36 Weeks into my Pregnancy

I’ve been “dying” of tooth ache since Saturday after the pizza we had for lunch. I’ve been taking panado’s and paracetamol coming out my ears and I’m still sitting with this daunting ache. The thing is that the pain shoots itself into the whole right side of my head, from my eye, to my ear, right around to all my other teeth and even into my throat. So basically I’m not a happy camper at this very stage. I’m really wishing baby would come sooner, just so I can have this tooth sorted out.

I’ve started preparing her for when she must come, I tell her the date every day and how many days or sleepies are left until her daddy’s Birthday. Who knows, perhaps she’ll listen and surprise us all by making her grand appearance on Valentine’s Day – I know one thing’s for sure. William would be beside himself if this has to be so!

The Youth is planning a Formal Valentines Dinner for the 19^th of February, and they asked that me and William perform a duet; but I told him that if baby is born before then I won’t be going out until at least three weeks after baby’s birth. Now he’s scared that the baby may be pre-mature if it comes before the actual due date. It took some explaining from me to make him realise that baby will come at the right time and will be fine; we’re past the stage of the baby being prem anyway.

I got in contact with my Doula about my follow-up visit to the clinic and it sounds me like she also thinks it might be a February baby. I was concerned about them scheduling my next appointment only in six weeks time from the previous; I thought I’d be going bi-weekly since I’m closer to the due date now. But I suppose everything’s fine. It better be, because if anything has to go wrong with me or baby because of their negligence I’m afraid the government’s going to have to pay for their muck up!

Cardel started giving me off half day since Thursday; I hope this won’t affect my earnings! But they’re good people, I doubt it will. As I’m working more with her, I’m getting to know her better – she’s a really fun person; reminds me a lot off me and Diane, it feels strange; I respect her as my employer but I also see her as a friend.

God has been awesome to bless me with such awesome people as employers, William might also soon have a new job – we pray! He applied for a position also at a packaging company, but it sounds more serious than what he’s got right now and that they might actually deliver on what they promise. We’re hoping and praying that this will be his breakthrough, that this will be his door open from God!

I can’t really tell if I’ve started nesting, since we’ve just moved and such we still have some boxes that needs unpacking and things that needs re-arranging – so I’m mostly busy trying to make sense of things, sorting out boxes and things we need from what we don’t. I’ve been busy in the Nursery/ Guest room and it almost seem liveable, all that still needs fixing is the compactum and the bedding for the cot. Then most of the stuff should be sorted.

I’ve got the baby’s bag sorted out for the hospital, but my bag is still a thousand miles from being sorted. There are still so many things I need for myself for the hospital – I hope I can get it all before it’s time!

We had a braai on Saturday for William’s Birthday and we had quite a good turn-out. I’m sure this was the best birthday he’s had since moving here to PE, most of the friends we invited actually came and we all had a wonderful time together.

35 Weeks into my Pregnancy

The reality of moving has now kicked in, though I have barely started packing. I have so much to do yet I can’t seem to find direction about where to start. I try and pack a little every night, hoping that by Friday Evening most of the stuff will be in boxes.

I’ve been working at the house office this week and I find it much cooler than working at the kennels itself, the only schlep is that my office isn’t totally set up as yet, so I’m working off the floor which can be quite a mission as much as it is comfortable.

I actually pulled a muscle in my gluteus maximmus this week from all getting up from seated positions on the floor at the office, not funny! Having this extra weight can be quite tricky sometimes.

The people at the Maternity Clinic are ever so clever, seeing that I’m in my last month you’d think that I’d go for more regular check-ups now. Ha! They simply scheduled my appointment two weeks later because there were some blood tests they had to re-do at 32 weeks, which I’m not! But they did those tests this week and only scheduled my next appointment in another 6 weeks. Absolutely, unbelievable! Baby’s going to be there already by then, and then I would’ve missed out on important check-ups! I suppose that’s the best you can expect from government health care.

