This was my last 5 day work week pre-Pip, although I still have almost a month left to work, after this week I have:
Week 35: 4 day week (holiday on friday)
Week 36: 3 day week (holiday on monday and bank holiday on friday)
Week 37: 4 day week (bank holiday on monday)
Week 38: maternity leave starts here!
At the moment I’m still feeling really good, but I can imagine that the slightly shorter weeks will make the next month a little bit easier.
We had a midwife appointment again this week, and from now on they will be every 2 weeks until week 40. For once, we actually got to see the same midwife 2 weeks in a row and it was really nice to get some consistency. At our 31 week appointment, the midwife checked his position and told us that he was 1/5 engaged; this week she wasn’t so sure, but in the end has decided that he’s still at 1/5 (I really wish I knew more about what that means!)
For some reason this week, I decided that now was the right time and I really needed to learn to crochet. So i started watching youtube videos and actually managed to get myself quite addicted! It is so much easier than I remember from my previous attempts and I am considering packing some in my holiday bags to take to the caravan next week. I can only imagine it’s some sort of nesting, as what I’d really like to do is make things for Pip. As I am an absolute beginner, that is completely impossible, but I might start thinking about a (very small) blanket that I can add to over time.
This week started with a baby shower all organised and arranged by a friend who lives over 100 miles away. The event and guest list wasn’t a surprise, but I had no idea what to expect when we arrived.
We had a lovely afternoon tea and played some games, including 2 versions of adult pass the parcel which were really complicated, and therefore hilarious! She had also printed some predictions cards; the first asked us to complete sentences about our wishes for Pip, things like:
“I hope you learn…” and “I hope you love…”
and the second was a host of “predictions” were everyone had to guess the time and date that Pip would be born, then things about him – like, hair and eye colour, length and weight … and most importantly NAME!
It was really lovely to see what everyone has written for their wishes, there were some really beautiful ones, but I really can’t wait to see whose predictions are the most accurate. Although I am pretty confident that no one has predicted his name – unless we drastically change our minds!!!
I felt completely spoiled throughout the entire day, mostly as people had travelled so far to come to celebrate Pip, but above all I couldn’t believe the amount of gifts he (we) received!!!
In addition to the whole wardrobe of outfits Pip received (he now has significantly more than me) we also received a car seat and base as well as a cotbed, from Pip’s soon-to-be-grandparents. These have kept Chris quietly occupied this week with building and installing.
Now the car seat is in the car and both Pip and I have hospital bags packed; I am feeling pretty prepared. It’s still really early for him to make an appearance, but if he chooses to – i think we’re ready for him now.
At 32 weeks + 30 minutes (i.e.. half past midnight on Saturday morning) Chris and I were chatting in bed about Pip and feeling for him kick when my whole belly went really hard. There were all sorts of lumps and bumps; I’m pretty certain that I could feel an arm everything was so tight. I have remarked on how tight my tummy has been a couple of times in the last few weeks (I don’t even know when it started happening) and I haven’t thought much more of it, but when we googled it, it turns out it’s been Braxton Hicks contractions this whole time! For some reason I thought that BH only happened in the lower half of your stomach, and I expected to feel them from the inside, so it didn’t even cross my mind that’s what it was. I am so excited to be able to say that I have “started having contractions” … even if they are just practice ones for now!
Symptoms this week include light headedness again which is a bit scary! I hope this feeling doesn’t remain until the end of my pregnancy (or even worse, it could be nothing to do with Pip and this could just be my new normal.) I can live with the threat of passing out at any time, as it happens to me somewhat regularly anyway but I’m terrified of the thought of looking after a newborn and possibly passing out!
Again, it was Monday morning that it all happened; 15 minutes earlier than last week according to my colleagues. It started with me instantly feeling exhausted in a meeting first thing, then I got really hot and light headed and had to put my head down.
After all the advice I got last week (and the reading I did afterwards)
Opened a window behind me – the paramedics did this last week and I felt a lot better for it
I had a handful of sweets from my emergency supply – low blood sugar
I had a half pint of water – low blood pressure / dehydration
I lowered my head (although putting it between my knees is getting harder and harder
It wasn’t until a colleague brought a desk top fan for me that it started to pass. I don’t know if the cause of the whole incident was just me getting too hot, or whether it was all of my treatments that just took some time to work, but the fan is staying planted on my desk (and I really hope that I don’t need it again next Monday!)
