Life at the Patch – 37 weeks!

It’s been a joyous weekend here at the Patch…

We are, as of yesterday, officially FULL TERM!!

That means little man can come any time now without us worrying that he is just a tad early. There were times when I couldn’t imagine getting to this point, and yet here we are. We have our first (and only) antenatal class tomorrow and then I’d be happy if the little guy decided to make his entrance into the world sooner rather than later.

I shall never, ever forget how lucky we have been to have this baby. And despite being incredibly ill with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, my body has done remarkably well. My iron levels, which were borderline at 28 weeks, are now low enough for me to be diagnosed as anaemic and yet I am surprised I made it this far before iron tablets were needed, bearing in mind I barely managed to eat or drink for the first 5 months of pregnancy!! And despite being considered at higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia, my blood pressure has actually remained lower than normal throughout, and yesterday was the first time I noticed any swelling whatsoever.

I would never dream of suggesting that the pregnancy wasn’t an amazing experience, because growing a new life is incredibly rewarding in so many ways. But it has been a challenge far greater than any I have ever faced and I know in my heart I could never face it again, not knowing how bad it could be nor how very long 9 months seems when you are so sick all the way through. It’s been hard enough dealing with it when only working part-time and being able to spend a large majority of the time resting. I couldn’t do it again with a toddler to care for.

And this makes these last few days or weeks (depending on when he comes) that much more special. No matter how much pain I’m in nor how sick I feel, I’m very aware of how much I need to cherish these remaining moments when my body is doing something so natural and yet so miraculous (and something that so many people never get to experience). For all the times I cried over how very ill I felt, I am glad to have been given the chance to experience this. I’ll never forget the gift we’ve been given and just hope I can cherish every moment with my baby once he is here.

Because of this, I have found the latest facebook “game” that is supposedly raising awareness for breast cancer hard to deal with. I’m not going to write about it now, as I want to ensure I give it the proper time and attention and shall post later this week with some of the links to bloggers and articles that speak far more deeply about it than I can. But until then would it be too much to ask you to refrain from participating in the “I’m ___ weeks and craving ___” game that implies you are pregnant because far from being a harmless bit of fun, it is incredibly hurtful to so many (again, I shall provide links about this in a later post!)

And, in other pregnancy/baby related news, one of my newer blog friends who I discovered earlier this year has just given birth to her second daughter. You may remember KK from The Mom Diggity from her guest post last month about adoption. Well, go check out her blog this week to hear all the news about becoming a family of four and see some of the truly awesome items that she has got for the baby from some wonderful crafters!