37 WEEKS | GETTING LABOUR STARTED
I'm really not a patient person. And once I fix my mind on something I want I can often become far too preoccupied with it.. Waiting for labour to start is one of those things. I've been hoping and hoping that I won't go overdue with this baby.. I really don't want to be induced and as I have a work commitment the month after my due date it really feels like every week of post-baby recovery counts. Also I'm just sick of being pregnant. I'm tired, I can hear myself moaning all the time, most of my clothes don't fit and I just want her to arrive. A lovely big, ice-cold G'n'T would be lovely too.
So. I've been googling and looking at safe ways to get things going naturally. I've been trying my best to keep fit and have carried on going to two spinning classes a week all the way through, and I've been trying to stay active in general as it's meant to help with baby's position and hopefully gravity will be on my side to get things going. I've also asked my old neighbour to make me up some gorgeous essential oils to drop in the bath and rub on bump, and Clary Sage can be added after 37 weeks which can apparently help contractions begin.
I hit 37 weeks between Christmas and New Year, which works out well as the three of us are all off work and school, and have been getting out of the house to 'blow away the cobwebs' and take some walks into town near us, we wrapped up and did a long walk along the beach, and today we walked to the local farm shop with Vivienne on her new bike from Santa. I'm really hoping that walking and walking this baby out will work. It turns out we did 20km in three days (and then got lots of rest afterwards); I felt absolutely fine and completely normal for the first two days, and after today I'm feeling like I've had enough so will be getting some rest tomorrow and doing absolutely nothing.
I've also been listening to my hypno-birthing tracks when I remember and, even though I end up asleep most times, I really feel it's helping. I keep saying to David that I'm ready to go through it again now, and definitely feel a million times more positive about the whole thing than I did a month or two ago. I've heard that staying relaxed helps the release of Oxytocin which can trigger and help contractions progress so fingers crossed this is the case too. Tomorrow might even be a two-bath day(!)
36 WEEKS | LAST CHRISTMAS
We were pretty keen to have a really quiet and special last Christmas just as the three of us. We deliberately did't 'book' lots of things in and kept lots of days free to spend at home. Vivienne and I spent lots of days in bed eating chocolate and watching Netflix (turns out she loves Outnumbered so we powered through the episodes in our PJs pretty quickly), and did lots of walking, baking and popping out for lunch here and there too.
Baby bump is pretty big now, and I'm feeling tired but not exhausted, and still feel I can function pretty normally. The only downside is not having much room to eat the amazing Christmas food on offer. On Christmas Day I couldn't manage a big plateful, as much as I wanted to, but I'm sure I'll make up for it in January when Baby is here. I'm also not missing drinking as much as I thought I would over Christmas.
What I did feel pang of longing for, though, was a proper Christmas night out. Usually there's a night where people head out in the freezing cold and go out between Christmas and New Year and go dancing but I guess it'll all just have to wait. I did manage to see a band at the Empire a few days before Christmas day - standing in a nightclub where David and I met at 8 months pregnant wasn't how I expected the year to end!
IT'S ANOTHER GIRL
It's a girl! Vivienne is going to have a sister! And *be* a sister! We are all over the moon. I was rooting for a girl, not that would have actually minded either way, because I thought it would be wonderful for Vivienne to have a sister and also it's what she was hoping for herself too. We also have a literal shed-load of Vivienne's old clothes that we'd bagged and kept from over the years so I'm pretty sure we'll save a small fortune in babygrows and other items.. I did feel a pang of guilt as David was rooting for a son so we could have one of each, but at the end of the day healthy baby is all both of us really care about. We're feeling incredibly lucky and Vivienne is absolutely buzzing.
The only downside (if you can call it that) is just how many beautiful things there are out there for little girls.. I'm not the biggest fan of baby pink (and it's bloody *everywhere*, I'm surely not the only one who find it all a bit sickly?), but found some gorgeous unisex things and not-overly-'girly' prints on the hughstreet and from some independent designers. The beautiful rompers below are from Nics and Bees and the bee two piece outfit and knitwear items are from H&M and Mamas and Papas. I've also been loving so much from La Redoute, Boden and Zara.. Really I think I need to chill out a little bit but it's all so bloody exciting!
21 WEEKS | PREGNANCY AND WORK
I never anticipated just how tired I'd feel while pregnant during my busy season at work. I've been trying and managed to keep up with going to the gym and eating pretty well but it's not seeming to make things easier like I'd hoped.
From mid-August onwards I told my couples in advance that I was expecting and it hasn't affected my work on the day when I'm shooting.. but the next day, when the adrenaline and rush of the wedding day has worn off, I'm feeling pretty bloody tired. Luckily my workload has been quite well spread out (and I'm clocking off at the end of October), but I've basically been working to reach the end of Summer so I can take it a little easier and edit in the comfort of my PJs..
