Gracie’s Life Experiment

Went to my 34 week appointment with the midwife this morning.  We’re actually 34+4 but it won’t make that much difference.  Fundal height is measuring 36cm, which is prob about right as it’s not that accurate a measure anyway.  Midwife had a good prod and poke around my abdomen and concluded that my stomach muscles are too strong so she couldn’t feel much other than baby is head down and not engaged yet.  Heard her heart beating (which was really loud and strong, and sounded quite a lot more whoosy and squishy now). Shrimp decided to do a big wriggle and kick the midwife.  Blood pressure was 100/60 which is good.  Excellent news they will prescribe some more Gaviscon for me - hopefully that will ease the indigestion (shame I have to wait 2 days before I can even get the prescription, and then I have to take it to the chemist and no doubt wait another day or two).  They said next appt is at 36 weeks and they’re going to do routine bloods again (boo I hate needles).

This afternoon/evening Shrimp was particularly animated.  I think she was objecting to the fact that she got prodded about in the morning and also we dared to spy on her again (although this time, just with the doppler).  My whole stomach was moving about and twitching in a spooky fashion.  The dog was curled up leaning against me on the sofa and Shrimp gave her a good booting!  Dog jumped off and turned around and looked at me like “what ARE you doing?)” - I tried to explain it wasn’t me, but she didn’t believe me and went to sit on her beanbag in peace.

Summary of the day:  Went to midwife appt, Did some PhD work, Had some leftover lasagne (from the freezer) for lunch, Did puzzles from the Times newspaper and watched Poirot in the afternoon, Experimented making corned beef hash (with aubergine and baked beans in)

I’ve not been too bad all pregnancy with the indigestion.  Managed to mostly get away with taking a Rennie every now and again which made it go away fairly quickly.  Today was horrible.  I had awful indigestion and everytime I hiccupped or burped I got a mouth full of acid that then made me choke and cough.  Yeuch!  After eating quite a few Rennies it wasn’t really working.  We had a bottle of Gaviscon, but alas it was empty - I even tried putting it upside down and licking the inside of the lid.  Tried drinking more water to neutralise it.  Nope that didn’t work either.  I felt awful and also my stomach was really bloated and tight.  Not comfortable.  In the end I ended up having a bath and paracetamol (as I seemed to be getting a bit of a temperature).  This didn’t solve the acid problem, but made me so sleepy that I managed to go to bed straight after!

Summary of the day:  Had a lie-in to catch up on sleep, Did loads of gardening (pruned the bushes, weeded, planted out some ageratum), Got horrid indigestion, Hubby made porridge (that was black), Watched Dr Who on beeb 3, Had a bath

Shrimp was particularly wriggly all day today.  I woke up at around 3.30am, lay there trying to go back to sleep till 5.30am, then ended up getting up and doing something useful.  By 8am I had done the washing up, cleaned the kitchen, put a load of washing in, put it in tumble drier, folded and put them back in the wardrobe, done some sudokus, swept the floor.  I’m really not enjoying this insomnia - but at least I made myself useful.  I managed to get another hr’s sleep at 8am and then couldn’t sleep anymore. 

Summary of the day:  Woke up at stupid o’clock, Did household chores, Went to Tescos (very stressful on a Sat) to get stuff for a party, Made satay chicken, Went to Ella & Pete’s birthday BBQ, Watched Holland v Russia football match (comedy surnames!!  Zherkov and Arshavin!)

I love doing the puzzles in the The Times newspaper (Times 2 supplement).  In particular I am very fond of the killer sudokus and the crossword.  Recently I’ve discovered that they publish the previous day’s sudoku puzzles online and seeing as I’m now on maternity leave I quite enjoy printing it out and sitting there in the peace and quiet doing a bit of brain training (otherwise known as PhD avoidance).  Today I sat down in the afternoon whilst watching Murder She Wrote and tried to do the killer one.  I think that the brain training + the mindless TV drivel seemed to cancel each other out as I kept making mistakes and in the end I printed out and started it from scratch again (must remember that 16 - 1 != 16!!!).

Summary of the day:  Quiet day at home.  Stripped the bedsheets, washed and hung them out to dry while the weather was good, Did sudokus, Ate an entire packet (except the last one) of Maryland Choc Chip Cookies (yummy), My friend Rachy came over and hung out in the evening which was cool, We made cottage pie together and played Scrabble.

