Pregnancy Update Week 36

This week I'm feeling huge, but it's apparent that that's all in my head!

We bought Boo a doll at the weekend to prepare her for the imminent invasion of baby sister, and I'm both impressed by how gentle she sometimes is with it and horrified by her propensity to drag it round by a limb, or it's neck! Baby Annabelle cry, drinks, babbles and snores, and is so incredibly insistent that we only turn her on for 15 minute periods... we are so screwed for Bel coming, she won't have an off switch! Baby Annabelle has however given me some much needed practice with our slings, and I think I should be a dab-hand at carrying and feeding in both the Tot's Bot's Papoozle Sling and the Lenny Lamb Ring Sling.

We got Boo's furniture finished off, so the nursery also now has an (almost) full compliment of furniture. There is a cot to come over from my in-laws and we need to source a cot-top-changer, and my mother-in-law is going to make the curtains, but those are all things we can cope without initially; the crib is set up in the master bedroom, much to Boo's amusement, she's made it her life mission to get into the comfy little rocking bed, and I can see that becoming a nightmare quickly!

We had the growth scan this week, Bels growth has dropped again, she's now on the 11th centile, where she was on the 22nd at the 32 week scan and 41st at the 28 week scan. It didn't come as much of a surprise to me, I'm fairly certain I'm just not capable of supporting big babies, and I had actually packed the hospital bag in the back of the car in case they were worried enough about the growth that they thought I'd need to stay in for steroids.

I got into a bit of trouble with the lady doing the scan, and the Registrar and a Midwife at the appointment because for a few days we'd had some issues with movement tot he point where I was only getting movement as a result of drinking lots of ice cold fluids, and I hadn't gone in because I was still getting those movements and with the scan on Thursday, I didn't want to be a bother. I also had this idea in my head that I would be 'stealing' a bed from someone in labour because triage assessment is in the delivery suite, I was reassured to be told that the delivery suite isn't closed nearly as much as I'd been lead to believe! I was sent for monitoring whilst I was there and everything appeared to be fine, seems we were just having a lazy few days, and as I sit and type for you lovely people I have movements so vigorous they almost hurt, so it seems movement is definitely back to normal.

The IUGR wasn't the only concern we had with regards to the baby. Given that last time my active labour was less than 30 minutes (closer to 12 but who's counting?) and I had a lot of blood loss, the idea of me going into labour outside of the hospital environment was terrifying for me, and at the very least quite concerning for my medical team. So with all the risk factors the decision was made that Bel is getting an early eviction. So we've been booked in with a date and time and I'm going to roll up to the maternity ward and hope that it doesn't take too long (but perhaps is a bit more gradual than last time!)

We've booked Bel up for a 'Cherub' photoshoot with a local company called Memories 2 Treasure. I'd been thinking about it since we had Boo's last tumble tots photoshoot but wasn't sure whether to have the first photo's done with a bump or a newborn, and the induction has rather helped us make that decision! So we'll have a shoot in the next couple of weeks for her newborn pics, a shoot when she's about 6 months old and a final shoot when she's about a year. At the end we get a 3 picture frame with a photo chosen from each of the shoots, and we can also buy additional photo packages as we go along, so I'm hoping this will be a great opportunity to get some fantastic pictures taken of the girls together, especially as the second shoot will be perfectly times for being in the run up to Christmas!

As a result of the induction, things here might be quiet for a few weeks, by the time the 37 week entry would be due to hit your screens I will have been induced, and there's no way of knowing how long it will take for the contractions to start, how long I'll be in labour and how long it will be before we're in a position to come home from the hospital. So its over and out from Bump and I and we'll see you on the other side!

#Pregnancy #ThirdTrimester #GrowthScan #IUGR