Arrival

So the little kitty cat finally arrived 10 days later than her due date. She was already 41 weeks plus 3 days according to the NHS scan.

When I was 41 weeks plus 1 day, I was scheduled for an induction at the hospital, which I wasn't very keen about. This baby had already been through so much that I didn't want anything more artificial going into her system. I made my case with the doctor and he was fine for me to wait for another 5 days. Though I agreed to have a second sweep done by the midwife.

That night after going to bed, I could feel very sporadic, painless contractions throughout the night. And all day Saturday I kept on having very irregular contractions. They were sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 20 minutes apart. The ones that were further apart were more painful than the ones, which were closer. Thankfully, I had the nanny on stand by at any moment's notice she could come over to look after my other two and we could go to the hospital.

When by 10 pm the contractions were pretty much 5-6 minutes apart and the midwife at the hospital told me to come over, we made the move. We probably reached the hospital around 11 pm and by then the contractions were definitely more painful and unbearable. Thankfully, they were quick to give me gas and air (entonox) and thankfully this time around my husband was with me. Because Luna was born by 00:08 with a single push!

She came out so quickly that she was in shock. She wasn't breathing and her heart rate was below 100. I was extremely scared and kept on telling the midwives and doctors to make sure she was ok. But very quickly, my husband heard a cough and then the cry came.

Thank God, she is a perfectly healthy baby and everything went so smoothly that by lunch time that morning we were discharged from the hospital. Before being discharged, they even let me rest in a private room in the newly renovated birthing ward, which was like a hotel and so comfortable. This baby really comes with her luck and plenty of blessings.

Only this time around my tummy felt funnier, a bit weaker, and more painful after the birth than it felt with the previous two. But the one week on now, the recovery is going well.

Whilst due to unfortunate health reasons, my maternity nurse will be around for much less than planned, having help at this time in invaluable. With two others under the age of 5, it would have been literally impossible to cope so far without any help. Especially, as the little kitten doesn't let her wind out so easily and so cries a lot (though not as much as her big sister used to).

Speaking of which, my eldest absolutely loves and adores her little baby sister and is extremely proud to be the big sister. She apparently goes on and on about her baby sister to her friends and teachers at school. My son, the middle one, wasn't very interested at first but he quickly got used to his little sister and now absolutely loves giving her kisses and cuddles. I do really feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful and beautiful children. 

Waiting again

So as of today, I am 5 days overdue based on NHS scan, 3 days by my calculations. My first one was right on time and the second six days late. Now everyone keeps asking me if I am sure this one is a girl because it is assumed - for some reason- that girls come quicker.

I am normally not in a rush at all. I prefer that the baby grows healthinly and comes out whenever she's ready. On the other hand, the midwife and the obstiatrician recommended sweep and induction. At first, I refused to interfere with nature but I was also told that it could otherwise be risky and that at least with the sweep, there are no drugs involved and if the baby is still not ready to come she won't come. So in order to reduce the likelihood of having to be induced in 3 days time, I agreed for a sweep. It's been one day and still nothing. I went for a long walk today, trying to eat spicy, pineapples, squatting and bouncing on yoga ball. Still nothing.

I am just so worried about being induced, the pain and the drugs that come with it. I would so love everything to be like the birth of my second one. So natural and smooth.

Moreover, the maternity nurse rightfully keeps chasing me because she has other commitments. The nanny is thankfully being flexible but she is having to forgo her other jobs. I am sure that it will all be fine at the end but it's all a mess and worry in my mind. I just hope that the baby is completely healthy, well, well developped. 

Waiting Game

So I am into my last week. I was feeling very tired and hoping that the surge of energy I had the week before I gave birth to my second one would happen this time around as well. For the last couple of days, I have to say that I am feeling a bit better though the weather cooling off may have also contributed to that.

I don't really feel much in relation to the labour being near, though these things are so unpredictable. They can happen at any time.

The midwife confirmed that the baby's head is now engaged though my belly still measures 3 cm smaller. I don't understand why. I never had this issue with my previous pregnancies.

Absent Minded

My brain has turned into mash! I missed my midwife appointment, keep mixing up appointment times. The heat wave is not helping either. I feel extremely lethargic, down and a little panicky again. On days where I cannot cope and feel extremely exhausted, I am terrified about the prospect of dealing with three.

