get a bit hungry while you are in 1st stage. Plus your “support person” will need some sustenance. I should probably start packing all the other stuff I will need as well (clothes, etc.). The hospital has a no budgie smugglers (speedos) or underwear policy for men, so I will also need to pack Aaron a pair of boardies (for assisting me in the bath and shower). He is also not allowed to be naked. The midwives see enough nudity in the women, they don’t need it in the men too (or maybe they would be too distracted if there were naked men running around). Aaron doesn’t really like to parade around naked, nor does he own any budgie smugglers , so I think we will be fine (although the guy in the 80s birthing video was wearing budgie smugglers. Maybe he is the reason for said policy?).

Yay, a nice lady who lives in the building I work in just told me that I look good, and pregnancy suits me. In your face all those who tell me I “look tired!”

32 weeks

Pregnancy: 32 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain: 13kg (28.66lbs – it sounds so much better in kg’s!)
Baby size: 28cm (11.02in) head to butt
Baby weight: 1.7kg (3.75lb)

Aaron and I have decided to use cloth nappies (well, Aaron doesn’t really want to be shaking poo into the toilet instead of just folding up a disposable nappy, but I said he could take off the nappy, then give it to me). Aaron was asking me how much we would save this way, so, bored at work one day, I decided to do a comparison. The cheapest bulk buy disposables I could find came out at 31 cents per nappy, which on average would cost about $1355 per year, times 2 years (I’m not quite sure when you start potty training, but we’ll go with 2 years to make things easier…) = $2710. Then of course, when you have another baby, you need to pay all of that again. My preferred brand of cloth nappies (the fitted, absorbent, waterproof outer layer, soft inner layer, with moisture catching inserts kind), Pea Pods, are $499 for 25 of them (including inserts, etc.), which accommodate baby from newborn to 9 months. Then you get another kit for the same price, which accommodates 9 months to 3 years (in case you have a very large baby, or a slow learner…). Total $998. Of course, you then get to use the same nappies for your next child(ren). I haven’t factored in washing costs, mainly because I can’t be bothered, but also because I have no idea how much money a load of washing costs. Detergent is pretty cheap, and you only need to wash them in half strength detergent, and we don’t pay for water, it is included in the rent, then I will hang them on the line to dry. So, I can’t see the washing costing $1700 over 2 years. I’m pretty sure we don’t pay that much for electricity for 2 years of electricity as it is.

We went to our Antenatal class as usual on Thursday. This time, we learned about pain relief options and techniques. The teacher brought in a TENS machine (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) and let us try it out. When it got around to me, I put it on my arm (in labour you put it on your lower back, but the arm is easier for a trial), pushed the button, and turned the dial. I felt absolutely nothing. I kept turning. Nothing. I turned it all the way up, and still nothing. I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with me. Then someone realised that the machine had come unhooked from the pads attached to my arm. Relief, nothing wrong with me after all. I plugged it back in, turned it on, and startled every single person in the class when I jumped so far out of my seat I almost hit the ceiling. I didn’t know I could jump that high. Usually I can’t jump very well at all (height wise, I’m sure I could cover some ground if I wanted to). I forgot to turn the dial back down to minimum output before plugging it back in…. It didn’t hurt, but boy did it startle me (and everyone else)! Later in the class we had big posters that we had to fill out as groups. One poster for each type of pain relief, with the pros and cons for mother, and for baby. One cheeky group put risk of electrocution – like Sheri, as a negative for the TENS machine. We are going to hire one of these contraptions, so at least I’ve learned what not to do with it!

The hospital also wanted us to know the full weight of making the decision to get an epidural. One nice male volunteer had to go before the class and don a lovely “sympathy belly.” Anyone who has seen ’10 Things I Hate About You’ has seen one of these. The weighted vest with boobs and pregnant belly. Male Volunteer (can’t remember his name at the moment) then had to sit in a chair while teacher told us everything that happens when you get an epidural, complete with mock IV lines, etc. By the end, I was determined not to have an epidural even more. Not only do you have the epidural itself (which is a hideously large hollow needle that, surprise!, has a tube inside that stays in your spine (well, not actual spine, but just outside the spinal column) so they can top it up), but you will also need a catheter (as you can’t feel your lower self, and therefore can’t feel your bladder and may well wee all over yourself, the bed, and everyone else), an I.V, and maybe something else too (I can’t remember). Male Volunteer looked rather like a science experiment by the time everything was attached. There were tubes and things everywhere. Not only that, but they actually passed around an epidural needle. How to really really scare a pregnant woman: show her an epidural needle!!! OH MY was that thing GINORMOUS!!! Teacher (can’t remember her name either…) said we should all have a plan in place before labour and tell our partners our wishes. I told Aaron to only let me have an epidural if I was screaming for one, and we had tried every other possible pain relief method (TENS, bath, position, massage, gas, morphine (they don’t use pethadine anymore), etc.), and was still screaming for one. I figure if that is the case, then I must really really need one. There is no other possible way I want all those needles anywhere near me (unless I have to have a Caesar, then I don’t really want to have my belly cut open without one. I think that would be far worse…).

On a better note, I tried the slow cooker (or crockpot for you americans) for the first time last week. I had my reservations, but I think my chicken stroganoff turned out quite tasty. It was so easy too; mix everything up, put it in, go about your daily business, then dish it up 5-6 hours later. Easiest home made dinner ever! I think it will come in very useful when Mushi is born.

