Home alone

Hi family and friends,

Early this morning I had to say goodbye to Jason as he is off to Australia for a week. Baby and I will miss him so much!

I had a midwife appointment on Friday. The best part was hearing baby's heartbeat, which was soooo nice and strong, especially compared to the last time I heard it with the doppler back in July, when it was quite soft and difficult to find.

I left the appointment pretty disgusted with the whole midwife system here. She doesn't seem to know anything, and honestly I don't even see the point of going to the appointments (I will, of course, continue to go). In the end - they aren't doctors, they aren't nurses, just people who take a midwifery course, so I guess I should keep my expectations pretty low. I brought up labor and birth and asked if we could start talking about my options, and she said I'd learn about them in my NCT class. NCT (National Childbirth Trust) is an organization in the UK that offers classes on pregnancy/ parenting, but it's something that is optional (most people who can afford it do it) and we paid £275 for. So the midwives should NOT be telling me I need to wait until these classes to talk about birth. The worst part of the appointment was when the midwife tried to take blood from me. She tried THREE times without success, stabbing me in the arm and moving the needle around trying to find a vein and said I had really difficult veins and would have to go to a clinic. I went directly to the clinic and when I told them what happened they said it was ridiculous as I have really really easy veins to find. Within 30 seconds they had the blood they needed. I asked other questions and she just didn't seem to know anything. Good thing I am a fairly intelligent person and read up on these things on my own. I've talked to some friends who have had kids recently and get the same general feedback from them about the whole process.

Anyway, that's my giant rant for the week. In other fun news, Jason and I ordered our pram yesterday morning, so in the next few weeks we should have it in our flat, all ready to transport our little baby!

How far along?: 28 weeks, 3 days - new bump picture on the right!
Total weight gain: I don't know as haven't stepped on the scale for ages... but last time I was at 23 gained. I'll just be happy if I can stick within the 25-35 range.... clearly on the higher end of that scale!
Pregnancy symptoms: Indigestion/ heartburn, my new least favorite friend. I'm pretty sure I've been getting Braxton Hicks contractions, that 'stitch' below my bump that I mentioned last week in the blog.
Sleep: Fine! I heart my giant pillow. Pillow's photo debut on the right.
Movement: Baby moves lots and lots. I love it. Jason gets to feel it all the time, although sometimes when I think baby is kicking/moving strongly he doesn't feel it. I think my layers of fat are growing thicker making it harder for baby to reach Dad's hand. (:
Food cravings/ weird crap I'm eating: I am eating a lot of almond croissants.
Gender/ names: We are officially down to 2 girl names and 2 boy names! All 4 of them are great. Not sure when we'll get it down to the final 1 and 1, but potentially within the next few weeks.
What I miss: Being skinny, but even as I type that I know I love my bump and am amazed by the little life growing inside me every day. It's pretty amazing, no matter what chaos it's caused my body.
Best moment this week: As we narrow our name search down I can really start to imagine having a child, not a nameless, faceless baby, but a little person, half me and half Jason, with a name and a personality and a nice little spot in our family.
Weekly Wisdom: Nothing too new here, just that I really really need lots of sleep each night (and often don't get enough!)
Milestones: baby can open her eyes and will turn her head towards the source of any continuous light. Fun! Also, baby is almost as long as she'll be at birth (about 7.5cm to go) - the next 11 weeks will just be about getting nice and fat. (:

Hope everyone has a great week!

- Chris