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Injections
I've got my appointment tomorrow afternoon for my Anti-D injection. I'll have my blood tests done tomorrow too. I'll spend my whole afternoon being jabbed with needles! OK, I am exaggerating just a bit, but...
The last time I had my blood taken, the guy took 4 or 5 vials of it! The needle went in once and he kept changing the vial as it filled up. I'm sure that I was running on empty when I left there. Then again, I have read that a woman's body holds something like 40% more blood during pregnancy than she did before. Maybe they take so much blood in an attempt to stop us from bursting. You think??
Justin's at it again...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3450495.stm
He's worse than that Peter Andre from I'm a Celebrity!
Grabbing Kylie a little while back, now he's stripping Janet Jackson too! Paws off, perv!
You know you've made it when...
You know you've made it when someone comes up and touches your stomach. Yup, that's right. It just happened to me. It made me jump, wondering why this hand was reaching out toward me. And as this hand proceeded to give my tummy a little rub, I looked away and talked nervously, waiting for it to stop.
I always thought that I'd love it when someone touched my stomach because it would be a true sign of my pregnancy and, although I'm thrilled to have my pregnancy recognized, the invasion of my space still freaked me out a bit.
Maybe I'll get used to it.
The weirdest dream
I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that I was in hospital and apparently in labour. I say 'apparently' because I wasn't in any pain and no one was really paying me much attention. Stephen was there and so were my stepdaughters, but no one seemed overly concerned or excited.
Suddenly, the baby was there. He'd been born and I had no recollection of it. I was frantic! How could I have had the baby and not remembered a single bit of it? Did I have a Caesarian? Did I pass out? I was terribly upset and asked Stephen what had happened. He said that I'd delivered the baby naturally and everything had progressed well. Everything was fine.
But it wasn't fine. I couldn't remember this momentous event. It was the biggest event of my life and I couldn't recall any of it. In my dream, I sobbed my heart out. In my bed, I think I must have sobbed too.
Then a doctor told me that I couldn't remember any of it because I had plates. Plates? Well, without him explaining it, I somehow understood that plates were a type of cyst. (Somehow this effected my memory. ?? You know what dream are like; we understand things that aren't explained and we are lost on everything else.)
Interestingly, I can relate this to a conversation we had last night with Ruth. Ruth has big feet, well, bigger than mine for sure, and I only half knew the Cockney slang for feet. I knew it had something to do with plates. Stephen completed it for me as plates of meat. That must be why I dreamt of plates. Strange, huh?
In the dream, the next thing I knew, my son was about 4. He was playing with some other boys. The boys were all dressed in blue, including my son. I kept looking over to check on him but sometimes had trouble picking him out quickly. As we were relatively near a road, I panicked when I couldn't see him and swore to Stephen that our son would never wear blue again. (This, I can relate to filling the baby's new set of drawers with a sea of blue clothing last night.)
Anyway, I woke up feeling very upset and agitated, the dream still so vivid in my mind. I can't remember what my son looked like at 4. Like in any dream, you never get a good look at people's faces. I'd have loved to have an image of how my mind sees this little guy looking in 4 years time. I guess I'll just have wait and see.
Don't tell me that!
To any other Rhesus Negative expectant mothers out there: BEWARE. They give you the injection in your ass! Just thought you'd like to know.
The conversation with the midwife went a bit like this...
MIDWIFE: Please take a seat. (Points to a bed.)
ME: Sure. (I sit kinda sideways, with one leg bent on the bed and the other holding my weight. I offer her my left arm.)
MIDWIFE: Your bum, please. (She holds up a big syringe full of clear liquid. The student midwife smirks.)
ME: My bum? I thought you'd want my arm!
MIDWIFE: No, we give these in the bum because it hurts too much in the arm.
What? Don't tell me that! Hurts too much? Without protest, I undid my jeans and lowered them a bit. She pinched my skin and gave me the injection, which, I must add, didn't hurt a bit. After her little speech about it hurting too much in the arm, I had been expecting this burning hot fluid being pumped into my skin. Thankfully, I survived it unscathed. Well, almost. The silly woman scraped my skin with the needle. Now I've got a little scratch on my ass!
I also had my 28-week bloods done today. Only 2 vials of that precious liquid today, as compared with the 4 they took last time. So, as you can imagine, I'm full of holes at the moment. Surprised I'm not leaking!
Ouch!