Due to personal circumstances, my part-time nanny now says she may not be able to help me. The physical changes that my body has gone through are really putting me down. Not being able to spend any time or have a decent conversation with my husband is also putting me in panic mode. Oh, and of course having the get up at night due to the pressure on my bladder is not very enjoyable either.

I just hope that despite all this the baby is absolutely fine and healthy. I am excited and curious to meet her actually.

Congestion and pain on hips

I find it impossible to breath at night time now as my nose is so congested. Not because I have a cold, I don't, It's just one of the perks of pregnancy I guess.

And in the last couple of days, I started having sudden shooting pains down my inner thighs. I never had that with my previous two pregnancies, so I panicked a little and did a quick internet search. It sounds like the baby is just moving down and the pelvis, the relevant muscles, joints, ligaments are loosening up. Phewww! I just hope that the baby will be full-term, healthy with a good weight.

Now too small?!

I had a scare at my last midwife appointment where it turned out my belly shrunk by about 3cm! The midwife referred me for a growth scan. I've been so worried about the baby's development, whether the placenta has been functioning properly and hoping that it is just the baby's positioning.

I had the scan today and thankfully everything measured within the scale and the baby's weight seems to be 2.99kg at the moment. It's such as relief! i just hope that the baby keeps developing and gaining weight normally. She is still positioned sideways, so that might be the reason for measuring smaller. It is actually quite strange since I feel like a whale!

On the other hand, I am  so exhausted, I had to stop working earlier than planned. My second one (20 months old now) is getting off his bed at night and seems like getting into a phase of terrible twos. Great timing really!

Work work work

I need the money but I can't get the motivation. I have work and yet I feel so tired, I can't be bothered anymore. I don't know if it is because my 20 month old son has already started jumping out of his cot, which makes me so anxious for his safety and of course disrupts my sleep further. Just in time before the new baby arrives!

Last week, our next door neighbour's builders were using some sort of strong smelling glue for their new kitchen roof. My goodness...our entire house smelled like a chemical factory. I just hope that it didn't affect the baby in anyway. 

Ready, set, go?

With only 6 weeks left, I think I am pretty much ready for the new baby. My hospital suitcase is packed, her room, cloths, sheets, bottles are cleaned and ready. All this puts my mind more at ease, especially considering I have taken on a new work project for the next few weeks.

The baby is quite a mover, which is excellent. I hope that I will never forget this feeling of life growing and moving in me.

My eldest is so sweet, she has already started making gifts for her sister, she calls them "ripping papers", so that the baby can rip them as she pleases.

My middle one, my son is only 19 months so he doesn't know what's going on and I do really wonder how he is going to react to the big change in our lives but mostly his!

Travelling while Pregnant

We have decided to take our last holiday before the baby arrives with the two kids. Given I am at a late stage, we only travelled by car to a family friendly holiday camp 2 hours away from London.

Whilst the change of scenery is nice and the kids are well occupied with all the child friendly activities, it is quite difficult on me and my husband to be on our feet and watch out for two little ones at the same time.

Meanwhile, given there's little time left, I am trying to sort out the remaining bits and pieces such as stem cell and blood cord collection. 

Leave me breathless

The baby has really been squeezing my lungs in the last week, leaving me breathless with the tiny bit of movement. Clearly, the baby has not lowered down yet.

I managed to arrange the baby's cloths in her wardrobe though. So a few more things to do before the big arrival but I am getting there.

I've just noticed a couple of brand new stretch marks in my lower tummy. By now, I am ok with stretch marks. I got used to living with them after having two babies already. But after my second baby, I was never able to get rid of the excess skin on my tummy. So I am quite worried that the excess skin will look uglier after the third one.

Curiosity

I don't even drink that much water, so I don't know where it comes from but I find myself rushing to the toilet every half an hour lately.

Now that I have 9 weeks left, my curiosity grows everyday about the new baby. I can't wait to see her, meet her. I think she will have such a fantastic character, personality; a wonderful human being. I know it because she has been through so much. She is already amazing to me!

Nesting?

A friend of mine just asked me if I am sure whether or not I am having twins! I felt like a whale already, now I know I look like a whale.

