Hadn't felt the baby move for a few days so we got a littl worried. Cat was given an immediate appointment at the hospital and the scan showed everything was fine. The baby does still move and kick quite a bit but as she is kicking the placenta and not the tummy wall, Cat can't feel it, and not can I. Reassuring anyway.

Damn pram still not arrived at the store.

The books often explain about the sleepless nigths due to restless sleep, or frequent loo breaks, but one thing Cat has recently been doing is waking up feeling massively hungry. Typically it will be around 5am and she'll jump out of bed, noisely raid the kitchen for biscuits or cornflakes which she then takes back to crunch away in the bed. I in the meantime have fullen woken by now.

Mum is doing acupuncture on Cat now. She reckons that it will ease the labour.

Mmmmm nutritious Hog Roast from Broadway Market.

Cat now enters the next chapter of her pregnancy and has just left
work to go on maternity leave. This is a full four weeks before the
due date, but she thought, with the eternal struggle of commuting
and the fact that she has plenty of holiday leave she has to take,
why not?
Today’s antenatal check up revealed that everything was normal
and the little one is now 3/5th engaged into the pelvis. My active
imagination immediately starts to picture a mole like creature
burrowing her head deeper into the sand. The midwife confirmed
yet again that the baby IS normal sized for her development –
despite the fact that Cat has the smallest pregnant bump anyone has
ever seen. Compact seems to be the universal comment from
everyone.
Buggypram thing still not arrived at the pram shop. Why does it
have to take so long? I ring up for the third time – I’m not sure they
know how to handle customers on the phone, all this new
technology seems all a bit scary to them. Heaven forbid they might
actually have email one day. Anyway, we quench our thirst for baby
goods by buying yet more essential items from Mothercare World.
That Edmonton retail park boasts some of the highest concentration
of warehouse retail outlets in London, including Ikea, which we
also went and spent all our money in.
All seems so calm and quiet, guess we better make the most of it
while it lasts.

nappy rush

We suddenly felt the urge to learn how to put on a nappy. So, with a freshly bought pack of newborn baby naps and a handy gorilla toy, we tried out our first dummy run.First problem - which way round does it go?Luckily, this did not stump us too long as the nappy is contoured to fit a baby's anatomy so it was obvious the more generous portion of the fold belonged to the behind side of the bottom.Second problem, how do we undo the sticky tabs? We were picking and peeling away for ages when all it needed was a swift pull of the whole tab to unfurl the bits needed. We felt a little dumb.The rest was plain sailing, mainly cos our toy gorilla did not put up much of a fight and we stuck the nappy on in one go. Easy. The only prob was that one of the sticky tab is now stuck partially to the gorilla fur and I fear baldness should it be removed. so, there it remains.



Our next task is to learn to clean the poo. An empty icing dispenser and choclate flavoured toothpaste are our props. We'll le tyou know how we go.

Fretting

Cat was fretting last night, anxious about the impending day of labour. She was most fearful about the docs and midwives doing things to her without her knowledge or consent. Things that could damage her SPD hips so she may never walk again. I think this was sparked off by our antenatal class about inductions and forceps delivery. The midwives showed fairly graphically what the procedures involved and the images have clearly stuck in Cat’s head for a while.
I guess this is at the stage where most mums to be experience strong feelings of anxiety and doubts. My few words of support didn’t seem to help much but after this morning’s appointment with the antenatal clinic her concerns were answered by the consultant doctor himself! A real privilege since he is usually ‘unavailable’. He reassured her that nothing was done without Cat’s consent but he offered her an extra appointment with the antenatal physio to determine Cat’s hip details on record. The midwife palpated cat’s belly and confirmed that all was well. In fact the baby was already beginning to descend her head lower into the pelvis and was the correct way up – ie down. It is unlikely that she will then change her position and enter into a breech position. Positive news at least.