Hi everyone. I've been MIA because my phone is in the phone shop being repaired. Until last Thursday I very rarely used the laptop anymore & I have felt like my right arm has been cut off because I can't just pop on in any spare 30 seconds!
Sorry for those of you who have had sickness & upset tummies. I had it last week, started middle of the night Tuesday & stopped on Saturday. On Monday I phoned the midwife answering service thing locally because I had been feeling short of breath since Saturday & really crappy since Tuesday. They rang me back (eventually) and told me to go to the hospital (almost an hour's drive away) with a bag packed in case they wanted to keep me in overnight. Cue meltdown over leaving DS for possibly the first night since he was born two & a half years ago...
Anyway, we eventually got there & I was hooked up to a monitor to check the baby, I had BP taken, oxygen level checked, had an ECG too. We were there for a couple of hours & then sent home being told that there was nothing to be found wrong & that it was probably the remnants of the virus I had the previous week. I felt reassured that the baby was fine, but I am still feeling breathless from time to time every day without any undue activity causing it.
In addition, the PGP I am experiencing is worsening & being required to stay in one position on the bed at the hospital for all that monitoring was actually agony. I was almost in tears & desperate to get on my feet again. What was interesting for me was that I could hear the baby bashing lumps out of me but couldn't feel anything, so that really did reassure me that she is moving about well in there - I just can't feel it due to anterior placenta... Roll on 32 week scan on 15th to find out if it has moved up & away from my c section scar, I just want to know what sort of birth plan I can think about & work on... I will need time to adapt to whichever type of birth I end up going for.
On the back of having to call in sick to work three nights last week & then my breathlessness & pain this week, I have told work that I will not be back. I am only 29 + 3 but the pain from my hips & back going down my legs makes being on my feet for 6/7 hours at a time untenable. The sense of relief at knowing I now do not have to go back until after the birth is enormous. It was only three nights a week out of the house (I also work for myself from home & will now try to up those hours) but it was pretty physical & could be very full on.
One positive of now being on mat leave is that I am home & therefore DP has no excuse not to get on with continuing the conversion of part of the loft into an extension to a box room to create the baby's bedroom. I know she won't be in there for some time yet but I don't see him magically gaining more time to build a room around two children once she is here, and I want to get it decorated, get the furniture in there, get the clothes in the drawers etc & just get bloody organised. I don't know why but I have started feeling like this is vitally important NOW!!!
My bump seems to have dropped over night... I noticed it was less "in your face" this morning, it has changed shape & is significantly lower than when I went to bed last night. I am hoping this is not going to prove to be the reason why I am so desperate to nest. It is all starting to feel really very real now.
In other news, my parents will be home tomorrow & therefore will take their dog home! This is creating deep joy in me as I have had him for at least 7 weeks now & my head is utterly done in with him. He is a nice dog but he is so damn needy & obsessive & drooly. My house is a fucking bombsite, I can't push the vacuum cleaner anymore & I can only nag DP so much, I have to crawl around washing walls & woodwork to get mud spatters & huge strings of gob off. This is now more possible as I don't have to go to work at night & be able to move, but it's still not exactly desirable. Our dog is smaller, doesn't drool, is probably at least 4 times madder but is manageable on his own. Just to try & make clear that I am not a dog hater! Just not the biggest fan of this particular dog!
Right, I really should sign off for now. Just wanted to let you know I haven't vanished & to back up the experiences of others who have had to go in for monitoring - I wasn't made to feel I was wasting their time, and was told to call them any time I was concerned in future. They would rather see us & everyone be reassured there is nothing untoward going on, than for us to sit at home worrying ourselves, or for something tragic to happen that might have been avoided had we bitten the bullet & made the phone call/trip.