I was about to go to bed, but so many nights running I have been poised to write an entry to catch up and then got tired, or Samuel woke, or I had school to prepare first and then was done in, etc. So I keep NEVER getting it done, and the weeks are passing without any reference to them here!!
I'm really just posting to say a few things in way of a brief catch-up, so I am going to bullet-point things a bit instead of adding the usual waffly detail, to try to make it quicker to post all the stuff I need to catch up on! Here goes...
1) I'm feeling great! Really enjoying this pregnancy! I think it's my smoothest yet, so far anyway, which is lovely for my 6th!
2) Saw the consultant for my 32 week appointment. Basic run-down as follows (in case I don't get around to filling in details later!):
- Elijah is head down at last, hooray! He was transverse or breech before then.
- Urine and blood pressure great (bp 108/64)
- Consultant says this baby does not feel "big" but more average size - lovely to hear, but I think he might have said something similar last time at 30-something weeks and I still birthed a 9lb 9oz baby! ;)
- Medical student really sweet - had never met anyone who had this many babies, OR anyone who had had a homebirth before (pretty sad to hear that).
- Consultant laid it on really heavy about the risks of haemmorrhage now that I'm on my 6th baby. *sigh* Went in knowing he would, and determined to let it wash over me (he's just doing his job), but he did go on and on and ON and eventually it kind of felt scary :(
- Heather was marvellous to come with me! Consultant stepped out for a min, and Heather told the student not to labour a point like that with a woman, because it only scares them. Also reminded me that his "evidence" was all anecdotal, and we asked if he could provide us with research-based stats. He says he will get someone to. We'll see (Heather can't FIND any!)...
- He doesn't mind if I have a homebirth since all is well and I've been there and done that, even with Group B Strep if I'm + again this time, but he is strongly against me refusing to have a managed 3rd stage - that is, cut the cord immediately and have the synto injection to speed up the placental delivery.
- I REALLY don't want a managed 3rd stage. My baby needs the blood from the placenta until the cord stops pulsating. I believe my body is perfectly able to detach a placenta and clamp down on the blood vessels efficiently enough to prevent a haemmorrhage, even after 6 babies.
- Consultant wants me to see the head of midwifery at the hospital to discuss the risks further (and to provide stats that I asked for) and then he wants to see me again at 36 weeks for my decision. *sigh* (again) Not heard anything about an appointment even 2 weeks later, so not sure what's going on with that.
- Told Heather that I have been having BAD lower back and hip pain, when I try to take the boys out to the park - the weather has been lovely at the end of March so I took them out quite a bit, and was in too much pain to bear it sometimes at the end of the day. Painkillers did nothing, nor did heat, etc. I could tell it was just pregnancy/ligaments, and not a seperate injury or anything. Anyway, Heather was brilliant and just marched up to a random midwife while we were waiting to see the consultant, and asked her how I might get help. Midwife said I would need a consultant to refer me to an obstetric physiotherapist, and Heather spoke to the receptionist who found the right form and put it in my notes ready to be signed by the consultant! He did just that, and we took it to the physio dept after my appointment. Physio phoned the next DAY and I had an appointment 3 days later - UNBELIEVABLY brilliant for a free NHS appt!! :)
3) So, then I saw the obstetric physiotherapist - brief notes on that:
- I can wear a support belt if it's helpful - I have one already that Heather gave to me a while ago because one of her clients passed it on to her.
- My right hip is slightly rotated forward in the socket and it's very tight when she tried to ease it back. So I have some gentle stretching exercises to do which will help it rotate back.
- Pregnancy induced ligament problems often resolve after weaning, she informed me brightly, lol! I haven't weaned since starting breastfeeding over 7 years ago, and don't forsee any time in the next couple of years when I might be doing so either!
- Ligaments require a full year to get back to normal after pregnancy, and since I've never had a full year between pregnancies... She was surprisingly very supportive over my hopes of having more babies all the same! :)
- She showed me (and had me practice) the right way to sit, stand, get up, lie down, roll over in bed, etc, to best protect my sore pelvis on that side. It was really helpful, and she was lovely.
- She gave me a number to call after the baby is born if I am having further problems (which I did last time for several months). She said my abs will need some attention if I have back pain after delivery, and they can teach me exercises to help, BUT I have to phone them by 6 weeks after the baby is born, otherwise I have to go back to the GP to be re-referred.
4) Have had much much less back pain this past week due to a 4-day weekend for Neil, and thus less stress on my body - he took the boys out and I rested, basically! Lovely hubby! I haven't taken them out since the appointment - she told me if I can possibly manage it, I should avoid anything that causes me more pain. Mixed feelings on that one, obviously :S
5) Elijah is feeling BIG to me now, this week. He is so wiggly, and all his movements are now those kind of squirmy restricted movements that tell me he has run out of space pretty much. I love it because it means I'm getting SO close to actually meeting him!!! :D He gets hiccups 3-6 times a day, and seems to be staying head down now, although at 32 weeks (after the consultant appt) he continued to turn breech or head down, but he seems to be staying put now, thankfully!