Today I finally got round to packing my bag(s) to go to hospital when I finally go into labour (we’re only 34 weeks today, but better sooner rather than panic later).  I have a couple of bags - one of those wheelie trolley ones that you use for your cabin luggage on flights and I have the free changing bag from Boots Parenting Club (in which I’m packing Baby K’s stuff). Obviously I have more than 10 individual items, but here’s the main categories:

1. Clothes for me : a couple of pyjamas, a pack of 5 cheapo pants, some slipper socks [note to self - still need to get a couple of nursing bras and find my lightweight dressing gown]
2. Washing products : a selection of travel size/sample toiletries (shampoo/conditioner, freebie toothbrush/paste sets you get on planes, comb, lip balm, shower gel, decanted some Doublebase moisturiser into a little tupperware pot) also a towel.  [note to self - also want to buy some Aloe Vera spritzer spray from the Body Shop to keep me cool]
3. Disposables : a packet of 20 maternity pads (takes up 1/2 the volume of my bag) [note to self - still need to get some breast pads too]
4. Entertainment : Charged up my iPod and packed that away.  [need to get camera charged up and packed]
5. Comforts : Need to pack my hand held battery fan (once hubby has told me where it’s hidden).
6. Food/drinks : Not packed yet, but am going to get some chocolate, dextrose tablets and isotonic drinks to pack
7. 20 newborn sized nappies, sample packs of baby wipes
8. Baby clothes: 1 sleepsuit, 2 bodysuits, 3 bibs, a couple of mitts and some socks and booties
9. Baby blanket
10. Antibacterial hand gel (got a free sample in the Sainsbury’s/Huggies Mum Pack - the stuff you use to clean your hands without water)

There’s some other bits and bobs that will just go straight into the car and stay there until I need them (e.g. the baby car seat, clothes for me to go home in). Hubby can make a quick dash to the car park when I need them. Sure there’s plenty of other things I’ll stuff into the bags, but can’t think of much else at the moment. I have had a look at some of the lists that various parenting clubs provide and I’m at a loss how they manage to get all that in one bag. One list suggested bringing 2 pillows!!

Summary of the day:  Went to Part C marking day (yawn, it was over fairly painlessly after 2 hrs), Went to Sainsbury’s to pick up the free Mum & Baby bundle, Washed Baby K’s new clothes (it was so cute hanging the little mitts and socks on the line, the pegs were barely bigger than them), Started packing hospital bags, Made pasta bolognaise for dinner

Hubby had to go to York for a training day today and left to get the train at 5.30am.  I woke up and couldn’t sleep so had some cereal.  Decided to have a bath.  Then had breakfast again at 9am!!!  Somehow this morning just disappeared into nothingness.  Made myself chinese porridge/congee for lunch (this is like the Chinese version of Jewish chicken soup - it’s what we eat when we’re not feeling too well).  Felt terrible all afternoon and tried to have a lie down and a nap.  Hmm, ended up not sleeping at all because I got some phone calls from work and msgs from hubby.  So now feeling totally cranky.  Hubby didn’t get home till 6.30 so had to wait for a “feel better” cuddle.  We ate dinner at the dining table tonight because I couldn’t face sitting hunched on the sofa as Shrimp is too big and uncomfortable in there now.  This morning she had her bottom sticking right up at the front/top of the bump and was quite bony feeling and then something hung out of the side of the bump, but managed to coax it back in (I think it was a foot).  Think Shrimp must be having another growth spurt as I feel like I’m going to explode.  Add to that some Braxton Hicks and it’s generally been an uncomfortable day :( 

Summary of the day:  Felt crap, Got nothing done (apart from the mega loads of washing up from the experimental dinner last night)

It was my parents’ Wedding Anniversary on Saturday and all the family met up in London to go for dim sum on Sunday (except us as we are 3 hrs drive away). So unfair - I want dim sum too. Shrimp demands dim sum as well So in the absense of any dim sum restaurants in our area (there are none in Loughborough at all) I decided to have a look on t’internet to see if I could find any nice recipes. In particular I really wanted to eat Char Siu Cheong Fun, which is kind of like a steamed canneloni made from rice flour with BBQ roast pork inside and a soya sauce type sauce on it. It’s my favourite when we go out for dim sum in London. I found a fabulous blog by Lilyng with a recipe and photo instructions of how to do it.  We got a steamer for our wedding so thought I’d give it a try.  Managed to get most stuff apart from the Borax (which I think is toxic) but gave it a go.  It didn’t really work at first and came out like layers of wax and kept getting stuck in the pan.  In the end I thought I’d try it on greaseproof paper in the microwave and it worked a treat.  Wasn’t quite as fine as the stuff you get in the restaurant but certainly tasted similar.  Not bad for a first attempt - am thinking a little bit of gelatin would help next time.  I made the char siu beforehand in the afternoon.  Looking on the internet it appears there are a few restaurants in Nott’ham and Leicester that do dim sum so may have to coerse hubby into going.

