The countdown begins

With around 30 days to go (give or take) I thought I'd take some time to reflect on the last few months. I haven't written for a bit because, well, after buying everything, not a lot happened during the second and early into the third trimester. I thought I'd summarise though.

Of course Gumby's mum's tum got a lot bigger. She looks like she nicked a basketball and stuffed it up her skirt. Her tum is also rock hard. Abs of steel, except it's actually her uterous under there. Generally she's been ok. She developed a fair bit of discomfort in her right ribs and back which we're told is normal, and sitting for any period of time is getting harder and harder. Long drives are a definite no no.

Speaking of drives, I sold my little two seater MX5. As much fun as the car was, two seaters just aren't going to cut it. A replacement hasn't been sorted yet, but it will likely be a wagon of some kind.

We've been to three of the five ante natal classes that the hospital runs. Oddly enough there's been no mention of boiling water and towels (think woman giving birth in ye olde style movies) and there has been quite a few videos. The first one was was a straight natural birth. I've seen that sort of thing before (another species) so no big deal there, the second was a ceaserean section which was quite interesting, but had most of the women in the  room looking somewhat uncomfortable. The third was an info-mercial for baby massage. The baby massage looks like a good idea, the video was just a bit tedious.

Bags are packed and ready to go. I've been told that it's a good idea for me to pack a bag too. A change of clothes and some swimmers (helping out in the shower) some snacks, camera, a book, phone numbers etc. I'll post back on what was useful and what I forgot. :)

Pain options were another topic covered in the classes. I hold no opinion here other than it's completely Gumby mum's choice. If she wants a needle in the spine, fine. If gas is enough, that's cool too. I fully respect her wishes. We've hired a TENS machine as well. I'm also taken some pain preventative action. I will be wearing a cricket protector just in case I get too close at an inopportune time.

Another item we hired is a dopler. Something mum to be experiences is movement of the baby. It's an ongoing thing, where she feels movements on and off every day. If she doesn't feel movement for an extended time, some anxiety results and a visit to the hospital to make sure everything is ok results. The way they check on things in the hospital is to put a couple of bands around m2b's tum which has some sensors on them. One measures the foetal heartbeat, the other measures any contractions/kicks/movements if they go on. So, back to the dopler. It's effectively just the baby heartbeat listening device. It's not meant to be used much, and he have it on hand in case we get one of those 'quiet days' so we can check the heartbeat (if nothing else) is ok. It's just a piece of mind thing.

Lastly, from the ante natal class, is the time to know when to go into the hospital. I never really knew there were several parts to giving birth. I'd never given it much thought, and had it in my mind that labour was the more or less the whole thing. It's basically three stages. The first is labour, where the cervix dilates. This happens with contactions and can take many many hours. You don't have to go into the hospital when the contractions start, but it's a good idea to time the contractions (length and time apart) and let the hospital know. Then once dilated (to about 10cm) the delivery begins (this is the pushing bit), then after the baby pops out (all going well) the placenta is delivered.

So, when is it time to go to the hospital? Work knock off! Eh? Yes, after work is 5:30... contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting 30 seconds. (I'll let you know how that works out for us) :)