6) I STILL have some morning sickness!!! I know some people do, but I've never been one of them before. Thankfully it's super mild, and is just a bit of a nuisance with the taste change/queasiness a few minutes after eating anything, and it has sometimes been as much as "bothersome" in the evenings. Nothing to really complain about, but I guess it would be nicer without it through my whole pregnancy! I have my eyes on the prize now, so I am fine with it continuing like this as there are only a matter of weeks to go! :) Then it WILL go, right??! :S
7) Nothing much to get ready for this baby - we have everything still around from the last one, lol! Just newborn clothes to get down from the loft. I can't believe we still haven't put the 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12 month boxes up yet - they are still cluttering up my bedroom, but at least they're packed and ready to go. The cot is up but Samuel never used it, not even for a few minutes. The little crib that we bought ready for Samuel is flat-packed in my bedroom STILL, but Samuel slept in that once for 10 minutes (max!) so I am not going to bother this time. I think I will even take the cot down - Samuel has only ever co-slept, the lucky boy! So he will go straight to a floor mattress in the boys' room soon. He's used to much more space than the cot will allow him, and I am not sure if I plan to even bother using it for Elijah. I have loved co-sleeping exclusively with Samuel sooooooo much!! He's still in there with me now, but we'll make the switch-over in the next couple of weeks probably :( Bitter sweet!
8) Still breastfeeding Benjamin and Samuel, as before. No real changes to their feeding patterns, just short feeds with no discernable milk being swallowed! ;) I'm sure I have SOME, but hardly any as far as I can see. They're happy though, and I am happy too - not long before they'll have some good stuff to gulp again if they want to! :) I'm so so so SO glad that Samuel didn't choose to wean during my pregnancy. Big relief. He's so young to wean, well, in my experience anyway! ;)
9) All the boys are getting so excited to meet Elijah, and talk often about the birth and the possible date, and what things will be like once he's here - just amongst themselves really. I don't start these discussions because I don't need to. They talk to me about it happily, and I just listen and respond to them. Arthur thinks he'll come on the 27th of May. I am hoping for a few days earlier! But not ideally his due date - that's Heather's daughter's birthday and she may not be available if her daughter isn't happy about it, apparently. I REALLY would like Elijah to be like MOST of his brothers and not cosy down for an extra week or so. I have had 2 at 41 weeks now, but also 2 within a couple of days of their due dates, and then Nathey at 35 weeks (NEXT WEEK!!!!!). Hopefully my waters won't break this time and I'll get to have my homebirth. I am nervous about childcare otherwise, if I have to go into hospital. It's just way better all round to be at home, so I hope it will work out that way this time.
10) I didn't ever get around to taking another belly picture after 28 weeks!! That's so sad! :( I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow, so I've missed quite a bit with the photos now :( I'll try to remember to sort a photo out for 34 weeks, but I say that every time a belly pic is due... I just seem busier than EVER before (x50) now that we are really properly homeschooling, and with the little ones too. I thought THIS would be a busy school year, adding a new baby, but nope. I think next year will be busier because Nathan starts school so I will be homeschooling 3, but also with 3 others ages 3, 2 and baby! Then that will probably be nothing compared to the following academic year when BENJAMIN starts school (he and Nathan are only a year apart in school) and I will hopefully be pregnant or already adding a new baby, and homeschooling 4 with another two aged 2 and 1, lol! It should be a very scary thought, but I just feel like throwing up my hands and laughing when I think of it - partly for joy and excitement, and partly just at the CRAZY. Crazy crazy crazy, what am I THINKING crazy! ;) But ohhhh so wonderful to think of the years ahead! :)
Right now I need to think of the HOURS ahead, and get myself to bed pronto. I'm so tired lately - I keep not being able to sleep until 2am or so, and my restless leg syndrome is driving me NUTS at night sometimes. Two nights ago I couldn't sleep until after 4.30am!! Thankfully it was Easter Monday so Neil was home and he let me lie in really long to make up for it. Last night I couldn't sleep until after 2am, and I got up at 1am and cleaned and swept the living room and then found it much easier to fall asleep when I went back to bed. Hopefully I won't have any trouble falling asleep tonight, but if I do I guess the thing to do will be to get up and do something useful. It's hard when I am SO. TIRED. OUT. that I basically sit and cry that I can't sleep! Easier if Neil is home the following day, like a weekend. But NOT easy when it's mid-week and I have the boys to look after for 12 hours without Neil here and school to do the next day! Which is the case tomorrow, so I MUST go to bed! I will update again when I can. My next appointment is my 34 week midwife appointment on Friday. Just routine, nothing exciting. Will update again soon!
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