I have somewhere in the region of six weeks to go, and we are in the throes of what seems to be the longest British heatwave in memory. Generally speaking, I love the sun - sitting and reading, playing frisbee, swimming, beach, walking, lalala. But it's all a bit harder at the moment. I'm not going to whinge because I'm still having a much happier and easier pregnancy than an awful lot of people, but it seems rather unfair that I can't sit out in the sun to enjoy my breakfast without disintegrating into a sweating heap of lard, so dank with moisture that my heels left little perspiration marks on the decking.Yes, that's right my HEELS. I was also the comedy character of the office yesterday when it was noticed that my ankles had swollen up to about three times their usual size, despite, the fact I had been industrially putting them up on a box under my desk and swilling gallons of water. At home, I intersperse putting my feet up on a rocking chair (surprisingly soothing) with sticking them in a bucket of cold water. I have also been eating more fruit than I would have deemed humanly possible. I went into ecstasies yesterday when I discovered that all the strawberries had been reduced to 60p (allegedly once they were on sale for £3.99) and I immediately bought three punnets. Mmmm. The health-giving effects of eating a whole punnet in one sitting were probably counter-acted by the fact that I ate two doughnuts and a bagel while walking to the car, though.
All is going well at the moment - my 34 week appointment showed that the fundal height remains bang on, blood pressure is still good, and they are still looking at me as low risk. Filling that urine sample pot they give me every time was a bit of a challenge though in terms of, er, getting it in the right place to catch the optimum flow. It's not so easy twisting these days. My sample was rather paltry but fortunately they didn't comment. The delightful subject of perineal massage was also broached at this appointment. My response was rather along the lines of mmmm, yes I'll read the leaflet. I have read about this. I can see the logic. The attraction, however, escapes me. And bearing in mind it took me a full stream of piss to manoeuvre a millimetre of urine into my sample bottle, I somehow suspect that even if I was eager to give it a try it would almost certainly end up with me falling over/off the bed/putting my back out twisting into a weird position. So we'll just leave that one methinks.
There is so much advice and opinion out there. While I have luckily escaped a lot of the annoying talking to that pregnant women get because I don't really have many friends with babies, there is a lot of conflicting information. For example, for my swelling ankles, I am advised to elevate my feet above my heart. But at the same time, I am now being told that to encourage the baby to get into the optimum position, I should be leaning forward where possible with my hips raised above my knees. I see no way that these two things can be done at once, although I did have one slightly amusing image of me with my legs lifted up and apart to sort of head height and me leaning bump forwards through the gap. Somehow I don't think this is what they had in mind. And also, in terms of sleeping - for some reason one should definitely be trying to lie on your left side again to encourage optimum baby positioning. But some of the other books say that many women find the only way they can sleep at all is propped up on their backs. It's beyond me.
I think I shall continue taking this all as I take most things - in my stride. I'll do a fair bit of reading (that being the kind of person I am), talk to some of the people who should have a trustworthy opinion, then make up my own mind. And continue eating lots of strawberries.
Isn't there a thing about not overdoing strawberries when you're pregnant?
ReplyDeleteI expect it's allowed to do the foot raising and the leaning forwards at separate times and not simultaneously.
I shall say nothing about samples. You obviously have it under control.