Pregnancy Diary 29 Weeks

Pregnancy Diary 29 Weeks – It’s snowing again! This has got to be the strangest March ever! The shop shelves are again empty of milk and bread and the sledges are out. It’s a shame that I can’t go sledging with Isabelle or walking with the scaredy cat dog in the snow but my back is still giving me problems so I don’t want to risk any slips.

Pregnancy Physio

I’ve got my physio appointment on Monday where they will hopefully give me some tips, exercises or even support for my back over the coming weeks which thankfully has eased off a little bit.

My appointment was cancelled due to the snow. Boo! So I’m just waiting for this to be rescheduled.

Snow Day

So as predicted for once, the snow came down on Sunday which resulted in a Snow Day on Monday. No school or work for any of us. Chris took Isabelle sledging.

Work

As of Monday 19th March I had exactly 36 working days left before my maternity leave kicks in. I’d like to say that I’m not counting but I AM!

Bloods tests

Friday I went for my 28 week check up and was supposed to have bloods taken which after three failed attempts it was abandoned. Luckily I work at a hospital so I could pop along to the blood room to get these done which I have now. My midwife said that she thought I was a bit pale so there may be a possibility that I may have an iron deficiency.

Movement

This baby is just as wriggly as the other two. We’re now at the point where there are definite elbows or feet sticking out. I can’t tell the difference between the sticky out bits but it feels like it’s doing star jumps. Ryan used to stretch out which was quite horrible and I would have to give him a bit of a nudge to go back into a more comfortable position. Isabelle used to get hiccups which was quite novel. I haven’t had either of these with this one, just lots of jabby type kicks which have made me gasp quite a few times.

One Born Every Minute

I sat and watched One Born Every Minute the other night which, after watching the forceps delivery I was left feeling quite traumatised. Both labours, the mums were on their backs which for me was the most uncomfortable position. Did you watch it? It was the one with Sunny and Shay who were really comical. It was quite sad that her mum didn’t approve of her choice of husband and is not in their lives, but her mother-in-law was there and so so supportive. The other couple had their forth baby and she was totally off her head on gas and air. I don’t remember the gas and air doing anything for me other than giving me a really dry mouth. The more I think about this, the more I think I would love to try a water birth.

Labour Talk

This is probably going to be a feature every week now as it’s not that far away. Chris works long hours and is quite often a hefty drive away from home which isn’t ideal. My actual due date is the 3rd June and Isabelle will be off school the week leading up to this which makes me feel slightly uneasy.

I asked her the other day what she’s going to do if the baby starts to come to which she answered – Scream. Ha ha.

I thought I would test her to see if she knew what to do in an emergency type situation (I promise I didn’t scare her). She knows that she has to phone Daddy and the cheeky little monkey knows the pin passcode to my phone and can find Daddy in my contacts list so that’s good. However, when I asked if she knew how to phone an ambulance she said she would phone 911!

I’m sure I’ll be fully functional to use the phone myself but always good to check these things.

Getting ready for Baby

We’re in the middle of sorting through the things that we already have which is more than I thought, and making a list of what we need to buy. Clothes wise I don’t think we need to buy much more since we don’t know the sex of the baby so we’re keeping it to a minimum.

I think I might write a separate post on what I consider to be Newborn Baby Essentials as when you’re a first time parent you are totally lead by magazines and websites that are there to get you to buy literally everything under the sun, most of which you may use once or possibly never.

I would like to get a beside the bed crib which will make feeding much easier for me, and I’m pre-empting that we might end up having this one in our bed so it would be better to have the additional space added on by the crib. Chris wants to use the rocking crib that we already have since his Nan bought this for us and isn’t here any longer. It might be that we have the beside the bed crib in our room and the rocking crib in the baby’s room which it can sleep in during the day. I’m not sure if you can leave a baby alone in a beside the bed crib if you’re not in the room in the event that they may roll onto the bed and out of the bed (Hmm need to think about that). This debate continues.

Washable Nappies

Do you use? Do you like them? We used them previously with Isabelle and I loved them but Chris didn’t and isn’t keen to go down that route again. I think we’ve come to a compromise in that if he takes the baby out and about we will have a little stash of disposables that he can use and I will use the washables when the baby is with me. I’m off to a Nappucino in a few weeks as I need to buy some wet bags and a bucket, and also just have a chat to our local nappy expert to update since it’s a while since I’ve used them.

Development

The baby is about the size of a cauliflower measuring around 38.6cm and weighing about 2.5lb.

The Vernix Caseosa (the waxy white substance which has been protecting it from the effects of the amniotic fluid) is beginning to disappear, as is the soft downy hair (lanugo) which has covered its body (although there might still be traces of both at birth).

The baby’s eyes are starting to focus. It makes you wonder what exactly they can see!

The baby should double in size between now and birth – heaven help me as my bump looks full term already now.

Baby gets first dibs on all the nutrients from the food that I eat and I get whatever is leftover.

At 29 weeks I have fast growing nails to look forward to. Sadly mine do grow fast but they are so flimsy that they split and look a bit of a mess at the moment. Oh and constipation is also part and parcel from now until the birth. Lucky me!

Until next week……

Lisa x