Another very long update...
Frodo-lad is currently on his third bout of hiccups today...
Let's see, at the end of my last proper update I mentioned that there were other things I'd meant to write about; however I can't now remember what they were ;-( So I'll just get on with giving an update of what's happened since then.
The day after my last update was surprisingly exciting, as my friend who is expecting a baby the same day as me (who also has a daughter El's age that he plays with) and I decided on an impromptu trip to Woburn Safari Park, since it was such a lovely day (and to take advantage of a 2-for-1 offer I had.) The only downside was that we failed to take account of it being a lovely day *in the half-term holiday* (rather daft really, since the whole reason we were planning an alternative thing to do was because there was no toddler group on that day - due to half-term! Still, we can blame lack of putting two and two together on pregnancy-brain.) So we had a 45-min queue to get in ;-( At least this was in the shade of some trees. Anyway, once in, it was busy, but as there's plenty of room, not as hideously crowded as I'd feared. It was a pretty good choice of thing to do when heavily pregnant, since unlike Whipsnade Zoo which we'd been to last year, the largest part is a drive-through safari element, with a relatively small on-foot part (Whipsnade being in the reverse proportion.) The kids were old enough and big enough to get good views from the car now and be able to spot the animals we pointed out to them, which I think they wouldn't have been last year, so that worked out rather well. Then there was lunch, and the bouncy castle, before looking at the penguins and sealions, then the play area and ice-cream before heading off home. El had a great time, and I'm glad we went, but it inevitably left me even more exhausted than before!
The following week was also pretty tiring and stressful all round, as Skordh started his new job (a sideways move within the department.) Hopefully the new job will ultimately be more conducive to his part-time hours than the old one has been (where despite officially being on reduced hours, he had in fact been doing more than full-time hours over four very long days, plus extra work at home on his 'day off', evenings and weekends :-( ) But the start of a new job is always hard work with settling into it and learning new stuff, so there's no sign of a let-up yet. As another stress, there is an important weekly meeting which has always been held on Wednesdays (Skordh's non-working day) and despite what was agreed in advance they have not yet managed to move it, so Skordh has needed to go into work then. This wouldn't matter so much at another time, but with less than a month till my due date, I am finding it increasingly hard to look after El full-time for more than two days in a row, so I could really do with Skordh at home on Wednesdays. I hope for all our sakes this can be resolved soon, though I am not altogether confident ;-(
Curtains are also continuing to be a source of stress! First there has been the ongoing saga of El's new blind (ordered back in early April with the expectation that it would arrive in 4-6 weeks.) While El and Skordh were in Minorca in early May I got a phone call, not from the local branch of Fabric Warehouse but from the Northampton one, to tell me that the chain had gone into administration and our local branch had shut down. Northampton were hoping to stay open, and our branch's stock and outstanding business had been transferred to them. She then said she had more bad news, leading off with "I assume they did let you know about the delay getting the fabric in..." No. I'd heard nothing since making my order, when they put 'please make as quickly as possible' in the Special Instructions. "Oh dear, this conversation is only going to get worse, isn't it?" Apparently the material had been delayed until mid-May anyway, and now it turned out they weren't expecting to get the stock in until late May or early June ;-( We agreed that she would phone me to let me know as soon as the fabric arrived; I still haven't heard anything. I will try 'phoning Northampton branch again tomorrow, assuming they are still in business... On top of this has been the matter of the new blind and curtains for our bedroom window. I got round to getting a quote for this from John Lewis back at the start of last November. A lot of delaying the appointment and making mistakes with the quote later, I finally received a quote for an utterly outrageous amount. So instead I bought just the material, and arranged to pay a friend's mother (a retired seamstress) to make them up. Unfortunately she was unable to do this over the winter due to severe SAD and bipolar disorder ;-( She is a lot better now, thank goodness, and ready to get on with them, though there was an extra delay (see below!) However for one reason and another the first attempt at making up appears to be too small for the window ;-( Again, I really hope this can be sorted out soon, since the new blind, unlike our current one, has a blackout lining which I think would be really helpful with the new baby sleeping in our room for the first few months. I have to say, while I was quite pleased that our new house had dormer windows, since I do like the look and the way they add interest to the shape of a room, I hadn't anticipated the hassle the were going to cause in terms of getting curtaining for them ;-(