I'm at home today. In agony. It started yesterday morning with the occasional stabbing pain in my right bum cheek. Buttock, I suppose is the proper word. I feel like I can hardly walk and I'm certainly realizing now that I cannot continue like this. I firstly called in sick to work, then I called the doctor for an appointment. They couldn't get me in today, but I have an appointment for tomorrow morning.
It feels like a knife is being driven into me when I move. It doesn't even have to be a sudden movement. If I rotate my torso slightly or shift my weight from one foot to the other, it's very painful. It makes me gasp!
So, I'm here at home, trying to follow some of the guidelines that I've read on the internet about sciatic pain during pregnancy. They are:
• Applying a heat or an ice pack to the painful area for 10 minutes can provide relief and is safe in pregnancy.
• Wearing flat, soft shoes will help prevent jarring of the spine when you walk.
• Keep mobile and avoid sitting still for long periods.
• Listen to your body and stop doing whatever is causing you pain.
• During the latter stages of pregnancy, a TENS machine is safe to use to help control pain. It can also be used during labour and after your baby is born.
• Watch your posture and try to keep your back as straight as possible. When seated use a small bolster cushion or a rolled up towel behind your back to support the spine.
• Use pillows and cushions to support your bump in bed.
• Avoid heavy lifting — if you do have to lift anything, always bend from your knees and keep your back straight.
Wish me luck!
Drugs!
I went to the doctors this morning and complained once again about my pains. I told the doctor that it was worse that it had been the last time I was in and that I needed something doing about it as walking, standing, sitting and lying down were proving very difficult. She listened sympathetically and told me that all she could do for me was help to numb the pain. She said that the pain stemmed from the stretching ligaments, which some women suffers from worse than others. I am, unfortunately, a sufferer.
So I have now been advised to take 2 Paracetemol with breakfast, 2 with lunch, 2 with dinner and a Paracodol (Paracetemol and Codeine, by prescription) before bed. By taking the pills at regular intervals and a stronger pill just before bed, I'm told that it should ease the discomfort and make rolling over in a bed a much more pleasant event.
All this, I'm told, will not harm the baby. I hated the thought of taking medication during my pregnancy, but I must admit that it has become necessary. I'm 28 weeks and 3 days into this. That means that I could, possibly, be suffering for the next 11 or 12 weeks! No thank you.
I haven't ruled out the idea of visiting an osteopath or a chiropractor or something to see if there's anything they can do for me. But then, I've never liked being touched by strangers. I'm not a fan of getting my hair done. I've never had a manicure or a pedicure. And I'd never pay for a massage. So we'll see.
Why didn't I think of that?
I had a phonecall from the company's HR department yesterday to confirm that they had received my MATB1 form, which is good. It means that I'll get maternity pay! All they need from me now, I was told, is written confirmation of when I plan to start my maternity leave.
Stephen and I had given maternity leave some thought, but I still didn't have an exact date in mind. Put on the spot on the telephone, I decided to take a leap and suggest a date. With my due date being April 27th and the long Easter weekend falling 2 weeks prior to that, I decided that my last day would be Thursday April 8th. How exciting! It was thrilling to just say the date and make it official because I am so anxious to get out of here.
The HR lady's next question was about how long I anticipated being off. I told her that I planned on taking 6 months, which would mean returning around November. In truth, I probably won't be returning at all, as our Canada plans will hopefully be in full swing by then.
The question that followed both surprised me and thrilled me all at the same time. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself:
"When will you be taking your 4-weeks annual leave?"
I completely forgot that I was entitled to maternity leave and annual leave! Assuming everything is OK'd by the boss man, I could take my 4 weeks of annual leave before my maternity leave, making my last day around March 11th! That, my friends, is a mere month away.
I love it! The idea though is almost too good to be true. You see, my boss hasn't, as far as I'm aware, made any arrangements to replace me while I'm away and, although that isn't my problem, he has to give his consent for me to take all my holiday before my maternity leave. Seeing as I'm telling him that I'll be back at the end of the year, he may prefer that I don't take all of it now. But with my general discomfort and the pain in my pelvis, I'm hoping that I can appeal to his more sensitive side. We'll see.
The thought of leaving here in a month is awesome! I really must have a word with my boss and see if he's at all interested in when I plan on leaving. So far, it doesn't seem like he cares.
