That I feel full after eating just a little bit, I can deal with. After all, it's a feeling that is new to greedy me.
That I have to go to the toilets so often, I can deal with. Makes giving urine samples easier.
That Tadpole's kicks distract me during meetings, I can deal with. Servers and SANs can only hold my interest for so long anyway.
That I'm getting an impersonation of Alien about to pop out of Sigourney Weaver, I can deal with. It's quite entertaining really.
One thing I really could do without is this slight awareness in the back of my mind that I will need to go to the toilets soonish, awareness which suddenly turns into a very pressing need to go NOW after Tadpole mistakes my bladder for a football.
On 03 August we went for our last scan at Insight Radiology, for the SCOPE research. All was good, nothing really worth noting besides the fact that Tadpole wouldn't present us a good profile for the DVD, so the radiologist told me to lie on my side, then proceeded to shake me all about. During this time, I stopped feeling less like a fish tank and more like a snow globe. We did manage to get yet another cool 4D image:
Also went to the Obstetrician on 07 August, Dr Eva Hochstein. I wanted to talk to someone about my wrist and my hip, as I think I'm getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which affects about 1/4 to 1/3 of pregnant women. Not much I can do till the Hospital's physio contacts me, in the meantime try not to sleep with my wrists all curled up and massage it when it's sore to get rid of all the fluid, sit up straight and don't bend so much. Which is particularly difficult to avoid with the latest arrival in our family and a companion for Tadpole - Loki:
Loki is a 7-week-old pure-bred Dalmatian that we got from a breeder in Pukekohe, Lisa Monti. He's just a lovely-natured dog, very playful, outgoing and smart, but I do have one regret in getting him: I've started getting a taste of what sleep deprivation is about, after getting in only 3 hours' sleep, two days in row. If we get parental leave to recover from it, why don't we get puppy ownership leave???
Anyway - blood pressure: 110/60, uterus: 25cm.
Today was our first antenatal class. These classes are free of charge, unless you want to purchase the reading material (his and hers) for $25 or so, which we did. Our sessions are held every Tuesdays 19:00 at the Onehunga Community Centre by Nadine, a midwife.
Things we learnt today:
- You can own a TV and still end up with 5 kids. And without necessarily being a Christian.
- Of the 10-12 couples that were present, only Bas and I are going through an obstetrician. Others are going through midwives.
- September through to October are peak-hour seasons in terms of baby births. Bas reckons it's because of the Christmas holidays.
- There's a Lactation Consultant available at Birthcare, whom I can meet for advice once, free of charge. 'Lactation Consultant' sounds like quite a fancy position title, considering the person will just spend his or her time telling someone how to stuff a nipple into a baby's mouth. And I do hope it's a woman. A male Lactation Consultant would be just like a driving instructor who doesn't own a car.
- Raspberry leaf tea, homeopathy, 5W (whatever this is, I was daydreaming again when she spoke about it) and sitting straight up or slightly leaning forward are all likely to contribute to Tadpole positioning himself so that he doesn't come out butt first (in which case it would be a breach birth, which is no good).
- Labour is made of four stages, creatively called Latency (contractions), 1st Stage (cervix dilates from 3 to 10cm), 2nd Stage (from 10cm-cervix to birth) and 3rd Stage (from birth to ejection of the placenta).
