Full-term!

Why yes... we're officially 37 weeks now, which is officially full-term.

As baby said to the little guy in my belly last night,

we're ready for him to come anytime now!

And we welcomed the milestone of 37 weeks with some flair yesterday ;)

I woke up in the morning just before 7am,

after having gone to bed at midnight (was talking to my lovelies at home),

and as usual got up to pee.

Usually the moment I empty my bladder and go back to bed,

Xander starts kicking up a storm... like he's saying good morning to mummy.

That happens without fail, every morning.

And I can count on 1 hand the number of times he was asleep while I was asleep and I didn't get woken up from his activities.

But yesterday morning, I realised that I haven't felt him move all night (probably either cos I was too fast asleep and didn't feel him, or he was fast asleep too).

And he was still not moving around after I came back to bed from the toilet.

So I do what I normally do when trying to get him to move...

I poked and prodded and shaked my belly, nothing.

Baby asked me what I was doing, so I told him and he decided to try it.

Also nothing.

So he got worried and asked me to call the doctor.

Dr R not contactable.

So he asked me to call the hospital.

I was super reluctant cos I didn't wanna seem like one of those neurotic mummies-to-be who call the hospital for nothing.

But I did anyway, for peace of mind.

The midwife who answered was so sweet,

she said either the baby was asleep or I was just too fast asleep to feel him when he did move,

but she wants me to come in to the hospital as soon as I can to check him out.

So we got out of bed, showered, grabbed a nutella sandwich each to eat on the drive there, and headed to the hospital.

Baby was trying to remain calm, but I could tell that he was worried because he was revving his engine at acceleration and breaking a couple of speed limits... something he never ever does.

Last time he did that was when he had 5 minutes to submit his assignment in person and he dashed out the door and sped all the way to uni... 3 years ago.

So we got there, and guess what? 

I call it Murphy's Law, but the kid started moving a little once we got to the hospital.

Haha!

It's like how you got a high fever, but by the time you get to the clinic to see the doctor, it has disappeared :p

But we went up to the birth suites anyway,

and the nice midwife hooked us up to the fetal monitor.

It was measuring his heartbeat, movements, and any uterine activity I was having.

Heartbeat is nice and strong,

Plenty of movements once the machine was hooked up,

and it even picked up the braxton hicks contractions I've been having since the day before (painless practice contractions... not the real thing unfortunately).

The trace was normal and we were allowed home after about half an hour. 

She said it seems like everything is getting ready for the big event...

Soon those braxton hicks will start getting more and more intense and regular, becoming the real thing,

and before long the baby will be here :)

Baby was so relieved :)

Well, I was relieved too la.

But what I loved the most was that the midwives did not make me feel like I was being silly.

Instead, she said that she's glad we came in,

that she'd rather spend her days monitoring normal fetal activity than seeing something else happen.

She even encouraged us to call them anytime I feel worried again,

and they won't hesitate to have me come in for monitoring.

Makes us feel a whole lot better :)

I was nice to be reassured by the thumping of his heart,

and it was the first time I "heard" him move... like everytime he kicked, we could hear the loud "thump" from the machine that was monitoring his heartbeat. So cute :)

Baby hears that all the time when he listens to baby through my belly,

but obviously I can't do the same thing la.

Hehe!

And it was nice to be reassured that I was indeed having those BH contractions,

and it's not just me being paranoid.

I'm not being a neurotic pregnant woman.
I'm not!
See, Xander baby has always been the most active baby.
He goes crazy all the time.
And he's got a routine down and I know exactly when in the day to expect what from him.
He's quite predictable that way.
So when any little thing changes,
it's really obvious and it's so easy to get worried.
Doesn't help when I read all these stories of still-born babies at full-term because of cord accidents and failing placental function and stuff.
It's scary, not knowing if it'll be you.
But all's good now :)

I've been having these BH contractions frequently all weekend already, 

and they start from my back and radiate towards my belly.

They don't hurt, but everything tightens really hard and it takes my breath away, literally.

It's uncomfortable, but not painful.

What annoys me the most is the almost constant presence of the period-like cramps.

Seriously, it feels like I should be running for the pad cos my period is coming soon.

They're not contractions, just everything in there getting ready,

and the midwife says to take panadol for them.

Soon panadol will be completely useless,

and that's when we'll know it's time.

Well, it better be time soon cos the back pain I'm having now is seriously getting on my nerves (literally and figuratively).

Just this spot on my lower back, at the pelvic bones,

it just hurts constantly.

It feels like I need it to crack, but because all my ligaments are looser now and stuff,

it refuses to crack.

So that pain is just there.

Argh.

I'm so glad I don't have to go to work...

the travelling would kill me.

I want Xander baby here.

Only because now that he's full-term,

I feel like he's safer out here than in there.

Out here, I can at least watch him breathe and know that he's okay,

but in there, I can only guess.

Not knowing if he's got any problems with the cord, 

with the fluid around him,

with the effectiveness of the placenta in supplying him with oxygen and nutrients,

etc.

But okay, I know he'll be here when he's ready.

Just to let you know little one,

we're ready.

We're so very ready for you.

In fact, we went and got our car seat fitted yesterday morning!

Had to pay $35,

but no price is too high to pay for the safety of our precious little one.

And we're so glad that we did that,

because watching the guy fit the carseat,

we both got so confused and overwhelmed.

Car seats have changed so drastically from the days when I was putting in the car seat for my baby brother.

I'll take a picture when baby comes home from work and put it up to show you guys what I mean.

Firstly, I don't remember our car seats ever being rear-facing.

They've always been forward-facing, no?

Or is it my memory failing me?

There are a whole lot of straps and clips all over the place,

and the car seat had to be tethered to this anchor point behind the seat...

not just held in place with the seatbelt, which was how I always remembered it to be.

Now we have a car seat in our back seat that has straps all over the place to secure the car seat and make sure it doesn't move around.

It feels more and more real now.

Let's hope we don't have to drive around with an empty car seat in our car for much longer :)

Okie.

I've done up a long long to-do list for myself today.

So time to get cracking.

Ciaoz!