Monday, January 01, 2007

Week 31 - The New Year

My body:
*Borrowing a friend's term, my pregnancy seems to be just 'uneventful' (at least so far, fingers crossed it stays the same until the end of it). My body is fully in sync with the changes that I am not very aware of them anymore. The only complaint I can report is the heartburn and indigestion that are driving me mad. (My sciatica pain even seems to ease down a little).
* I feel the Braxton Hicks (fake contractions) more often now, especially after a long walk or if I have been on feet for a longer period of time. It feels weird and sometimes painful.
* Although I know I am not very very pregnant yet ( I still have 10 more weeks to grow and people said that I will feel MORE pregnant in my 9th months), I feel that I am truly deeply very pregnant. Being in one position for five minutes makes me uncomfortable and short of breath. Eating a few spoonfuls makes my tummy feels very stiff. I started to walk like I wearing diaper, big toes about a foot away, back bent as such that tummy moves forward as if I need more statement about the pregnancy. My new nickname from my beloved husband is now (simple enough): "fatty".

My bubba:
He has grown another couple of centimetres and is around 39cm long and is a hefty 2kg. His lungs are maturing and continuing to develop so that he will be able to breathe unassisted when born.
He is rapidly laying down layers of fat in preparation for birth and his skin is filling out and becoming smooth and plump. His eyes blink while he is awake, and react to harsh lights. He has developed tiny eyelashes and eyebrows that frame his face.
Doctor told us that he has already turn into the anterior position around now - head down with his spine facing outwards in the direction of my navel.


Happy new Year!!

Our last New Year's eve as a couple. As my beloved said, "There is a big mental change. Before the new year, we were going to have a baby next year. Suddenly it is going to be this year."
Yup, it's closer and closer for sure. To be precise, another 2 months and a bit and we will be new parents.

The closer it gets, the more I realised that this pregnancy is leading to only one thing to end it: pain. Probably accompanied with a lot of screaming, for hours. Or a major surgery. And then the pain afterward.
I am terrified.

But worse than that is the worry about something might be wrong with the baby. I am back into neurotic mother to be I was in the first trimester. I freak out over what I have eaten (rrr... was the egg fully cooked? rrr.. I really don't think the oyster I just ate was cooked thoroughly... rrr... was I not supposed to eat that?) - all because the scary fact that mother's immune system is somewhat suppressed in the last trimester, or about the fetal movement (why is it if I am laying on my left side, baby seems to move every limbs of his body that I can feel it all over at the same time?). Although Doctor reassured me baby is going fine, I will not be able to relax until he is born.

I am officially moving on from pregnancy books to baby books (although I still have to finish the pregnancy books and will eventually have to read the dreadful chapter about the labour and birth).

I will be in my 8th month next week (yikes!) and have started thinking about starting the nursery. So far baby already has oversized clothes that can't be worn until he is at least 3 months old, 4 pairs of shoes (won't be needed until he can walk), 2 Disneys books (Winnie the Pooh and The Jungle Book), some fluffy toys, but SANS the essentials such as clothes that he can actually wear the minute he is born, cot, mattress etc etc. This must be the panic attack described by Birgit when he was 7 months pregnant and the nursery wasn't ready. Learning from her experience, I will not let this unpreparedness get in my nerves.

PS. Warren cooked us 5 course meals of seafood including lobster for the New Year's eve. We took time enjoying them and were still eating when the clock stroke at midnight!

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