32 weeks

This is a new dress.  I think I'll try and stop buying maternity clothes now, given I'm due in less than 8 weeks.  But it was like $50, so even if I wear it once a week for the next 8 weeks, my value per wear ratio is $6.25, which is totally reasonable, amirite?  And it's definitely something I'd wear after I have the baby if it isn't too tent like (which hopefully it will be - immediately).

Finally, science and maths do something useful!

By creating an algorithm which predicts the longevity of celebrity marriages.  I'm glad to see that Beyonce and Jay-Z have some good odds, but unfortunately, even if you went to the 15th decimal place, Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom have zero expectancy of making it to their golden wedding anniversary.

31 weeks and Emu Export

So I missed week 30.  It's been a really busy time at work, and I feel like I'm just keeping my head above water.  Thanks to me we turned up a week early for our birth and parenting class at the hospital on Saturday.  Ahem.  Better than a week late I guess?  It's my last week of work before I go on maternity leave, so I took no small satisfaction in waking up this morning and thinking that this would be my last working Monday morning for quite some time.  I'm sure I won't think I'm such a legend when I'm woken up at 3am on Monday mornings by a crying baby, but hey, I'll take it for now.
Here is week 31.  Not the best bump showing off dress, but it is leopard print, which counts for a lot.  Also - new glasses.  I bought them online (Dior) and am very pleased with how they turned out.  You can't really see them very well, but the front is a clear blue/grey colour, and the sides are a smoky brown colour.  I'm kind of loving myself in them.

 We went out for dinner with Muz and Em recently to a hipster bar/restaurant.  We had to do a double take when we saw none other than Emu Export being offered on the menu.  Surely this was some sort of West Australian joke?  Turns out no, people were ordering it!!  I saw more than one can go out from the bar.  Lord knows where they sourced it (my back shed circa 1999 thanks to Lindsay Dodd?), but the hipsters were loving the Export.  Crazy kids.  It's not a great pic, but here is a can on the bar, waiting to be delivered to what I assume is an unsuspecting parton.

Finally, I really liked this slide show from The Guardian today where art nudes have been reworked to conform to today's ideal body types.  I think it says a lot.

Weeks 27 + 28

Week 27 bump pic (taken in Melbourne):

 And week 28:

 It's been a busy couple of weeks.  A couple of work trips, a Roxette concert, the closing of one of our favourite restaurants, Drew and Liam visiting for the weekend, a two day birth course, and a night at the outdoor cinema at Mrs Macquire's Point.  The outdoor cinema is really one of the best things you can do in Sydney (if you are organised enough to get a ticket - the entire season sells out in half an hour usually).  We bought two sets of tickets for this season, and bailed on the first movie because of rain.  We were seriously contemplating bailing on this one because of rain too, but it stopped raining, and was a lovely night.  We saw The Run Diaries, which we all enjoyed.  Not as much as the salted pecan and caramel ice cream sandwiches though.  arghmmmmm.  This was the view sitting in our chairs.  The screen isn't up yet, but once it is, you have the bridge and O-House on one side, and the city on the other.  It's pretty spesh.

On a sader note, Bird Cow Fish, one of our favoutie local restaurants closed down!  They announced it on the week they were shutting the doors, and luckily I read about it and got us a table on the second last night they were open.  One last serve of prawn gnocchi with butter and sage, and one last serve of hangar steak with shoestring fries.  A sad night.  We used to go a lot, and it was one of the more consistently good and pleasant places to go in Surry Hills.  I'm glad they didn't go broke, just decided they had enough.  I remember we had breakfast there on the day we went to the first home open for our old house... sniff sniff.
I've got four weeks left of work after this week ends.  After this birth course we did a couple of weeks ago I've been feeling the need to get organised a bit more, and this weekend I'll start packing my hospital bag, and we'll hit up the shops again for more baby essentials.
I got a the cutest box full of things from my mum for the baby last week too.  His first teddy!  And the softest blanket ever, with a bunny embroidered on it!  Adorable.
We are now going to the obstetrician fortnightly, and yesterday he pointed out that you can see fuzz on top of his head - HAIR!  The dragon baby has hair!  And the fortnight before, we could see him opening and closing his mouth, drinking lots of tasty anmiotic fluid.  Amazing.
He's in the right position for birth now, and should stay that way.  That also means his feet are up on my ribs, and he's running out of room, so I've been getting a few strong kicks lately.  It's hard not to be distracted by it all, especially when in meetings and being serious with clients.
Baby has notched up a fair few frequent flyer points already, but I think that will have to come to an end soon.
I'm feeling increasingly excited about meeting him - but also a little apprehensive about it all.  I know there is no way to really prepare for this, and things are going to be so different for me.  For both of us.  But we'll have this little guy who will amaze and overwhelm and fill us with love every day.  And that will make it all so worthwhile.
I think I'll miss being pregnant though.  I quite like it - except for the times that I don't... but it's nice to carry him around and feel him moving like our own little secret all day long, and I like wearing tight things to show off the bump, and I feel pretty great.  But it will be great to run again, not see the scales going up every time I step on them, wear normal clothes, etc.  Oh, and of course, to meet our baby!

