Catch Up

I can't believe I have been pregnant now for 261 day with only 19 days to go until my due date.  That's less than 3 weeks!  Were both so excited about the baby coming but for me things are getting very very hard.

The baby is doing very well.  He is growing A LOT and at a recent Dr. appointment the first thing the Dr. said when he saw my bump was "OH! There's no hiding that baby!".  He said the baby will be probably be quite big.  The baby is now considered full term, so he could realistically come at any time... were just hoping that he waits until the weekend because were in Belfast at the minute so James can do his driving test.  Once the test is finished on Friday and we insure the car I think we will be going on lots of bumpy drives to get the baby moving... and whip out some very hot curries too.  The Dr. said that as my pregnancy has been normal so far, I could expect to wait up to 10 days after my due date to be induced... I think he saw the look of shock on my face.  The thought of going that much longer makes me feel awful!  I'm pretty sure there is no possible way the baby can grow much more in there!!  My bump seems to have dropped though which is good... I feel that when I sit down I have a little more room to breath.

On average the baby should weigh almost 6 1/2lbs at the minute... give or take a little... and he should be about 20 inches in length.  The baby is probably at his full height for now and is just putting on weight at about 1/2 ounce a day.  He should also have learned to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing so that he can use all three when he starts to breastfeed.  He gets hiccups quite a lot and we recently found out that this is a very good sign.  It means he is practicing his breathing so he is ready for the outside world.

I am getting Braxton Hicks quite often and I'm hoping that because they are becoming increasingly uncomfotable, sometimes painful and very frequent... that this is my body getting ready and when I go into labour it will already have done some of the work. :)

James and I are very prepared now for the baby coming.  We have picked a name and his clothes are all washed and ironed and folded in his drawers, as are his blankets, sheets and towels.  I wish I had a way to be distracted for the next 2 and a half weeks so the time would go faster! :)