Sorry for my silence – I fell off the blogging bandwagon a bit while in New York.Last time I wrote I was fighting a nasty cold and sore throat. Following that posting I started to feel a lot better, though I did and still continue to battle with a scratchy almost laryngitis-like voice. It’s been far from the end of the world, but still extremely frustrating for me not to be able to talk freely, particularly when with family and friends that I don’t see all that often.
But anyway – the rest of my week was fantastic but flew by, as usual, too fast. I ventured out of the house for the first time on Wednesday for some retail therapy with mom for baby and me. Chris flew into NY on Thursday, and we got to spend some quality down time with my parents and sister. My friends from school and I had our traditional pre-wedding girls night out and then came the K&S’s rehearsal dinner and wedding! Everything came off really well and I even managed to eek out my wedding toast to K&S with the help of a powerful mic and large glass of water. I was also proud to dance the night away and make it through the whole reception in my 3-4 inch heels! After a week of much R&R, I really wanted to let loose though I was mindful not to talk too much or to overdo it as regularly reminded by my mom and Chris. Then, on the day we flew back to London, my friends surprised me with a baby shower lunch – thanks ladies, it was amazing!!
I’m sharing some 28 week pictures from the wedding and baby shower since I never quite got it together and posted a 27 week pic. Our little lady is now the size of a Chinese cabbage – a cabbage with little baby eyelashes - and I’ve read that I can expect to grow about a pound/week from forward as she fattens up and fills out before she makes her January appearance.My bump isn’t feeling too burdensome but just prominent and I’m getting kicked and walloped left, right and center. In many ways this is really exciting and a huge relief, but at times while I’ve been feeling less than 100% and post plane when I felt exhausted, I wished she would chill out a little and take a nap. Then again, if she takes after me sleep will not be her forte! Still, the prospect of carrying another pound/week is a little daunting. Today I told Chris I felt like I had a snake in my stomach and he said I shouldn’t refer to our daughter as snake!
My cold and husky voice run have given me renewed appreciation that I’ve had a relatively issue free pregnancy thus far. In the wake of my postings about Blooming Fit and staying active, it’s also made me realize that I need to slow down and chill out a little if I’m not feeling up to scratch. It seems logical but my pregnant mind and active persona don’t always “do” logic. Sometimes I need these reality checks.
Truth be told, I felt nervous getting back on another “germ infested” plane to London after feeling ill post plane journey to NY, but I didn’t have a choice. Aside from feeling pretty warm throughout the flight, I fortunately made it through this journey feeling no worse for wear. I followed the same tips I received on the trip to the US, sans wearing the flight socks which I’d found really hot and uncomfortable on the trip out. I also drank two rounds of hot water, one with lemon. Aside from being soothing, hot drinks also apparently are medicinal in that they “sterilize” your throat and wash germs down into your stomach where they can’t survive – my mom read me a really useful article on this so I wanted to share the tip in case you or anyone you know is flying in the midst of winter flu season – mom, if you read this, can you post that article link as a comment please?
So last trimester – here I am! Bump is blooming, labor is looming and parenthood is less than 3 months around the corner – eek! As alluded to, I’ve been so tuned into pregnancy that I haven’t given great thought to how I’m going to morph from pregnant girl to mom pretty much overnight.
There is a lot to learn and there are a lot of opinions. For example, I arrived back to read this Times article on cot death being a risk by parents that co-sleep with their infants. Now I’d never imagine going to bed drunk with my baby but what if you’re breastfeeding and doze off together?…..and what about all the babies that die of cot death from being in their actual cots?…..and are blankets and sheets really a no go and baby sleeping bags the safer option or is it worth having both?!
I think I better stop this stream of consciousness before this posting gets any longer or I overwhelm myself. I just want to be a safe parent and I want to informed but I don’t want to be a pawn to scare stories….
Ultimately, I’m all about knowledge being power and I want to make educated decisions. Still, I suspect a lot parenting know-how is going to come through actual experience, exchanging wisdoms with fellow parents, trial and error, informed judgement calls and fingers crossed, ahem ahem, Chris and my natural instinct….!
Now, goodnight!
Fruit Photo Credit: Babycenter.com
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