Some more cheery things: I mentioned above the recent delay in getting our bedroom curtains started. Well, this was for one of the nicest of reasons. Curtain-maker is the mother of my friend with whom I went to Woburn, and of her sister, who recently had a joint baby-shower with my friend. Anyway, a little over a week ago, the sister had her baby ;-) (It was a week and a half early, which was no bad thing, given how big the poor woman was, and the trouble she was having from SPD, carpal tunnel, and gestational diabetes.) This Saturday we popped in briefly to see them and drop off card/pressies, so I got to meet the little lad. He is adorable, and I was really struck by how wee he seemed, despite weighing in at a not inconsiderable 8 pounds 12! This made me realise something. We never had that feeling of 'little baby' with El, since to us he always seemed like a rather large baby (he was 9lb 5 at birth), and it seemed quite odd when parents of older children commented on how little he was. But this time, being used to cuddling and lifting a toddler, whatever size Frodo-lad turns out to be, he is bound to seem tiny in comparison! It'll be a new experience I am rather looking forward to ;-)
I hope to spend a bit more time getting to know friend's sister's little boy some time this week or next, when the new mother has had a bit more time to feel settled. But on this occasion we kept our visit very short, with the excuse that we were on our way elsewhere. The elsewhere in question was a local carnival, which proved to be rather fun, with jousting 'mediaeval knights' heading the entertainment bill, people on stilts, a rather good jazz quartet, and fresh doughnuts. We met up with my friend and her daughter, and her mother, and had a nice time enjoying the cheerful weather. The following day was nice as well, and after church Skordh and El joined up with Tigr and the Cub to have a ride on the miniature steam railway at a nearby park while I napped. Later Skordh, El and I went swimming. We have managed to go swimming about once a week for the last few weeks, which I am pleased about, in various different adequate-but-not-great localish pools (I do miss the lovely new pool in our previous town.) But this time, again in appreciation of the sunshine, we went to a nearby lido ;-) Swimming in the open air is particularly pleasant, and I hope that the lido does manage to stay open in future years (this is supposed to be the final season, though apparently they have said that before, so there may be some hope.) So it was a very nice if tiring weekend, and at least I can rest a bit this week, as my parents are visiting, and are very good at entertaining El ;-)
Baby related things: The Sunday before last, Skordh and I went on a tour of the delivery and post-natal wards of our local hospital, which was very useful in terms of finding our way around and getting an idea of what to expect when we turn up there. It was a little disheartening, in that it's all a bit grotty and run-down and doesn't have the greatest of facilities, and there does indeed seem to be an understaffing problem. I much preferred the set-up at our previous hospital, where we had El, where the maternity unit was in its own separate bit of the hospital, which somehow gave it a very different feeling. Still, I shall try not to worry about it too much. Chances are, if it's anything like last time, I won't be spending too much time in the delivery bit anyway, and the post-natal bit doesn't seem that different, and that's the bit where I didn't have a very enjoyable time last time either. I hope not to have to spend as long there as I did last time anyway, with any luck.
On Monday I had my late-term scan followed by consultant appointment. The scan was really because, as the consultant said, "we don't want any surprises", and sure enough no surprises emerged. Baby is within normal growth parameters, though on the largish side (around 75th-80th percentile for the things they measured - head circumference, abdominal circumference etc.) He is head-down, and there is a normal amount of fluid. Physical exam showed that he is not engaged at all, which again is no surprise to me given how much he is still squirming around. (My book tells me that by now my baby will not be moving around as much, since he no longer has the room to do so; problem is, Frodo-lad hasn't read the book. Sure enough, he doesn't have the room anymore, but he's carrying on wriggling around anyway, he just *makes* room with his pointy elbows and great big hobbit feet!) What was amazing was seeing Frodo-lad on the scan. We didn't have a late scan with El, so I've not had that experience before of seeing a picture from inside me of a baby that is about ready to be on the outside, with a proper little scrunched-up baby face, and little fingers curled up by his chin, and his little foot with all its tiny toes. Awww ;-) Stupidly, I didn't think to ask for a photo, but then again we'll be seeing him soon for real!
