Locked and loaded
07.04.17, 2:49 pm
37 weeks pregnant and it’s my last day of work today. Maternity leave has almost officially begun and it all feels a bit weird, if I’m honest. Work was a brilliant distraction, and full of people I like, and suddenly I have 7 months away from it. It’s kind’ve weird and kind’ve sad, but hopefully will eventually feel kind’ve awesome. We all went for afternoon tea last week and my group bought me some lovely things, and also some max strength nipple cream and maternity pads. So many delightful post-birth side effects yet to enjoy!
Had the midwife do her home visit yesterday, where they sit on your sofa and check your house isn’t a crack den. And I’ve just remembered that the midwife never bothered testing my urine sample that I did yesterday, which means I’m right now carrying around a day-old pot of urine in my handbag. Jesus Christ. Anyway, me and Pommy are both fine, and she’s now partially engaged! This is actually the best thing ever, as I can suddenly walk without looking like a penguin (Or Tik Tok from Return To Oz – watch this awesome film if you haven’t already, it’s on Netflix do it now) and feel a lot lighter on my feet. I also look less like a barrel! The flipside is lots of weird shooting pains and heaviness in your pelvis, but no big deal. Pommy was also fine at her growth scan last week, and is almost bang in the middle of her growth curve, so everyone’s very pleased with her and I’ve been officially discharged from the hospital and don’t have to go back until kick-off.
The building work continues – have no idea if it’s on track or not, and we keep having to make boring decisions about things like toilet designs and what colour hinges the new doors will have. The bit they have done looks great though, even if they do keep turning the boiler off and making me wash my hair with cold water in the sink. Every now and then I get stressed about Pommy arriving early and the house still being a building site, but it feels like pointless stress so I soon move on to thinking about what sandwich to have. The only annoying thing is obviously being on maternity leave and having a house full of workmen, but what are you gonna do? I’ll just have to clog up the coffee shops of Sheffield until it’s gone 5pm.
The in-laws were down last weekend, and it was both lovely to see them AND stressful and claustrophobic, because I was a tired barrel and just wanted the whole sofa to myself and to not wear a bra. They did bring all of the baby stuff down though, and after endless cleaning and steralising we have a pram, a moses basket, a car seat and lots of other bumpf. So if Pommy does make an early appearance, she does at least have various baskets in which to live.
Braxton Hicks are my constant friend now, and even having a vaguely big tea sets them off. Still, there are now 18 days left. It’s suddenly almost here, and it’s an odd feeling of worry, excitement and just loads and loads of relief. Almost time to meet her.
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