We’ve had a really good week, it was definitely well needed.

Thursday - more Getty Dubay (C really likes it & I bought her a ruler so she can make her own practice sheets), reading (this is frustrating for C because everything is either far to easy or daunting which makes her guess rather than reads the words) & maths (very popular ). We had HE football in the afternoon which I think she enjoyed - it is certainly an opportunity (should I ever want one) to talk about disappointment, manipulation and hypocrisy - isn’t the real world wonderful. We had lunch in Tesco cafe & I attempted (& failed) to do a proper shop (rhubarb, french bread, wine & eggs). Claudia spent the afternoon drawing (those lovely sharp pencils are so tempting), she’s done some fantastic things recently (she really likes the Usborne draw and make books), we read some Worst Witch. I had a large glass of wine & went to bed.

Friday - we had to be at the hospital early for a scan, I took C with me (it is the only scan that I’ve taken her to as I was (ha) fairly sure that it wasn’t going to be problematic). Baby apparently weighs about 3kg (6 and a half pounds?) and everything looks okay (he’s still in a lovely position) and he seems to be growing. C held her own beautifully when interrogated about HE, but we had to deal with some horrid old crone waiting in antenatal clinic. I have no more antenatal appointments now - just weekly monitoring, I might have a scan at the FMC in London next week depending on how stressed I feel. I was knackered when we got back, so I made some lunch & let C entertain herself while I had a nap. Home Ed group was really good, Claudia made some clay pots which she’s going to paint next week. We left a bit early so I could get her ready for GB then Simon took her down to A’s. We had a lovely meal at A&C and ended up leaving very late, with Claudia (who was going to stay for a sleep over but changed her mind).

Saturday - Simon had to rush over to A&C’s to pick up the car seat (sorry, it was a bit early!) then took C over to my mum’s to go up to my nephew’s birthday party (and another sleep over). We did more DIY and reorganised the bedroom so we can get a cot in. I was really sick (not nice).

Yesterday - did more cleaning, got an extremely grumpy C back, put the cot up and half emptied the loft. C mainly X-boxed and did some drawings.

My brother & SIL gave us a beautiful alpaca blanket (straight from Bolivia) for the baby, we’ve had loads of bits from other people & the cot is now up so it feels a bit real now. Very strange.

Having more connection problems grrrr

Claudia came back from my PIL last night full of beans clutching her new Magic of Ballet magazine (with free makeup case!) - she slept well & so did I. Si picked up the car £400 rather than £600 (v. thankful for small mercies), in an attempt to keep it going for as long as possible he’s going to use mainly mine (which means we’ll probably need a new exhaust soon *sigh*), I’ll have it on Fridays & alternate Thursdays so we can do our usual groups but we won’t be able to go ice skating.

C & I went into town early this morning - got a few baby bits, a present for my nephew and some stationery for Claudia - C had a snack in town then we struggled home. This afternoon C listened to a story CD and played with a drawing programme while I fiddled with my computer & made soft boiled eggs (new favourite food) for lunch.

After lunch she did well over an hour of maths, 20 minutes of reading & some more Getty Dubay - all very enthusiastically, I’m not sure how long it will last but she’s really enjoying it at the moment. I read for a little while then we sharpened all her pencils & crayons (which took ages) and she did some pretty impressive drawings I put a DVD on at 4 o’clock then woke up at 5 with numb legs. Oh & I found a ball of Jaeger Cashmina that I din’t know I had I’ve knitted some mittens with it.

Simon was home late & we’re both totally knackered so I see an early night coming.

and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5364990.stm although I’m probably too old now

I can’t remember Thursday except to say I think it was better than Wednesday.

On Friday we had car trauma, C did some plumbing (mended at tap for A & C and we now have a fully functional kitchen tap ) and I had another hospital trip (the take a number & wait for it to be called is far too complicated for oh so many people) which brought very good news that I’m happy about. In the afternoon we had ERAPA with the Make It Lady - she did some air pressure & flow experiments with the kids and they made glider & helicopter models. C really enjoyed it, especially since we’d been taking about aerofoils & flight last week. I chatted to people & met a very new baby (the are so small), then got really tired so we left a bit early. Car trauma continued all afternoon (net result is that we’re back down to one car which is a complete bummer but I’m sure we’ll survive), then C went to GB.

