Sitting

As the title of this post suggests, Stella is sitting! ...albeit not for long periods of time before a slow topple - left, right or backwards - but she is sitting on her own :) 

All dressed in her party gear (for Pete's 40th), we went down to Danger Beach for Geoff to have a swim.... we had a wonderful time with her sitting on a towel on the sand! :)

I've been pondering our labour and birth experience quite a bit this week & I am really pleased to find that I I no longer find myself dwelling on & feeling traumatised by the events leading up to Stella's breathing her first air. Time really does heal. The more I get to know this amazing little person, the more I really am grateful that she is here - however she was to arrive! I read a bit about 're-birthing' : the healing of a traumatic birth experience from the baby's side & from what I've read, I don't think (in my un-educated - only intuitive experience) that her birth was something that traumatised her - She was so amazingly 'solid' throughout the whole experience. I just love that her heart beat remained even & that she was born so healthy and well. She continues to display immense stability in the way she handles situations.

Nobody can ever take the experience - the moment of seeing her for the first time: BORN! - away from us! I've re-lived it so many times in my mind & it really is one of the happiest sparkling lights in my collection of major life experiences.

All the time that we are able to spend with her - watching her every development - is so appreciated as special! Stella already has such a special relationship with her daddy...

...and I am just mad about my absolutely beautiful little girl! Everything - even crying - is loved!!!! I knew I would feel many of the feelings my mother must have felt as a mother of a little baby: Stella and myself are both first-born which really allows me to appreciate and understand the undivided 'alone' time that she spent with me as a new mom, with no other children to care for at that time. I was too little to remember my brother not being in my life, but I remember my sister coming home from the hospital with my mom; I remember feeling like all mom's time was spent on my sister...and I remember that I enjoyed 'being helpful' to my mom with the 'new baby' (I even remember coming up with some ridiculous names for her!!)

I cannot begin to describe how happy I am... how in love with my family I am.

35 Weeks!

I know I am supposed to be packing, but I just can't seem to get round to doing anything that I know I am suppose to be doing, when I'm supposed to be doing it... besides the fact that I woke up at sparrows this morning & bugged Geoff until he woke up sufficiently to be amused (rather than irritated) by my chattering & trying to figure out what light was above the sea line which I had convinced myself was a UFO. Well, it wasn't a UFO, as I later discovered when being handed the binoculars: it was a ship & the sea line was higher than it looked because the wind direction was causing the colour of the sea after a certain point to look like the sky which the shop appeared to be floating in. This was followed by singing silly songs & being generally disruptive of sleep-time. It's good to see the sunrise every now and then :)

I was so very excited all day because of our scan appointment at 2pm today. We had breakfast... packed a few boxes... tidied the balcony cupboard... then Geoff went off to work & I bounced around and got some stuff done until 1pm & went to fetch him in Kalk Bay.... we got to the hospital early enough to hand our pre-admission form in... and then to our appointment at 2pm -- to discover that it is tomorrow at 2pm: not today. Not today :(

I feel like a muppet. Don't know a better word. I was so very disappointed...and I can't believe I entered the appointment into the wrong day on my calendar. I had packed the appointment card away for the move already, or I'd have seen that I was mistaken. I was so disappointed....I've been counting down the weeks, days, then hours to our last scan appointment. What a bummer. At least we have it to look forward to tomorrow.

I've been feeling much stronger kicks for the last few days which has put my mind greatly at rest. I'm also having some pain when I walk - I think her head may be lodging itself deeper down and putting pressure on my pelvic bone & my bladder as she grows - so fast now!

3 more sleeps and we'll be in the new house. It's strange to think that it is so soon that our whole environment will be different...that we will be in the place where our daughter will spend the first year or two of her beautiful life.

Baby Center says:

How your baby's growing:
Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 45cm long and tips the scales at 2.3kg. Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How your life's changing:
Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.

From here on out, you'll start seeing your practitioner every week. This is also a good time to create a birth plan. Using our form will help you focus on specifics — like who'll be present, what pain management techniques you want to try, and where you want your baby to stay after you deliver. It will give you a starting point to discuss your preferences with your medical team. Childbirth is unpredictable, and chances are you won't follow your plan to the letter, but thinking about your choices ahead of time — and sharing your preferences with your caregiver — should take some of the anxiety out of the process.