But it would be easy to get back this feeling of control by inducing the labour myself with raspberry leaf tea, castor oil or driving on a bumpy road. I have to fight the temptation to start trying which induction methods work. I think I'll leave those until after week 40.I haven't worked a minute this week! Yay for me! ...I shouldn't mention that it's only Monday. And it still doesn't mean I'm relaxed in front of the TV. Today I went shopping - I got some fabric which is good enough for a swaddling blanket. I went to the hairdresser's and had my haircut freshened because all the pregnancy-websites kept telling me to "pamper" myself
and to go to a hairstylist because I "won't have any time for it for a LONG time after labour." I also bought new sporty walking shoes although if I trust those pregnancy websites, I won't have time to use those for quite some time either. My hospital bag is packed. I thought it would be just a couple of things but the list just got longer and longer. Hand-written birth plan for the midwife in case I'm not in the mood to talk much, shoes, socks, baby clothing, different small stuff (e.g. pacifier, baby nail scissors) and of course FOOOOOOD! I have 2 different kinds of hematogen bars(cow's blood snack bar), sesame seed honey bar, peanut honey bar, nut and raisin mix. I think I still need to get some beef jerky just in case I'm in the mood for something salty. Labour is definitely not the time to start a low-calorie diet. I mostly want a big selection and I don't want to risk going hungry. I still think pizza is the best food for labour because it's high in calories and high in cheese content (yumm!!!). My plan hasn't changed thought - I'm going to eat real food before I even go to the hospital and, if we have time, I might send Erkki to the store anyway to get some pizza as well. All that food in the hospital bag is just for emergency.
I was browsing through a health food book in the book store and found a food pyramid inside. I've heard of ridiculous but that was just absurdly stupid.
The first and largest level of the pyramid was grains - pictures of white rice, bread, crackers, pop corn and other kinds of food THAT MAKES PEOPLE FAT AND SICK. The second level was fruits and vegetables (also mostly carbohydrates), and then on the third level was the "KINDA UNHEALTHY" food that you should eat in small portions - meat, fish eggs, milk products. And then there was the "SUPER UNHEALTHY" level containing all the essential fats. I remind you that many vitamins aren't even absorbed if there's no fats in diet. My idea of a proper food pyramid is very different. The first level should be (unprocessed) fruits and vegetables (except potatoes). Canned pineapple is a sugary treat not a fruit. The second level is proteins - meat, fish, cheese, other milk products, eggs. Can't avoid getting most of the calories from the second level because meat is just way more calorie dense than vegetables and that's a good thing because I wouldn't want to get too many calories from carbs anyway! The third level is good fats - nuts, oily fish, extra virgin olive oil. This is at least as important as the first and second level, but people often ignore the essential fats, so it deserves its own layer. And the fourth level - avoid when possible - is potatoes and grains: bread, crackers, rice, etc.
Heey, I'm not saying I follow a healthy diet. I often indulge on bread with cheese, dark bread with meat, nice white rice with fish. I add sugar to my coffee because it makes it so much tastier. I eat muesli or porridge for breakfast because carbs taste so good in the morning. When offered I gladly eat chocolate. I love smoothies containing ice cream, frozen berries and sweet fruit juice. But sometimes days go by without even a serving of bread, rice or potatoes and I know I have reason to be really proud of myself because I have been eating healthy. And I don't even try to count how many grams of fat that fried pork contained or how many calories I got from those nuts. But when I eat crackers and pop corn
, I will definitely not pat myself on the back for "following a healthy food pyramid"!
There's so many minor signs listed on Internet, so many things to observe. Some of the signs I've noticed in the last couple of days indicate that it will happen in 2 hours to 2 weeks, some indicate that it will happen in 24 hours (alternatively just a coincidence), some indicate that it will happen within a week. There's no contractions yet. There's just a bunch of details that have hinted of a labour in the near future. Now that I know that the baby is "ready", I definitely read too much into all details. Somehow I still don't think that this baby is willing to wait until after due date. It will either be early or right on time.
She has been working out non-stop for 3 days already. She never seems to sleep during the day. And she doesn't just wriggle her little toes; she gets in position and pushes her legs as straight as possible. Then she relaxes a moment and repeats. And she does this for HOURS! Then she changes position and chills out for an hour and then does some other kind of exercises for a couple of hours. At night she either sleeps or maybe I'm too busy sleeping to notice her work-out. She's like a little Rambo. 
