Le cot

We...well mostly Simon...put the cot together today :-) Looks fab don't you think?

It's very difficult to take pictures in the nursery now there's more stuff in it; getting a bit cramped - good job there isn't anything else to go in except for a chair!

It's amazing and a little strange to think that there will be a Wiggler to go in it quite soon...I know the crib will be used for the first 6 months or so, but still - it's quite overwhelming!

We're getting to know people at the antenatal class now which is really nice. I can't quite believe how worthwhile the classes are; I knew they'd be helpful, but from an emotional viewpoint they've saved me. Simon and I are much closer as a result of going and we're both really excited about the arrival of The Wiggler now. It's great to be around other pregnant women for a start and for Simon it's been terrific to meet other Dads-to-be. Normalising emotions and concerns is hugely beneficial. We even went to the local pub for a drink after the one last night. I seriously recommend NCT classes to anyone having a baby who wants to know more & meet other people in the same situation!

I really didn't think I was the type, but it turns out that I am - I found this pregnancy ticker at lilypie.com which I've decided to add to each blog. However, I'm only copying the image onto each post so that it stays as a sort of record of how pregnant I was/old Wiggler was when I wrote something.

Make Baby Stuff!

I'm becoming craft obsessed.

I found a brilliant website the other day. I know the internet is host to a zillion things to make, but www.makebabystuff.com seems to encompass quite a few of them in one place; useful ones too - like how to make fitted crib sheets. That may be obvious to many, but not to me & now I know how! Hurrah! Unfortunately I now want a Gocco printer - expensive! Also, largely unavailable in the UK not terribly cost effctive once purchased. Maybe I'll stick to freezer stencils instead? Again, the internet comes through with this lovely website - stockists of said paper.

I'm already making this bird mobile - I have 6 birds done and 2 twigs. I don't think I'll make mine so big as the nursery isn't a very big room, maybe only 8 or 10 birds rather than the full 12? I tried to machine sew them, but it went very wrong and ended up looking a little Quasi-birdo (!) so I stuck to hand sewing, which I haven't done in ages! I'm going to iron the tail bits when they're all done so they aren't so wonky. The middle-top one (maroon/yellow/blue) was the first one I made so he's a bit weird & fat. Bless.

I originally found the mobile on homemade by jill - a wonderful blog full of amazing things that she's made! I fully intend to make the burp cloths. The only problem I find with all these great craft blogs is that they're American (not that that's a bad thing!) and in America there seems to be a never ending supply of craft/yarn/fabric shops all selling wondrous thing that we English can only dream about. Sure Derby has an art shop and a craft shop, but they're fairly limited and the fabric selection on the market is somewhat naf. Don't even get me started on the lack of good yarn in Derby. Thank goodness for the internet!

It's sale season at the moment which is great! We have most of the stuff we want for newly arrived/first 6 months Wiggler in terms of body suits/sleep suits etc, but I'm starting to buy stuff to customise like tops & hoodies. I really like the idea of appliquéd plain tops to make them more interesting/individual. Mum (who is doing loads better lately hurrah!) also has lots of different colour dyes at her house that we can mix to make colours not traditionally associated with babies. H&M have some AWESOME stuff for babies - really bright & interesting - none of this pastel rhubarb associated with babies normally.

Our antenatal classes are going well - turns out one of the women graduated from the Creative Expressive Therapies degree at my Uni a few years before I went so we did some of the same modules! We're all going out for a meal after the last class too which will be nice. The day after that is my last day at work - I can imagine I'll be quite emotional! I was going to try and hang on until the 38 week mark, but I don't think I'll last that long! HR have said it's OK to bring it forward yippee!! I'll be crafting my arse off I expect!

While in Sound Bites last Saturday I was given some free & out of date magazines. One of these was Juno magazine which is a natural parenting magazine full of really good articles; totally up my street. I'd like a subscription to this methinks.

1st antenatal class

Wooh! We went to the first of our 7 antenatal classes yesterday evening. It was great! I was so relieved. It's run by the NCT and I have to admit I was (stupidly) a little bit scared that everyone would be stuck up. Anyhoo, they weren't! Everyone was really nice and the session was really helpful. The first thing we did was introduce ourselves - we're the only couple having a home birth, everyone else is booked in at the City (now Royal) hospital and one lady is at Chesterfield. Our teacher, Rebecca, made split us into the men & the women to write a list of things we wanted to know more about under the following headings: pregnancy, labour, early days, ghastlies & ground rules. We filled in the ghastlies first with things like tearing, pelvic muscle recovery etc. The men actually raised some interesting points which I think surprised the women!

After that we had to put some pictures of a baby being born in order. This was incredibly helpful; I've read quite a lot about labour & pregnancy, but as yet didn't really have a clue as to what actually happens while the baby comes out. So now I do!

I could tell people were a bit shocked that I was having a home water birth, but Rebecca explained that the risks of home birth (if you take out the unplanned and free births) are significantly fewer than giving birth in hospital. She also confirmed that it's the best way to get one on one care and that I get lots of other stuff I wouldn't if I was in hospital. By the end at least 2 more couples were considering home birth & more were thinking about water birth - hurrah!  I think they were secretly a bit jealous lol!

Simon really liked it too - I think it's helped meeting other men in the same situation as him. We're both really excited about our next class on Saturday - bring it on!

I bought a steriliser & some bottles on Wednesday - half price in Boots and triple points on baby!

Stuff update

Not been doing very much of late what with it being so flipping hot & sticky. So here is a picture of the chest in the nursery:

We finally decided to go with the original curtains. You can kind of see them in the picture.

Here is a picture of the Stokke!!

Isn't it amazing?! I keep playing with it. Can't wait for the Turner Prize (as Auntie Maj calls it) to make it's entrance so I can put him/her in it!

