Twenty-nine weeks four days

Partner thinks the reason why I haven't had any strange food cravings during this pregnancy is that I eat a balanced diet anyway. I generally eat my five-a-day,almost always eat whole grains for breakfast (either cereal or oatmeal) and hardly ever touch junk food. Plus we cook dinner from scratch nearly every day, meaning meals without excess salt/sugar/preservatives/colorings. Two of my coworkers (bearing in mind I work in a kitchen) don't cook at home--they just eat ready meals from the supermarket. And one has kids, too. I think that's disgraceful.

Partner and I made a movie from our last Christmas as a childless couple: http://www.youtube.com/user/how1she1sparkles#p/a/u/0/LRAgfDW2JoU. There are a few good shots of my tummy.

A few nights now I've had bad cramps in my calf, usually from turning and stretching while half-asleep. Though the pain is not as intense when I get up in the morning, it's still been hard to walk on until I warm it up a little.

The weight I'm carrying is beginning to get a bit heavy. On my walk today I could feel it dragging at my midriff with every step. I feel I ought to be wearing a belly bra or something, just to hold it up. I can only imagine the sag I'll have once the baby's born.

Twenty-eight weeks four days

This week the midwife measured me at one centimeter bigger than average. So she's quite happy with his size now. She thinks he may have been laying horizontally last time she measured.

I went to the hospital with a tiny amount of bleeding last week. There was no pain, and the blood was just in a few pinpricks, but I got really worked up about it. They hooked me up to a baby moniter thing for about an hour, and his heartbeat and movements were fine. They also examined me and think perhaps I have a slight infection, but I still haven't got the test results back yet. Even so, they gave me an injection of anti-D and sent me home after I'd been there about three hours. So I'm not so worried now.

For the past night or two he's been kicking hard enough to wake me up. It's starting to get a bit uncomfortable, but I still think it's great. When I lay down, he really likes to thump. Like he's trying to pummel his way out. I can imagine he'll only get more persistent as he gets stronger.

I'm still going on my walks with the dog in the morning, though there's been snow on the ground for the past week. I'm a bit scared of slipping on ice, but I got some wellington boots for my birthday and I'm a lot more confident with them on. However, it's hard to slog through the snow and I get tired a lot quicker. One more day till Christmas. It's our last Christmas as just the two of us. Next one Franklin will be nine months old!

Twenty-seven weeks five days

The midwife today measured me and the baby is one centimeter smaller than average, but nothing to be concerned about at this point. She wants to see me every two weeks now though, because of it. She came over for a quick home visit and tried to take some blood (I'm rhesus negative which means I need a special injection--I looked up the reason why but can't be bothered to explain) but failed. Still, she measured and listened to the heartbeat, which was off to the lefthand side this time. Usually he's been right up front and center.

Still, he's been pretty active and still shifts around a bit along with the kicking and wriggling. Last night we were invited to a party, so I made a new dress to show off my shape. I feel I've gotten bigger, but not drastically. I don't have stretch marks yet. I think I look smaller than some women at this stage because I'm quite tall, too. I know I can gain quite a bit of weight and not have it show much because of my height. But speaking of weight gain, I don't think I've gained much either. A bit, I guess, but it's mostly in the tummy. I haven't weighed myself in ages.

For Christmas, we've cut back a bit so we can concentrate on saving for baby things. And some of the things I've gotten Partner are things for him and the baby. I've gotten all I'm going to buy for Christmas, except for a few food items for dinner. There are just one or two more things to make now.

It snowed yesterday and last night, which is very unusual for this time of year. I had wanted to wear fabulous shoes to the party, but I took about three steps to the car and decided to go back in and change to sensible shoes. Normally I wouldn't care much about a little slip, but now I'm much more concerned about falling over. We also left the party a little early (well, it was 12.30, so not that early!) because it got to the point that several people were starting to stagger a bit. I didn't want to be knocked into. Going to a party and staying sober is fun up to that point. When everyone else is stumbling drunk, it's time to go home.

Twenty-six weeks five days

For the past few weeks I've been so exhausted at the end of the day that I go to sleep almost as soon as I hit the pillow. I still have to get up once or twice a night to pee, though. I don't feel the need for a mid-day nap, however. I'm also not as ravenous as I was for the first half of the pregnancy. It's strange that when he was just a collection of cells, I was starving all the time, and now that he's a proper baby, I'm not much hungrier than I normally would be.

I don't feel I've gotten much bigger from the last picture I posted. He's big enough now to be an actual weight, though. I can't lay on my back anymore because he presses on tender bits and makes my legs feel fuzzy. It's quite difficult to actually turn over in bed because of the weight. I also notice that I can only bend so far, so I must squat. This makes certain chores like laundry a bit tricky.

My mother sent me two boxes crammed with baby clothes. I don't know if he'll have enough time to wear all the clothing he now has. I made a new cover for the bassinet (recall the original was pink) out of a white cotton curtain. I also finished the crocheted blanket and can't wait to make another. But I'm working on another knitted hooded cardigan first. I love making baby things, though I'm sure he won't care one way or another.