Christmas Eve

Well... I made it to maternity leave. After weeks of lugging my bump in and out of central London (with the help of my husb, who delivered me to and from the tube every morning and evening so I would have the easiest journey possible), dealing with seemingly impossible deadlines (two issues and two supplements in six weeks, against the background of a magazine being sold and possible redundancy for many of my colleagues) and generally slogging it out from one day to the next... my work is done.

Now, at 32w 4d, I can enjoy a hopefully peaceful Christmas (we've nothing planned other than a day trip to Norwich to see my mother-in-law) and look forward to not having to return to work on January 2. Not that Jan promises to be entirely quiet - there are midwife appointments, antenatal classes and breastfeeding workshops to attend.

I'm not sure the reality of me being finished with work will hit me til next week. But for now, aside from us both suffering from our traditional Xmas slight run-down-ness and coldy snoofles, I feel pretty relaxed and mightily relieved that I can concentrate on this having a baby business.

As for Coco, at our midwife appt last week he was apparently pointing downwards (though not yet engaged), as revealed by a pretty vigorous palpating by the lady standing in for our normal midwife. Hopefully he will stay pointing that way. I am apparently having Braxton Hicks contractions (I hadn't even noticed, but S pointed out that my tummy had been occasionally tightening - I'd thought that was Coco sticking his bum or head out, but apparently not). And while Coco must by now be getting a bit restricted in his/her movements, he is still bumping around plenty often enough to reassure and keep me happy. So, on this Xmas Eve, all seems to be right with the world. Fingers crossed, they will stay that way for the next seven and a half weeks til we finally get to meet our little baboid.

Blimey, that's a long post innit? Amazing what you can get done when you don't have to work...

29w 2d

Barely time or energy to post, in between the frenzy of work / eat / sleep that is my life until Christmas and the bliss of maternity leave. But have just enough time to note that:

1. My back is starting to ache, my boobs are starting to leak and I have developed a proper preggo waddle. Also I keep bumping into things 'cause I'm bigger than I realise.

2. The nesting instinct has well and truly kicked in - any form of socialising leaves me totally exhausted and all I want to do each night is snuggle with my lovely husband at home then fall into bed.

3. Thanks to a 10% discount at Mothercare, we are now the proud owners of one crib and one Bugaboo Gecko (colourway = red). And thanks to Freecycle we have a big bag of random baby toys.

4. Kiddo doesn't seem to be kicking as much during the day (he has taken to having massive star-jumping sessions at night when I'm trying to sleep, instead). But I often feel him shifting position, a transition which often has the effect of making my tummy a completely different shape.