Pregnancy: 36 Week Update

I'm finally entering the full term! Sorry for the lack of updates because last month was Ramadan so I didn't want to get out of focus. Also, recently I've just been very busy at the office trying to handover to my replacement whilst completing my tasks. I've only got two weeks left before starting my maternity leave and four more weeks til baby's due date! So excited and scared at the same time!

WEIGHT GAIN

So, I've just had my 36 weeks visit to the midwife clinic last Thursday. Unfortunately I had to go an earlier time slot due to my usual time slot's been booked by someone else! The midwife wasn't very nice. Barely any smile. After she weighed me in, she told me, "You've gained 13kilos so far. You can only gain 1 kilo more. Otherwise you can have complications later on when delivering the baby." Umm... truthfully, I wanted to tell her that I have two friends who gained 26-27 kilos and they're actually encouraging me to do the same thing too! But I didn't follow them of course because I don't want to have to work hard to lose those baby fat. Hhh... back to square one where I don't eat rice at night and could only eat fruits before bed again like in my first trimester then...

PAINS AND PRESSURES

I should've listened to Emily when she said she took a month off before her due date because she was already having trouble walking around. Well, I don't really have a lot of issues with walking around, but it is the pain that I feel whenever I stand up from my sitting position and trying to walk.

Sleeping is not pleasant as well, but I still can cope with it. I've heard that sleeping on your left is best for you and baby, but I find it difficult to sleep on my left side as the skin underneath my breast feels like it's being pulled. So, sleeping on my right is actually the way to go for me, and I actually prefer it as well because it's the sunnah.

I'm also starting to feel a lot of pressure down on my pelvic bone. Midwife says it's very normal because baby is pushing down and it will actually become worse later on because of the contraction. By the way, baby's position is already downward (that was when I checked in at 34 weeks). When I checked in at 36 weeks it's actually on horizontal position. Midwife said bubba can still move around until the day of labour, so we can't really determine what his position will be when he's ready for labour. But I've been telling bubba to be nice to mummy and be ready in a correct position. Hopefully bubba cooperates :).

ANTENATAL AND BREASTFEEDING CLASS

I've also attended the antenatal and breastfeeding class, with hubby accompanying - which is great! He got to learn how to change nappies and swaddle the baby (hopefully this will come in handy later on). But I think the biggest tick for me is when hubby attended the breastfeeding class. My sister in law only breastfed her babies for a month and followed with formula milk. My mum in law is already accustomed to that as well as she's the one who looks after my SIL's daughters, so I need someone to support my back just in case there are other people who is not supporting my choice. I'll talk more about the antenatal and breastfeeding class in a separate post. But I think it's really great that the hospitals here offer these kinds of classes (compared to pregnancy workout class like in Indonesia) to new mums. Please note that you have to pay to attend the antenatal class (the breastfeeding one was free).

BABY SHOPPING

I'm so done with the shopping - yeay! Some people follow the myth that you're not supposed to buy anything before your pregnancy turns 7 months (because you might jinx yourself!). But I'm glad that I started my baby-stuff shopping way before and was almost done by my third trimester because then it means I can just relax and enjoy the remaining days/weeks/months of my pregnancy. Although I know that there might be a possibility that I can get disappointed in the end, but anything can happen even to the last minute.

I did basic shopping for huge items like baby bouncer, pram, play gym, breast pump, etc, but I left the clothing department to my mum. I'm just so afraid to get dragged into impulsive shopping for baby clothes that I decided to leave it to mum. I just picked up a few fleece onesies just in case, because bubba will be born in at the end of winter/early spring. We're also planning to fly back to Indonesia when baby is about 4 months old, so I've told my mum to not go overboard as we will have another chance to do some shopping later on :).