Speaking of Mushi, his/her favourite new position seems to be foot in my right rib. It is rather uncomfortable, but at the same time, I still like feeling him move, to know that he is still alive and doing well in there. There’s nothing like feeling your baby moving around in your uterus. It’s also fun to feel my belly with my hand while he is moving. Then I can feel it from the inside and out. I can push on most of my belly which will be relatively pushable, then I come to a foot or elbow or something, and it is very hard. Aaron also likes to feel Mushi moving. It was quite comical when he decided to turn from head up to head down. My whole belly was moving every which way for a good 10 minutes. Aaron was there to witness it too. I didn’t know what Mushi was doing at the time, but realised later that he was correcting his breech position. As I said before: Good baby.

31 weeks

Pregnancy: 31 weeks 2 days (only 9 weeks to go!!)
Total weight gain: 12kg (26.45lbs ARGH!)
Baby size (head to butt): 27.5cm (10.82in)
Baby weight: 1.5kg (3.3lbs)

So I finally found the scales after moving, and put new batteries in it (it’s one of those swish ones with BMI, water percentage, etc. as well as weight…), only to find that I now weigh (gasp) SIXTY KILOGRAMS!!!! My scale hardly ever sees 50kg, let alone 60. I’ve been reading Up The Duff, a week by week pregnancy diary by a very funny Australian woman. She had gained 17kgs by week 31, so I don’t feel quite so bad. I’m not quite sure where all that extra weight has gone though. I can still fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans. Well, I put them on, zip them half way up, and then use the belly belt to fasten them. After halfway up you get to belly country, so obviously they are not going to fit over my baby belly. Point being, my butt has not expanded very much, it still fits into my jeans. I haven’t purchased any maternity clothing what so ever (I just buy my normal Aus size 8 shirts, but get styles that are quite long and cover my half zipped pants). My belly is not super huge, my arms aren’t flabby, my face isn’t fat. So where did all that weight go? The midwife even said there is hardly any fat on my stomach at all, so it is really easy to hear Mushi’s heartbeat. She had to turn her monitor thing down because it was coming in so loudly. She also said he/she is thriving in there, is the right size, and luckily, has been a very good baby and turned so he/she is no longer breech. Good baby.

One day last week I arrived at work, then about 10 minutes later my nose started gushing (well that’s an exaggeration, but it was dripping) blood. I sat at my little concierge desk with a kleenex hanging out of my nose with blood on it, still greeting people as they went by. I’m sure I looked very professional. My nose bled for about 10-15 minutes, but that whole time, not one person noticed (or they did, but didn’t want to say anything). This proves my theory that they don’t actually say hi because they want to, but because they feel they have to. Some don’t even look over when they say hi back to me. At least they are being somewhat polite. Maybe they just didn’t want to say anything because they were on their way to work and didn’t want to be late.

Last week Aaron and I put a night aside to set up our “wall of awesome.” We now have a very large shelving unit that takes up most of one wall in our living room. And this large shelving unit is filled to the brim with (wait for it…) BOARD GAMES! That’s right, we have so many, that we can make a wall of awesome. I meant to take a photo of our wall of awesome, to put on here, but then I didn’t. I will do it today, so check back tomorrow for photos. We are waiting for 3 more board games to arrive in the post. 2 are on pre order though, so they may take a while.

Saturday we had an all day early parenting workshop. How to swaddle, bathe, soothe, etc. your baby. It was very helpful. There were all of these infant sized dolls to practise things with. Mostly though people would put them in funny positions (mexican wave, headstand, etc) while no one was looking. The knitted boob also made an appearance when we learned about breastfeeding positions. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of a pattern to knit a boob. There was one very brave man there. His wife is very very pregnant, due in a couple of weeks and didn’t come to the class because she couldn’t sit in the chairs all day. This brave man however, came on his own. I would find it hard to come on my own, and I’m the primary carer, the milk factory, the giver of birth. I can’t imagine coming on my own if I were a man. Hats off to you brave man.

I told you a while back about my unfortunate belly button freckle that makes my belly button look like a target. Well now it looks like someone has tried to hit the target with something only to miss, and hit twice just above it. It seems the entry and exit for my belly button ring (which I took out long ago as it was starting to look ridiculous) have both stretched as much as they can, and are not turning red as they don’t want to stretch any more. The holes also didn’t used to be that far above my actual belly button, but I suppose under pressure, they decided to head north for a better chance of survival. Lucky I didn’t put any laundry this morning, it’s now started raining. Sorry, that was a random thought. I almost put some in this morning.

I’ve noticed that people around here don’t seem to know how to drive. Yesterday when I was walking to the bus stop after work, I was crossing the street at the pedestrian crossing part of a roundabout. I was nearly to the refuge (in the middle of the road), only one leg still in the road, when a taxi came flying around the corner and honked at me. I looked before crossing, and there was no one coming. So excuse me Mr. Crazy Taxi Man, how dare I be crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing. I just can’t believe he honked at me, like I was doing something wrong. Back to driving school for you Crazy Taxi Man! This morning, on my way to work, I had another incident at the very same roundabout. I had crossed the first part of the road, and was walking in the refuge in the middle, scanning for cars coming as I was walking. There was a car coming from my left, but he had his right blinker on, so I continued to cross. This crazy driver, with his right blinker still on, continued to go straight, and had to slow right down while I was crossing the road. Hmmm…Last time I checked, you don’t put your blinker on when going straight through a roundabout. Maybe the rules have changed since last week??

Lately when I try to go to sleep, Mushi decides it’s time to practise his Tae Kwon Do skills on my insides. Not even a minute after I lie down, it’s practise time. Makes it very difficult to go to sleep, not to mention hard on my insides. For a little baby, Mushi sure is strong! The only problem with Mushi turning out of breech is the kicking. He used to kick the lower part of my belly, and towards the outside (I think he was posterior too), but now, he kicks my ribs, and all the other innards around that are smushed up around that area. He is very active too. They say if you don’t feel your baby move 10 times in a day to go get checked out. I feel Mushi moving probably a hundred times per day.