Luckily my leg cramps are over again, although this week I have had a rather more unpleasant symptom… light headedness.
Now I know what you’re thinking; that doesn’t sound too bad, right?! Surely everyone gets a little light headed from time to time? Why don’t you just sit down for a moment and let it pass? Is that REALLY a pregnancy symptom?!
The truth is, it might not actually be a pregnancy symptom, but the fact that I am pregnant (and at 31 weeks too, if anyone is counting) makes it a whole lot worse!
It’s a long story, so I will try to keep it brief. The day started like most other Mondays, I had breakfast and went to work; everything was fine. Early on I started to feel a bit dizzy and funny, but it passed. Then suddenly, I didn’t know if I was going to faint or throw up, I asked a colleague to come over and by the time he got from his desk to my desk to help me up, I was much worse and the second I stood up… BAM, I passed out… I really shouldn’t have stood up.
My work colleagues were worried and called an ambulance (who arrived in under 6 minutes by the way!) the paramedics said I had low blood pressure, that wasn’t going back up and although everything seemed ok, they wanted to get Pip checked out “just in case.”
Off we went in the ambulance to the first hospital of the day, with me feeling like a bit of a fraud and with Chris following in the car to bring me home again afterwards.
However, it was about to get a whole lot more interesting as I fainted again in the ambulance, from a horizontal position – I didn’t even know that was possible, which meant that now I had to get checked out too (something about p-waves) and the first hospital wouldn’t take me if I was an “emergency” so off we went to the second hospital… with the blue lights flashing and the siren wailing, Chris now more than a little further behind in the city traffic and me definitely not feeling like a fraud anymore!
Luckily, everything turned out ok. I had to wait to see a cardiologist, which took about 10 hours, but I was allowed to go home as soon as he was done with me. All the while plugged in to various machines, but I had no further “episodes.” I was diagnosed with low blood pressure (nothing new there,) low blood sugar (despite having had breakfast,) and a sporadic heart rate and told to lie down if I felt like that again.
If you still want more information on the most eventful day this week, check out our daily vlog, here;
The following day I had a standard midwife appointment, did I mention that we are at 31 weeks this week? Where I tried to summarise what had happened the previous day, she really didn’t think it was a problem and I was informed that most women have low blood pressure during pregnancy because your blood vessels dilate and so the pressure within reduces. This is the polar opposite of what everyone at the hospital had told me, who said that you have more fluid and up to 1/3 more blood during pregnancy, therefore the pressure in your blood vessels is INCREASED, so I really don’t know what to think.
Either way, low blood pressure is normal for me and the rest of the week went without a hitch, so hopefully whatever was going on has stopped and it’s plain sailing from here for the next 9 weeks.
At the midwife appointment, I was told that bump is measuring “normal,” all bloods came back “normal” and there is still no cause for concern about gestational diabetes, which is all great news. Also, at my next appointment we will be discussing birth plans, which is so exciting as mine has been written for about 3 weeks!!!
This was quite possibly the busiest week of my life, and it wasn’t particularly easy to get through at 30 weeks pregnant!
My week looked like this:
Monday – NCT Class
Tuesday – Walking tour of DMU campus
Wednesday – NCT Class
Thursday – Dinner with Sarah
Friday – Dinner with NCT Class
As you can see, it was very NCT focussed! I have really enjoyed getting to know all the other couples, but I have really not enjoyed the pace of the classes. In the 7 days (from Wednesday to Wednesday) we had 3 classes and its really hard going at this point, when all I want to do after work is curl up on the sofa.
I think the classes would have been much more enjoyable if they were once a week, on a given day (instead of randomly being on sundays/mondays/wednesdays) or even once a fortnight and had started earlier before our due dates. This would have given us all time to get to know each other and discuss the pregnancies as they were progressing, instead of it all being crammed into 3 weeks right at the end.
I also made the mistake of putting a pair of heels on this week at work. My flats were at the end of their life and I hadn’t got around to going shopping for more yet, but I figured it would be ok as I don’t have to go anywhere while I’m at work so I would just wear heels at my desk. Bear in mind that I haven’t worn heels, at all, in MONTHS at this point and it WAS fine, until I stood up from my desk!
My hips instantly hurt so badly, that I spent the rest of the day in the office in my socks, and was forced to go to shoe shopping the next day!
nearly mama 