35 week update...

Well.. Here we are at 35 weeks. 

At this point in my last pregnancy I still had another 7 weeks before I met Molly. Little did I know just how much bigger I could get and how long she would want to hang around inside me. 

Here are a few pics from my last pregnancy just for interests sake..

36 weeks pregnant with Molly

36 weeks pregnant with Molly

38 weeks pregnant with Molly (sitting with the gorgeous 9 month old Felix man)

42 weeks pregnant with Molly and having a coffee before going in to hospital to be induced.. *don't do it!!*  Man my belly was huge!! 

And now for my most recent belly pics.. I am interested in the difference between the first picture above and these ones as there is only a week difference in gestation but I have managed to keep a bit fitter and healthier this time around and I can see a big difference..

I am wearing "new" clothes from Nicky.. I am so grateful for the package that arrived today as I am down to one dress, one pair of pants and 2 singlets.. Thanks honey! And thanks for the wonderful pile of boy and unisex baby clothes.. We have so much pink as lots of friends have offloaded girls hand-me-downs. I am not a pink kind of girl so am planning to dye a lot of the pink items other colours anyway. Yay for a jumpsuit with trucks!! 

This week I have been pretty emotional and have been experiencing spurts of energy and then periods of extreme tiredness. Thankfully I am now on maternity leave and I can kind of go with the flow (to an extent) and an afternoon nap is quickly becoming routine. The pelvic pain is coming and going but I think some of it (ie. the zingy electric shock type sensations in my cervix) is to do with baby beginning to make his/her descent lower into my pelvis. 

I had a little bit of a stress last night that I wasn't going to be able to handle the extreme sensations of labour. Luckily a few of my friends were online and I was able to receive a bit of a pep talk and my friend Kate sent me a wonderful list of birth affirmations. One that really helped was; 

"The power and intensity of my contractions cannot be stronger than me, because it is me."

I need to remember that the contractions I experienced with my induced labour were incredibly and unbearably intense because my body was not producing the right amounts of hormones due to the synthetic ones being put into my body. The hormones that the body naturally produce in an unmedicated labour work also to help manage pain. My uterus was contracting to strongly and without any breaks when I was at only 5cms dilation. I was not weak in opting to have an epidural. I was getting very distressed and because of that, so was my baby. I needed a rest so I could calm down. Pain relief was the sensible option in this situation. Because I was in an extremely stressful environment with a lot of pressure to give birth to my baby before the new year, I could not relax and allow my body's own amazing hormonal cocktail to it's job. 

This is a large part of the reason I have chosen to plan a homebirth. Should I end up in the hospital (fingers crossed I don't) it will be for good reason and supported my my wonderful midwife.