Diaries of the Newly Enciente: My Last Installment at 38 Weeks

As a baby shower pressie, we got vouchers from Features Forever to immortalize Aoife's little digits! Yay!

38 Weeks! Less than a week to go before I am induced into labor on the 17th of July at 39 Weeks! 

I made it!!!!!

Granted, I am now half insane from the wait, suicidal (well not really, but I love hyperbole) over my recent diet, crippled (again, an admitted exaggeration) from my hip pain, and  just over it all -- but man, there really is no underestimating the boost you can get from having a defined finish line in sight vs just sitting around waiting for your insides to start squeezing the bejeezus out of you, heralding the imminent arrival of your bundle of joy.

Baba's baby book waiting to be filled out!

I also had the pleasure of my last check up the other day which was pretty uneventful. We discussed what will happen on the day of the induction (I'll put up a separate post on that with timelines once I'm through), post natal home visits for the first four weeks, and the usual tummy pressing and doppler combo to check that baba is fine. And she is by the way. Heartbeat is strong, and head has now descended to my pelvis. Which also means that the cringe worthy cervix parties continue.

Other symptoms? The leg cramps don't come and go anymore, they just pop up when I do something cramp worthy. However, I do have some slight pain on my inner thighs (mostly my right) where it feels bruised. Apparently this is another type of ligament pain common among the preggers which usually start during the end of your 2nd trimester as your hips expand and your muscles relax. I guess I can still be called lucky that it has only decided to turn up these last few weeks or so.

Another nuisance is the heartburn. It hasn't gone away and now seems to be a nightly event since my 37 week mark. Bummer. Gaviscon offers relief but only for a few hours then it comes back again. This, plus a few more TMI items, the increasing lack of mobility, and that's me in a nutshell.

Funnily, the last two weeks home have also reaffirmed my belief that I am not made for the homemaker's mantle. There is simply not enough things to do at home to fill out my days! Although PIC is definitely enjoying his dinners, I take solace that the madness of new motherhood will keep me sane for the next six months.

Another thing to be excited about is that Fatman (first mentioned in my 2012 post "That Little Old Lady") is back on the 16th!

A good read loaned to us by a friend...
Pre-emptive strike you think?

A lot of people wonder why its my brother and not either my or PIC's mom who's coming over. Well, my mom can actually stay for as long as 9 months here in NZ and has the potential of becoming a permanent resident as well. So we thought we'd save that 9 months for when I am due back at work and have her over then. This way I don't have to worry about having to leave my little bub at daycare / creche while I work. PIC's mom was an option at one point, but due to other commitments back in Manila, she couldn't quite make the journey or the time away for when baba arrives.

Which leaves us with Fatman. Fatman is the sweetest, gentlest soul you'll find who's a bit socially challenged in the rat race that is Manila and has pretty much been spending his days home with my mom helping out where he can. The nice thing about my brother is that he is fully domesticated, studied to be a chef, AND pretty much does whatever I tell him to. Voila! The perfect post natal slave, err, support person.

While I would have loved to have had him at least a week before I go to hospital, still good that he's arriving a day before. We can at least get him settled in, discuss what needs to be done at home and plan my Chinese Post Natal diet requirements for the coming week.

Not quite what we envisioned when we started this journey, but hey, everything is still miraculously clicking into place.

The next time I post something on here guys, I'll be a bonafide mom!