Week 27 - arts edition

This week the second trimester came to an end!  Wow.  We are this far already.  Right now I'm really enjoying being pregnant, even though walking up hills (pant pant pant), tying my shoelaces (I can't reeeeeach), and getting up off the ground (groan, grunt, moan) have never been harder.  I find complete strangers smiling at me and the bump, and it's really kind of nice.

This week we got a dose of culture.  We went on a VIP tour of Picasso's exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery during the week, which was pretty amazing (says she casually about 200 pieces of art valued at multi millions per item), and also to the opera on Saturday night (Turandot).  I thought he'd kick and be quite active during the opera (because he can hear), but he was really quiet.  Hope the little guy wasn't scared by all that yelling.  Here's me just before we headed out:

And me at the Opera House.  I think this is my favourite preggie pic so far.  The dress I'm wearing was the bridesmaids dress I wore for Emma's wedding, and it was pretty boobtacular, but that's never stopped me before.  Going to the opera is so much fun.  Where else do you see people in tuxedos and people in crocs at the same event?  We tried to go to Jamie Oliver's Italian joint in the city for dinner beforehand, but the line was out the door at 6.10, so our backup plan was burgers at Rockpool.  And as far as backup plans go, it wasn't a bad one...

We were loaned a preeeeetty bassinet by the lovely Blake and Roz (and Juno!), which I'm really excited about.  This is what he'll sleep in when he's brand new for the first few months.  It comes with a tripod, or you can hook it off the roof.  I think we'll use the tripod, and he'll just be next to my side of the bed, within arms reach for the first little while.  Cuuuute.  And let's be honest, everyone should start off life in Danish made furniture.

This week my favourite yoga place in Surry Hills also started doing prenatal yoga, which I am over the moon about, as I was driving to Bondi to go to another prenatal class which I wasn't really loving, but I LOVED my first Body Mind Life prenatal class on Saturday morning.  And they have a brand spanking new studio, which is really lovely and light and open and totally within walking distance from home.  I remember going to my first prenatal class when I was about seven weeks pregnant i.e. really, really early on, and realising I so wasn't needing to be in a prenatal yoga class yet, either physically or mentally.  I so wasn't ready to visualise a baby and any mentions of things like birth made me feel a bit uncomfortable.  I was also totally embarrassed to say I was so early along, and felt like a total fraud for not even looking pregnant when everyone there was at least visibly pregnant.  I went back to normal yoga after that for a while, but since the bump has become a lot bigger, I'm going to the baby lady classes.  And now I'm definitely ready for them and it's a lovely chance to just chill out and bond with the dragon bump.  Plus it feels so good to stretch out after being in an office chair all week.  I also love looking at the other people in the class, and of course, comparing myself to them.  Usually they start out these classes where you have to say your name and how far along you are, so you can perfectly gauge how you compare to other women (because we all know this is a competitive sport) and how your bump compares.  But it really is amazing how many different shapes and sizes preggie women come in.  It's also amazing to see women who are right at the end of their pregnancies and think what that might be like.  From the look of things, mainly uncomfortable, but I'll just enjoy this nice phase while it lasts. 