I had to ask to have off on Friday in order to do packing – since I didn’t get quite as far as I would’ve expected. Thankfully my bosses are really understanding and gave me off. One thing to look forward to though, is that when I return to work on Monday I’ll have a desk to work at! Yeahj!

It was the most awkward move I’ve ever endured, trying to get things done with a stiff gluteus muscle is no joke and it’s even less of a joke trying to be useful whilst moving being pregnant. Our move went quick and I can thankfully say that baby is fine after all the excitement and so am I.

I have the most wonderful husband on the face of this earth, even though he did most of the moving – with his friends, he still pulled it together to help me unpack and arrange everything in our new home, he basically did most of it! He deserves the best Husband Award Ever!

34 Weeks into my Pregnancy

The Lord is so good! We have found our very own “house” to move into and there we got discount as well! From R2800 to R2600, God is awesome and I believe He’ll give us gigs for the sound hire and photography when I’m on maternity leave, to try and make up for the loss of income.

I’m almost at my very last and thankfully I have not been woken by baby moving nor have I received any kicks in the ribs – which I hear hurts so much. It just sometimes feels like she wants to climb out, by the way she’s punching. The Braxton Hick’s contractions are getting much stronger now, sometimes it leaves me gobsmacked and I don’t know how to move or stand. It can be quite uncomfortable. I doubt that I’m going to be as lucky as mum not to have labour pains.

Though I’m not scared at all about giving birth, the only thing thus far that has scared me was the thought of being on my own – without William by my side. For some silly reason he has gone from being eager to cut the umbilical cord to rather wanting to stay outside the ward for the fright of seeing me in pain and not being able to do anything about it. It really freaked me out when he said that, I mean – what has kept me calm all this time was that I knew he wanted to be right there and be as much part of the labour as he could and being there to support me. And from going from having that assurance to nothing is quite scary, it’s almost like being abandoned.

I told him that I don’t care I want him there with me, so he agreed to be there. I don’t know if he wants to cut the cord anymore though.

I’d say my mood swings are really starting to kick in this week, more than any other. My moods change quicker than the direction of the wind in PE from being happy and content to wanting to rip someone apart for making what seemed to me a stupid suggestion. From being angry about something to crying because my feelings got hurt in the way I was spoken to. It’s like a rollercoaster of emotions and William has partially joined in – lately he’s gotten very soft and my harsh moods are affecting him more than what it would have before. It makes me feel bad though, because he used to be able to take my moods with a pinch of salt and now he almost drowns in them.

33 Weeks into my pregnancy

So William’s mum mentioned about a house with a flat in the yard we may possibly get. Yes we might save a lot – but I’m really not looking forward to sharing yet another property with them. I think I’ve had enough of that for one lifetime!

This week has gone by a bit quicker, and I keep on getting this feeling that I should look out for us for a place of our own, though we’re about to sign lease with these other people for the House and the Granny flat. I feel like a traitor.

I went for my follow up visit at the Maternity clinic on Friday, and now the sister who told me in the first place how far along I was; recons that I’m not 32weeks (33Wks on Saturday) pregnant - but rather 30weeks as with my first scan! I refuse to believe her! My baby is due early March according to my latest scans, but I have a feeling that she might just be a February baby. Luckily I’m not scheduled for a c-section, these crazy people would make me wait forever and then perhaps even put my baby’s life at risk. I say; let them say what they want – but my baby will come at the right time, not any estimate which they set out. I mean, one knows your own body – and I can tell that I’m definitely not 30wks pregnant now, since my tummy has already lifted and has begun descending. You’d think they’d know as much. Three weeks is a long time to be out by.

My little butterfly is so busy; her movements are becoming ever sharper. I guess the limited space is getting to her now. Not long anymore my honey, then you’ll have ample space to move about in!

Just as I started getting excited about the idea of knowing we have a place to move in to, I got this disturbing call from William Friday afternoon. The house we were about to move to, just got sold! How nice is that – explains the feeling I had. I never even knew that it was up for sale, which makes me just a little more upset than what I should be!

