PC diary @ 34w 0d

Just 6 more weeks ’til R-Day, so that’s just 2 more weeks ’til maternity leave (technically only 1 week in the office because I’m on leave this week for thanksgiving!) Last week I was feeling a bit anxious and pressured to get a lot of things done at work before I head off to maternity leave, it was making me a little grumpy and emotional (sorry Chris!!!). But now that week is over, I’m starting to look forward to the prospect of not having to think about work for a few months, things are starting to feel more real. 

I’ve had incredible support and kind words from colleagues and friends the past few weeks, excited for Rocky’s arrival, and that has been very helpful in easing my anxieties.

I am done with all the travelling now-the only place I’m planning on being for the next few months is Virginia 😊 The worst part of travelling in the third trimester has been the variety of uncomfortable hotel beds and showers/baths (getting in and out of them!!!). I am also relieved to not be travelling because now if anything happens and I go into labour early Chris won’t be far away. I had terrible nightmares of going into labour having to go to a hospital where I didn’t speak the language fluently! But that’s all behind us now thankfully.

I have been a week behind in my OB checkups because of my travels – but generally everything is on track. I actually lost 2lbs this week despite eating out every night for a week. The OB asked me what I thought was going on…but I’ve been eating appropriately, in fact eating a lot! So I was perplexed too as to why I had lost the weight, but over the past few days I put it back on again. So bizarre. Overall to date I have put on just 10.5lbs (although this is based on my IVF round 3 weight, so before all the IVF treatments I’ve technically put on 14lbs – who knows!), the doctor isn’t concerned as long as I’m eating well and not puking, I (or Rocky!) just have a fast metabolism.

My anemia has been slowly progressing back to normal levels. I had a blood test for health insurance purposes 2 weeks ago and they came back slightly anemic still, but this week my blood test results showed borderline pass! Phew! Looks like the iron supplements might be starting to work 😊

I have a very sore belly button and the skin around it is very tender. Not really sure what to do about it other than make sure clothes don’t rub against it. Which is challenging at 34 weeks!!!

This week I am FINALLY meeting with my two potential birth doulas – we will make a decision after our hour long session whether to go with this group of ladies. It’s funny because it turns out one of them is Chris’s Chiropracter’s wife (we didn’t know until after arranging the appointment!). We meet two because they rotate on call with each other, so depending on the time I go into labour depends on which one we get. We are also probably going to use the same group of women for post partum doula support too. They do overnight stays too if we needed it. More on that next week 😊

Last weekend we went on our maternity photo shoot at First Landing State Park – the weather was incredible as the sunset and the colours of the leaves were brilliant. I can’t wait to see how they come out! The photographer kept saying how small my bump was, but really most photographers suggest doing a shoot between 30-34 weeks and I was 33 weeks…we took a shot of us on the beach on a rug with my laying down in Chris’s lap, she said she could barely see my bump, so I tried various ways to raise my pelvis to make it stick out -haha! The photos should be ready by the end of this week 😊 So glad we decided to do them!