Week 34: Hospital, Paint, Marmite

I took 3 days off work this week to go to my hospital appointment on Monday, do bits around the house on Tuesday and attend the last antenatal workshop (3-day course) on Thursday.

Because of my underactive thyroid, I have been placed under consultant care during my pregnancy (which means I will be monitored by an obstetrician in the hospital on top of getting regular check-ups by the midwives at my local clinic). Frankly I don't think I need to be seen by a consultant because my GP can easily monitor my condition and adjust my dosage accordingly, but that's just the way things are.

So the obstetrician ordered another blood test and scheduled an appointment to see me in 2 weeks just to look at my blood results. I think it's a waste of time when I can just pop into my GP surgery across the road so I voiced my opinion but he was insistent I should be given a last check-up before I pop. Okay then, if you insist, I thought.

But the good thing that came out of the visit was he agreed I can be placed under home assessment when I start labour. This means that I can stay at home and be monitored by midwives at home when I start to feel the contractions rather than having to be admitted immediately like women placed under consultant care. Goodness only knows how long the latent phase of labour will last (could be days!) and I would rather be kept comfortable in my own house until I am actively labouring (contractions 5 minutes apart, cervix 4cm dilated) and should be heading to the hospital.

Anyway, on Tuesday, we touched up some grubby spots on the walls and ceilings of the house with white paint and also applied oil varnish on two new wooden kitchen trolleys. Perhaps it was the paint fumes which got to me but by the end of the day I was so drowsy and listless it made me feel horrible!

On Thursday we attended the last antenatal workshop in a series of three organised by the National Childbirth Trust. By some strange coincidence, out of the 8 people or 4 couples who attended the course, half work in hospitals. There was a pharmacist, anesthetist, doctor and R the nurse. Hey, they form a medical team!

I enjoyed the last part of the day where we got to bathe a plastic baby. It was fully dressed and had a nappy on as well. We were encouraged to handle it like we would handle a real baby- we were even told to wrap it up in a towel after undressing it so it wouldn't be cold.

When we were changing its diaper, we discovered our baby had marmite smeared all over its genitals (it had done a poop!) so we had to clean that up the best we could before bathing it in the small tub. R did quite a good job with changing his nappy and washing him so I think I shall delegate this task to him and concentrate on being a milk machine.

Other major updates this week:

• Damn all those cakes, chocolates and ice-creams I have been stuffing myself with - I have put on another kilo so my total pregnancy weight gain is now 7kg. I am a fatty! Aaarrgh!
• We bought a car! An old Vauxhall Astra Automatic because I am so hopeless with gears! I have to get over my fear of driving and start getting on the road again.
• We also got a builder in earlier this week to dig up and re-lay the concrete slabs we have in the back garden because they were all warped and uneven. That's another £400 out of the bank but at least it looks a lot neater now.
• I still sleep poorly, need to wee frequently (it's not fun rushing to the toilet thinking you have a full bladder but only weeing a tiny amount), and suffer from groin pain.
  
• Bean has grown to the point where it now hurts when his head pushes down onto my cervix and his legs kicks around my stomach and ribs. He is the most active at dinner time and sleeps usually through the night and wakes up at around 9am. He's a good boy.