So anyway, no particular reason to expect anything to happen early, no reason to artificially start things early, and no reason to change the provisional plan, which is still to have an elective episiotomy. Honestly, getting any actual advice out of the consultant was a bit like getting blood from a stone. As Skordh more generously put it, he clearly has a very highly developed sense of the importance of patient autonomy and self-determination. But I kept trying to make it clear that yes, I understood it was about my own choice, and that he couldn't give me 100% guarantees on any particular outcome, but that he was in a far better position than me to tell me what was *most likely* on average to lead to the best outcome, and that's what I wanted to know, to help me actually *make* an informed choice! Anyway, we seem to have come to an agreement that a medio-lateral episiotomy is indeed my best bet, and that I should ask for the repair afterwards to be done by the registrar to give me the best chance of a good recovery. None of this is really for the best in terms of the SPD, sadly, but I think that's just going to have to give way since the tearing issue is my greater concern. Consultant also agreed that I would be better off not going too long over, with baby just getting bigger and bigger, so I should request a stretch and sweep as soon as I reach my due date, but that more artificial intervention such as chemical induction was not a good idea. The other thing is not to leave it too late to come in once I am in labour (they generally like you to stay at home as long as possible, but with my history of quick delivery and tearing best not to in my case. Also to make it really clear to everyone when I do come in what my past experience and present concerns are, so I have the best chance of getting appropriate care. I'm thinking that one of the things I ought to do this week is type up my birth plan, and as well as attaching one copy to my maternity notes, make sure that Skordh has several copies with him, so there won't be a problem with my notes going astray or getting mislaid.
I guess another thing I really ought to do, given that it's three weeks till my due date, is get round to packing my hospital bag! Got some of the things I need to put in it from Tesco last night, such as cotton wool and newborn nappies (so tiny omg!) One thing Skordh and I did while waiting around between appointments on Monday was finally get round to writing up a things-to-do baby plan. Skordh had dug out the plan we made when expecting El - we'd started it in May! for a baby due in November! I knew we'd been a lot more prepared a lot earlier last time, but that's ridiculous! Thankfully, a good many of the things that were on the previous plan we had already done this time round, such as getting most of the essential equipment, and others it doesn't matter if we don't do them before the birth, such as deciding on godparents.
One thing we have done, is moved El into his new 'big boy' bedroom. (This was probably one of the things I meant to post about last time, come to think of it.) While El and Skordh were in Minorca, my parents helped me move some things into El's new room, and erect the new stuff we had got. Having discovered there was no chance of the new blind arriving in the near future, when they got back we decided to just go ahead and move El into his new room anyway, so he would be happily used to it before Frodo-lad arrived, and indeed to give ourselves plenty of time to get his old room ready for Frodo. So Skordh put back up the old blind that the previous owners had used (lilac with fairies >_<) and we moved all the rest of El's things in. El was very excited about the idea of sleeping in his new room, though when it actually came to bedtime he did have a bit of a wobble. We persuaded him to give it a try, though, and he was pretty well settled within a couple of days. We took the opportunity of moving him to take the stairgate down from the bedroom doorway; he's mostly been good about staying in his bedroom once we've said goodnight, and it's nice for him to be able to come and find us in the morning rather than just calling from his doorway. We recently made a trip to IKEA for him to choose a few new things for his room, such as a new toy basket and book box, and there are a few more finishing touches I'd like to put in besides the blind (a cushion, some posters, maybe a rug) but it's basically done and I think looks really rather nice. Just today my father took down the name-plate from his old door and put it up on the new one, so it is really 'El's room' now ;-)
Since then we have been gradually sorting out El's old room to turn it back into a nursery. Skordh moved a big shelf unit from there into the sitting room to be much-needed storage for the ever-increasing amount of toys that is accumulating there, and instead we put in a couple of other pieces of hand-me-down furniture. My parents have helped again over the last few days, so now the big chest-of-drawers is secured to the wall and the cot-bed turned back into a cot. Mummy and I spent quite a while today putting things into the chest and hanging rail, so I think we are definitely getting there ;-) The main outstanding task is to sort out the Moses basket, and make sure we have enough new-baby clothes for the first little while.