I'm just glad she doesn't hit me like Rambo would.
Monday and Tuesday I spent working. I was either in the lab or going around town due to work reasons. Wednesday and Thursday I did some work on my computer at home. But now I think I'm basically done. There's more stuff I COULD do, but I don't think I will. Especially because I want to chill out before the baby comes and like I said - that could be ANY MOMENT NOW! 
He also grunted at me for being physically more active than him while just a couple of weeks shy of 9 months pregnant. 
I'm not much of a reader myself so that seems like a good enough way to arrange books! That's not entirely as bad as picking a car because it's "cute and red". Book design usually tells a lot about it's content! 
Nesting instinct comes a few days before labour! Yesterday I also vacuumed. That in itself isn't anything special. I sometimes do that and we had people coming over. But I suddenly found myself rearranging the couch to get rid of that annoying dust line that the vacuum cleaner never quite reaches. I mean, what's up with that?! It's been there for quite some time and I was always happy to ignore it. And then there was the soap-line in the bath tub that had really been bugging me for a few days already and today I made the bath all shiny. I think I'm in trouble! Not much time left! 
Maybe it's not nesting at all. Who knows...
If I were to give birth now, it would no longer be classified as premature birth. Usually people give birth at the 40th week, but a couple of weeks before or after isn't unusual at all. Most women tend to give birth a little later. In 3 weeks I will be jumping up and down to try and shake the baby out. But for now, I'm in no hurry to go into labour.
" as I turned off the light and closed the door behind me.
I also turned in the paper that says I'm off duty starting from a week ago. The secretary smirked because she knew I had just spent hours doing Excel tables and charts. She had a baby recently so she knows how tired pregnant women get during their last month. Perhaps I did spend a bit too long working yesterday. My tummy was like a hard basketball for most of the day. This usually happens when I have physically exhausted myself too much. It's like a practice-contraction. Perfectly harmless and very common. 
But usually it doesn't last for such a long time.
I need to draw the line and say - NO MORE WORK! I have 3 more weeks to rest before the baby is supposed to be born. I could find enough work for a very active month or two, so can't just "do a little bit" and expect to feel like I've done most of what I needed to do. 
No more work. I'm officially on maternity leave, so it's about time I start resting and relaxing. 
Well, except for the website updates (about 2 days of work)... and the scientific poster I have to create in the next couple of weeks (3 days of work)... But other than that, ...and some long work emails I just remembered (1 day)... it's time to really stop working! Maybe I should try to do all the work next week otherwise I'll spend the entire remaining 3 weeks in the horrible cycle of worrying for 3 days and working for 2 days and that's not good. 
That plan kinda backfired! Note to self: I need to learn to rest and relax.
Alcohol-free cider isn't quite the same but it's a good compromise.
Suddenly I just wasn't sleepy anymore. I had slept like 5 hours only. I would have assumed that I have to go to the bathroom... or at least that the baby has finally started to wake me up with his kicks and nudges but neither was true. The baby was awake but she was in a really chill mood.
I have been thinking about the possibility that pregnant women are influenced by their belly baby's hormones. It is known that the baby is influenced by the mother's hormones. The mother and the baby share blood circulation - there is a barrier in between but hormones easily pass through it. The baby is affected by the mother's hormones, that I had read on Internet, but I think that the mother is actually also affected by the child's hormones! All the reactions are shared. It only makes sense! She is a complete living organism with her own hormones and (very primitive) thoughts. And if my hormones pass the placenta barrier and she feels the effects, then her hormones also pass the barrier and I feel the effects. We consume each other's mood-affecting "drugs". 
One woman said her behavior was very different during both her pregnancies - she had the characteristics of the child she was carrying. This means that when I woke up at 7 a.m. it was because the baby was awake. She was thinking active thoughts so I suddenly wasn't sleepy anymore either. Most pregnant women repeatedly wake up at the middle of the night during their third trimester. This could be one of the reasons.
The baby quite likes doing that, especially because it makes me move! I'm just relaxing when suddenly something appears under my ribs. You'd move too! She also likes playing "bicycle" on my belly. 
Tiny feet running under the skin - really cute!
She was so startled she screamed! I totally remember the first time the baby did that to me. I had the same reaction. 
and at times I spent a couple of hours watering plants or other similar stuff, but I was in the lab for 8-9 hours straight three days in a row so there was a lot of downtime! And while I was making myself busy with handicraft I watched nutrition videos on youtube. 
Cool! 