Well, the end is almost in sight!
It's funny how when you reach this stage of pregnancy, in one sense you feel as if it has gone past quite quickly, but then in another sense when you look back to the beginning it seems so long ago! Those early days of day long sickness seem so far off, but alas the days of morning sickness have never left. I kind of expected that though since it's been the same every other pregnancy.
Still, as with in all my other pregnancies, I've not had any other complaints at all so I take that as my payback for all the sickness! My blood pressure has always remained textbook level, iron levels are always fine, no problems with glucose, no swelling of hands or feet, or any other aches and pains that go along with pregnancy.
Despite saying this I am looking forward to getting up in the morning one day soon and not feeling nauseous!
I've been trying to take it easy the last couple of weeks. I don't think the third trimester tiredness really hit me until about 37 weeks, so again I can't complain.
Our hospital has a policy that for baby no 5, or more, you have to meet with the consultant at around 37 weeks so that they can double check that baby is lying the right way round. A quick scan a few weeks ago confirmed what my midwife has been saying for months, that baby is indeed the right way round.
Because my previous deliveries have been quite fast - no 4 was 45 minutes from start to finish - I was also asked to go back this week and meet with the consultant again. There had been mention of going in at around term to be induced so as to reduce the risk of giving birth in the supermarket, or some other horror story, but I politely declined. I'm a great believer that if mum and baby are both healthy then you shouldn't interfere. Especially given that all my other deliveries began naturally. I had discussed this with my own midwife the week before and she agreed that there was no need for induction.
The consultant accepted my decision and said he just had to make me aware the option was there. This delivery could be faster he said. But it might not be, was my response, and he agreed. He double checked how far away we live from the hospital - 10 minutes maximum - and that we had child care arrangements in place - several! Another check of baby confirmed, yet again, that they are lying head down, in fact the consultant was surprised that the head was quite so far down.
I'm not naturally a very assertive person and so I was rather pleased with myself for standing my ground. As I left the room the midwife followed me and patted me on the back saying, "well done you for sticking to your guns." That made me feel pretty good.
I finally packed my hospital bag last night, which is perhaps the latest I have ever left it! We also spent yesterday washing baby clothes that have been stored up in the loft and they are now neatly folded away. The boys were amazed when the saw how small the first size baby-gros are. Then I held one up in front of me and told them how squashed the baby must be by now!
Now we just face the waiting game.
I'm just hoping that this little one is not quite as comfortable to stay put as their older brothers were!
