The White Lily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewhitelily) wrote2010-10-14 10:01 pm
thewhitelily) wrote2010-10-14 10:01 pm
One month to go
So today, I'm counting myself as officially eight months pregnant: I'm due on the 14th of November, today is the 14th of October.
I had my last scan a week and a half ago - Gil is tracking at slightly above average size, with a truly prodigious sized head. Somehow, I can't work up a great deal of excitement along the 'must have big brains!' track that everyone keeps telling me. Maybe I should stop taking those Omega 3 supplements? :P
I had an obstetrician's appointment yesterday. He was very pleased with the results of the scan, my general health, the size and position of the baby, etc. and said that while he would usually want to see mothers weekly from this point on, since everything was going so well we could leave it a fortnight. Awesome.
Tiredness is not really abating as much as I'd hoped, even though I've now dropped to half days at work. I'm trying manage a midday nap every day, if only to get myself used to napping so I can catch up on sleep whenever the baby sleeps. Obviously I need the practice, because however tired I feel I can't seem to do much more than drowse in the middle of the day. I really hadn't realised just how *draining* I would find being pregnant. I mean, I guess I knew I was going to get more tired, have less lung capacity to serve greater oxygen requirements, have my heart pumping a couple of litres more around my system, and that the abdominal enlargement would be just plain heavy and restrict my ability to move, etc, but I hadn't really translated it in my head to the fact that none of these are things that I would be aware of at a conscious level. I don't feel actively out of breath or under strain to pump the extra blood around or like I'm carrying an extra weight - I just feel like me normally, only perpetually exhausted. And unable to bend in the middle. And susceptible to the slightest injury or strain due to all the hormones loosening me up ready to deliver.
I'm trying to enjoy being pregnant as much as I can, while I still can. Multiple various physical discomforts aside, it's really very nice to have a little human being inside who wakes and sleeps and hiccups and rolls over and will soon emerge to face the world. I don't know how the other pregnant women I see around keep their hands off their bellies - I spend the whole time feeling and stroking him and playing you-poke-me-I'll-poke-you with him. He's a very real little person to me already, and I feel sad for Hubby that he doesn't get the same experience out of this as I do.
I've got a whole list of jobs that 'need' to be done prior to the baby's birth: bookshelves to paint, clothes and toys to make, things to assemble and fix to walls, power point protectors and childseats to install, freezer meals to make so that I won't have cook, etc. I was glad to hear at the scan that there was no sign of anything starting to happen (at least as yet) because with my current energy levels I'm going to need every bit of time I can get just to get through the ones that are urgent/really would be a significant pain to deal with post-baby.
Still, I'm managing to make progress. This week so far I've managed two (out of four) coats of paint on four (out of twelve) bookshelf blocks, which by my estimates means I should only need roughly two weeks more just to finish painting. :/ The job has admittedly got a lot easier since I got myself a granny-kneeler for the garden, which is essentially a portable foam seat with handles to help me get up and down onto it. It became obvious I needed something of the kind when I had a bit of a fall on my first day of painting (belly was untouched, but I'll have a pretty impressive bruise on my arm when it finishes developing) and, quite apart from that, spent the night and following day in severe muscular pain from the strain of using my hormone-loosened muscles and overworked cardiovascular system to heave my engorged body up and down from sitting on the ground. In any case, it's been very effective, and I didn't have any trouble at all on or after day two of painting. Now I've just got to find the time and energy to keep at it!
Today I picked up the massive acrylic mirror for Gil's room. I had a moment of panic after bringing it home unseen and unwrapping it to find that it was vaguely reflective but scratched and pitted and generally not that great - then I realised it still had a protective film on it. Under that, it looks pretty darn brilliant. I'm looking forward to showing off photos of the completed nursery - as soon as I actually complete it. :P
So far, I've cooked eight lasagnes, eight moussakas, sixteen spinach and fetta muffins, and roughly forty zilliion pies. The freezer meal preparation has been made somewhat more difficult since it's the first big cook-up that I've done since becoming a vegetarian over a year ago, so I've needed to adjust my old faithful recipes somewhat to account for that - not to mention making single rather than double-serve dishes so that we can mix and match for the benefit of the unshakably carnivorous Hubby.
Hopefully I'll be all ready in a month. Hopefully I'll be ready in two weeks, since that's really the beginning of the critical zone. I wish I was ready right now - it would be great to be all prepared and just catching up on sleep and conserving as much of my energy as I can to face the impending change.
I had my last scan a week and a half ago - Gil is tracking at slightly above average size, with a truly prodigious sized head. Somehow, I can't work up a great deal of excitement along the 'must have big brains!' track that everyone keeps telling me. Maybe I should stop taking those Omega 3 supplements? :P
I had an obstetrician's appointment yesterday. He was very pleased with the results of the scan, my general health, the size and position of the baby, etc. and said that while he would usually want to see mothers weekly from this point on, since everything was going so well we could leave it a fortnight. Awesome.
