28 week update

I just had my 28 week midwife appointment this morning.

All's good, but neither I NOR my midwife can figure out how this little guy is lying..!? 

We can't figure out where his head is (either breech or vertex), but he seems to be anterior (his spine to my tummy) as I am feeling movement in my bowel today. I THINK he is vertex as I had very high movement under my ribs yesterday which I think was from legs. But really we can't tell.

Midwife says my abs are pretty tight, which is making it hard to feel, and it's making me seem smaller than I am, and why she thinks he seems so high, my uterus is 29-30 cm (at 28 weeks), so pretty big actually. And I am a mere 2kgs away from my FINAL weight with Griffin before I gave birth. YIKES!!! But again she says I don't LOOk that big or disproportionate and I am active and being reasonably healthy. So I guess it is what it is and I am not too worried.

Otherwise all good and health and we agreed I don't need to go back again for another visit for another month (I'll be 33 weeks then) and then we can switch to 2-weekly.

PS According to Griffin the baby plays XBox in utero. He marks an X and then boxes it.   

Here's how I look atm at 27.5 weeks on the week-end and yesterday at 28 weeks:

The midwife was saying that I am not carrying that far OUT, but rather that my uterus has grown up high quickly. He is already right at my ribs and diaphragm. But there's no baby parts right in my pelvis at the moment. So no real bladder pressure. Yay! But later in the day breathing gets a little tough when sitting. And the heartburn starts... So it's a trade-off. ;)

So this is 40!

I turned 40 last week Wednesday on 30 April 2014.

I was not scared or worried about being 40. I know a lot of people get anxious and depressed about it but, as with most things in life, I don't fight or resist change or inevitability. So it was not something I was overly fussed about it. But it did feel like a significant milestone birthday and I wanted to commemorate and decided that it was time to have a really proper grown-up birthday party too.

I decided to theme it 'My Year of 40' to incorporate both my 40th Birthday and also my 40-week surro-baby project.

I can't say I feel anymore grown-up or proper now that I am 40, but more than anything else my birthday wish was to get to see and socialise with those I love.

It was a fabulous birthday!

I worked on the actual day of my birthday, but took a huge cake and snacks to work, only for my amazing team to surprise me with them all bringing cake and snacks too and a huge pamper hamper of stunning gifts and a fab card. We had enough food to feed a small African country!

I left early and went for a divine facial and foot rub. Then the boys and I packed up and went through to A's house where we met up with my sister and her 2 kiddies and my dad who had flown in from Pretoria. I cook and we had a lovely family dinner and catch-up and I was spoiled by them too!

On Thursday, which was a public holiday (Worker's Day) I went to get my hair cut and styled and then went to my house to make a cake for my party. I wente back to prep for a party for 50 people. We had a stunning cocktail party on A's deck with the most perfect weather and most stunning sunset ever. It was so nice to be surrounded by my bestest people in the world, including my dad, sister, boys, nephew & niece, my yoga teacher, most of team awesome and some of the other cool people I work with and spend every day with and my dear friends.

We turned the downstairs area a theatre and put on a private showing of the show 'Dirty Words' which A and I saw recently and which is acted by one of the guys I do yoga with (who is a theatre director usually). It was risque, edgy, hilarious and went down very well based on the reaction from everyone.

The cake I made.

Oh and I had a slideshow running through the evening with photos of me, the boys and almost everyone there. Showing memories of fun time, adventures, travels, shenanigans etc. I had some baby pics too. It worked great and I think I managed to get pics of everyone in there, so it seemed to be enjoyed a lot, lots of people pointed and laughed during the evening.

Then despite my protestations and insistence on no fuss or attention both A and my dad did speeches and completely overwhelmed me with their kind words and thoughtfulness.

It really was the best birthday ever and I felt very blessed, special and loved.

I have a few photos on my camera, but sadly I was a bit busy mingling with all my precious people that I just didn't get around to taking photos. I sort of regret that, but ultimately enjoying the experience was more valuable and important.

Over a week later my bedroom is still full of beautiful looking and smelling flowers and cards.

This is what I wrote when reflecting on my birthday and where I am in my life. 

"In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy."

I like to choose happiness and gratitude  as far as possible. In life you can focus on the negatives and the bad things, but those hold us back, and affect our health and fulfilment. Or I think you can focus on that which is good, and which brings you joy and makes you feel happy. And I have much to be happy and grateful for! So just a few of the things which I am grateful for and which bring my happiness are :

-          My precious, wonderful beautiful boys. They bring me joy, fun, laughter, love and happiness. They are my life’s work and I hope they will grow up with fond memories of me and their childhoods.