Gaming and Bouncing Babies
Unfortunately, I haven't found that my mixture of Paracetemol and Coddeine has done me much good. Like before I started taking it, I still get stabbing pains in my right buttock whenever I'm moving. It's all very frustrating.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but our home is like a shrine to the computer. In our tiny house, we have 5 computers in various rooms all networked together. Stephen is the hardware enthusiast, always willing to take our PCs apart, add new bits or try new things. His PC tower now has a transparent side on it so that one can admire the many flourescent lights inside. Me, I'm the software enthusiast. Give me any piece of software and I can normally display enough patience to learn it.
All this to say that our house is filled with computers and spare computer bits. It's something we enjoy and something we spend a lot of time (and money) on.
Over the weekend, Stephen and I played a network game of Unreal Tournament. For those not in the know, Unreal Tournament is a first person shooter, so basically I (or at least, my character) run around with a really big gun trying to find and kill not only my husband's character, but also all the bots too. It's been quite a while since Stephen and I indulged in an afternoon of kicking each others asses, but it's something that we used to do on an almost nightly basis. What a way to relieve stress! In fact, the girls usually join in too, as there are 5 computers in the house, and we spend an evening of aggressive family abuse!
Stephen claims that I'm not as 'into' gaming since I got pregnant. He says that I'm too into 'baby' at the moment to spend any time with my PC. In all honesty, I spend all day in front of a computer at work and I find that my back aches after just a little while on my computer at home. Stephen does, of course, know this, but he still likes to tease me by implying that my computer must feel very unloved and that I don't deserve a powerful machine.
Anyway, so we sat at our respective computers (in the same room) yesterday, turned up our speakers and played Unreal Tournament. The guns were blaring, explosions were going off, characters in the game were shouting obscenities... It was great! He won, then I won, then he won... We were hot!
Baby Boy went berserk. He bounced around the whole time and wouldn't rest. It was distracting! I tried turning my speakers down a bit, but that didn't work. Admittedly, it didn't make me stop playing but, when we finally did, he calmed down and must have needed quite a nap. It was the first time that I'd really noticed any outside stimuli having such an effect on my unborn baby. It's really quite amazing.
I'm a Celebrity...
I am embarrassed to admit that I watched the whole series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! I say 'embarrassed' because I made fun of the previous series of the same show. I hated Big Brother and I refuse to partake in the ridiculous 'real life' TV of likes of The Salon.
What made me watch I'm a Celebrity? Why was I so interested and, admittedly, addicted to it? The 'B list' celebs that were on it were mostly either unknown to me, like Razor, Mike Reed, Jennie Bond and Diane Modahl, or disliked by me, like Jordan. I can honestly say that it was Johnny Lydon that pulled me in and held my attention. He struck me as such an interesting character, someone who I'd never have guessed would have done a show like that.
And Johnny didn't disappoint. He was loud, aggressive and down-right amusing with it. His dislike of Jordan went a bit over the top, admittedly, but you could understand why he was frustrated with her. It made me wonder though whether he was just playing up to the cameras sometimes, overdoing it and playing the role of Johnny Rotten. But I liked him and I was disappointed to see him go.
And I have to mention Jennie Bond. I started off feeling that she was boring, way too posh and quite annoying. I thought she'd be one of the first off. There was very little controversy or interest surrounding her and I couldn't imagine that she'd receive that many votes. I was repeatedly surprised that she hung around. Then came yesterday's trial. She was great! She really impressed me. She went at it with a 'no nonsense' attitude and not a hint of hesitation. Very impressive, and I then questioned whether or not Kerry should win, as I'd previously thought.
Peter. Well, Peter annoyed me with his singing and with the soppy way he speaks. Life's a poem to Peter. But his ability to put aside his biggest fears and concur the trials was certainly impressive. Yesterday's trial in particular, where his fear was so apparent and I felt nothing but respect for the guy. And to see his face light up when he heard that Jordan had not been saying horrible things about him since she left and, in fact, that she wanted to see him again... well, my heart swelled for the mushy guy.
Kerry was my favorite to win and I'm glad she did. I truly think her 2 weeks in the jungle was a life changing experience for her. She started there so fearful and squeamish and she left having concurred most of her fears. Obviously, she didn't get the last trial done but, in her position, on the very last day and knowing a real meal was just around the corner, I wouldn't have done it either. By the time she was being interviewed by Ant and Dec, who, I might add are excellent presenters in my opinion, she looked completely emotionally wrecked. Time for a bath, a nap and a meal, Kerry!
Embarrassingly again, I'm looking forward to another series of I'm a Celebrity. Oh boy, what must you think of me?
