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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

August 19, 1999

26 weeks.

Well, finally arriving at the 26-week mark really feels like a milestone. Yay! I've made it safely! Well, I know things could still go horribly wrong (touch wood), but I know that if my baby was born now it would stand a chance of survival, and that is a REALLY GOOD FEELING. 'The threat and danger of miscarriage' is a phrase that can now vanish from my vocabulary. I really feel as though a little kernel of anxiety I've been secretly carrying around with me can now go. Poof! It will dissolve like a puff of smoke.

So the countdown will now begin. Instead of reaching 26 weeks pregnant, I'm now starting to count from the other direction. Officially only 14 weeks to go!! I'm a big one for hunches and laying bets early so I'll also get in early on dates. My bet is that this baby will be born on 4th December (not the 26th Nov when due). This date just keeps popping into my head all the time. When one of my girlfriends was pregnant, 8-10 friends had a betting ring - everyone paid 5 bucks and wrote down their guess at the baby's arrival date and the baby's sex - closest bet won the lot. Unfortunately the richest person won - isn't it always the way!

Well, "the belly" finally sticks out further than my burgeoning breasts, and it's gone from being 'cute' to being, well, a huge lump!! I seem to be putting on around a kilo a week at the moment -- too much, I suspect -- and I'm finding my face is blurring under double chins and puffy cheeks and my wedding ring is beginning to feel a little tight. Excess fluid?? More likely excess fat from all the full-cream ice-cream and pudding I've been shovelling in (well, we milk-haters have to get our calcium from somewhere, don't we??) Oh, I'm beginning to wonder if I won't look like a short, round beach-ball by the end of all this. It'll be a low-fat, calorie controlled diet for me, once bubba's out.

Bubby is moving less but I'm getting used to it. The movements are regular enough but very gentle and they don't last long these days. Not like the early days when I suspect s/he was doing 360 degree somersaults and back-flips all the time!! Oh well, it's a slow, snoozy phase I guess, just the odd squirm and half-hearted kick as s/he grows bigger and begins to run out of room in there.

I'm slowly starting to consider "THE BIRTH." As a concept it is vaguely tickling the edges of my consciousness. Reading back over this diary I've realised that A) I've got a big mouth, and B) my opinions have changed dramatically since the early days of this pregnancy. Back then I spouted on about natural birth and NOT wanting an epidural. Now I feel the exact opposite. Put me in the hospital with machines and LOTS OF PAIN RELIEF OPTIONS. Yes, I'm becoming much more realistic and pragmatic these days (or maybe just plain old scared?). I've read heaps of birth stories in the past few months and spoken to a few people and almost everyone, without exception, who had an epidural said that it was a HUGE RELIEF and was THE ONLY THING that eased the pain.

I also read something that really revolutionised my views on natural child-birth and it went something like this: would you consider going to the dentist to have a tooth pulled without an anaesthetic?? OF COURSE YOU BLOODY WOULDN'T!! You'd consider the mere idea inhumane, barbaric idiocy. So why consider going into childbirth, which is infinitely longer, and infinitely more painful, without one!!!!!!!!!!!

This statement sold me. So goodbye natural childbirth, hello big fat needle jabbed into my spine. Sounds scary but I daresay after hours of excruciating labour I'll be prepared to try anything. So there you go, I'm fickle and my ideas change on a regular basis. Yes, I'm human.

JK and I bought a huge, super-dooper change-table at a second-hand baby shop near our house last weekend. It was an exciting purchase, believe it or not. It is a huge wooden thing -- has three deep drawers below the change-table area, a higher shelf next to the change-area (for all the creams and lotions and talcs and stuff for baby's bottom, all within easy swiping distance), and below that is a another drawer and a baby wardrobe with a little rod for hanging baby's clothes and even a little shelf for baby shoes. It's fantastic, despite the fact that it looks like a piece of beige office furniture. But it's so practical it'll hold all the baby's clothes and nappies and bunny rugs and paraphernalia (I hope), all in one handy unit. JK has named it "Baby Central 101," a title which describes it perfectly.

Oh, and for any Aussie readers I have a book recommendation. It's called "WHAT THEY NEVER TELL YOU - Secrets and strategies for surviving the first six months of motherhood" by Kay Stammers, and it has already become The Baby Bible in this household. It has so much practical information about what to buy, how to organise your life, problems to watch for, stages in development over first six months of baby's life, tips and strategies, etc. etc. Fantastic for green, totally unexperienced first-time parents like JK and I. It's jam-packed with practical advice as well as being a good fun read.

Still, despite lots of reading, mental preparation and doing a bit of baby shopping, JK and I feel a little bit like we're in limbo. We're both finding it hard to get stuck into life, job, projects, etc. at the minute. We both feel really low on motivation, as though all we really want to do is snooze all day, eat chocolate and read books. We're beginning to suspect it is a natural, instinctual desire to take it easy and get lots of rest before THE BIG CHANGE. The calm before the baby storm perhaps?? Our last chance to bum around together being lazy, good-for-nothing slobs. I daresay we should do our damnedest to indulge this desire while we still have the chance. God knows what our life will be like in a few short months.

On that note I'll sign off. I've rattled myself enough for one day. Hope everyone cruising cyberspace is healthy and happy.

All the best,

Eloise