Saturday is usually ballet but we’ve decided that C is going to start back after half term - I really don’t want her doing the next medal test & show (way too expensive & too soon to the baby being born, Si isn’t allowed to do any of it because they only let women) - it takes up about 3 hours on a Saturday morning that we can’t afford not to be doing the billion other things we need to do. C was horrible and grumpy she had a nap in the afternoon then we went to my parents for dinner. Claudie stayed over for a sleepover and we went home relatively easily.

Sunday was dreadful, Si went into work and my mum dropped Claudie back after lunch. I spent most of the day in tears of exhaustion & had a very early night. I’ve arranged some childcare for next week.

Yesterday was fine - Claudie slept well, she spent an hour or so doing spiral art in the morning, then we read for a while (amphibians & reptiles, fossils and a bit about evolution). We did a couple of 100EL & Claudia read me some Bob Books & Dr Seuss, she did some writing (Getty Dubay) and some maths (number bonds & sets - I dragged out the old Singapore Primary maths, she really enjoyed it & asked to do more in the afternoon). I attempted to sleep for an hour while C watched a video then made lunch. Claudie spent most of the afternoon drawing & doing puzzles. Simon took her to her swimming lesson and then they stayed for a swim afterwards - C jumped into the diving pool which she’s v. proud of! They came back for dinner then went down to my PIL - they’ll come back this evening.

35 weeks today.

Wildcam … I must do something other than obsess that despite all the scans etc the baby isn’t growing properly - bump looks smaller to me (yes I do drive Simon absolute crazy with this type of thing).

I’m almost seriously thinking of joining the NCT. I never did anything even remotely baby groupish with C & have no idea where this sudden urge has come from. Trouble is

I have no idea what they actually do, although it seems to be what people do..
I’m not generally know for my tolerance in group situations.
They aren’t generally supportive of the extreme over medicalisation of pregnancy & birth that I’m clinging to.
Whenever they have an NCT person on Women’s Hour they are always annoying.
I’d have to contact someone about it.
I don’t know why I think it might be a good idea.
I like bullet points.

Still waiting for the delivery man, S has my car, haven’t done anything today. Fed up.

It took me 55 minutes to drive to the hospital this morning (I left at 7:50) for my (hopefully last) anti-D injection - all over the summer it has taken less than 15. Thank you school runners. And it hurt, a lot - Simon’s (hell my DIY) IM injections are far less painful. Claudia was great, she quite enjoys going up there. Next appointment is a review with the haematologist on Friday. I’m still getting some protein in my urine & am waiting for the culture to come back, I don’t think it is anything major though.

I’m 34 weeks today (35 days to go!!!), and am starting to feel ever so slightly scared of actually having another baby (still a billion times less terrified than I am of not though - poor baby was dopplered 3 times today & he was really active). I still don’t really have much of a sense of him as an individual - I know it is a protection mechanism - I just want him born & home & safe then we can be normal.

C really enjoyed her swimming lesson yesterday, she stayed afterwards and swam with A & the kids; she’s really missed them, the poor child has had a very boring summer.

Simon finished off a few bits of plastering this evening (it looks good too ), I sanded and painted a book shelf & C ate biscuits and played on the computer most of the day.

I have to hang around the house tomorrow waiting for deliveries, we might do some cooking I think.

Crawling out of bed today, everything that can hurt does.

Had a luverly weekend - we set off later than we wanted because Si offered to help out one of the Henley mums set up gazebos for a party (he’s just soooo nice ) and then another bloody cat disappeared. I had a minor strop when I dropped half the brownies I’d made, then the journey was hellish. Party was ace (!) caught up with the people I wanted to catch up with, was v. interested to hear of all the exciting plans going on (I am so out of synch with the baby). Monster seemed to enjoy himself immensely as did the other kids - only 5 or 6 of them in tears at various points .

Afterwards we (and many others) descended on Chez Monster & Teeny and menfolk were sent out for alcohol (which was essential given the number of children). The video was watched, a toasted sandwiches eaten, we tried to leave at 9:30 and eventually got home at 1:30 .