Tiredness is not really abating as much as I'd hoped, even though I've now dropped to half days at work. I'm trying manage a midday nap every day, if only to get myself used to napping so I can catch up on sleep whenever the baby sleeps. Obviously I need the practice, because however tired I feel I can't seem to do much more than drowse in the middle of the day. I really hadn't realised just how *draining* I would find being pregnant. I mean, I guess I knew I was going to get more tired, have less lung capacity to serve greater oxygen requirements, have my heart pumping a couple of litres more around my system, and that the abdominal enlargement would be just plain heavy and restrict my ability to move, etc, but I hadn't really translated it in my head to the fact that none of these are things that I would be aware of at a conscious level. I don't feel actively out of breath or under strain to pump the extra blood around or like I'm carrying an extra weight - I just feel like me normally, only perpetually exhausted. And unable to bend in the middle. And susceptible to the slightest injury or strain due to all the hormones loosening me up ready to deliver.
I'm trying to enjoy being pregnant as much as I can, while I still can. Multiple various physical discomforts aside, it's really very nice to have a little human being inside who wakes and sleeps and hiccups and rolls over and will soon emerge to face the world. I don't know how the other pregnant women I see around keep their hands off their bellies - I spend the whole time feeling and stroking him and playing you-poke-me-I'll-poke-you with him. He's a very real little person to me already, and I feel sad for Hubby that he doesn't get the same experience out of this as I do.
I've got a whole list of jobs that 'need' to be done prior to the baby's birth: bookshelves to paint, clothes and toys to make, things to assemble and fix to walls, power point protectors and childseats to install, freezer meals to make so that I won't have cook, etc. I was glad to hear at the scan that there was no sign of anything starting to happen (at least as yet) because with my current energy levels I'm going to need every bit of time I can get just to get through the ones that are urgent/really would be a significant pain to deal with post-baby.
Still, I'm managing to make progress. This week so far I've managed two (out of four) coats of paint on four (out of twelve) bookshelf blocks, which by my estimates means I should only need roughly two weeks more just to finish painting. :/ The job has admittedly got a lot easier since I got myself a granny-kneeler for the garden, which is essentially a portable foam seat with handles to help me get up and down onto it. It became obvious I needed something of the kind when I had a bit of a fall on my first day of painting (belly was untouched, but I'll have a pretty impressive bruise on my arm when it finishes developing) and, quite apart from that, spent the night and following day in severe muscular pain from the strain of using my hormone-loosened muscles and overworked cardiovascular system to heave my engorged body up and down from sitting on the ground. In any case, it's been very effective, and I didn't have any trouble at all on or after day two of painting. Now I've just got to find the time and energy to keep at it!
Today I picked up the massive acrylic mirror for Gil's room. I had a moment of panic after bringing it home unseen and unwrapping it to find that it was vaguely reflective but scratched and pitted and generally not that great - then I realised it still had a protective film on it. Under that, it looks pretty darn brilliant. I'm looking forward to showing off photos of the completed nursery - as soon as I actually complete it. :P
So far, I've cooked eight lasagnes, eight moussakas, sixteen spinach and fetta muffins, and roughly forty zilliion pies. The freezer meal preparation has been made somewhat more difficult since it's the first big cook-up that I've done since becoming a vegetarian over a year ago, so I've needed to adjust my old faithful recipes somewhat to account for that - not to mention making single rather than double-serve dishes so that we can mix and match for the benefit of the unshakably carnivorous Hubby.
Hopefully I'll be all ready in a month. Hopefully I'll be ready in two weeks, since that's really the beginning of the critical zone. I wish I was ready right now - it would be great to be all prepared and just catching up on sleep and conserving as much of my energy as I can to face the impending change.
no subject
It sounds like you have a busy month ahead of you. Good luck with everything and remember to take the time to relax, too! :-) Too bad we didn't get to be pregnant together, but hopefully soon you'll be able to tell me, "That's exactly how I felt, too!" :-)
no subject
A busy month indeed - although possibly less busy than the 20 years or so after that!
no subject
Hope you get better at napping! My life is better now that I do.
no subject
And I wasn't expecting it to be so variable! Depending on how he's positioned, sometimes I can bend - sometimes I don't even feel like I can lean forward enough to turn the steering wheel!
Thanks, I'll keep persevering with the naps. :)
no subject
(Anonymous) 2010-10-19 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)I have a poem in a folder that's currently in boxes that I was looking for online but can't find.. and its basic jist is that no-one will know/remember you didn't wash all the dishes that day in 20 years time but your child will know you love them.. I'll dig it out sometime for you! But I mention it cos who really cares if there's a sock on the floor for a bit longer :-)
*hugs*
E.
no subject
I think I've seen that one - you probably sent it to me, I can't remember! - but as I recall it's a good one. And not only because it's totally right about That Sock being completely unimportant, in the great scheme of things!
*hugs back*
Slipping into old habits
(Anonymous) 2010-10-21 04:21 am (UTC)(link)So, I've been thinking about alternate names for Gilgamesh. Have you considered any of
Ziusudra
Atrahasis
Ut-napištim
Noah
Xisuthrus
Deucalion
Nuh
I suspect that any baby books you have may be missing most of those names and I wouldn't want you to be kicking yourself in years to come for not having had a good list to work from.
Yours in consideration,
TPWFL
no subject
no subject