The other thing we really need to do is decide on a name for this poor baby! El has already told the helpers at his nursery, and some nurses at hospital, that his baby brother is called Frodo-lad, oops. We have tried to explain that's just a temporary name and he will need a proper name once he comes out; I think this has gone in, as he recently told someone else that baby "is called Frodo-lad for now." Still, actually coming up with a proper name would be a good idea...
The past couple of weeks I have been feeling oddly ambivalent about the end of this pregnancy. On the one hand I am tired, uncomfortable, and usually in pain, so I am looking forward to that being over and not being pregnant any more. On the other hand, in a way I don't want the pregnancy to be over too soon. I think this is a combination of rather dreading the actual giving-birth bit and worrying about coping with a newborn as well as a toddler, and an awareness that this is the last time I intend to be pregnant so I want to 'make the most of it' and appreciate the experience properly (after all there are some nice things about it, like the very intimate connection with baby, feeling him move even when it's uncomfortable, that sort of thing. I even like the way other people express an interest in you and your life in a way they usually don't, though I do understand how that makes some women very uncomfortable.) So, yes, mixed feelings, all exacerbated of course by rampant hormones! Well, 37 weeks today, which means baby is now classed as full-term, and not much longer to go no matter how I feel about it!
Well, I guess I succeeded in my aim of updating more quickly that I did the last time, though I am quite surprised by just how long a post this has become! I'll see if I can manage shorter but more frequent updates over the next couple of weeks...
Let's see, at the end of my last proper update I mentioned that there were other things I'd meant to write about; however I can't now remember what they were ;-( So I'll just get on with giving an update of what's happened since then.
The day after my last update was surprisingly exciting, as my friend who is expecting a baby the same day as me (who also has a daughter El's age that he plays with) and I decided on an impromptu trip to Woburn Safari Park, since it was such a lovely day (and to take advantage of a 2-for-1 offer I had.) The only downside was that we failed to take account of it being a lovely day *in the half-term holiday* (rather daft really, since the whole reason we were planning an alternative thing to do was because there was no toddler group on that day - due to half-term! Still, we can blame lack of putting two and two together on pregnancy-brain.) So we had a 45-min queue to get in ;-( At least this was in the shade of some trees. Anyway, once in, it was busy, but as there's plenty of room, not as hideously crowded as I'd feared. It was a pretty good choice of thing to do when heavily pregnant, since unlike Whipsnade Zoo which we'd been to last year, the largest part is a drive-through safari element, with a relatively small on-foot part (Whipsnade being in the reverse proportion.) The kids were old enough and big enough to get good views from the car now and be able to spot the animals we pointed out to them, which I think they wouldn't have been last year, so that worked out rather well. Then there was lunch, and the bouncy castle, before looking at the penguins and sealions, then the play area and ice-cream before heading off home. El had a great time, and I'm glad we went, but it inevitably left me even more exhausted than before!