I have another midwife appointment on Thursday so I'll write more after that. Work is becoming incredibly tedious & I'd like nothing more than to have started my maternity leave. I shall persevere for as long as I can so that I get more time with The Wiggler post birth. I get "foot in diphragm/ribs" quite a lot and "bladder punch" too which is an unusual experience to say the least. I shall be glad when I have my body back to myself again! Then I can sit without the feeling that something is stuck in my ribs, which it sort of is I suppose.

I sent Simon a Father's Day card from The Wiggler - he found it highly amusing. I'm glad he did because it took long enough to learn how to do speech bubbles on Photoshop without asking him for help!

Cheese-o-rama

It's my ELBOW at the top. Anyhoo...I'm off to be hot & sweaty away from the computer now.

Rant

I really have to rant about this.

All the literature I've read tells me to enrol in a yoga class or aqua-natal class or something designed for pregnant women. Also that going to pregnancy groups helps you feel better by talking about stuff and generally being around other women who are going through the same/similar things.

WHEN AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THIS???

I work full time (8am-4pm Monday to Friday). All the yoga/aqua-natal classes and mother & baby groups are held WHEN I'M AT WORK! "Pop along at 10.30am on Wednesdays" - that's no bloody good is it? Where are the evening ones, or is the assumption that we'll be so tired by then that we won't want to go. Work aren't going to give me time off so I can go are they?? They already give me time off for antenatal appointments.

The really frustrating this is I know that this stuff really will help. There are things that Simon just doesn't understand - how can he? He doesn't have a womb, or leaky nipples, or freakish inside tickling, or swollen ankles, or irrational mood swings. I can't even go out and drown my sorrows :-(.

I have 2 weeks maternity leave before my due date and there's a possibility that Wiggler might make his/her grand entrance early so that's even better! Can't even cram some in then. Although, I'll be so huge I probably won't want to get off the sofa.

It takes the biscuit and makes me MAD!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!

Midwife appointment at 28 weeks

Saw the same midwife today! Wooh! She measured my bump and said that it was 2cm bigger than it usually is at the point. My reaction was "oh no big baby", but Simon's was "ooh, early baby". So we'll see. Have another appointment on 25th July - should have blood test results then and measure bump again. She also signed my Health In Pregnancy grant form today which I shall post tomorrow. The Government is giving us money! £190 to be exact. Or, as a work colleague pointed out, the Government is giving back some of our money lol. That'll come in very handy as money seems to disappear in our house.

Developments in pregnancy:

My lung space is now greatly reduced; makes sitting/breathing comfortably quite difficult. Our sofa is also rubbish for being pregnant on, apart from the lying down bit :-). For sitting it's awful and gives me back ache :-(. Have seen a maternity pillow on the Argos website which will be purchased when it comes back into stock so hopefully that'll help some. Have been using large quantities of cushions for the time being.

Sleeping is getting more uncomfortable too. Lying on my side isn't great because my hips hurt after a while. I've found that tucking the duvet in under the bump so it sort of cushions it & pulls me back a little bit at the same time helps. It's all very complicated! Perhaps the maternity pillow will be helpful for that too?

Wiggler is very wiggly, for most of the day now! It really tickles! When it kicks/pushes me in the side it's really very tickly and quite weird. It makes it more bizarre because it's an inside tickle, so there isn't anything I can do about it! It also likes to kick me in the diaphragm, which is kinda weird.

Still no specific cravings, just getting more hungry. That is normal though as Wiggler is now mainly getting bigger.

Nursery & car seat

We picked up the car seat from Mum's today (at the same time as the chest of drawers and mirror). It's ace! We went for the Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix in deep red. This is the one that goes with the Stokke (which is also in Red) as part of the travel system so luckily our choice was limited! There are soooooooooooo many car seats & base unit things. Decisions aren't my forte at the moment.

We've painted the nursery! Finally. Painting skirting boards is my least favourite job, officially. It's so fiddly, especially around radiator pipes & when there's carpet - bleh. Anyhoo, we've done it now & we really love it. The worst part of the prep work was getting the effing border off. Who sticks a border onto woodchip?? In this day and age? Seriously. We managed to get most of it off and the glue that was too stubborn, we left and painted over. I suppose the woodchip was a bit of a saving grace (I can't believe I said that) as the glue remnants look like part of it when painted over! Wooh! Score.

These are the colours we've gone for:

Door = hideous

I know the door is hideous. We have plans to change all the doors in our house, but there are 13 so that's an ongoing project on the back burner for now. I took the photo above this way because if I took it facing the window it distorts the colours. I took one facing the window anyway so you can see more of the room:

Dubious phone pano

So now you get the gist of the room; the carpet is a chocolate brown. It's not the biggest, but babies are small! We have some pictures (donated by Mum from her house - Mickey Mouse limited edition paintings - thank you!) to put up and a mirror that goes with the chest of drawers. The cot is coming some time in July I think. We have the mattress already.

We're still um-ing and ah-ing about curtains and the light. We have a blackout blind so the fabric isn't too much of an issue. We were going to have an Alfie set as there is a changing mat too and it would be nice to have some matching stuff, but having painted the room I don't think it would go. Then we saw this but decided it'd be too much white. We quite liked these, but think it would be green overkill. There are loads of really funky nursery sets at Walmart, so bright & colourful. What is this English obsession with pastel, pale colours for babies? It's INFURIATING! I decided to have a look on the Ikea website on the off chance, they usually have some good kid's textiles. This is what we found for curtains, and we're still struggling with the light. This is by far the most challenging room decoration project ever. Even looking at the Ikea curtains again I'm not sure they'd look right; maybe if the walls were white instead of the colour they are. Hmm. Perhaps Alfie wouldn't look so bad after all??! My god this is getting out of control...enough.