As the song goes "anyday now...", that's kinda how Week 37 feels like. At the last checkup, Pipsqueak grew again and is now about 2.6kg. Doc says he's not a fat baby which is good for me. The only bad news this week is that I tested positive for Strep B - its a kind of bacteria that lives in the birth canal and my reading tells me that between 16-40% of women have it, but have no symptoms whatsoever. Its not harmful to me, but if I deliver naturally, baby may be exposed to the bacteria and develop illnesses like Meningitis and Pneumonia. So I've been put on a course of antibiotics and will be given an injection when I go into labour to minimise the infection to Pipsqueak. I didn't realise it was SO common until I chatted with a few colleagues who had the same infection when they were pregnant.
My Braxton Hicks contractions have been getting more and more intense, it kept me awake one night and is starting to feel more uncomfortable. The worst is having a Braxton Hicks in the car - and the car goes over a bumpy road or speed hump! Oh my, does it hurt! Its a strange sensation, my entire belly tightens and becomes very hard. Amazing how God created our human body to even have test run contractions before the real thing! I hope I'll be able to tell the real contractions when they come! I am still optimistic about trying for a natural labour without an epidural and some friends think I'm crazy, but I'll give it a go anyway!
The Husband and I have finally gotten off our lazy bums and done our hospital pre-admission. Involves going to the admissions counter and getting some paperwork done, so that when I arrive in labour, I go straight up to the labour ward. The Husband has got his labour plan ready - I can't remember the acronym he's come up with the remind himself what to do, but my main concern is getting the hospital bag ready. And strangely enough, I keep adding food to the bag. I have the greatest phobia of waking up hungry in the middle of the night in the hospital and having nothing to eat by Milo and biscuits! So I've packed Mcvities and recently bought some nice Japanese chocolate biscuits too.
I've been getting lots of pampering at home. My parents are enroute to Melbourne and Dad has been giving me lots of food massages and Mum has been cooking up a storm. Dad's a super ironer as well so my clothes are all well ironed this week! The Husband tucks me into bed at night and helps me get into bed (yes its even hard to get in and out of bed!). He's also my fitness instructor - the gynae has been encouraging me to do squats, as the lower Pipsqueak's head is, the easier and shorter my labour. So we walk up the stairs to the car park in the morning to keep my stamina up and do squats at night to push Pipsqueak's head down! But to me, the best form of exercise is retail therapy! I've been sneaking in lots of shopping during lunchtime - my rationale is that it won't be so easy for me to get out and shop after baby arrives, so better do it now!
Week 38 will be my last week at work. I've been praying that Pipsqueak won't arrive too early so that I will have enough leave to tide over Christmas, and he's been pretty good so far I must say. Let's see how this week pans out!
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