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Eloise's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 12/2/99 -------------------- 11/28/99 11/24/99 11/20/99 11/17/99 11/10/99 11/3/99 10/26/99 10/20/99 10/13/99 10/6/99 10/4/99 9/28/99 9/15/99 9/9/99 9/2/99 8/26/99 8/19/99 8/5/99 7/30/99 7/16/99 7/6/99 5/14/99 5/14/99 5/7/99 4/27/99 4/15/99 4/8/99 3/25/99 3/20/99 3/19/99 3/18/99 3/12/99 3/9/99 3/4/99 -------------------- Eloise's Introduction

July 30, 1999

Sorry I didn't post an entry last week - I was busy, busy, busy. Had a "Xmas in July" party last Sunday - this is becoming a bit of a trend in Australia as July is the heart of winter 'down under' and seems like the right time of year to have friends around, put the Xmas tree and lights up, and hoe into Turkey and pudding. Had a great time but feeding ten hungry adults was a HUGE chore and very tiring at this stage in proceedings.

So, finally all our friends and relatives know about the pregnancy. It's taken a damn long time to tell everyone and two sets of friends only found out at the Xmas party on Sunday. They, of course, hassled me for not telling sooner but, well, it's hard to explain that I spent most of the first twelve weeks deeply ambivalent and in no mood for cheer and congratulations!! Oh, well, what's done is done.

It is a huge relief to have told everyone and now I finally feel like I can move into the next stage of this pregnancy-journey. For the first time in 23 weeks I woke up the other morning and felt impatient about being pregnant. I felt like I wanted to meet my baby, hold my baby, see my baby's face, and that the next 17 weeks can't pass quick enough. It was a nice feeling, and I found myself gazing longingly at babies I saw during the day on the tram and out shopping. So, perhaps I'm starting to get clucky??

Also woke up the other day to find a wet patch on my t-shirt. It's happened once before, a few weeks ago, and then I assumed I'd woken up in the middle of the night to take a drink of water and must've spilt some without realising. But the other morning it felt a little bit sticky and I realised my breasts are starting to leak colostrum!! Weird or what? Strangely enough it felt good, like my body is doing the things it should be and is well on track. It made me think about breast-feeding, which, in the past, has freaked me out when I thought about it. I don't know about you but my boobs are major erogenous zones and the thought of a baby feeding from them made me feel like a major part of my sexuality would be seriously compromised, if not ruined forever!! But when my breasts leaked the other night I felt proud, and happy that my body was preparing itself for feeding. It's like I'm about to discover a new, and perhaps equally wonderful, purpose for my breasts, and it feels okay. It doesn't feel threatening any more, in a weird way I suspect that growing, give birth to, and feeding a baby may well be the culmination and peak of a woman's sexuality - even though it's not an erogenous experience it is probably very satisfying and fulfilling.

I'm also beginning to think about 'feathering the nest' so to speak. We live in an old-style, two bedroom apartment and before you ask, as almost everyone else has, NO, we're not planning to move, and NO, I don't feel the need for a nursery!! Currently our bedroom is in the smaller of the two rooms and my study/computer room is in the larger. Well, it's high time we changed things around a bit. We'll move our bedroom into the large front room and set aside a corner for the baby's area. I've worked out that all we really need in the baby's corner is a cot, a chest of drawers with a large enough top for a change table, and a rocking chair. Simple, sweet, and easy to accommodate. Apart from that we'll buy a pram, a car capsule, oh, a car, and a pouch for JK to carry the baby in when we go to markets and the likes, and that ought to do it.

So I'm in the midst of pulling the study apart and sorting through drawers and shelves of papers, folders, notes, books, etc, etc. A boring, tedious, time-consuming job but it feels good to be getting on with some changes. I'm ready for a MAJOR spring clean and re-arrangement of our living space. Time to get the heavy lifting and moving out of the way before the trimester of the beached whale begins!! I do believe I've only got about one month before I enter the third and last trimester - golly, I'll really have to start working out a birth plan soon!

Hope you're having a great week,

All the best,

Eloise