William suggested I get in touch with the contact our Pastor gave us for a cottage, some people in church has this cottage on their premises and it might be up for rent. I got an appointment for Saturday afternoon to go look at it, and may I just say that God is Awesome! Though it’s a lot more than what we budgeted for, I believe that our God will provide enough for us to make it through every month! It’s basically a small two bedroom house, with access to the pool and braai area for R2800. I can’t stop thanking God enough for this! What a relief!

And to put the cherry on the cake; Sunday at church the Aunty told me that they’re dropping the price with R200, since they haven’t finished with all they had planned to do. So, our God is just proving to be ever so faithful to our requests, if only we believe in Him!

32 Weeks into my pregnancy

Work started for both me and William this week, I wasn’t really looking forward to waking up at the break of dawn again but I almost seemed to have adjusted to that again. It was rather fun getting back into the work environment again.

It’s Thursday and I don’t want to seem ungrateful or whatever the case may be but it just feels like my bosses keep passing the “bucket” of blame onto me every time something of the previous month comes along that might be a problem. I don’t want to get into their bad books, especially Cardel’s coz she seems like she can give it to you the day she feels like it.

 I went for my Learner Driver Test today, and got it – AGAIN – I must now just not put it off like the last time to go for my licence. It was rather amusing as I sat in-line at the Licencing office to pay, baby was so busy – my whole tummy was wobbling around. Luckily no-one noticed, or so I think...

Wednesday was quite fun at work, I helped out with the feeding of the dogs. And on that day, of all days – I had to wear my white boob-tube top; at least it only got one paw-print on it (^^,)

The fatigue is totally taking control of me, I feel like a zombie most of the time – the other night I slept 10hours without a problem and still the following day at noontime I felt like I could just doze off. I’m hoping that I can work up until the 3^rd of February, William wants me to push up until the end of February but I’m having doubts already about making it to the 3^rd!

I wish I could just get an extra energy surge from somewhere – I have so much to do this month, since we’re moving and all. I haven’t even really packed anything yet... God has been good, we might be getting a Granny-Flat/ Garden Cottage for R500 less than what we’re paying now – but we still have to go look at the place and we’re going to have to stay in the house for the 1^st month with William’s Mum & step-dad – which I’m not really feeling for, but if this place is the one – then I suppose we’re just going to have to pull out some more perseverance.

Just when I thought the heartburn has left me and that I may have peace in one field of my life, it returned in all its fury – with barely a week’s rest of it. That was really disappointing.

It frustrates me so badly, I really want to start looking for a place for us to stay but the Property Guide’s first edition for the year will only be printed in about a week, and I can't find anything on websites. I feel like climbing the walls out of frustration. I’ve already started packing some of the kitchen stuff, but now the rest of the things are still standing around – waiting to be packed into boxes. We’re moving in three weeks and I'm not sure where we are going, unnecessary stress I think.

We had a look at the house, well only from the outside and we have decided to pinch our eyes closed and take it. I don’t know however, when we’ll be signing the contract, though I still feel the need to look for another place.

31 Weeks into my pregnancy

We left Monday morning 7:25am on our way to Christiana to go visit William’s granddad for a day – this three hour drive almost felt just as long as our 12hour drive coming from PE, but that I suppose was only because of the hot weather we were driving in and our lovely car that has no aircon!

It was nice seeing his grandparents again, but I could barely sleep that night with the humidity in our room – though I took a cold shower before bedtime, it did me no good. We were up early again Tuesday morning to get ready for the road ahead but we left just after six when the sun was already out with its hot rays. The journey waiting ahead was not as long as the one we endured on our way to visit but it was in the heat of the day and when we got to our second last stop – three hours away from home, I thought that I couldn’t endure it any longer. But somewhere I got the strength and guts to get back into the hot car to continue our journey home.

