Yes… it is now less than one week until my due date. Now I know why people go into hiding at this stage of pregnancy.
Yes I DO know there’s not long to go, there’s no need for reminders. My aching back reminds me… my weird half-out-half-in belly button reminds me…and those (getting stronger) kicks remind me.
I guess it makes me cranky because it’s not as if it’s something I can control, plan or schedule. It’ll happen when it happens. The ob tells me that the most likely time statistically is between now and a week after the due date. So I can expect up to another 2 weeks of this.
Believe me, no one wants it to be over more than me. I don’t want to overthink the labour process… it’s just unhelpful. Plus I want to meet this little gender-less, face-less person that I’ve been incubating since last June.
So for now… maybe I will go into hiding. I’ll relax and forget about the outside world, and enjoy the last few days of being pregnant. It has been a fun, weird and unique experience.
I was all excited about my sole surviving strawberry plant fruiting again (the others died in the 40 degree heat)… until I discovered the bugs had gotten to the sweet juicyness before me… once again!!
So in a fit of protest I made some little gauze bags out of some old ribbon;
The above strawberry is now resting comfortably in my stomach having survived the ravages of those evil insects. It was small but sweet – very much worth it.
Following on from this – since I had my sewing machine out – I pulled out the squares I had hand-quilted for a baby quilt. I had gotten to point where I needed to put the borders and backing on and bind the thing. It had just seemed too hard and I had put it aside waiting for that burst of energy.
I used scraps for the squares… one lot from material that was bought to make baby things when Mum was pregnant with me. And then I chose an old soft cotton sheet that had probably been washed about 1000 times to use as the border and backing.
I machine quilted the front, batting and backing together. I got to use my new binding-maker (yay!) and after machining the front of the binding, painstakingly hand-sewed it to the back. I’m not sure whether this is the traditional quilting method.. but it worked for me. I did have a little trouble with pulling, so there is a wonky bit, but hopefully that will straighten out in the wash. Machine quilting would be pretty impossible on a full size quilt I’m guessing.
The hand-sewing was definitely the hardest bit. Besides being time consuming, my hands and fingers have been so swollen lately (carpel-tunnel – a normal preggo symptom) that they would just seize up and I couldn’t grip the needle. It was very much a labour of love!
But it’s finally done and my poor child will have at least one thing hand-made especially for them.
Since I’m not working, my days are hard to describe. I will usually have at least a few things on in a week and I’ll spend a few hours on housework etc. A good amount of time is also spent sleeping (making up for sleepless nights) and resting when I’m not feeling good.
Still.. I feel guilty when people ask me what I’ve been up to, or how I am spending my time. Like I should be super busy or something. Gah… I think way too much about what other people think.
This week we had dinner guests, a geek meeting and the Open House. I probably spent a little too much time worrying about how the house looked and furiously cleaning. I had a headache for the two days leading up to Saturday… Panadol made no difference, so I think it was anxiety. But by Friday night my goals were accomplished and I was happy to let people into our house… and my headache disappeared!
Saturday morning started a little too dramatically with me throwing up for the first time in ages. H was worried it might be hospital time.. But I was fine after some Vegemite toast. The day was fun and not too intense. People kind of all turned up at different times.. which was fine with us. It’s always fun seeing people from all different parts of your life in one room. I particularly had fun playing with friends babies (and watching H be at ease with them as well.. a good sign!) and just hanging out with people I don’t get to normally. I managed to not worry about food too much.. it was a bit disorganised, but I put that out of my mind.
A few people I was looking forward to catching up with didn’t make it due to various sicknesses (understandable) .. or very simply not turning up. I tried very hard not to get cranky about that. Perhaps Facebook denotes an RSVP unreliability? Or is it just Gen Y?
I was wasted last night.. and still didn’t sleep well. So after a 6am brekky… most of this morning has been catch up time. These sleep patterns weird me out.
So now.. I don’t know. I kind of felt like the baby might have been waiting until after Saturday to make an appearance… maybe. Perhaps I’m impatient, but I guess my biggest fear at the moment is go overdue and have to be induced. Induction does not sound fun at all. So hot curries here I come!!
