Best news of the week

I have rearranged my maternity leave & holidays, so now I'll be finishing work on Friday 22 December. That's a mere 8 weeks away. w00t!

23w 6d

Went to the birthing unit this weekend for a 'meet & greet' and to officially get booked in for my birth there. I was pretty scared walking in, as the reality of it all started to hit me, but the midwife Jo was friendly and reassuring. It's not exactly the gleaming high-tech space I might have imagined, but you get your own private room (unlike on the labour ward, where you have to pay £180 a night extra for one) and there are birthing pools and a bath and a tea-making area, and on a Saturday morning it seemed pretty relaxed.

Plus it's only one floor above the labour ward, where doctors and epidurals etc are available if the need arises. Although (and this may well be total naivety on my part) I still prefer the idea of a birth as 'natural' as possible.

Everything else is fine, the bump is jumping around regularly now and I've chilled out a bit about the frequency of movement. Next midwife appt is at 28 weeks, so not much to do til then but sit around and get fatter.

Staying put

Well, the chain fell apart last week as feared. We had more buyers round on Saturday but after a long chat into the night, realised we just don't have the energy or inclination to go back to square one, with all the uncertainty that would mean - even if we had got an offer quickly, the chances of completing before Christmas would have been minimal, and then I'd have been far too close to giving birth for all that upheaval.

So we have taken the flat off the market and are staying put for at least another year or so. The prevailing emotion is relief that the whole stressful situation is over, and joy at being able to start planning properly for Junior's arrival. We have already ordered a new sofa and been eyeing up cribs and prams.

Meanwhile, little Pele continues to kick about half a dozen times a day. Which is all good in my book.

21w 1d

Been busy busy busy, but figured it's time for a quick update. Main points of interest:

1. Scan of baby at 19w 6d, taken above, on 22 September. I was a bit fretty 'cause lil fella(-ess) hadn't been wriggling much but the scan showed him/her all big and beautiful. Everything seemed to be as it should be, measurements were spot-on for the week and saw legs and arms waving about merrily. Couldn't tell the gender - was all a bit blurry down that end - so it's still set to be a surprise.

2. Week's holiday in Cornwall was lovely - think we got the last of the good weather, as we were sunning ourselves on the beach most of the time. Very relaxing and fresh-airing and sunny and etc. Bit of a shock to come back to London and find autumn in full effect - must get some warmer maternity clothes!

3. Had more worries about lack of movement - until Tuesday, when baby must have shifted position and has been merrily kicking the front of my uterus ever since. I know that it's normal for movement to be sporadic at this point but, well, I don't need much excuse to get a bit anxious. So I hope he/she keeps up the kicks (even though it makes me jump!).

4. Looks like house move may be off. Our buyers have to exchange tomorrow 'cause of people getting evicted from rented accommodation further down the chain; we're nowhere near in a position to do that as we haven't even seen the lease of the place we're supposed to be buying. So looks like our buyers will probably pull out of buying ours, and rent somewhere for a while instead. So unless we can magic up a good first-time/cash buyer pronto, looks like all bets are off. I can live with staying where we are for another year but it's gutting that we will lose the grand (or more) we've already spent on surveys, solicitors' fees etc if it all falls through. Bloody chains...