On Sunday I went into hospital for monitoring & a load of bloods - baby is fine, ironically perfectly LOA (C was always malpositioned), head is very low, bump is measuring 37 weeks which is bizarre because I don’t think I’m very big (much smaller than with C), BP is great. Had clotting & PET bloods done because of some protein in my wee, all was relatively normal - I’m dehydrated (again) and have low potassium (that’ll be puking everyday). Platelets have dropped rather spectacularly over the last two weeks - not quite panic levels & we’ve been expecting it (my heparin bruises are HUGE) but I’ll have weekly monitoring & we may have to adjust the anticoagulants. I have another appointment tomorrow

This weekend was the last time we’re going away until after C’s birthday I expect - I am very, very tired now - but we have a few things planned locally between now & the baby that’ll break the tedium of constant DIY. Oh & we’ve ordered a kitchen tap and car seat/pram stuff.

Claudia is building a den in her bedroom & she has a swimming lesson later - I expect that’ll be it for today.

I got Claudia back at lunch time on Wednesday & oh God, was I exhausted. Mum helped with a few jobs around the house while the kids played, then we went into town (via the swimming pool to pay for L’s diving lessons) with a fairly hefty shopping list (but I managed to spend only £1.56). Claudia & I had a very early night & Simon was working late so we didn’t see much of him.

Yesterday I gritted my teeth & went to the local HE football group - C had a brilliant time & it was fairly unstressful, it felt good to be doing something again. Another local mother offered to help out with Claudie after the baby is born & I think I’ll end up taking her up on the offer. We read ballet stories in the afternoon, C did some drawing, then I attempted another early night.

Today we’re going to be cooking for the weekend - lots of chocolate

I’m watching this with interest.

I’d booked Claudia & Lily into a cookery class in Marylebone yesterday (cakes of the world & the location is perfect for me to get some shopping done while they were busy ), but on Monday night the class was cancelled because the teacher was ill. We decided to go in anyway - I had to sort out a prescription which is much easier to do in London.

Simon took they day off & we arrived at lunch time & decided to go to Wagamama’s on Wigmore St, Claudia loves it & Lily hadn’t been before. Very nice it was too Then popped over the possibly the best (most expensive) chemist in the world - complete with a surgical instruments section & a multitude of bizarre physiotherapy gadgets. Much fun was had trying out vibrating chairs while I got my drugs.

After a mad dash to find a loo for the kids we drove now through Westminster to County Hall & decided on the aquarium (we haven’t been since C was a baby) rather than the London Eye. This is when I really love home ed - no hordes of people - we queued for less than ten minutes & got off peak tickets. It was really lovely, C is now old enough to be interested in the displays (they all liked the robotic fish), *everyone* wanted to see the stingrays (I had a chuckle at one family trying to figure how a plaice could be lethal lol), we didn’t get to the feeding sessions but spent ages at the touch pool.

We came out at about 5pm, bought ice creams & watched the London Eye go round - the children had a 15 minute play in the park & then we wandered back to the car. Claudia decided she wanted to stay at my mum’s house last night so we got home & unpacked a few boxes. Mum & Lily are coming over at lunch time to give me a hand with baby stuff.

We’re trying to formulate a childcare plan for C post baby - I expected to be in for about a week and we’d pretty much got that covered but the SCBU thing complicates things somewhat. I’m pretty upset about it - I’ve given up on ‘normal’ conceptions, normal pregnancies and (not too reluctantly) normal birth but breastfeeding & that early post natal period is so important to me.

So much for getting back to ‘normal’ today.

I met with the paediatrician this morning about the ABO incompatibility (similar to rhesus haemolysis but thankfully less dangerous), it was managed so badly with Claudia I wanted to get a plan written down & in the notes asap. I was expecting him to say that this baby may be more severely affected than C was - I’m now pre-sensitized and the antibody levels are higher - what I wasn’t expecting was to be told that with my antibody levels we would be ‘very, very lucky to avoid a SCBU admission’. The prospect of having to leave the baby in hospital when I’m discharged is really distressing. Oh and the RBH has 5,000 births per year - they have on average 4-5 cases of ABO, I’m sick of being on the crappy end of the statistics.

Then I had an emergency CTG because the stinker refused to move, wedged himself into a silly position and his heart beat was hard to find. Everything is fine, it was a beautiful trace, but we could do without the drama. How can anyone enjoy pregnancy?

My mum rescued C from the hospital & they’ve gone off blackberry picking which means she’ll miss swimming.

Oh & I’m having ebay trouble

But I did find my diary & haven’t missed the September birthdays I was stressing about.