This is so different from my first pregnancy. Last time I had similar symptoms for three days and then my waters broke and (eventually) out came a baby. I was glad to have a midwife friend tell me it's quite normal for subsequent pregnancies to experience the 'end of days' stuff for longer. Since then I've pretty much acclimatised myself to just being mega pregnant for potentially a lot longer than expected. And since I've done that I've started feeling much better about it.
So I have organised so I have some help with Etta almost every day as I am just not physically able to keep up with her. My hips are really bad so I have difficulty moving and no longer find it easy to get to the bus stop to go for an outing. I am tired all the time so I'm not the
Achieving great hairdressing feats whilst uberpreg
most fun parent in the world. Basically a day at home with Mum involves kids TV or Minions and Daddy Gru, stories, playdough, blocks or drawing. If I'm really energetic we'll kick a ball around in the hallway and have a pillow fight on the bed. And Etta is way more of an outdoors kid than that so she gets frustrated, which is fair enough! Hence queuing fun additional family members to take her out to the park, or ride her car up the driveway, or chase birds with.
She is also a bit more full on than usual because she knows that the baby is coming and she is scared. She's very clingy and we've had some difficult bedtimes, nap-times and over-night-times as well as some EPIC tantrums. Mum experienced one of her full force ones last week and was a little in shock. A full on Etta tantrum can involve throwing, hitting, screaming, crying, smashing her head against stuff and can last up to an hour. These happen due to any number of random things; closing a door, giving her the wrong spoon, turning Peppa Pig on, turning Peppa Pig off - usual story. There is no comforting her until she is ready to be comforted and that can take time. She is simultaneously interested in and angry at the baby. She is keen to cuddle my tummy, and talk about where the baby goes in the new pram, and the bubba bed, but she has also tried to hit the baby because it makes Mummy sore. We have a lot of quiet cuddle time at the moment.
I've also hit upon that awful thing that is constipation. I managed to mostly avoid it last time, and had avoided it up until recently because (I think) of the iron injections keeping me super regular. Now they've stopped (because my levels are much more normal thank you magic butt stab) so has any kind of 'regularity'. I tried my usual home remedies - eating licorice and prunes and drinking an abundance of lemon water but alas, to no avail. And when I went to find my laxatives I realised that in my effervescent cleaning spree I had gotten rid of all expired medications, of which these were one. Thankfully, a friend came to my aid yesterday and dropped something off that has actually worked. So I will be feeling better soon (but also very glad Etta is at her Nana and Poppa's today as I am currently a bit of a state).
On the positive side of the super pregnant fence, I am now so huge the baby has no room. That means it cannot smash me full force in the vagina. This is good because that really hurt and if it were still smashing me like that after a week of thinking it was going to be born, I think I'd lose my fucking mind. I mean, the baby is still moving and looking like a creepy alien in there, but its head is not hitting my cervix, so I'm good with that. High five to you baby. I just hope you can still fit out the door when the party's over.
Because I'm still pregnant and at home I've got a few more of the around-the-house jobs done. Not the biggest one yet (getting our shed into a less death trappy state) - and our garden is a total jungle, but I can live with that. And I get an extra pre-baby grocery shop in that I wasn't expecting which means even more pantry preparedness.* This all feels pretty great, but now I'm at a bit of a loose end. Maybe I'll actually get some proper rest time in before the baby gets here? Maybe I'll even knit something for the new baby? How novel!
This extra time has also, due to a random combination of events, given rise to a new business idea. A plausible, within-my-particular-skill-set-and-interests, completely new business idea. So my brain is going a million miles a minute on that and it's all very exciting. I won't have time or brain room to actually start working on it properly until the new baby is here and our family's sanity has stabilised, but it's something else to look forward to and to play with in the meantime - a new place to stretch my creative muscle. Watch this space**!
So yeah... super pregnancy does suck but I'm over it sucking. So I'm doing the thing now that I didn't really did last time - slowing down. I am still doing the basic, menial jobs of life (dishes, washing, cooking), but I am also reading, writing, thinking and making and enjoying my last windows of total one-on-one time with Etta. So maybe I won't go completely mental at 39 weeks? Maybe in another week's time I'll be in a truly zen like state resulting in a fabulously straight forward labour with no complications? Here's hoping!
* Yeah, I know it's lame the things I get excited about - but it means another shop of exciting and strange tinned meals that I can select myself! And I can try those crazy Indian box meals to see if I want more. Oh, the excitement this brings to my week!
** You'll have to watch for a while - but trust me, it'll be worth it. It's a fabulous plan if I do say so myself and I'm definitely going to give it a real shot. For those of you who already know Murray and mine's current future business plans I must state this is not at all related. Sadly we will not have enough capital or time to launch that particular plan for quite some time. As in, that's the 10+-years-plan or the we've-won-Lotto-plan. This is the sometime-in-the-next-year-Hannah's-additional-'baby'-more-for-the-love-than-the-money-plan.
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