"every pregnancy is different"

it's a regular mantra, but i never thought it would lead to me lying here in a hospital bed at the southern general (glasgie) as i get induced. surely mother nature would ensure that if i went naturally the first time (4 hours - boom!) that this one should be the same. 

not so. here i am, pessary course completed last night and next stage imminent. 12 days over.

the ward is as i remembered. grotty. (bathroom out of order, curtains hanging off, though i do have the luxury of a table in my cell...not everyone gets one of those) and they're apparently very busy. i have heard from a few midwives that 2013 is a baby boom of a year, the royal family bolstering everyone's need to procreate, along with the recession blah blah. so i'm competing with my fellow mums for first off the mark. but who knows the long and short of this - my friend, who was induced for each of her three, confirms that each one was different, not one labour being the same duration.

the usual double standard rules apply - csections are allows in from 7am with partners whilst the rest of us labouring in agony are restricted to seeing partners during visiting hours only - so keep your fingers and toes crossed its a speedy one and i'll be down in the luxurious new labour suites shortly. 

t + 4 (as they call it in the trade)

yep, officially flown past d-day and now four days overcooked.

baby is sitting so high there is no point in doing a sweep apparently. i'd kinda guessed this from the boobs pretty much resting on bump look but it's somewhat irritating to discover something i didn't want in the first place couldn't be done, even if i did want it...ah the wonders of reverse pyschology.

so now i'm waiting, not so patiently. esmée was a week late so i'm pinning my hopes to t+7. though really i should probably just be enjoying the peace and quiet whilst es is at nursery for the next few days, catching up on the million 'nothing happening' texts and sleeping whilst i can.

got an induction date of may 2nd, keep your fingers crossed i go before then as i really don't want to be strapped to a bed, monitored up. it goes against everything that happened last time with active birthing speedy gonzales labour.

over and out (please)

the name game

when naming our first baby, it took us 3 days of deliberation and going round the name houses before settling on Esmée. first off i'd been ridiculously sure she was a boy so had only short listed boys names. there was a list of girls names (6/7 on it) but our favourite at the time, Ingrid, just seems too angular a name for the soft round baby in my arms.

it turned out that the second name on the list was the right one for us, but it's such a momentous task i think we were a little daunted to actually sign the dotted line for a few days.

so this time i'm determined to have the name off the bat. or at least within a few hours rather than days. so now we're frantically reading baby name books, searching the internet and reviewing tv credits to see if there is anything that stands out. nada. zilch. it's even more elusive than the three day blank before. not sure if this is due to additional pressure i've put on it to be right first time, or just a general apathy for the task. as we get nearer d-day perhaps it'll come...

in the meantime any suggestions happily considered. post below.

this too will pass...

i'm starting to get quite nostalgic about it now. at 32 weeks and realising that i (most likely) won't be doing this again. overall there's relief as i have struggled with my pregnancy more this time than last. maybe it's an age thing - became 36 last week, not that I wanted to notice that. maybe it's the running around after number one...anyway as you may have noticed, it's not been easy peasy lemon squeezys.

but nostalgia about the lovely one-ness of it. that secret feeling that you and baby share with each kick and squirm, hiccup and rib tickle. that won't happen again.

third trimester-tester

hormonal hell, enough to test the patience of a saint. one minute snappy, next weepy. delightful!

bump is getting big, decided to measure it (though I didn't do this before so unfortunately no comparison chart) but across the broadest span of bump @ 30weeks I'm 1.04m / 41 inches, 10inches bigger than prebaby days. sadly my hips have also expanded to 42 inches / 1.07m, 4 inches bigger than they were. gutted huge gutteth.

six months. countdown.

i was told a zillion times that it goes a lot quicker the second time round, i just didn't appreciate how quick. it's amazing that something that stretched on for years previously is has now flitted by without me even noticing.

i'm sitting at gatwick airport just now (waiting on delayed flight, oh surprise). i'm here because i suddenly realised that if I didn't get down to visit my friend and her new baby boy before 28 weeks (sleazyjet cut off point) that i would probably not make it - gathering doctors letters etc not really the easiest thing to do when your head is in the pregnancy clouds.

and i'm 26 weeks. and covering up the bump with a large scarf just in case some over efficient jobsworth decides i can't fly as I'm too preggers. believe me it happened before. long stressful story for some other time.

and pray someone tell me what has happened to my pregnancy health bubble and glow?? last pregnancy I couldn't get sick, even if others around me were keeling over. this time I seem to e getting it all.
noroviris. twice.
conjunctivitis. haven't had this in my life before.
sore throat.
sniffy nose.
and my face looks ravaged.

so not fair *whinge*

stick a needle in me, i'm done

got to love the four weekly appointments. fortunately no bloods this time but did get to hear baby's heart and provide a pee sample.