Today marks our 37th week and I couldn't be more ready for this baby. It's such a relief to know we've made it this far and very exciting knowing how close we are to getting to meet our baby. On Saturday Mark and I went up to London for our antenatal class which was great, we both learned a lot and were able to walk away with a birth plan and a much better idea of how things will go. We've definitely decided to have the baby at our local hospital rather then going up to the London hospital. In thinking about it, if I have to stay over night I would hate to know Mark was so far away and I was all by myself up in London. Also, it's pretty typical to go to the hospital and be sent back home if you aren't dilated enough or far enough along in the birth process and it just wouldn't be great to do the hour-plus drive up to London only to be sent home!
Mark & I have also decided as part of our birth plan that we're going to give the pool a try for the labouring process and pending how it goes, possibly for the birth. After watching about a million episodes of a Baby Story in college I would have never in a million years thought I would go that route, but in understanding some of the benefits I think it's worth a try and our local hospital offers a pool so I can use that whilst in the hospital. Mark of course WILL NOT be coming in the pool with me! I'm also only going to go for an epidural as a very last resort and am going to try using gas and air and see how I get on. I know it's pretty likely that the pain will be bad enough for me to request the epidural but with my fear of needles, knowing I would have to have a catheter (standard procedure here) and a few other drawbacks have lead me to really look beyond this option as much as possible.
Yesterday was my breast feeding class which was also great, really helped to go and learn about proper attachment and etc. and with all of this new education I really feel much less worried about not being prepared and even more ready for labor and to not be pregnant anymore! Having been off the past week has made life a lot more bearable but facing another week on my own at home has left me wondering what to do with myself and I'm eager to speed things along! Fingers crossed and watch this space-everyone here seems to think I'm going to be early based on how massive I am although I have a feeling we're going to be looking at his due date (May 11th) or longer....
Monday, 20 April 2009
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
A day in the life of a Desperate Housewife...
Today marked my first day as a housewife and I can't tell you how weird it feels! Thursday before the long weekend (here in the U.K. we get Good Friday off and Monday for Easter so Mark and I had 4 lovely days together this weekend) I manically handed over all of my work to my director and said goodbye to commutes on the train and work in the city.
My first day was actually a pretty busy one-I dropped Mark off at the station and headed to my new local hospital to sign up with them. I've been a little apprehensive about going to this local hospital because I wasn't sure if they could offer the same level of care that the massive University College of London Hospital in London could offer-basically the maternity unit there has just had a £100 million renovation and offers the best care in the country. Saying that, I've never seen the same midwife twice and regardless of what hospital you go under the NHS (National Health Service) in the U.K. you wouldn't meet the doctor who is going to deliver your baby until you show up in labor at the hospital so it doesn't make too much of a difference changing this late in the game. Anyway, the midwife I saw today said she would be my midwife throughout the rest of the process and even afterwards when the baby has come. She's also from Cork, Ireland which is close to where Mark's Mum is from and there is something so trustworthy and reassuring about the Irish, I felt very comfortable with her straight away. Unfortunately we won't be able to see the maternity ward until the day of but I think we've decided to have the baby locally rather then risk trying to get to London when the day comes since it could be up to a one and a half hour drive....
After the hospital I went to coffee. I know to you guys at home this seems so basic but this was a huge milestone for me. It's just not something that is part of my routine here, living in the heart of London you would have to get on a bus and go about 15 minutes before you got to a Starbucks. Now that I'm in the suburbs I can resume a routine which is more like that of the one I had in Seattle which is something I've missed. Anyway, I got coffee and then went to the grocery store BY MYSELF-another milestone! Because I haven't had my license until last month Mark has had to go with me to the grocery store every time we have shopped for nearly 3 years now. It was so nice to be able to dilly dally and take my time browsing around (even if 3 separate people made comment on how big I was and how it looked like I was going to pop at any minute!).