The following week was also pretty tiring and stressful all round, as Skordh started his new job (a sideways move within the department.) Hopefully the new job will ultimately be more conducive to his part-time hours than the old one has been (where despite officially being on reduced hours, he had in fact been doing more than full-time hours over four very long days, plus extra work at home on his 'day off', evenings and weekends :-( ) But the start of a new job is always hard work with settling into it and learning new stuff, so there's no sign of a let-up yet. As another stress, there is an important weekly meeting which has always been held on Wednesdays (Skordh's non-working day) and despite what was agreed in advance they have not yet managed to move it, so Skordh has needed to go into work then. This wouldn't matter so much at another time, but with less than a month till my due date, I am finding it increasingly hard to look after El full-time for more than two days in a row, so I could really do with Skordh at home on Wednesdays. I hope for all our sakes this can be resolved soon, though I am not altogether confident ;-(
Curtains are also continuing to be a source of stress! First there has been the ongoing saga of El's new blind (ordered back in early April with the expectation that it would arrive in 4-6 weeks.) While El and Skordh were in Minorca in early May I got a phone call, not from the local branch of Fabric Warehouse but from the Northampton one, to tell me that the chain had gone into administration and our local branch had shut down. Northampton were hoping to stay open, and our branch's stock and outstanding business had been transferred to them. She then said she had more bad news, leading off with "I assume they did let you know about the delay getting the fabric in..." No. I'd heard nothing since making my order, when they put 'please make as quickly as possible' in the Special Instructions. "Oh dear, this conversation is only going to get worse, isn't it?" Apparently the material had been delayed until mid-May anyway, and now it turned out they weren't expecting to get the stock in until late May or early June ;-( We agreed that she would phone me to let me know as soon as the fabric arrived; I still haven't heard anything. I will try 'phoning Northampton branch again tomorrow, assuming they are still in business... On top of this has been the matter of the new blind and curtains for our bedroom window. I got round to getting a quote for this from John Lewis back at the start of last November. A lot of delaying the appointment and making mistakes with the quote later, I finally received a quote for an utterly outrageous amount. So instead I bought just the material, and arranged to pay a friend's mother (a retired seamstress) to make them up. Unfortunately she was unable to do this over the winter due to severe SAD and bipolar disorder ;-( She is a lot better now, thank goodness, and ready to get on with them, though there was an extra delay (see below!) However for one reason and another the first attempt at making up appears to be too small for the window ;-( Again, I really hope this can be sorted out soon, since the new blind, unlike our current one, has a blackout lining which I think would be really helpful with the new baby sleeping in our room for the first few months. I have to say, while I was quite pleased that our new house had dormer windows, since I do like the look and the way they add interest to the shape of a room, I hadn't anticipated the hassle the were going to cause in terms of getting curtaining for them ;-(
Some more cheery things: I mentioned above the recent delay in getting our bedroom curtains started. Well, this was for one of the nicest of reasons. Curtain-maker is the mother of my friend with whom I went to Woburn, and of her sister, who recently had a joint baby-shower with my friend. Anyway, a little over a week ago, the sister had her baby ;-) (It was a week and a half early, which was no bad thing, given how big the poor woman was, and the trouble she was having from SPD, carpal tunnel, and gestational diabetes.) This Saturday we popped in briefly to see them and drop off card/pressies, so I got to meet the little lad. He is adorable, and I was really struck by how wee he seemed, despite weighing in at a not inconsiderable 8 pounds 12! This made me realise something. We never had that feeling of 'little baby' with El, since to us he always seemed like a rather large baby (he was 9lb 5 at birth), and it seemed quite odd when parents of older children commented on how little he was. But this time, being used to cuddling and lifting a toddler, whatever size Frodo-lad turns out to be, he is bound to seem tiny in comparison! It'll be a new experience I am rather looking forward to ;-)
