Rollercoaster Rides
Reading back through my last post, I was so positive and relaxed. It would have been nice for that to continue 😂
Nothing dramatic has happened but no sooner had I posted, than I was hit with three weeks of insomnia. I don't mean the 'waking up to pee and unable to go back to sleep' insomnia. God knows I would have given anything to go back to that!! I mean the 'Can't even begin to fall asleep, despite being exhausted' type of insomnia. A lot of people took this time to tell me, 'It's just your body preparing for when the baby is here'....'You'll get less sleep once the baby is here'....
Pretty certain you can imagine how impressed my face was hearing this, after getting literally no sleep for weeks 😒 I feel it was a great personal achievement that I didn't punch anyone in the face..
Especially grateful for this new strength, is my husband. His snoring became a source of great irritation as he slept (ironically) like a baby.
My poor midwife didn't quite know what to do when she made the mistake of asking how I was. Thankfully I managed to sit down before I burst into massive, snotty sobs, that a 4 year old would have been proud of. All the tension and stress came pouring out, all set off by the lack of sleep. Exhausted didn't even quite begin to cover how I felt.
Thankfully, she was amazing. Calmed me down and made sure the doctor signed me off work for a week to hopefully allow me to get some sleep. Night shifts and pregnancy do NOT go well together!
The change in sleep pattern had truly upset my system. Where I would normally get back into a normal sleeping pattern after a few days, this time I simply reacted by not sleeping.
A week off removed anxiety about trying to sleep. It was timed well with starting antenatal classes. As I hope to have a home birth, hypnobirthing is something that spiked my interest. The classes I chose to attend are run by the Daisy Foundation (https://thedaisyfoundation.com). It focuses on providing information about all options in birth (at home or in hospital, including c-sections).
They go through movements, stretches and breathing techniques to help calm your mind/body. Mixed with the amazing guided relaxation at the end of each class, sleep thankfully returned.
I will also take this opportunity to comment on a moment in our parenting class. The idea is for the birthing partner to slow the mother's breathing down if she becomes unfocused. All very well and good until you realise you already take one breath for every 2 your husband takes. Cue lots of giggling as I end up trying to slow his breathing down! At least it will help to distract me during birth..
It's also quite difficult for my partner to hear me breathing as his cochlear implant isn't strong enough to pick up on the sound of it (I would be worried if it could because then I'd be a very loud open mouth breather which would be far worse!) At least it's helped highlight the fact I need him to simply count for my breaths in/out. Rather than passing out from breathing out for too long 😂
To help you understand, we have separate keys for our front and back door. The dogs are always taken out the back and through the gate to the car. The gate has a lock on it....(can you guess where this is going)...
Focusing on getting the dogs clean after a particularly muddy walk, I hurried the pups into the garden and locked the gate behind me like I always do. Only to realise I had left the back door keys (with the gate key attached) locked in my car. I did seriously consider trying to climb over the gate (at 28 weeks pregnant) so I could unlock the car (the only keys I did have).
Unfortunately, I'm not as strong as I was in my pre-pregnancy, obstacle racing days. So I made a rather embarrassing call to my mother in law to explain what had happened. Barney thought this was great. He got to play fetch for 15 more minutes until rescue came!
A few days later, I repeated the same actions, only this time I locked my mum in the garden with us as well 😂 Cue a second call, this time to my father in law. Twice in one week, my car keys were thrown over the gate to rescue my house keys.
Thankfully, other than forgetting everyone's name, I haven't had any more incidents of Baby Brain. I do occasionally catch myself just before I put the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge, but the least said on that the better...
Speaking of Guinness.....the original fur baby had a birthday!! He turned 8! I delivered and resuscitated him and his siblings, after they were all born via c-section. Knowing him since day 1, and having him with me through the ups/downs over the past 8 years, has made our bond very strong. He will always be my first baby. I have no doubt he will give himself the job of guard duty once Little Man is here.
As my bump grows, I gave in and bought myself a maternity coat. (Damn my husband for being so slim that his coats fit me worse than my own 😂)
I managed to find a great bargain from Asda. It has an extra panel which can be removed once baby is here, and used as a normal coat. So as the British winter sets in, at least my stomach can be covered from the wind.
We also had delivery of a safari outfit for the teddy in the nursery. I originally had the teddy from the bear factory when I was 10. Now he gets to belong to my son 💗
The final piece of baby kit also arrived. After months of lusting after a baby sling by Free Rider
(https://www.freeriderrange.com/)they had a sale. It was a sign, so I ordered one! If you get a chance, look them up on instagram. It's where I found them, and spent months stalking them. They are a new British company. The sling came so quickly and is made of a beautifully soft but strong material.
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| Safari Ted acted as a practice baby for the sling |
I can't believe we only have 2 months left until our new addition arrives. In some ways, it will go quickly. In other ways, I feel like I have been pregnant forever!! I just want to meet our son already!
Until next time xxxx
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