I finished off the afternoon with my pregnancy yoga class which is always a treat and then came home to make dinner and catch up on the day with Mark. It's going to be hard to get used to not having the mental and social stimulation that my job offered, but it's also going to be great to have the next year (yes, here in the UK we get ONE YEAR of paid maternity leave!) to get to know myself again and of course to get to know this little baby. Let's hope the rest of the week is just as fulfilling-tomorrow I'm going to plant some flowers in the garden and do some weeding since it's going to be in the 60s again. Can't wait x
My first day was actually a pretty busy one-I dropped Mark off at the station and headed to my new local hospital to sign up with them. I've been a little apprehensive about going to this local hospital because I wasn't sure if they could offer the same level of care that the massive University College of London Hospital in London could offer-basically the maternity unit there has just had a £100 million renovation and offers the best care in the country. Saying that, I've never seen the same midwife twice and regardless of what hospital you go under the NHS (National Health Service) in the U.K. you wouldn't meet the doctor who is going to deliver your baby until you show up in labor at the hospital so it doesn't make too much of a difference changing this late in the game. Anyway, the midwife I saw today said she would be my midwife throughout the rest of the process and even afterwards when the baby has come. She's also from Cork, Ireland which is close to where Mark's Mum is from and there is something so trustworthy and reassuring about the Irish, I felt very comfortable with her straight away. Unfortunately we won't be able to see the maternity ward until the day of but I think we've decided to have the baby locally rather then risk trying to get to London when the day comes since it could be up to a one and a half hour drive....
After the hospital I went to coffee. I know to you guys at home this seems so basic but this was a huge milestone for me. It's just not something that is part of my routine here, living in the heart of London you would have to get on a bus and go about 15 minutes before you got to a Starbucks. Now that I'm in the suburbs I can resume a routine which is more like that of the one I had in Seattle which is something I've missed. Anyway, I got coffee and then went to the grocery store BY MYSELF-another milestone! Because I haven't had my license until last month Mark has had to go with me to the grocery store every time we have shopped for nearly 3 years now. It was so nice to be able to dilly dally and take my time browsing around (even if 3 separate people made comment on how big I was and how it looked like I was going to pop at any minute!).
I finished off the afternoon with my pregnancy yoga class which is always a treat and then came home to make dinner and catch up on the day with Mark. It's going to be hard to get used to not having the mental and social stimulation that my job offered, but it's also going to be great to have the next year (yes, here in the UK we get ONE YEAR of paid maternity leave!) to get to know myself again and of course to get to know this little baby. Let's hope the rest of the week is just as fulfilling-tomorrow I'm going to plant some flowers in the garden and do some weeding since it's going to be in the 60s again. Can't wait x
Monday, 6 April 2009
The nursery
I can finally post pictures of the nursery since we're about 95% of the way done. First the nursery furniture came, then we had Mark's Mum's boyfriend Roy come around and spend a weekend painting it a beautiful blue and then last weekend Mark and his brother Paul put the Safari Friends border up. I have to say, I absolutely love this room-when I go in I get that overwhelming sense of calm that you would want from a baby nursery and am really pleased with how it turned out. It's been a labor of love and I couldn't ask for more. What's especially sweet is that Mark goes in every night before bed and walks around touching everything, opening the wardbrobe doors and flipping through the clothes hanging in there-so far he's spent more time in there then I have!
You might notice that we've finally decided on a name! Calum was always our favourite but we started to have our doubts about "Cal". After taking into consideration everyone's comments and testing each one for a week or so we still came back at Calum and I have to say now that we've decided, I really love it.
This weekend much to Mark's urging I packed most of my overnight bag which at 35 weeks might be a bit premature but better to be safe then sorry! With maternity leave in sight (3 days to go!) I have to say, there really isn't going to be much for me to do! We literally have everything but a few toiletries (including a thermometer if anyone has any recommendations), a nursing pillow (not sure if this is needed, or not??) and then of course I still have to wash all of his little clothes and bedding. What am I going to do after the first week?!
x Jen
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Surprise!
Not many girls can say they have had a surprise baby shower before, and even fewer can say they have had two! I'm not sure why everyone feels they need to surprise me but this past Saturday my sister in law Rachel threw a surprise baby shower at her house. All week Mark had been telling me we were going to dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant in London called Fifteen so I was super excited and not at all suspicious. Whilst I will still hold him to dinner at Fifteen, Saturday was so special and I really appreciate all of the effort everyone went to for us.