I hope to spend a bit more time getting to know friend's sister's little boy some time this week or next, when the new mother has had a bit more time to feel settled. But on this occasion we kept our visit very short, with the excuse that we were on our way elsewhere. The elsewhere in question was a local carnival, which proved to be rather fun, with jousting 'mediaeval knights' heading the entertainment bill, people on stilts, a rather good jazz quartet, and fresh doughnuts. We met up with my friend and her daughter, and her mother, and had a nice time enjoying the cheerful weather. The following day was nice as well, and after church Skordh and El joined up with Tigr and the Cub to have a ride on the miniature steam railway at a nearby park while I napped. Later Skordh, El and I went swimming. We have managed to go swimming about once a week for the last few weeks, which I am pleased about, in various different adequate-but-not-great localish pools (I do miss the lovely new pool in our previous town.) But this time, again in appreciation of the sunshine, we went to a nearby lido ;-) Swimming in the open air is particularly pleasant, and I hope that the lido does manage to stay open in future years (this is supposed to be the final season, though apparently they have said that before, so there may be some hope.) So it was a very nice if tiring weekend, and at least I can rest a bit this week, as my parents are visiting, and are very good at entertaining El ;-)
Baby related things: The Sunday before last, Skordh and I went on a tour of the delivery and post-natal wards of our local hospital, which was very useful in terms of finding our way around and getting an idea of what to expect when we turn up there. It was a little disheartening, in that it's all a bit grotty and run-down and doesn't have the greatest of facilities, and there does indeed seem to be an understaffing problem. I much preferred the set-up at our previous hospital, where we had El, where the maternity unit was in its own separate bit of the hospital, which somehow gave it a very different feeling. Still, I shall try not to worry about it too much. Chances are, if it's anything like last time, I won't be spending too much time in the delivery bit anyway, and the post-natal bit doesn't seem that different, and that's the bit where I didn't have a very enjoyable time last time either. I hope not to have to spend as long there as I did last time anyway, with any luck.
On Monday I had my late-term scan followed by consultant appointment. The scan was really because, as the consultant said, "we don't want any surprises", and sure enough no surprises emerged. Baby is within normal growth parameters, though on the largish side (around 75th-80th percentile for the things they measured - head circumference, abdominal circumference etc.) He is head-down, and there is a normal amount of fluid. Physical exam showed that he is not engaged at all, which again is no surprise to me given how much he is still squirming around. (My book tells me that by now my baby will not be moving around as much, since he no longer has the room to do so; problem is, Frodo-lad hasn't read the book. Sure enough, he doesn't have the room anymore, but he's carrying on wriggling around anyway, he just *makes* room with his pointy elbows and great big hobbit feet!) What was amazing was seeing Frodo-lad on the scan. We didn't have a late scan with El, so I've not had that experience before of seeing a picture from inside me of a baby that is about ready to be on the outside, with a proper little scrunched-up baby face, and little fingers curled up by his chin, and his little foot with all its tiny toes. Awww ;-) Stupidly, I didn't think to ask for a photo, but then again we'll be seeing him soon for real!
So anyway, no particular reason to expect anything to happen early, no reason to artificially start things early, and no reason to change the provisional plan, which is still to have an elective episiotomy. Honestly, getting any actual advice out of the consultant was a bit like getting blood from a stone. As Skordh more generously put it, he clearly has a very highly developed sense of the importance of patient autonomy and self-determination. But I kept trying to make it clear that yes, I understood it was about my own choice, and that he couldn't give me 100% guarantees on any particular outcome, but that he was in a far better position than me to tell me what was *most likely* on average to lead to the best outcome, and that's what I wanted to know, to help me actually *make* an informed choice! Anyway, we seem to have come to an agreement that a medio-lateral episiotomy is indeed my best bet, and that I should ask for the repair afterwards to be done by the registrar to give me the best chance of a good recovery. None of this is really for the best in terms of the SPD, sadly, but I think that's just going to have to give way since the tearing issue is my greater concern. Consultant also agreed that I would be better off not going too long over, with baby just getting bigger and bigger, so I should request a stretch and sweep as soon as I reach my due date, but that more artificial intervention such as chemical induction was not a good idea. The other thing is not to leave it too late to come in once I am in labour (they generally like you to stay at home as long as possible, but with my history of quick delivery and tearing best not to in my case. Also to make it really clear to everyone when I do come in what my past experience and present concerns are, so I have the best chance of getting appropriate care. I'm thinking that one of the things I ought to do this week is type up my birth plan, and as well as attaching one copy to my maternity notes, make sure that Skordh has several copies with him, so there won't be a problem with my notes going astray or getting mislaid.
