The waiting game after our holiday...

We had a lovely holiday in Cornwall but now it is back to reality and I have just 12 days to go now until my due date! I am nervous and excited just as I was with the other two. People say you should be less nervous about the labour third time around but if anything I am more nervous this time - because I know what can happen and that whatever scenario occurs it is not going to be nice. But like my friend who has just been through a difficult labour with her second said to me last week: it is only for a day, yes it is horrible pain, but then it is over and you have your baby, there's no better present than that!

So, here I am like a beached whale and I really have had enough of this pregnancy thing this time around. I started getting swelling in the legs, ankles and hands a good few weeks ago and now my hands are so stiff in the mornings that I keep dropping glasses and struggle to butter a piece of toast and hold my toothbrush. The heartburn is getting worse, having heartburn every day for five months is not fun. Now to add to it my blood pressure is creeping up. My midwife and doctor are keeping close tabs on it, and I have my own monitor at home, because I had pre-eclampsia with my first-born. My second pregnancy was totally symptom-free and I thought this would be the same but it appears not. So I am checking my blood pressure several times a day desperately hoping it has not gone up as I don't want to have to go into hospital for observation: I can't as I have my two little boys to look after. I am dreading having to leave them when the time comes as they have never stayed anywhere over night without me or hubby before. We have a plan that either my Aunty or my Dad will come to our house and look after them so I'm sure it will be okay, and again I have to keep reminding myself: it is only for a day, unless anything out of the ordinary happens I will in and out of hospital as quick as possible and will discharge myself if necessary as I did last time! So we are now playing the waiting game and it's very nerve-wracking but I am getting quite impatient and keep thinking it will be any day now...

Great Nana

Last week my husband's Nan (Great Nana to the kids) passed away. She was in her eighties and had a good long life. Along with her other life achievements - one of which was being a nurse, she also had 11 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren - something alone to be very proud of in my opinion. So today we said goodbye to Great Nana at her funeral. There was requiem mass at her church and my husband had the honour as a pall bearer. My three and a half year old was asking where Great Nana was when we reached teh cemetry as we had told him we were saying goodbye to her. I had to try and explain as best I could that she was in the box which is called a coffin that Daddy and the other men are carrying. He asked me how she would get out and if there was a door in the box, and I explained that she wouldn't need to get out as she was having a nice long sleep just like Nana is and that then they will go to heaven above the clouds. It is a difficult concept to grasp even for an adult, I know that he didn't really understand but I wanted them to be part of it. Some would say that it is not appropriate to have children at funerals, and I understand when there are people that are very upset they don't appreciate children running about shouting and laughing, but it is part of life and why shouldn't they be part of it when it was their great grandmother? After the funeral there was a wake around at Nan's house. It was very strange to be sitting in her house when she was no longer there. However, it was nice to meet up with family, it is just so sad that it takes events like this in order for us to all get-together.