-          My family and friends (some of whom have been like family to me). I am not always good at staying in touch but I am grateful for all the fun, companionship, mischief, love and laughter we have shared. The slide show is to celebrate and remember some of those good times.

-          My health. That I can run and leap and climb mountains and do anything I put my mind to. I love being active. It makes me feel happy and alive.

-          Yoga. Marjolein my dear teacher of over 16 years now, who has seen me through all my pregnancies, broken ankle, aches and pains and continues to encourage, and inspire me with every week. Everyone who knows me knows that my yoga time each week is sacred and I don’t give it up easily for anyone or anything. For years and years I was known as ‘pregnant Jane’ at yoga, as I was there right to the end of each of my pregnancies and back straight after, and then developed my passion for all things pregnancy and birth related and became a doula. This brings me to.

-          This pregnancy and birth journey I am on now. I have always wanted to do this again. To experience a pregnancy and birth again, and to immerse myself in it and have the birth I have always wanted. I am very very grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to fulfill this dream of a life-time now.

-          A. Who has been amazing. He is so kind and generous in a multitude of ways, and has given me the opportunity to see and experience wondrous things, travel and have adventures in amazing places and meet incredible people. It has been an amazing journey, and it has been a real privilege and treat to experience someone so mature, aware and easy to get along with. It’s thanks to him that I get to experience the life adventure I am on now. Thank-you for everything!

-          My job and more so my incredible team - TEAM AWESOME. I could not ask for a more fun, interesting, stimulating and rewarding job than I have and my team is simply phenomenal. Their passion, spirit drive and can do attitude make going to work an absolute pleasure.

There is of course so much more and I could go on forever, but all I want to say is, life is great and if the past is anything to go by it gets better and better, so here’s to being 40, which so far is pretty awesome.

Thank-you all for coming, more than anything else for my birthday I just wanted to see and be with all the special people in my life.

And given a choice always BE AWESOME!

Preggy Belly 24 & 25 weeks

24 weeks taken last week.

25 weeks.

Officially very impressed with Google!

Ok, so I am pretty impressed with Google. Check my search page today!

Happy 40th Birthday to meeee!

* The concerns around the obvious access to, and use of, my personal info notwithstanding.

Baby - pic & vid

The baby.

From the scan last week. A pic & video.

He yawn/swallows at the end of the video.

Legs were crossed in the pic...  ‘lotus‘ position? ;)

20+ week fetal anatomy scan done

We went for the 20+ week fetal anatomy scan yesterday. It was amazing. The technology and resolution has progressed SO much in the past 10-15 years. Previously it was kind of a case of 'yup, there's a heart and it's beating at the right speed, all good'. Now they can see, check and measure SO MUCH. It is incredible. We had an amazing u/s tech (same as last time) and she is brilliant. She is very detailed and thorough and explains exactly what she is looking at, the measurements she is doing and what she is looking for and why - I know a lot about anatomy and physiology anyway so this level of detail of developmental anatomy is fascinating!!! - and she has such a nice manner, she makes it so very interesting and enjoyable too. She strikes a great balance between making it fun and entertaining while still doing all the medical-scientific stuff she needs to for her job.

Baby is looking perfect and every measurement is spot on as it should be and all sizes and growth is exactly on dates. 

I was also amazed at how they can now check for risk of pre-eclampsia! as well as other more obvious checks like pre-term labour etc. Pretty cool since it used to happen seemingly 'randomly', so it's nice to know that there are known causes and they can be assessed early.

The little guy was quite active and was swallowing, waving, doing bicycle legs and moving all over. He moved from head down to head up and back again during the scan. At one point, when we were trying to get a clear view of the pulmonary artery arch, she prodded my belly to try to get him to shift over and he waved his fist around as if in protest. It was quite funny.

Anyway, all looks good, and that's it now. No more screening or scans besides monthly midwife visits.

This is starting to get fun now. :)

#MyYearOf40 #ProjectSurroBaby

Scary moment after Spar Ladies' Race

This guy went a bit postal on me on Sunday... 

After I ran the Spar Ladies Race I was exhausted and just wanted to lie down and rest, but I had to find my boys. This is NOT EASY in a crowd of about 25 000 people (there were 22 340 participates and then spectators too). I spent a full hour walking up and down and all around. But is was difficult to move anywhere, so it was slow going and you had to keep dodging people and waiting for a gap etc etc. 

So at one point this skinny clearly competitive runner (black man) marches at full pace through the throng just expecting everyone to part like the red sea so he can get through. As he got to me he just barrelled full steam into me. He clearly expected that I'd jump out of the way before he hit me, but there was nowhere to go, and I stood my ground, because after an hour of being considerate and polite and waiting my turn the whole time I wasn't going to let someone else just bulldoze through as if they owned the place. 

