Last weeks of Term 3, 2012

Week of Pregnancy: 25

Fruit to Fetus Comparison: Still an eggplant, only one of the larger variety!

Cravings:  Lollies, Chocolate, cake – anything naughty that I can get my hands on!

Aversions: All of the above, but work stress and lack of time to prepare meals means I eat a lot of bad food this week... and pay for it an hour later each time! Stupid heartburn!

Husbands’ excitement metre:  More focussed on buying house/land and getting us away on our holiday next week.

Mini-Muffin Kick-Counter: Still less than a couple of weeks ago – but I think it’s because I’m so active right now it rocks her to sleep.

So this week’s entry will be short and less sweet – work has been hectic, literally every waking moment has been dedicated to marking all assignments (over 165 kids that I teach – some classes have two assignments due) and doing Year 12 Verification folios (fingers crossed they don’t get slammed as it’s my first year sending away Visual Art folios!

So yes, our poor Miss Muffin hasn’t had a lot of attention this week. Instead, I have been introduced to the not-so-joyous twins, Reflux and Heartburn. They follow me wherever I go – whether it be eating an immense amount of lollies and chocolates with my (also stressed out) staffroom, or cramming pizza in my hole for dinner; the twins are there. 

It’s my own darn fault, I know that much, but by the time I get home after a 12 – 14 hr day (some days are blinking awful) I don’t feel like cooking or preparing anything of substance. So we have packet food loaded with carbohydrates and very little protein. I’ve tried to add vegetables where possible (on top of a packet pizza, adding peas to a meal of schnitzel and potato etc) but it’s really a lame effort. Will make resolution to eat much better during our holiday, and as we return from it!

So, wish me luck – marking is still unfinished, but verification is done. Art room is a mess, profiles unfinished, students picking up on my stress levels. Also, I don’t fit in some corners of the storeroom anymore, which makes it difficult to get items that kids need. Fab times, people.

Am in fuelled debate with doctor at the moment about the date as to which I will finish work (14^th of December is the final week of school, my due date is the 26^th of December... needless to say he is not pleased with my hope to work up until the last week or so!). We will resolve this in future discussions when I see him on the 2^nd of October.

Anyway – will post again after our FABULOUS Tasmanian get-away! I can’t wait for husband time and to see part of the great Australian Landscape I haven’t seen before! J Also hopefully some seals/penguins/Tasmanian devils!

Love xxx

So, hold on a sec... how does this baby get out of my uterus? THIS JUST GOT REAL!

So, hold on a sec... how does this baby get out of my uterus? 

Week of Pregnancy: 23/24

Fruit to Fetus Comparison: Eggplant (Approx 760grams and 30 cms long)

Cravings:  Oranges, Icecream and Cold Water – Getting warmer!
Aversions: Bread & Sugars don’t sit well with me, but I eat them anyway...
Husbands’ excitement metre:  Stressed. Babies cost a lot.

Mini-Muffin Kick-Counter: Slowed a bit this week – still some kicks, but I think I’ve been too busy to notice the small ones!

So this week marks around 15 weeks until Miss Muffin is born. Which means around 105 days remaining. So I’ve got to thinking... how is this baby going to get out of me? Though I'm clued up enough to know that she won't be bursting through my stomach like in Alien, but the options are overwhelming!

Like, we’ve totally talked about having a ‘Natural Birth’ if possible, but I’ve never really thought about what it’s going to feel like having to go through what has been described as 'the most intense pain most women have ever felt'. Yeah, not giving me a lot of confidence. On the other hand, a lot of women go back for a second pregnancy or more, so it really can’t be intolerable. I’m thinking on a scale of ‘standing on a lego’ to ‘being torn apart by sharks’ it’s somewhere in the middle. Possibly closer to the shark side. Again, this doesn’t give me a lot of confidence, and makes me strongly consider the drugs option as I can be a bit of a wuss, but I’d like to think I could do it. Women have been doing it since the dawn of time, right?

But, you may ask, why not just get drugged up? Well, though this is a great option that may end up happening, I figure this is the only time I’m going to give birth for the first time, so why not feel the whole thing. If it’s too much, don’t do it next time! Perhaps it’s the hippy in my heart, but nature usually only throws things at you that you can physically handle (obviously this is a general scenario, not a complicated pregnancy!) so it’s not like my body will rip in two, though perhaps it may feel like it.

Anyway, call me an idiot, but I don’t want to take the easy way out – I want to experience the birth of my daughter as much as possible. If that means an epidural five minutes after our arrival at the hospital, well that’s what will happen. I guess all you can have is preferences, and those preferences will change as the situation changes.

On a more exciting note... I WENT SHOPPING TODAY! Okay – Actually, I had an hour to kill before my ultrasound appointment, so I went to the shopping centre and Mother Care.. and Spotlight. I’m a speed shopper.

And I bought a few more pink things to give our little cherub so she doesn’t have to run around naked for the first few days (although in December it will be so hot she might as well be!) INCLUDING a tiny, pink, frilly swimsuit in 000 size!! I don’t know how much it will get used – most babies swim naked – but it’s so adorable and was on sale I had to get it!

I also found some pink maternity jeans, and material with ponies on it that I plan to turn into ruffle nappy-covers! Oh-golly-gosh our poor daughter is going to be so cute it will hurt to look at her for too long. I am a little ashamed of myself as nearly everything I bought was distinctly girly, after saying I was hoping to go a little bit more ‘femmie’ and not force our daughter into being a girly girl. But let’s face it, with me as a mum, she’s going to be exposed to a lot of ponies, rainbows, fairies and dancing. If she decides to join the local Rugby Team, cut her hair short and wear men’s football jerseys, so be it. To me, that’s fine when she’s old enough to make choices about her life, we will discuss it and encourage her to follow her dream. Just like baptism/christening – her choice when she’s old enough to make it! But... I guess parents can’t help but push their own loves of things they enjoy onto their kids when they’re young. On the upside – Justin will balance out my overtly bubbly girly Musical-loving extrovert personality with his inadvertent ‘greige’ and love of AFL and computers. I figure our girl will fit somewhere in between. Or not at all. Or love sport. Anyway – that’s for the future to decide. For now, she will wear pink (and other colours!) and frills, and tiny pink frilly swimsuits, because she has no choice and can’t defend herself. BAHAHAHA! So here’s what she’s going to wear...

