The aches and pains Beth has suffered in the last week are all due to her ligaments loosening up ready for the birth, while the confused muscles try to hold everything together, and thus get sore. The midwife was fantastic in pulling all the symptoms together into one cause, and then showing us some exercises to loosen up the aching muscles.
Beth's dietary restrictions are loosening a little as she discovers things that won't affect (trigger?) the pre-gestational diabetes. My suspicion is that Beth followed the diet regime far more strictly than most expectant mothers do, and more strictly than the midwife expected her to, and now she can reap the benefits of discovering a wider diet and a few treats again. The real annoyance is taking the blood tests, as Beth can stick her finger and not bleed a drop. I have never had a problem bleeding; in the days when I used to donate blood (I'm not allowed to in the US due to Mad Cow paranoia) the nurses were always surprised at how fast I could fill the blood bag.
I'm cooking a whole chicken once a week with steamed vegetables, and we eat a leg each as our first meal, and the rest of the breast and wing meat as re-warmed meals or sandwiches for the next few days. In fact we still throw a little meat away each week, but I'm hoping to improve on that.
I've officially put in my dates for Paternity leave, and let my Department Manager and bosses know what my plans are for taking time off with the baby. I was pleased to learn that they have to hold my job for up to 26 weeks (unpaid), not just the 12 weeks I was originally told, so I'll almost certainly take all 26 weeks before returning to work, and then probably in the evenings only. By then the baby should be easier for Beth to cope with on her own for a few hours in the evening (after a full day at the office).
Weekly birth classes are now officially over, but we're scheduled for a breastfeeding class and a hospital tour. Our midwife visits again in two weeks, and then weekly until the birth.
I'm a slow bleeder too. When they do the finger pricks for blood donation, the phlebotomist usually has to squeeze my finger into the capillary tube. Then they won't take it because, invariably, I fail the iron level test. They used to use a more fudge-prone method, and would let me pass, but no more with electronic readers.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to picture Beth getting home from the office for baby duty just as you head off to W-World for the night.Try not to do that more than a few times a week, eh?
It wouldn't be a whole night shift, just a half-shift so I was home again for 11pm, and only 3 or 4 nights a week but yes, it'd be too much for Beth to start with. Hopefully after six months it will be feasable.
ReplyDeleteIt took three stabs (and a brief hormonal meltdown) to get enough blood to test this morning. I've got a nice pair of under-the-skin bruises on the two fingers that failed to produce enough. Haven't removed the third bandaid yet.
ReplyDeleteOn the up side, my reading was 95, which is a nice healthy fasting number and means that my dinner of whole wheat pasta, Activia yogurt and crescent rolls (my first FUN bread since Christmas - it was SO GOOD!) passed, and my list of available foods has grown once again.