We got home at about 3pm and oh how happy we were to know we’re only seconds away from rest. But, we didn’t have the house keys with us and nobody were home, so off we went into the holiday traffic to go fetch the keys from William's mum in Walmer Park shopping centre. They still wanted us to stay and chat and what not but after about half an hour and the espresso William had at the shop I told him we gotta leave as I’m falling asleep.

When we finally got home, my bed became my best friend and all my worries “disappeared” when I laid my head on that pillow! It felt so good to be back home, on my own bed – even though it had only been a week, it felt like forever since I’ve seen my two feline babies Mischif and Tigger.

Mischif had taken over Johan’s bed at night – which she normally does to visitors we get. But Tigger has taken his place back at mommy and daddy’s feet at night and sometimes when he feels cold or in need of a cuddle he’ll crawl into my arms and sleep there for a while.

We had a midnight service this Friday, and afterwards all the youth went to pastor’s house for fellowship and a swim. Well, with baby or not I didn’t even touch that water – coz I was just cold anyhow and didn’t see the need in cooling down more, though William and some of the youth had other ideas. Their silliness finally lead to William getting hurt in the pool. He got tackled into the shallow end of the pool, hit rock bottom and got out hurt. I initially thought it was his ribs and already started thinking of what Dr’s costs we’re going to have to carry but thanks be to God that it was only a slight muscle sprain.

Today he’s as fit as a fiddle, and I’m just glad we don’t have to fork out extra for Doctors and x-rays and the works.

I started sorting the baby stuff out this week, we set up the cot pa made and everything fits nicely into it. I can just thank God for how he has provided for us thus far and how everything is coming together slowly but surely! Thank you Father God

30 Weeks into my pregnancy

We got to Nigel (Gauteng) just after 1pm Monday afternoon. We were totally exhausted but happy to see the family – we went to greet mum and pa first since we wouldn’t be sleeping over there I thought it best to go say hi there first. After about half an hour’s visit (it was so short coz we needed some sleep) we went on to go say hi to Will’s step-mum but she had closed the business early already and his brother wasn’t home either. So we drove past his Gran’s house and she happened to be home, we visited a bit there waiting for Johan (Will’s brother) as he was on his way to his Gran’s as well. We were there for about an hour when we decided to leave as the effects of the trip really started to hit hard on us now – we were invited to Dinner with them, so we left to go to Adolf (my brother)’s house where we were going to sleep over at most of the time.

We finally got there and to my surprise William ended up playing xbox and ps3 games with Adolf, I decided that I needed a nap since I didn’t get any real sleep on the road and couldn’t supplement myself with energy tonics since I’m pregnant.

The week in Gauteng was harsh on my pregnant body, but I think the long trip also had its finger in the pie. I had scankles most of the week, with the hot weather and running around between the family but the worst day was Christmas day when I woke up with swollen ankles, agh! It was terrible, my feet wouldn’t fit into any shoe so I turned Dutchman for a day – running around pregnant and barefoot! Hah!

We really enjoyed Christmas with my family but it would’ve been better had Granny and Grandpa been there. They preferred to spend their Christmas the same they’ve spent it for the past 10years – at the German Old Age Home, where nothing ever changes. We were all really disappointed at that since we might not have that chance to spend Christmas as a family together like that again, but ah well – you can’t force a person now can you!

Sunday morning we took mum and pa to Wimpy for breakfast to say thank you for helping with petrol money and the cot pa made for our little girl – yip we now know for sure that it’s a little girl, for last week I had three dreams in a row about baby- & toddler girls and my sister-in-law paid for us to go to a Dr. in Nigel for another ultrasound and there we saw it – two little lines on the scan! Though the Dr. said it’s a boy – he said the same to my sister-in-law and they had a little girl, and with Diane (my eldest sis)’s daughter she also had two little stripes indicating ... that she’s a girl! So we’re waiting on Tazlin to make her grand entrance into this world – whilst in the mean time I’m growing out of my clothes and am now worried if I’ll have anything to wear when returning to work!