One month to go!

Can you believe that I only have another month until my due date? Where have the last 8+ months gone? This pregnancy seem to have just flown by. I suppose it's a common refrain from women having a second or subsequent child - the older kid(s) keep you so busy that you don't have time to focus on the new arrival. Still, I do feel a bit sorry for him (I did tell you it was a 'him', right?), neglected before he's even been born...

Touch wood, this pregnancy has gone very smoothly so far. Very little morning sickness and no real problems with backache or other common pregnancy ailments. Compared to when I was expecting K, I have been having less leg cramps at night but more heartburn, but really I'm feeling fine. I have to remember not to eat or drink anything after about 9pm though, or I can't lie down in bed without feeling sick...

My doctor here is very big on walking, and recommends a brisk, daily, 60 minute walk throughout pregnancy, or at least in the final month. When I was expecting K, I was out there in all weathers, clocking up some major mileage. It's surprising how far you can get in an hour at a good pace; I remember meeting a friend in the centre of town on a snowy February day and giving him a real shock when I told him I'd walked there. Of course this time, I haven't walked a step, apart from 15 minutes to the nearest station to go to work on Sundays. On the other hand, the other big thing at the doctor here is weight gain. They are Very Strict and declare that no-one should gain more than 10 kg. The first time around I was very careful with my diet, walked my socks off and was constantly nagged by the midwives, finally reaching D-Day just the right side of the magical 10 kg. This time I've just carried on as normal, with no special attention to diet or exercise, and heard something from the doctor last week that I never thought I would hear - 'No problem at all with weight gain'. Wow. It rivals the other 'Never to be heard from a doctor' quote of a month or so ago - 'It's definitely a boy, no mistake'.

With just a month to go, I suppose I should be starting to prepare for this little one's arrival... A couple of weeks ago I did manage to go to one ante-natal class, for women at at least 30 weeks, where the midwife said she assumed we'd all packed our hospital bags, and got everything set up for the baby. I struggled not to laugh out loud. I've tended to think 'oh, we've got everything we need already', but I suppose I should dig out K's old baby clothes and wash them. And it occurred to me that we don't have anywhere to put things for the new baby, so we did go out and buy a chest of drawers on Saturday. That's a good start, right?

In theory I should have a little more time soon (assuming the baby doesn't come too early of course...), as I'm finishing work this week. University classes have already finished for this academic year and I handed in all the final paperwork last week. The 2 group classes that I run will meet with me for the last time this week and then Vivian will take over from March for 6 months. My little side-job of kids interviews has been wearing me out recently (yesterday I interviewed about 140 children, with 30 minutes for lunch and no other break), but there's only one more to go. I do have a couple of private students that I'll keep meeting with until I go into hospital, but that's just sitting around and chatting really. Oh, and I'm still working on those transcriptions too...

If I do find some time I'd like to fit in some walking, and Making Stuff! The baby blanket I'm crocheting (you know, the one I bought wool for extra early so as to have plenty of time to complete it) is far, far behind schedule. I'd like to sew a couple of things for the baby too (plus it's K's birthday soon and I'd like to make something for him...), but we'll see. Must write more blog posts too! Actually, I blame Lisa for my lack of free time, for lending me lots of good books at New Year's...