36 Weeks Pregnant

Maternity leave has begun and now I face the life of a heavily pregnant stay at home Mum. Nice.

No really, I'm enjoying it, the cooking (lots of cooking and freezing), buying and iron and a new kettle, I mean, how cliche can a woman get?

I have to admit that I had to buy the iron though, because the old one broke.... six months ago :-)

You see, I don't iron. I hate ironing and while bringing in 50% of the household income I feel it is my right to outsource! This week though I did the nesting thing of washing all the baby's clothes and then wanting to iron them.

Including 25 muslins - how did I accumulate 25 muslins I ask you?!

My son remains in school / childcare 3 days a week from 8.30am to 4pm, which works really well for both of us. He gets the fun and stimulation he needs from someone who doesn't just want to drink tea and eat chocolate and I get time to myself.. to drink tea and eat chocolate!

Annabel Karmel has become my new best friend and I'm been trying lots of new dishes out on my son, as I'm now responsible for his dinner. While working I only fed him on Fridays and at the weekend, when quite frankly I could be lazy. Pasta? Pizza? Sausages? Pretty much the extent of his menu from me. Now though I'm exploring the delights of Salmon Fishcakes, meatballs in tomato sauce, chicken satay and stuffed jackets. So far it seems to have all gone down pretty well (apart from the fishcakes because he didn't like the crunchy bits!)

The pregnancy continues to be uneventful. No signs yet, but I am struggling to walk for long periods of time without getting cramps or needing to sit down.

According to BabyCentre, at the end of this week, I'm going to reach an important pregnancy milestone; my baby will be considered full-term. That means I could give birth any day now. As my baby gradually drops down in my pelvis in preparation for birth, my lungs and stomach will finally be able to stretch out a little so I'll breathe more easily. On the down side I may find I need to go to the loo more often as my baby squashes on my bladder.

It's right too - having been concerned through almost all of my pregnancy that I haven't needed the loo as much as I should I am now FINALLY needing to get up once in the night... what a thing to wish for! Well, at least it makes me feel like things are working.

So, this is me, 36 weeks pregnant:

 'til next week... x