Rachel had ordered cupcakes (called fairy cakes here and not nearly as common as in America) in baby boy colours, arranged games to play and even had special chocolates made. A couple of our friends turned up and needless to say, Baby Verghese got even more spoiled. In fact, there is absolutely not a thing left for me to buy him which leaves me wondering what I'm going to do with my time on maternity since I thought I would be out buying last minute bits.
We spent all of Sunday putting away the gifts we received and finishing the nursery which is officially complete from the washed sheets on the bed to the border being put up on the walls-pictures to come once we've put the last couple of finishing touches on.
Otherwise this week just seems to be flying by. Tonight I've got my pregnancy yoga class. This will be my 3rd time going and it's been a great way of meeting local Mums. Each class a former student comes at the end with her newborn to share her birthing story which has also taught me a lot. I don't think the class is doing much towards toning and firming up (which I could really use!) but it is great for learning breathing excercises and stretching out sore limbs.
With a week ahead of temperatures in the 60s, spring has finally sprung in London. Let's hope it lasts!
x Jen
Rachel had ordered cupcakes (called fairy cakes here and not nearly as common as in America) in baby boy colours, arranged games to play and even had special chocolates made. A couple of our friends turned up and needless to say, Baby Verghese got even more spoiled. In fact, there is absolutely not a thing left for me to buy him which leaves me wondering what I'm going to do with my time on maternity since I thought I would be out buying last minute bits.
We spent all of Sunday putting away the gifts we received and finishing the nursery which is officially complete from the washed sheets on the bed to the border being put up on the walls-pictures to come once we've put the last couple of finishing touches on.
Otherwise this week just seems to be flying by. Tonight I've got my pregnancy yoga class. This will be my 3rd time going and it's been a great way of meeting local Mums. Each class a former student comes at the end with her newborn to share her birthing story which has also taught me a lot. I don't think the class is doing much towards toning and firming up (which I could really use!) but it is great for learning breathing excercises and stretching out sore limbs.
With a week ahead of temperatures in the 60s, spring has finally sprung in London. Let's hope it lasts!
x Jen
Friday, 27 March 2009
34 week pic and appointment
I think I can finally say that things are starting to feel like they are moving a little quicker and we are getting closer to meeting this little baby of ours! On Wednesday I had my 34-week appointment at the hospital. I was really looking forward to this appointment as I was hoping they could shed some light on how the baby was laying now. Turns out this midwife seemed to think he's head down, with his back on my right side and his limbs bending over to the left. At least he's been nice and kept his little feet away from my ribs! She seems to think we're in the clear and won't need a C-section but we will confirm again at our 36 week appointment on April 7th.
We went through the usual at this appointment and when it came time for her to check my blood pressure it was pretty high-141/90 and the midwife found a trace of protein in my urine, two factors which can indicate pre-eclampsia. After I had my blood work done and my second round of "anti-D" shots I was sent to the maternal and fetal monitoring unit of the hospital where they strapped a heart monitor for the baby around my belly and listened in for an hour whilst periodically checking my blood pressure. Eventually it went down to 113/70 and the midwife was happy with baby's heart rate so I was sent to have a second round of blood work done (which was taken from the same spot!) and that was that. I called today and it seems they are happy with the blood results and for now we don't need to worry about pre-eclampsia which is great news.
Now that it's Friday I can finally relax and look forward to the weekend ahead. Mark and I plan on finally completing the nursery and are having some gardeners come around on Saturday to see about planting some flowers out back so we can enjoy the garden (AKA back yard in American speak!) this summer. Sunday is our nephew Max's early 6th birthday party so we're going to go paint some pottery with him to celebrate since he's off to Las Vegas and San Diego with Paul, Rachel and Holly for his actual birthday on April 2nd.
Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy laughing at how massive I've gotten in this latest pic. The funny look on my face and pose is because just before this was taken Mark instructed me to lift my chin, the picture before this was less then complimentary in that area! x
Monday, 23 March 2009
New arrivals
Yay! We're back online and things at the new house in Chislehurst are starting to feel like home.
This past week has also seen some exciting new arrivals. The biggest one of course was Westyn Marie Haigh, born to Ashley & Troy on March 18th. It was super hard being so far away and not getting the latest updates when Ash was in labor and it's even harder not being able to meet little Westyn, but it will be all that much sweeter when I come home in the fall with our little one and get to see her in person. Congrats!