ADORABLE FRILLY SWIMSUIT! (actually very tiny – looks big in the picture but is much smaller)

 PONY ONESIE! (The Low Fire Danger Warning is always a good sign... because our child will be near many open flames...)

 Pretty Dress & Pink Zig-Zag onesie! So Cute!

Annnnnd Justin is SUPER EXCITED ABOUT ALL THESE BABY CLOTHES (as you can tell by his face!) he is totally keeping it in. He really is excited *shakes fist*. This skirt is a size 000. He cant believe how tiny it is.

They were all so cute I had to get them! Miss Muffin can hate me later.

Also – I found this website for wall decals! Love the white & pink trees for Muffin’s room!

My Munchkin 

In the mean time – I will think of several ways to get this child safely out of my uterus. Here are the current options. Justin thinks a) and b) are nuts.

a)    Water Birth & Hypnotherapy (personal favourite)

b)    Grin and Bear it (or cry and bear it)

c)     Cave to the drugs

d)   Make Justin do it (LOL! I wish...)

e)    None or all of the above depending on the day.

    

     Any suggestions welcome!! 

     Peace xxx

Rhonie

The joys of being kicked in your sleep and no longer fitting in small spaces...

The joys of being kicked in your sleep and no longer fitting in small spaces...

Fruit to Fetus Comparison: Spaghetti Squash/Ear of corn (Approx 400-450gms and 28cms)

Cravings:  Sugar and naughty food. Have been resisting the urge as much as possible, and trying to eat healthy! I don't know if you can get olfactory cravings, but the smell of jasmine (in flower!!) is heavenly and I just want to smell it all the time!

Aversions: Bread gives me core-of-the-earth heartburn (Says the girl who used to eat hot curries)

Husbands’ excitement metre: Excited!

Mini-Muffin Kick-Counter: Kick-a-rific! Up to around 20 – 30 a day (mini ones mostly!) very active muffin at the moment!

So this week Miss Muffin has contented herself with using my body as a personal gym. I’m sure this is only to get worse as the weeks go on, but some very big, surprising, kicks have been happening this week! So big, in fact, that JUSTIN CAN FEEL THEM! Yes! Finally Justin can be physically involved in this pregnancy, other than donating some DNA. Obviously he’s been present for ultrasounds and has dealt with all the emotional eating/crying/sleeping, but the fact that he can feel our daughter move is very very cool!

We are in the midst of buying/designing a house at the moment, and he is getting very ‘nesty’. I’m sure this will be me in a few weeks (and I’m excited about the decorating) but for once Justin is the one excited about room size and floor space, while I get to daydream about painting the walls and planting a garden.

Apart from the kicking (which has been upgraded from ‘goldfish/popcorn’ status to ‘someone is flicking the inside of my tummy with a plastic ruler’ status) nothing much has been happening this week! I have much more energy, which is good, because there’s a lot more to do at the moment (work, house, extra-curricular etc).

I feel much less ‘chipper’ than usual, but this is possibly to do with work more than anything else. I feel less like myself and more like a ‘grey’ version of me, which is not so great. Whinging emo that I am. 

On a more hilarious note, I’m finding it hard to navigate the art room storeroom, and often find myself having to go around things that normally I could just slip in between. We have large compacting shelves, and when they are slightly overstocked,  I have to send students in to get things rather than go myself. They laugh at me. Also it might have been because I turned one of my eyebrows green today with Lino-printing ink.

Not to mention (another pregnant-art-teacher-related-problem) I find the bottom part of my tummy now protrudes so much that it is starting to get in the way of my art teaching. Ie: My clothes have a line of paint/graphite/lino ink/glue on them permanently (have taken to wearing aprons) and I get prodded by waist-level objects a lot. Also my students find it hilarious that I have to ask them to move their chairs in to the tables so I can get past. Only half way, and not THAT huge, I can’t imagine how this is going to work in 15 weeks time!

Yes, people, I’m planning on working until the end of the year. I am mentally preparing myself for the possibility of failure, as this is dependent on health, heat and how grumpy I am. My midwife (bless her) looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted to work up until the end of the year, but what else am I going to do? It’s not like I have a choice to sit at home and do nothing (I’ll go crazy, and we need money to buy a house!). It would be much smarter, considering our daughter’s due date, to take maternity leave starting next year, and get normal pay over the holidays. Of course, when have babies ever understood the concept of smartly timed maternity leave? She'll come when she darn well wants to, and do with my body what she will in the meantime!

In saying that, I have to get a certificate saying I can work (with doctor’s permission) up until the end of the year. Otherwise I have to stop around week 6 next term, due to government law. Fingers crossed our lovely doctor (and Miss Muffin) allow this to happen!

Anyway, maternity leave or not, it’s a tough gig at the moment! Off to finish the work-load and get kicked as I attempt to sleep! Here’s what I want to do to Miss Muffin’s bedroom in our potential new home (fingers crossed! Not definite yet!) I love this colour with the white cot and furniture :) Simple but gorgeous!

And just for interest - blue for girls a big no-no? I don't think so, but tell me what you think! There will also be many forms of rainbow and colourful things in there :)

 

Toodles!

Rhonie