Silence before the storm

I've come to the end of my first week of maternity leave. The first few days were a little strange - I felt really restless, as if I should be doing something, except there was nothing I had to do. On the Tuesday I had a day out with a friend who was over from America, which was really nice and relaxing. I managed to walk surprisingly far and everyone I met said the same thing to me: "Ooh, not long to go now!"

I had quite a few phone calls and e-mails from my work in the first few days. In a way it is nice to be missed and I enjoy hearing all the gossip from my colleagues. They gave me a really nice send-off last week, complete with cake and a huge pile of presents. I felt very relaxed when I left, as I know I've left my job, my first 'baby' in good hands. It was very, very strange though, to tidy my desk and pack up my stuff for the last time for 5 whole months.

This last Wednesday I actually had a job interview! My boss wants my job to remain a full-time job and I want to cut back with a couple of days. He got talking to another manager within the company who was looking for a part-timer with exactly my background. It was most bizarre having a job interview with a huge bump and the baby wriggling away the entire time. I will hear a definite answer within the next two weeks, so hopefully I'll know before the baby arrives.

On Wednesday evening we went to a financial advisor to sort out our mortgage. We have now signed the initial contract for the new house, so that ball is rolling. The estate agent has been to our current home to take photos for the brochure and website. Next week our house will officially be for sale and we're hoping to sell it fairly quickly. Depending on when we sell it, we will move to the new house anytime between 1st August and 1st October (the owners of the new house are flexible). So our baby will have its first few months in this house, in a tiny room, before moving to the new house, where there is a huge room ready & waiting.

After a few busy days, I have now settled into a more relaxed frame of mind and I'm starting to like being on maternity leave. I saw the midwife, who did a scan to make sure everything was normal. The baby is a completely average size, but I have a lot of amniotic fluid. "A large swimming pool", she said. It doesn't look like the birth will be happening early, which is good as I want to enjoy my leave for a few weeks. Everything else was fine too, which certainly helps in making me feel relaxed.

R and I both talk to the baby quite a lot now - after a few awkward words in the beginning of the pregnancy, the baby has become a part of our family already. Sometimes you can clearly feel a leg or an arm move around and at least once or twice a day, the baby gets the hiccups. In fact, it is hiccuping away now, as I write. Only 3 more weeks or so until we meet this little squirming creature and the anticipation is building! We are both so looking forward to being able to cuddle our child. After all these months with my growing belly, we are now mere weeks away from having a child. I have a sneaky feeling we won't know what's hit us!

Getting ready

This having a baby malarky certainly fills your time! The girl who will be replacing me during my maternity leave started this week and has been keeping me busy during working hours. She learns very quickly, but I'm very aware I have to pass on as much of my knowledge as I can. After 6 years in the same job, this is no mean feat.

The evenings are equally busy - prenatal yoga, breastfeeding information evenings, visiting friends while I can still do so easily, getting the nursery ready etc etc. Add to this the fact that we've been in negotiations for a new house the last couple of weeks and we're doing lots of DIY on this house to make it more attractive to potential buyers and there is very little time to put my feet up. It has been unseasonably hot the last few weeks, with temperatures above 20 degrees every day and this has a very unattractive effect on my ankles, making them swell so much they actually hang over my shoes. This makes putting my feet up a necessity and I've started sleeping with my end of the mattress raised as well.

I'm feeling increasingly enormous - the bump seems to grow visibly each day and it is becoming more cumbersome. I can still get around very well, but I can notice the extra weight I'm lugging around every day now. Still, the baby seems to have enough room to move around as it wriggles about merrily on a regular basis. A few days ago, R told the baby to turn so it would be head down (rather than the transverse position it had occupied for weeks). The next morning I was still in bed when the baby suddenly started to be very active and seemed to be all elbows and knees. When I got out of bed, walking felt very uncomfortable, as if there was a boulder in my lower abdomen. A visit to the midwife that morning confirmed that the baby had listened to dad and was now head down! I had been telling the baby to do this for weeks, but obviously R's voice bears more authority...

The nursery is as good as ready. The cradle has been put together and the mattress and bedding are ready and waiting. Putting it together was rather special as it's my cradle from when I was a baby and now I was putting it together for my baby. The changing table has also been put together and all the freshly washed baby clothes are in the drawers. There are nappies on the shelves, zinc cream, baby oil and wet wipes beside the changing mat and the baby monitor is ready for use. The feeding cushion has become my nightly bed companion as I can place it under my bump and between my knees for a comfortable sleeping position. My hospital bag is practically packed - every time I buy something I will need in the hospital, I put it in the bag. Now the baby just needs to stay head down and I need to get through these last 2 weeks at work, so we can enjoy my maternity leave and prepare ourselves for finally meeting each other.