34 weeks

Wow. Six weeks to go until LO is due.
This pregnancy is flying by. She'll be here before we know it.
All is going well - she is still wriggling around like mad - I'm not sure if she's still breech though, so I might pop up to the community midwife this week so she can have a feel and tell me if I need to start standing on my head!
I'm feeling pretty ok - quite a few people have said I'm blooming (although I REALLY wouldn't go that far!) and I've also been told that my bump is very neat - which is nothing short of a miracle because according to the scans, LO is pretty huge!
I'm not too tired, although my hips and pelvis have been pretty sore and achy. I'm fine when I'm up and walking though - it's just the transition between lying down-sitting-standing and vice versa which is tricky.
We're reasonably organised for LO's arrival now - her crib is sorted, and her clothes are ready too. We've brought the essentials down out of the loft, and everything is sorted for my mum coming to look after Charlie while Pete and I are at the hospital.
It's quite exciting really - crazy to think we'll probably only have a couple more hospital appointments before she is here with us.
I'm still dithering about whether to hire a TENS machine again. I had one when I had Charlie and it didn't really seem to do a lot, and the buzzing feeling annoyed me a bit - but you never know how much worse it would have been without it!
Charlie is being a superstar - he's so helpful and so excited for his little sister to finally arrive. I'm having so much fun spending time with him - just him and me - before LO makes an appearance!

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Breech!!

Well, today's appointment went well. Everything was still looking very normal on the scan, although LO is growing like mad and is going to be quite a big girl by the looks of things.
The man doing the scanning today was a bit rushed, so only did one measurement of her head circumference, diameter, femur length and abdominal circumference, whereas normally they do several measurements and pick the middle one.
But according to today's slightly rough measurements, she's already 5lbs8oz (with more than seven weeks left to go. Eek.)
The other news is that she has turned herself to a breech position. I was pretty sure she'd turned a few days ago because my bump changed shape and all the kicks were in different places.
Nobody seems particularly worried though, because babies often turn themselves back again before about 36wks.
I've been advised to do lots of bouncing on my exercise ball - I'll have to wrestle it off Charlie first!
My blood pressure is still looking good and they took some more bloods today too - I won't hear any results though unless there is a problem.
We also met with the midwife consultant to discuss whereabouts I'm going to have LO, and have come to a great compromise.
It used to be that if you went to a midwife-led unit, there was more flexibility to move around in labour, use the birthing pool and to have less aggressive monitoring, but the care was very much for low-risk mothers, with no doctors on site and no option for epidurals or other interventions.
Alternatively, for people needing high-risk care (ie me - because of my previous c-section and obstetric history) there was the very traditional consultant-led unit, where you were constantly monitored and basically strapped to the bed, flat on your back throughout.
But things have - thankfully - changed.
I've been given the opportunity to have midwife-led care, but on the consultant-led unit. So I get the reassurance of a consultant on permanent standby in case I end up needing a c-section or if there are any problems, while being on waterproof remote-controlled telemetry monitoring, so I can use the birthing pool, walk around and do all the things I wanted to do last time. Plus, Pete is able to stay with me after LO arrives - even overnight - which will be lovely.
We go back again on September 9, when I'll be 36w5d. It's also Will's birthday, and I love being up at the hospital on his birthday because it's the place where he was born, and lived, and died. So that will be nice, and very special.
I've attached the latest pic of LO - she's got her eye open and you can see how chubby her cheeks are looking already!

Getting organised...

Well, we're off to the hospital on Thursday to see LO on the scan again. It certainly feels like she is growing like mad - she seems to be trying to fight her way out already, and I'm forever finding her knees and feet jabbing me under the ribs.
Less than eight weeks to go until her due date now, and I'm starting to wish the weeks away.
Partly because I want her out safely and partly because I'm starting to get pretty uncomfortable now! Walking, breathing, eating, sleeping - they're all getting pretty difficult!
We've been sorting through all the stuff we had in the loft - I've dug out Charlie's old baby chair, swing and crib. I've also brought down all the bags of clothes that have been residing up there in case our next baby was a boy!
I've sorted through them all and bagged up the obviously boyish stuff for the charity shop (although I'm still not quite confident enough to get rid of them yet, just in case the last four scans have been wrong and she turns out to be a boy after all!!)
I was really pleased to find a few unisex outfits among them, along with lots of white babygros, socks and vests. It'll be nice to pass on some of Charlie's stuff to his little sister.
So putting those bits and bobs together with the bag of girly clothes my friend Kelly gave me, I think we're about sorted!
Obviously LO's not allowed to arrive until September 6 though, or we won't have a buggy or cot ready for her!
I will update after Thursday's scan - I can't believe I'll be 32wk4d by then.
I'm intrigued to know how heavy they will estimate LO to be, as she was 3lbs a month ago. I want her to keep growing well, but I don't want her to be TOO enormous!!

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