Being in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy (approximately) kind of put me in a panic mode; now I realise I need to start buying again all the baby items I had given away, get the baby's room ready etc. I don't want to be caught unprepared in case the baby arrives early.

I am a whale!

I have just seen recent photos of myself and the situation is worse than I thought! And this time around I am definitely exercising more than I did with my previous two pregnancies. Though, I cannot stop myself from grazing on sugary snacks after I put the kids to bed. It's like that's my "me time" and that's how I can enjoy it.

The midwife had told me that with each pregnancy, the toll it takes on the body is harder, more difficult. I am quite worried about how or if my body will be able to recover from all that I am going through.

I just don't feel like being among other human beings. I feel so ugly and unpresentable.

On the other hand, I want the baby to feel loved and cared for. I hope I can project that to her even now.

Tickles

I cannot believe that I am already in the third trimester! Though I still have 3 months to go, which is a dread...

But my little baby is full on with her kicks, especially in the evenings and I can feel her tiny little feet. I can just about size her tiny feet. I even try to play with her when she is kicking. I try to tickle her feet back. I am really enjoying this game :-)

On the other hand, the varicose on my right calf is so massive and it is getting bigger and bigger. My leg is in a constant pain, I cannot stand up for too long, which is very annoying. I hope that this problem can easily be resolved after the baby is born.

The End

So as I was 40 weeks plus 6 days, my new bundle of joy arrived.

With all the pain and suffering that is going on around the world, especially what children and mothers go through, it is incredible, how the birth of a new one can bring so much happiness, joy and most importantly hope for the future. It really does. I just hope and pray that all the suffering that the children and mothers go through come to an abrupt end sooner than soon.

When I was about 40 weeks plus 4 days, I finally started feeling a bit different; some tightening in my belly though not painful. I even slept through those contractions without a problem even though in my dreams I continued having them. At about 1:30 AM on the plus 6th day, I woke up with contractions, through which I could not sleep through.

I went downstairs to the kitchen and got into a comfortable position with the exercise ball and started observing the frequency of the contractions, which were already three 1 minute lasting ones every 10 minutes. They were painful but not to a degree to which I could not bare. Nevertheless, I called the hospital at 3 AM and was told to wait another couple of hours. So I drew myself a warm bath all the while my husband and first one were sleeping through the entire episode. I sat in the bath for an hour, which really helped me cope with the pain.

By 4:30 AM contractions were stronger and I felt the urge to moan during them. By this time, I had dressed myself, put on some make up, took my hospital suitcase out. I called the hospital again and was told to come over at 6 AM. However, I knew that I could not wait that long. I really wish I could because I didn't want to wake up my husband and daughter, who was due to go to nursery at 7:30 AM anyway. I tried everything in my power to delay things, so we could just drop her off at the nursery and then go to the hospital. At that time of the night, I thought it was unnecessary to wake up our friends who were waiting on stand by to mind our first one. I thought that if she didn't see me or her father in the morning, she would panic and cry and it would be too difficult for our friends to handle her. So I decided to call a cab and leave for the hospital very quietly. I thought that as I would get epidural, labour would slow down and that my husband would still make it to birth after dropping her at the nursery.

The cab arrived in 5 minutes and I was at the hospital by 5:30 AM. Making to the labour ward wasn't easy. I had to make a few stops as I was contracting. It turned out that I was dilating very fast and the baby's head was already visible. By that time, although I was on gas and air (entonox), I was begging for epidural. However, I was told that it was too late for it. The baby was already ready to come.

He came in three pushes by 7:03 AM. I couldn't believe it. All the while, I was trying to dial my husband whose phone was still off because he was still sleeping. Nevertheless, he made it to the hospital an hour later in complete shock of what I had done.

I must say that whoever invented gas and air should be awarded the Nobel Prize!

Also, it was quite funny how emotional I was and making promises to the midwife that I would pray for her for the rest of my life and uttering expressions such as "God bless you", "God be with you." The hormones turned me religious! Nevertheless, I will try to keep my promise...

