34 weeks

I can hardly believe that there are only 6 weeks left until we meet our little girl!!
I just had a look at my calendar & we actually found out at 4 weeks - so soon after conception - that she had nuzzled into the right spot to grow and develop into a little person. It seems like a lifetime & a blink ago!

We are very busy preparing our house for the move in less than 2 weeks time... We had some prospective tenants come and look at our current house again today but we're not sure whether he will take it -- Sore back and all, I managed to get the bedroom & most other things tidied for the viewing...there was so much to do that I ended up huffing & puffing till Geoff got home & sorted out the kitchen (he's great at kitchen!) & the deck to make the place as enticing as we possibly could. Really holding thumbs he takes it. Double rent won't be fun.

We've been talking about how we will organise the outside space, and most importantly garden-wise, a space for our chicken coop at the new house... We've had it since December (my Christmas present) but have not got chickens yet with the going to Argentina & the decision to move etc. I'm so looking forward to us having our own, completely free-range eggs! :)

I'm so looking forward to putting things in their places in the new house! Especially getting the nursery ready for the big day!


I had a midwife appointment today with Sandy & all is well. She recons our baby is 'regular size' (not HUGE as I have had a bit of fear she may be) - so hopefully she's inherited Geoff's family's fine-boned-ness instead of my heavy bones! Sandy also confirmed my suspicion that she has shifted from her back curling along my left side - now she has her back to the right which feels very odd and different. It was a little bit sore & very strange feeling when she made the shift (which is why I suspected the shift)...

Geoff dreamed  that he was assisting me in labour... I've mostly been dreaming very wacky things involving lots of sea and beach and water (as well as riding things like sharks & bicycles on the water(!!) ). I've also had labour and birth dreams - some involving not being able to find Geoff / Sandy to be there, but they all seem to work out in the end or evolve into something more wacky - like lots of Chinese people playing volleyball naked on Fish Hoek beach!! :)

We have a scan next week with Dr.Nel - I am so looking forward to seeing our little kicker one last time 'inside' before we meet her on her birthday! 

Babycenter update:

Your baby now weighs about 2.15kg and is almost 46cm long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

How your life's changing:

By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester. Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you're under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable. Now's the time to slow down and save up your energy for labor day (and beyond). If you've been sitting or lying down for a long time, don't jump up too quickly. Blood can pool in your feet and legs, causing a temporary drop in your blood pressure when you get up that can make you feel dizzy.

Midwifery & Irritability

I'm feeling really irritable today. I am so hungry all the time. I'm not sure it is because my stomach is unwell because of all the hormones...or whether I am actually hungry. I suppose I did only have 2 boiled eggs & a medium sized smoothie [ mango, pineapple, apple & granadilla ] this morning. Still can't believe how hungry I am. Hmm.... salad wrap. I think that's going to have to happen in the next half hour. It is 12.30 which is close enough to lunch.

I had a big scare last Friday - I had a tiny bit of pink spotting. Managed to get hold of Robyn's sister Gill who has her honors (or some huge qualification) in Midwifery. Funny word: midwifery. Anyhow...she said that I shouldn't worry about it too much. It went away and then it came back on Sunday but I decided not to worry about it.

Aline used this amazing midwife when she had her baby. I phoned her on Friday as well - to see where she is and what her schedule is like etc. She's between Cape Town and Durban at the moment because she's going to be moving to KZN eventually. The bummer is that she can't guarantee whether she will be in Cape Town at the time of our baby's birth and I certainly don't want to shift over to someone else at the last minute. Plus she's in town and I certainly don't want to drive all the way to town for meetings very often.

I did a bit of a search & I can't find any midwives in Kommetjie or Fish Hoek. I would have thought there would be plenty of midwives in Kommetjie. Bummer there aren't. Actually there probably are but they most likely get contacted through word of mouth or something without their details being online.

T'Neal's pediatrician's wife is also a midwife so I will try and get hold of her. She only has a cell phone and our cell phone reception is so bad here. I don't like phoning cell phones with the landline, but I'm just going to have to phone her.

I keep on getting bitten by bugs. I got bitten on Saturday by something that made my arm swell up huge. I'm stuck with StopItch cream as I'm not allowed to take antihistamines. I'm a big ball of itch & hunger. No wonder I'm irritable.

On the brightest side...our baby's heart will be beating by now.
That makes me so happy I get a little tearful...

The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute -- almost twice as fast as yours -- and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.