The second arrival was Mark's baby.... The ridiculously big 58 inch t.v. which was delivered at 6.37 a.m. on Sunday morning weighing in at about 200 lbs. I had to include a picture below so you could see the smile on Mark's face and how stupidly big it is.
Whilst it's not my thing, Mark works really hard and we don't go out and blow our money on frivolous things so in my mind (and after 3 months of him trying to convince me), he's earned it. 
Lastly, I have to thank Tara for sending the sweetest package ever which really made my Monday. Those that know her know how thoughtful she is and in the 10 and a half years I've known her it never ceases to amaze me how she can put such an amazing touch to anything that makes it distinctly her. Anyway, she's started little Baby Verghese's book collection in true teacher fashion with some of the classics that he and I will treasure forever. She also found what I've not been able to-a super cute wrap around gown for the hospital that even came with a little matching diaper. As she said in the card, let's hope I can manage to look halfway decent when I go in there so I can share pics. Thanks so much, Tara-you brought my to tears with your thoughtfulness.
Hope the rest of this week is as good as it's started and that yours is the same x
Monday, 16 March 2009
Sideways....
No, I didn't spend the weekend watching the movie and dreaming about vineyards in Napa-it's in fact the position in which Baby Verghese is in the womb at the moment. Last Thursday I went to our local doctor for my 31-week appointment with the intent of also getting a note from her allowing me to fly to Ireland for the weekend as we were going to surprise Mark's Mum for her birthday. All checked out fine, the iron levels in my blood are "fantastic" and despite my massive size, I'm still fine on the blood sugar side. When it came time to listen to baby's heart beat it was loud and strong but when I asked the doctor if she could tell how the baby was sitting she said that he is is the "transverse lie" position which means he is literally sideways in the womb (see: http://www.pennhealth.com/health_info/pregnancy/graphics/images/en/19162.jpg). By now (today marks the start of week 32) he should be pointing head down and the concern is that as the days go on and he gets bigger, it becomes less comfortable for him to move into the "ready position" and more and more we face the reality of looking at having a C-section which is my biggest fear.
Next steps will be to wait until my 34-week appointment on March 25th at the hospital to see if he's moved yet and if he hasn't then they will likely want to do another ultra sound to see what's going on. We can opt to have a doctor try to manually move him from the outside which has a 50% success rate, apparently it involves him guiding the baby into a sort of reverse somersault which sounds really... comfortable (hardly!). If by 36-weeks he still hasn't moved then we will have to book ourselves in for the C-section. Luckily his positioning isn't of harm to him but it has made me quite uncomfortable!
So in the end Mark & I didn't get to join the rest of the family in Ireland to surprise Pat for her birthday which is on St. Patrick's Day. Quite disappointing as I love going back to Tralee to see Mark's extended family (his Mum is 1 of 12 and in true Catholic fashion they all have at least 3 kids each so Mark has something like 40 cousins living in Tralee who now have kids of their own!) but we will go again late this summer or early fall to have the baby blessed at the church there. We did spend a lot of time in the nursery though and it's almost there-can't wait to post pictures when our Internet at home is working.
Hope you all had a great weekend, enjoy your week x
Next steps will be to wait until my 34-week appointment on March 25th at the hospital to see if he's moved yet and if he hasn't then they will likely want to do another ultra sound to see what's going on. We can opt to have a doctor try to manually move him from the outside which has a 50% success rate, apparently it involves him guiding the baby into a sort of reverse somersault which sounds really... comfortable (hardly!). If by 36-weeks he still hasn't moved then we will have to book ourselves in for the C-section. Luckily his positioning isn't of harm to him but it has made me quite uncomfortable!
So in the end Mark & I didn't get to join the rest of the family in Ireland to surprise Pat for her birthday which is on St. Patrick's Day. Quite disappointing as I love going back to Tralee to see Mark's extended family (his Mum is 1 of 12 and in true Catholic fashion they all have at least 3 kids each so Mark has something like 40 cousins living in Tralee who now have kids of their own!) but we will go again late this summer or early fall to have the baby blessed at the church there. We did spend a lot of time in the nursery though and it's almost there-can't wait to post pictures when our Internet at home is working.
Hope you all had a great weekend, enjoy your week x
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