Almost to the end

I had plans for Friday morning but instead ended up making sweet sweet love to my LAST ASSIGNMENT FOR THE YEAR and then went to my LAST SHIFT FOR THE YEAR at a hospital and shared an amazing empowering birth with a woman whose previous birth was traumatic and this one was amazing (her words, not my judgement).

I now only have 18 units of my degree to go (oh and two exams and a portfolio but *meh*). I am struggling a bit to just. keep. going when I want to be focused on work and nesting and being pregnant. I have two solid subjects next year to get through, including big placements

Today is a delicious day off. TheMan has gone to the gym to do a double class - RPM then pump. He is bringing coffee home for us though.

Then we need to tidy the house. It is clean, just not tidy. It's the effect of spending 6 months doing 99% of things and discovering that at the end of 6 months, that means there is stuff and things around the house waiting to be put away.

The study is slowly turning into Puggle's Room. I refuse to call it a nursery as I don't plan on nursing in there, and s/he won't be in there by themselves for ages. I will take some photos shortly to show!

The shopping list is shrinking:

Need:

• Nursing and maternity clothes for moi
• Reusable cloth pads for moi (12 x Regular and 6 large)
• Mattress protectors x 2 (for our bed)
• Sheet set x 2 (extra for our bed)
• Nightlight (actually yes I want a touch lamp for beside the bed and these are hard to find!)
• Lambskin baby rug
• Singlet suits x 10
• Knitted hats x5 (have new book for these! Now to buy some yarn to make them with :)
• Baby wipes (both disposable and washable)
• Nappy bucket(s)
• Thermometer
• Steriliser (bottle/pump) (want a microwaveable one)

For later:

• Storage containers for milk/food
• Training cups
• Bowls, plates, utensils
• Teethers/teether toys
• Teething gel / Razberry
• Non-slip bath stickers
• Safety gate
• Powerpoint plug guards
• Cupboard & appliance latches
• Potty
• Toilet training seat

And a few big things that we want:

• Chest freezer
• New car (we have a 3 door hatch at the moment and are going to have to upgrade to a 5 door at some point soon)

How's the pregnancy going?

I get asked it a lot and I guess you, my loyal blog readers, should hear some more about it.

I am now coming up to 21 weeks pregnant. That is pretty much set though I'm measuring 1cm in front of that "guideline" by fundal height, so who knows what that means. But in terms of due date:

"Recent research offers a more accurate method of approximating gestational length. In 1990 Mittendorf et Al. undertook a study to calculate the average length of uncomplicated human pregnancy. They found that for first time mothers (nulliparas) pregnancy lasted an average of 288 days (41 weeks 1 day). For multiparas, mothers who had previously given birth, the average gestational length was 283 days or 40 weeks 3 days." Source

So 41 weeks and 1 day puts my due date at 25/03/2010 rather than 17/03/2010. Now for me, it matters not when bub arrives - I am comfortable knowing that sometime before Ostara next year, we'll be a family of 3. Which I what I'm telling people - either that bub is due in March sometime, or else "before Ostara/Easter".

What is amusing is if I tell people I'm 21 weeks, they'll go "ahuh", like it means something to them. If I say "5 months", then the assumption is that I have 4 left to go. If I say "March" invariably people go "wow you're big/small for that!", like they have any idea of what I should be now.

By the way I've updated my 101 in 1001 days list and need to get my bum into gear as it's now less than 2 years to go!

Paganism 101

Lammas - first week in Feb
Mabon - autumn equinox
Samhain - April 30th
Yule - winter solstice
Candlemas - first week in August
Ostara - spring equinox
Beltane - first week November
Litha - summer solstice

You Call it Christmas, We Call it Yule

You Call It Easter, We Call It Ostara

You Call It Hallowe'en... We Call It Samhain

You Call It Groundhog Day, We Call It Imbolc

You Call it May Day, We Call it Beltane

Jars

I seem to have an opinion on everything but today's is on jars.

I made lemon butter today (the Australian Woman's Weekly recipe but similar to this one from Best Recipes) and used some of the jars that I've been keeping to store it in for Giftmas presents and for eating as well.

But I used a variety of jars and had a variety of experiences with getting the labels off them. The worst offender was Beerenberg which is a shame as the jars are a great size, especially the little sample-sized jars. The labels just would NOT come off - not with soaking, not with a bread knife, not with swearing, no way and no how. So that jar will be for home use I guess!

It is frustrating when things like this are put in the way of reusing so that I can just do something here without adding to the pile of crap associated with modern living or get into the "is recycling worth it" debate...

But I do have lemon butter now!

So how was your weekend?

My weekend was hard. I got told I'm getting fat, and for some reason it really cut to the bone. I got told I'm cranky... and yes, I was cranky. I was tired and not wanting to be on the service desk dealing with stupid returns all day. A serious dose of cbf .

Plus from about 2pm I had serious Braxton Hicks and they were not fun. I need a stool and possibly shorter shifts.

Plus I'm not sleeping well (with recurring, nasty, wake up in a sweat dreams) because of anxieties:
- having a csection
- having a less than physically perfect bub but being blamed for the choices we've made re scans
- having something go wrong that is My Fault because of what I eat or the exercise I do/don't do
- having to formula feed

And then there's the grief I got from my aunt because I have nothing to do with my mother, who lives locally, and she (mother) doesn't as yet know about bubba. And my aunt is distressed to know the situation but not want to be involved when the shit hits the fan and my mother finds out. Why yes, family dynamics are teh fucked around here.

And I don't care. I have made it clear to my mother that unless she has nothing to do with my older brother, I want nothing to do with her. As he has a daughter whom my mother (really creepily) dotes on, she is not about to cut off that contact, ergo I have nothing to do with them.

It's not that hard to work out, is it?

And I don't HAVE to tell ANYONE about my pregnancy and the last thing I want to do is to sell out my child to have a relationship with my mother.

And then there's the drama of wtf am I going to do next year with uni and a newborn, but not wanting to defer for another year until I finish.
And money.
And settling an insurance claim from an accident 2.5 years ago.
And dealing with uni.

PHEW that felt good to get out. I'm going to visit Medicare today, and bank a big cheque, and look at memento books, and have a meal with a friend, and get out of the house.