One week to go...

...until the raffle to win 25 fat quarters of lovely Japanese fabric. Thank you so much to all the people who have already donated to the earthquake relief fund and entered the raffle. There are still tickets available though, so have a look here if you are interested. Jo has put together a Master List of all the raffle and auctions going on, which you can see here, there are lots of wonderful things you could win so please do check it out.

And less than a week to go until The Arrivals! Mum and Dad will be getting here on the 25th (Friday), which also just so happens to be this baby's due date. I wonder who will make an appearance first? When I was expecting K, Mum and Dad arrived 3 days before his due date, but he didn't bother to join us until about 10 days after it. Even then he was in no hurry; the birth was induced, which only seemed to result in an extra-long labour as the baby still hadn't dropped down into position. Hopefully this baby will make an appearance before the doctor wants to induce, but ideally not until Mum and Dad are here to look after K...

H took some pictures of me at the park on K's birthday, 2 weeks ago. From the front it's not too shocking...


...but side-on you get the full, watermelon-up-the-jumper effect:


At that time I was having a lot of pain in my lower back and hips, but I'm very glad to report that that has improved somewhat. It's not as painful as before, and the type of pain has changed too. I still feel it every time I walk or move in any way really, and turning over in bed can be excruciating, but at least H isn't finding me sitting on the kitchen floor in tears anymore...

Apart from that (!), I'm feeling fine. The doctor told me that I was about 2cm dilated 10 days ago which prompted a slight panic, but he said the same again on Wednesday so maybe I can relax a little. When I was expecting K I was walking for an hour every day, but this time I'm getting no exercise at all and I can feel the difference. Just going upstairs leaves me feeling quite tired out, so I'm not sure how prepared I am for the task of giving birth!

feeling the baby move, a few days ago


Dr K checks on my baby...

...and his!

At least now I am starting to feel somewhat prepared. This week I did my last private lessons and finished off the transcription work I had, and from now on there is nothing marked on the calendar at all. K is now on spring break from pre-school too, so we don't even have to get up at a particular time. H has brought all the baby stuff down from the loft and is getting it all cleaned up, and I have washed and sorted all the old clothes and bought a few new bits and pieces. I finally packed a hospital bag for me, and a bag for K in case he has to go to H's parents at short notice. The hospital admittance form has been filled in, the cot is set up and I've even managed to make something for the new baby!

OK, so it's only a couple of squares of material with a bit of crinkly plastic in the middle and some little ribbon loops around the outside, but I made it and it is finished. Which is more than I can say for the blanket I'm crocheting, so we'll move swiftly on...

All that's left to do now is get ready for Mum and Dad to arrive, which basically means housework. Oh joy. I'm torn between 'must get everything clean and tidy before they get here' and 'they'll need something to do once they're here, right?'. I know that they wouldn't want me to be worrying about housework on their behalf, but, on the other hand, they don't know quite how bad it is and I don't really want them to either. At the very least I must go through the cupboards and throw out food which expired before K was born, and sew the buttons on the pyjamas that Mum helped me make (everything finished except for, yup, the buttons) in summer 2008...