I guess another thing I really ought to do, given that it's three weeks till my due date, is get round to packing my hospital bag! Got some of the things I need to put in it from Tesco last night, such as cotton wool and newborn nappies (so tiny omg!) One thing Skordh and I did while waiting around between appointments on Monday was finally get round to writing up a things-to-do baby plan. Skordh had dug out the plan we made when expecting El - we'd started it in May! for a baby due in November! I knew we'd been a lot more prepared a lot earlier last time, but that's ridiculous! Thankfully, a good many of the things that were on the previous plan we had already done this time round, such as getting most of the essential equipment, and others it doesn't matter if we don't do them before the birth, such as deciding on godparents.
One thing we have done, is moved El into his new 'big boy' bedroom. (This was probably one of the things I meant to post about last time, come to think of it.) While El and Skordh were in Minorca, my parents helped me move some things into El's new room, and erect the new stuff we had got. Having discovered there was no chance of the new blind arriving in the near future, when they got back we decided to just go ahead and move El into his new room anyway, so he would be happily used to it before Frodo-lad arrived, and indeed to give ourselves plenty of time to get his old room ready for Frodo. So Skordh put back up the old blind that the previous owners had used (lilac with fairies >_<) and we moved all the rest of El's things in. El was very excited about the idea of sleeping in his new room, though when it actually came to bedtime he did have a bit of a wobble. We persuaded him to give it a try, though, and he was pretty well settled within a couple of days. We took the opportunity of moving him to take the stairgate down from the bedroom doorway; he's mostly been good about staying in his bedroom once we've said goodnight, and it's nice for him to be able to come and find us in the morning rather than just calling from his doorway. We recently made a trip to IKEA for him to choose a few new things for his room, such as a new toy basket and book box, and there are a few more finishing touches I'd like to put in besides the blind (a cushion, some posters, maybe a rug) but it's basically done and I think looks really rather nice. Just today my father took down the name-plate from his old door and put it up on the new one, so it is really 'El's room' now ;-)
Since then we have been gradually sorting out El's old room to turn it back into a nursery. Skordh moved a big shelf unit from there into the sitting room to be much-needed storage for the ever-increasing amount of toys that is accumulating there, and instead we put in a couple of other pieces of hand-me-down furniture. My parents have helped again over the last few days, so now the big chest-of-drawers is secured to the wall and the cot-bed turned back into a cot. Mummy and I spent quite a while today putting things into the chest and hanging rail, so I think we are definitely getting there ;-) The main outstanding task is to sort out the Moses basket, and make sure we have enough new-baby clothes for the first little while.
The other thing we really need to do is decide on a name for this poor baby! El has already told the helpers at his nursery, and some nurses at hospital, that his baby brother is called Frodo-lad, oops. We have tried to explain that's just a temporary name and he will need a proper name once he comes out; I think this has gone in, as he recently told someone else that baby "is called Frodo-lad for now." Still, actually coming up with a proper name would be a good idea...
The past couple of weeks I have been feeling oddly ambivalent about the end of this pregnancy. On the one hand I am tired, uncomfortable, and usually in pain, so I am looking forward to that being over and not being pregnant any more. On the other hand, in a way I don't want the pregnancy to be over too soon. I think this is a combination of rather dreading the actual giving-birth bit and worrying about coping with a newborn as well as a toddler, and an awareness that this is the last time I intend to be pregnant so I want to 'make the most of it' and appreciate the experience properly (after all there are some nice things about it, like the very intimate connection with baby, feeling him move even when it's uncomfortable, that sort of thing. I even like the way other people express an interest in you and your life in a way they usually don't, though I do understand how that makes some women very uncomfortable.) So, yes, mixed feelings, all exacerbated of course by rampant hormones! Well, 37 weeks today, which means baby is now classed as full-term, and not much longer to go no matter how I feel about it!
Well, I guess I succeeded in my aim of updating more quickly that I did the last time, though I am quite surprised by just how long a post this has become! I'll see if I can manage shorter but more frequent updates over the next couple of weeks...