35 weeks, 6 days

Just wanted to update on my physio appointment and MW appointment.

I had my physio this morning. As I expected, my aches and pains are more to do with the general aches and pains of pregnancy, combined with my body telling me I am doing too much, rather than actual SPD. She has given me a tubi-grip to wear around my bump and some exercises to do. She also gave me some advice for turning over in bed too. Finally, she said I should no longer be doing the hoovering, mopping the kitchen floor or cleaning the bath (or similar activities) and advised me to get a cleaner for the next 4 weeks and the first 4 weeks after baby has arrived. Oh how lovely that would be! However, I'm still working on trying to get a gardener for a one off spritz of the garden. A gardener and a cleaner could be a luxury too many (and too expensive). Not sure I can live with a dirty house for the next 4-8 weeks either.

I had my MW appointment this afternoon. Blood test results came back clear of sugar - yipee! My iron was also back up so the Spatone (and beef-burger eating) must be working. Blood pressure was fine and so was urine. She was a little surprised at the swelling in my feet but as long as I keep an eye on it (told you they looked like the elephant man's feet!). If the swelling starts going to my hands and face too and is accompanied by headaches, lights in front of eyes and/or bad indigestion that I can't shift then to get it checked out but other than that, nothing to worry about. Also advised I put the yellow pages under the end of my bed to keep my feet elevated while sleeping.

Baby's heartbeat was good. She had a little guess at whether the baby was going to be pink or blue but she said it was unclear as the speed of the baby's heart was on the boundary. You may remember from an earlier post that it is an old wives' tale that if the heartbeat is 140bpm or above then it is likely to be a girl and if it is below 140bpm then it will likely be a boy. She said she would normally guess it was a girl if it was above 145bpm. It kept varying between about 144 and 150.

She also confirmed that baby is starting to engage. She said it was 4/5ths palpable - 1/5th being fully engaged. Unfortunately, the baby still isn't quite in the right position as it's back was partially facing my back where it should be more round to the front, so recommended spending lots of time on my hands and knees to encourage the baby's back to drop to the front (hope all those fronts and backs aren't too confusing).

I'm going to an aquanatal class tonight which I'm really looking forward to. May be a bit of shock to the system though after 4-5 months of limited exercise.