So he just bashed full force directly into me like a head on collision. Which HURT! He then looked annoyed at ME and then started walking around me. I was annoyed so as he passed I elbowed him and said 'Hey watch where you are going' (Admittedly I shouldn't have done this and causing conflict is generally not my style, but I was hot, tired, annoyed and just so over being in that crowd...). 

OMG He turned around and KLAPPED me, hard, on the arm and came and screamed right in my face. I was so taken aback and quite scared. He made to hit me again and I just yelled, 'Calm down. Please leave me alone. I am pregnant'. he carried on yelling and cursing at me and then said I mustn't beat people if I am pregnant. !?. It was awful, and he kept yelling and being really aggressive. I kept saying 'You can't just walk into people'. But he wasn't going to stop, so I eventually said 'Just F**K OFF!' and he finally went away.

I was so rattled and shaken though I ended up bursting into tears, which I NEVER do. It was horrible. It is scary how aggro people can be with so little provocation though. Although I admit if I just let him 'walk all over me' so to speak without reacting it probably wouldn't have happened, so I know I am not blameless... I hate situations like that. So unpleasant and unnecessary!

Spar Ladies Race 2014 - on a go slow...

I decided to go ahead and enter the Spar Ladies Race (aka Spar Women's Challenge) again this year, despite being pregnant and almost on 21 weeks at that. I decided to do it because it's a fun and social race, which the boys enjoy, and there's a great goodie bag, and also it's an 'everyone and their granny and their fat aunty' kind of race. Sure some people are competitive about it - heck I usually am, and it's where I have achieved many of my previous 10km PB times - but it's also a walking, social and jovial race where you don't HAVE to compete.

After running the little Madness Relay at work last week though, which was 'only' 1.4kms but felt so much further and tougher than expected, I was feeling pretty daunted at the prospect of partaking in a 10km race. Even though I have been doing 10-12kms most Sundays anyway, most of that is usually walking, and I don't time or push myself particularly so a RACE of 10kms suddenly sounded very scary. Also having to wake up early and get to the start and brave a huge crowd seemed much more of a challenge than usual.

I had pretty much resigned myself to just walking it, knowing that even if I did I wouldn't be last.

We ended up waking up a little late but still in time to get there. Because I was not competing I wasn't trying to get  starting spot near the front - which I normally do - and we just joined the queue at the back. We only had about 5-10 minutes to spare before the start. Soon the gun had gone off and we were still standing there. 5 minutes later we were still standing there.... with 22 340 participants there is no way you all get going at once. It took us a good 10-12 minutes to get to and across the start line in the end. Good thing I wasn't trying to win any prizes! The first 1-2 kms were so congested with people, mostly walkers, everywhere. So as soon as there was any gap I'd take it and try to jog to gain a little ground and pass a few slow people.

By the 2km mark although there were still THOUSANDS of people ahead of me I just had the urge to break away a little and so I broke out into a trot and kept going. Somehow I carried on trotting and dodging and passing people and next thing I'd passed the 4km marker and then got to the water point at 5km. I had some coke and walked a little then and then took off again. It wasn't easy, but it really wasn't too bad. So off I trotted next thing I passed the 6km mark and then rounded the turn at the end of the promenade and knew it was the home stretch back tot he stadium. I considered walking a few times but at the pace I was going (between 6:00-6:45 min/km) I was able to keep plodding along without feeling exhausted or sore or uncomfortable so I decided to push onwards.

By the time I got to 9km I decided I might as well run all the way to the end! So I did. In the end I finished with an official time of 1h17mins. But I had timed myself from when I crossed the start line and finish line and had 1:06 recorded. I reckon without all the hold up in the beginning I MAY even have just cracked a sub-60, which I think is not too shabby all things considered!

So while this may have been my slowest official 10km ever, I still think I did damn well and am proud of the achievement. I mean I am very nearly (in 3.5 weeks) 40 years old (which is officially a veteran) and past half way pregnant with baby number 3 (technically 4), and I can run 10km in just over 60 mins. Nie te kak nie! :)

here's my recording from my iPOD Nike+ (it was not calibrated 100% correctly hence the distance seeming a bit short).

The results are out already... noting that there was a total of 22 340 participants on Sunday and 10 995 people completed the 10km event, and I started at the back and took about 12 mins just to get across the starting line and even then couldn't move more than a shuffle for a while... I finished 1517th, which is still in the top 15%. 

Which is both/either pretty impressive and/or shows just how not athletic the mob in this race is!

(I am usually somewhere between 100-200th in this race and came 70th last year)