I couldn't believe the birth of my son. I couldn't and still cannot believe how different the birth of my daughter and my second one were so different. In the first one, I had felt like a failure. In the second one, although I screamed as if there was murder due to pain, I felt empowered as I wasn't drugged, he came out so easily and I actually felt him come out. The entire process made me respect the wonder of female body even more.

Even more amazing, as there were no complications this time, I was discharged from the hospital the same evening. Today, my son is one week old already and I feel almost recovered. Again, so different than the first experience... And the baby seems to be more content than my first one too. Having a maternity nurse this time helped tremendously with me resting and making sure that the baby is fed adequately. Tomorrow, she will be leaving us, so let's see how we will cope on our own.

My daughter loves her baby brother. She is so cute wanting to play with him, stroke him and cuddle him. She does get disappointed not being able to play with him yet, which breaks my heart. I try to get as much cuddles as possible from my new baby and enjoy his "babyness" as much as possible because I know that these times don't last long. It is such as blessing.

The Waiting Game

Even though my first one was right on time and the midwife told me repeatedly that this baby would also be the same since it has been engaged for almost a month now already, the baby is nowhere in sight.

I never thought that the waiting game could be so frustrating. I want the best for the baby, so if it needs to stay inside for longer that's fine but then I am also reading some scary information about babies that are overdue. The information is making me very anxious about the health of the baby.

I don't know if it is normal to not to feel any signs of labour at his time. No contractions, no discomfort, nothing. That feels strange to me. I just really hope and pray that the baby is fine and absolutely healthy.

None of the remedies seem to be working either. I guess babies do really come only when they are ready.

I feel quite bored now as well. Sometimes I think I shouldn't have started maternity leave so early on and should have continued taking on projects. But I could not have known I guess.

There is also the issue of planning. I have been organised with babysitting, maternity nurse, when my parents would fly in, filling up the fridge etc etc. But now with the date shifting to an unknown day in the calendar, all plans are out of the window...Anyway, I just hope that all is well with the baby. That's all I care and worry about at this point.

Baby Not Making an Entrance

Lately I feel way too comfortable. In fact, much more comfortable than I felt a few weeks earlier in my pregnancy. And so, there is no sight of baby; not even a feeling that it is about to come. Normally, that is all fine. It is just that with all the arrangements I had to make for someone to look after my first one while we are at the hospital and now that we are in the holiday season, it is getting more and more difficult to ensure that there will be someone who will be able to look after our first one, the later the baby arrives.

So I am trying all the remedies I heard of: Eating fresh pineapples, drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating spicy food, walking etc. 

Extreme Discomfort

I have always thought that babies that are late are better sleepers and eaters and they gain more for spending more time in their mother's womb. So I had no rush for this baby to come out since also this is probably my last pregnancy, I wanted to last as long as possible.

However, with the extreme heat of the London summer and the increased pressure that pregnancy is putting on my body (some extremely excruciatingly painful and scary side effects of pregnancy, about which I would be too embarrassed to write  here), I think I am getting to a point where I am ready for the baby come out and my body to start healing. I know that the next stage is actually much harder than pregnancy but I simply cannot wait to start healing.

The Unbearable Heat

Who would have thought that summer in London would feel like the Med or even the Sahara Desert? Or perhaps I feel it more because of pregnancy but I am not enjoying it! I cannot function properly in this heat being so massively pregnant and looking after my toddler. Often times, at the height of the heat, it feels like I am going to faint. My limbs and feet being swollen don't help the situation either.

Worse is watching on the news what's happening to children in war torn countries and not knowing what I can do to help or change the situation. How can humans be so heartless, so cruel? I spent the entire evening and last night crying. I still cannot get the images I saw out of my mind. And I shouldn't. We shouldn't forget. I need to do something but what?

This week's NCT refresher course was an eye opener on the difficulties of handling two children, especially in the first 6 weeks, which truly freaked me out. My mother's health problems are not making me feel at ease at all either. 

Little time

At my last appointment, the midwife told me that the baby's head in engaged and that it can come any time now! I am not sure if I am psychologically ready yet. 

The summer heat is making it very difficult to cope and sleep. So I am already tired. I remember from last time, how much physical strength is required during labour and delivery and I am not sure that I have that strength and energy right now. And I know that the real difficult bit is after the baby arrives. So I am in no rush. Closer to the due date, the better for me.