Baby envy (in a good way)

My friend A had a baby boy, Jesse, yesterday morning. I am so happy and excited for her and her boyfriend, and at the same time a teeny bit envious that they are now holding and looking at their little baby, while I have to wait another two and a half weeks to meet mine! Like me, A was planning to give birth in a birthing unit without epidural, so I can't wait to hear how it all went for her.

After a few days of uncomfortable, non-stop Braxton Hicks, my uterus seems to have calmed down a bit and now I just tend to get a few in the evening. I'm glad because I couldn't feel Coco move as much while I was having the BH, whereas now I can feel him kicking and wiggling about more during the daytime. Still, I'm hoping that all those contractions might have helped my cervix start effacing and, who knows, maybe even dilating a tiny bit. I hope I don't have to wait too much longer for it all to start happening - I surely can't get any bigger, I'm now 11 and a half stone (over two stone on top of my previous weight) and feel like a big old lump. I feel a bit bad 'cause as I type, my lovely husband is busy with all sorts of DIY tasks that I can't really help out with. I spose I should just enjoy the uninterrupted sofa time while I can...

36w 1d

I am now pretty much into the counting-down-the-days section of pregnancy - 27 and counting til my due date. Though when I think of it as four weeks, that still seems like a heck of a long time to wait to meet my baby, now that we're all ready for his arrival (or as ready as you can be, I think). The hospital bag is packed, the car seat is bought, and I've sat on birthing balls, stools and chairs at the antenatal classes.

I'm not entirely sure how much I've learned at the classes that I hadn't already read, but it's been nice to familiarise ourselves with the birthing centre and meet a couple more of the midwives. There's one more class next week which focuses on looking after the baby, plus a breastfeeding workshop (ladies only, doubtless to my lovely husband's disappointment), then we're on our own. To be honest, I feel like I've heard as much as I want to about labour itself - now I just want to get on with it.

That's not to say that I'm not enjoying the peaceful interlude of maternity leave before the birth - it's been lovely to spend my days going for short walks, pissing about on the internet, having lunch with my husband, reading the new Thomas Pynchon novel and napping whenever I feel like it (usually about 3pm, to be precise). But I so want to meet my little baby and know that he is happy and healthy. And start the whole new adventure of life with a little person in our already happy family.

Five weeks to go

So today I'm 35 weeks, which means Coco could put in an appearance any time in the next 3 to 7 weeks. Which seems at once scarily close, and like there's ages yet to go. Luckily we've got pretty much everything now - just waiting for one last Mothercare order to be delivered. My hospital bag is packed and ready to go. S reckons the baby will come early, we'll see...

There's plenty of stuff to pass the time, though - started antenatal classes last week (somewhat disorganised but hopefully we'll learn some useful stuff over the next 3 weeks), and got the active birth workshop tomorrow evening. Throw in some last-minute socialising and my diary for the next couple of weeks is actually looking rather busy. But after that I am cancelling all appointments, battening down the hatches and staying very close to home for when it all kicks off. Fortunately I have my MacBook (thanks, Santa!) to keep me from the temptations of daytime TV...

Things that are brilliant about maternity leave

1. Playing with my new MacBook all day

2. Having time to read the new Pynchon novel

3. Not having to work!

Midwife appointment went fine this morning - baby's head is starting to engage, which is good. Slightly worryingly, he/she is measuring a bit on the large side - my bump is 35cm at 33w 6d (the bump size should match the number of weeks). So looks like we could be in for a big baby...