I'm approaching 37 weeks this Saturday, which means Arissa will be deemed a full-term baby by next Saturday.
NB: For those who are clueless, babies are considered 'full-term' at 38 weeks although most pregnancies can go up to 40 weeks. From Week 38, baby's internal and external organs are already fully formed and can be born without any complications. Those 2 weeks between Week 38 and 40 are only a time when they start storing mass and plumping up.
Everyone in the office is starting to notice how heavy and tired I look, and my 'big bird walk' is becoming more pronounced. Whereas I felt very energetic and lively in my 2nd trimester, the end bit of the 3rd trimester has me alternating between feeling tired and lazy and the sudden urge to clean and re-organise baby things. It feels like the 1st trimester, I wake up feeling tired and go through the day in a daze.
The symptoms I've read so much about that points to the impending arrival of little bub are:
SWOLLEN FEET started the day before Hari Raya when we were all busy spring cleaning. I didn't realise it at first but it got harder and harder to walk about and when I looked down, I thought to myself "Hang on.... those aren't my feet" but they were!!! My ankles had disappeared to Lala Land and the whole feet looked like a water balloon with skinny toes. I went to sleep with my feet propped on a pillow but there was still a bit of swelling the next day and it got progressively worse as the festive day went on and there was no time to get off my feet. To this day, my feet starts to swell after a little standing and walking.
An old wives tale says that when the water retention recedes suddenly after long periods of bad swelling, Mum will immediately go into labour.
BRAXTON HICKS Contractions started on my leave day Monday, 30 Oct. I woke up feeling something once familiar- a dull period cramp. My whole belly was hard and the period cramp was persistent even though I laid still for a good 5 minutes. Eventually it went away, leaving me slightly sore, and I got up to shower and have breakfast. In the middle of brekkie, the pain came back coupled with another feeling- the need to do Number 2. Argh! Even after Number 2, I didn't feel any better and went to sit quietly at my laptop, responding to emails and trying to forget the ache. After about 10 minutes, it went away for good. Have been getting contractions about once or twice a day... usually in the mornings. What I do is just lie still with my feet propped up and try to relax.
NESTING mood means the need to make a cosy little nest for the bub. This includes all manner of cleaning and re-organising baby things in preparation her arrival. Even though I was feeling heavy and rather lazy, I felt well enough to pack my hospital bag, wash all baby clothes, put all bath things in one basket (baby toiletries smell heavenly!!), free up some space in my wardrobe to accommodate Arissa's stuff. Of course at the end of the day, all the ligaments in my body was stretched and sore.
Hari Raya visiting didnt go to waste despite the waddling and the swollen feet and the various other discomforts. I had many relatives dishing out a piece of advise or two on birthing but they all agree on this one thing: It will be painful as hell. Of course, we now have the magic potion called epidural but therein lies a whole host of other complications which I won't go into today. Anyway, magazines and books advise to KEEP AN OPEN MIND. I may go in there rejecting epidural but after 20hours labour, epidural may become veeerrryyy tempting. The point, so I've been told, is not to get too worn out before the pushing actually starts that bub gets stuck in cervix *nightmare*.