Summary of the day:  Did a lot of PhD write up (yay - managed to work from about 9.30-4.30 which is good going), Made char siu, Experimented with the cheong fun

We had our one and only antenatal class today. Because we’re in Loughborough there isn’t actually a hospital that has maternity services so you have to go to Nottingham or Leicester (or Derby). We’re going to Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham because it is close to hubby’s school (he’s a teacher) so if he needs to come quickly he’ll be nearby). QMC doesn’t offer any antenatal classes, nor can you do a tour of the delivery/maternity wards (so the first time we see it will be on the “big day” itself). Luckily we spoke to our local midwife and they put on a 1/2 day workshop with a midwife in Barrow. In my mind I had visions of the antenatal class being like on tv - where they all sit on gym mats and pant, etc. But it was nothing like that. We all sat on chairs and looked at a flip chart and various props the midwife at the front had. We also watched a really old video of a couple of births (yuck and gore and membraney stuff). It was quite entertaining and the midwife was quite barmy. There wasn’t much more information though than you could find on the internet. Because we’re going to Nottingham we’re in a different health authority so they didn’t have much about what QMC practices were. 3 hrs later and a totally numb bum and we were allowed to go. Even Shrimp was a bit bored I think as she was sat there kicking or hiccupping away for a lot of the middle section.

Summary of the day: Helped out with the music at church for a local primary school tour, Went shopping at Tescos (loads of reduced meat on a Monday morning), Dropped off my marking at Uni (stupid online marking system failed on Friday so had to go in AGAIN), Went to antenatal class, Put on some CDs for Shrimp to listen to (she doesn’t seem to like Rachmaninov or Liszt).

My body seems to be preparing me for sleep deprivation already and baby’s not even due for another 6.5 weeks!  I seem to have 2 crap night’s sleep followed by 1 OK night’s sleep.  If it isn’t too hot/cold/hot and cold, then it’s the baby kicking or wriggling or applying pressure in uncomfortable places, or the bladder relief valve which seems to be broken (it tells me I need to go every 2-3 hrs at night and only every other comfort break really yields a proper relieving waterfall).  Then there’s the psychological aspects when I can’t sleep my brain goes into overdrive and I either get weird dreams that freak me out or I start to worry about this that and the other (at stupid times of the night when I can’t do anything about it).  I had another rubbish night’s sleep last night and was awake from 1.30 - 5.30 before I managed to get back to sleep for another couple of hrs before getting up to play piano in church.    Apparently this not sleeping thing only gets worse as baby gets bigger, and then once she’s here then it gets even worse!!

Summary of the day:  Had insomnia, Lugged myself to church to play piano,  Had a 1/4 pounder meal (v bad but was too sleepy to be bothered to make anything else), Napped in the afternoon, Made simple dinner, Got 2nd wind and tidied kitchen and hoovered house!

I had a better night’s sleep last night (only woke up the once).  When I woke up in the morning I could vividly remember my dream.  There were actually 2 dreams.

1. We had 2 fish tanks and the fish kept escaping out of the tanks.  It was weird because the fish still seemed to be able to swim around outside of the tanks in the air (kind of like insects flying).  I kept catching them in my little net and when they were in the net they looked dead and drained of all their colour.  When I popped the fish back into the tanks they came back to life and colour!

2. I was at a small secluded beach and it had to little brightly coloured painted wooden houses right on the beach (kind of like Brighton changing huts but bigger single storey houses).  I put my clothes into a washing basket and left them next to my sister who was sunbathing on the beach while I went for a swim.  Suddenly the tide came in really fast and my clothes got wet.  I quickly got out of the water to rescue my clothes and the water receded back again just as quickly.  As we were packing up to go into one of the houses I noticed something that looked like a whitish clam 1/2 submerged on the beach and I dug it up to find it was a crab (that was upside down).  Then suddenly there were crabs coming out of the beach all over the place.  Funny thing was they were still alive but were all red/orange cooked colour!  Suddenly loads of people appeared on the beach and were digging up the crabs to eat them.  My sister was doing that too (I’m allergic to shellfish so I didn’t partake).  Then my brother came out of the beach house with a massive cooking pot and was all excited about having chilli crabs.  Then I woke up!

I had an afternoon nap and had yet another dream, this time I was showing someone how to put together a collapsible occasional table.  Weird!

Wonder what it could all mean? 

Summary of the day:  Had lots of strange dreams, Did a bit of PhD stuff, Played Zoo Tycoon, Made Pork in Yellow Bean Udon Noodles for dinner (yummy)