Week 26 - Qualia edition

We are back from five lovely days at Qualia, doing nothing but putting time in the sleeping, reading, lying around by the pool and watching TV vaults.  I think we are going to draw on the resources of those vaults in the near future, if the threats of people that we will NEVER sleep again or EVER be able to do ANYTHING enjoyable ever again are true.  Qualia itself was lovely, so beautiful.  I did yoga every day, and padded around showing off my belly in a bikini.  Which sounds glamorous, but it was usually accompanied by rivulets of sweat streaming off me.  One night we went out for dinner, and the waitress was so concerned about how hot I was she put me in the (large walk in) wine fridge while Jamie paid the bill, which was hilarious, because it was a glass encased wine fridge, located by the entrance of the restaurant, intended to look all fancy and classy, not to be a goldfish bowl for an extremely hot pregnant lady sticking her face in front of the fans.

I  Became obsessed with Downton Abbey, but since there is only one season on iTunes, and it's only eight episodes long, the obsession was short lived.  But I'm excited for season 2.

Just in the last couple of weeks the general public has been feeling free to comment on my belly and ask questions about it.  I think I'm a fully fledged pregnant lady in the eyes of the rest of the world now.  I'm really quite enjoying this stage of things - I'm still pretty comfortable, and the little dragon spends his days and nights squirming away.  It feels a bit more like I've surrendered myself over to being pregnant and it's now totally intertwined with who I am.  Which isn't a negative thing at all, it's lovely.  I could lie on the couch for hours and watch my belly move.  I got in trouble last night for poking and prodding the baby to feel him kick back - I'm sure it wasn't hurting him though, he's got a little swimming pool in there to keep things cushioned.

Much cooler than my own belly snaps is this series of belly snaps, which the dad has compiled into a video, which is also awesome.
My public transport trials continue - the other day someone FELL on me as I was sitting down when the bus lurched away from the stop, and his apology was "sorry, I'm not used to catching buses".  I really didn't know what to say to that.  But you know I THOUGHT lots of rude things at him.
We've got a fun weekend coming up - the opera on Saturday night, and then Jamie is doing The Cole classic swim on Sunday at Manly.  We've both done it the last two years, but I'm just cheer squad this year.  It's a nice atmosphere down at Manly, and I'm looking forward to it.
I think I'm also one of the few people in Sydney right now that's not complaining about the weather!  Suits me just fine.

25 weeks

Lots of things make me angry and send me into fits of ranting.  This is exacerbated by pregnancy - if I think of anything that normally irritates me, and stick the phrase "and I'm six months pregnant" in my complaint somewhere, it just has extra gravitas - such as:

- Waiting at a taxi rank when some bloke 20 metres down the road sticks out his hand and gets the cab that would have been coming to the rank, and the taxi stops for him, "and I'm six months pregnant".

- When the bank won't change my billing address for a credit card I rarely use because I can't recall the last time I used it, and that's their stupid security question, "and I'm six months pregnant".

- When you call the salvos to come pick up some furniture you don't want and they tell you they can't disassemble a bed because of insurance, and that you have to do it yourself if you want them to take it "and I'm six months pregnant".

See, it works in all instances.
I don't think pregnant ladies should be the subject of a great deal of special treatment merely because they are creating new life, however one thing I'm pretty firm in my belief on is that people should stand for pregnant ladies in general on public transport.  Especially the people sitting in the special needs seats, everyone else can keep their seats at the back of the bus.  I don't even want a seat half the time, but the fact that every f***er sits there staring at their phones and looking anywhere but at me makes me so angry.  I think I'm going to start taking pictures of people and sending them to the Daily Telegraph or something.  There is no mistaking the fact I am pregnant, and it's pretty much a 50/50 chance that anyone will offer me a seat on the bus.  Really humanity?  Really??  This is the best you can do??  Furthermore - looking up sullenly, while not getting up, and asking resentfully "do you want to sit down" does not a courteous bus traveller make.  Get the f**k up.  One more thing - it's usually women who offer their seats.  Now I'm a modern lady, and I don't want or expect any guy to give me a seat under normal circumstances, but I'm sorry boys, you need to get your cheap polyester suits off that seat, tone down the Brut 33 and get some manners (big shout out to the guy directly in front of me on the 301 bus this morning).
I've been walking in to work and home a lot lately.  I think I'll stick to it.
Anyway, off on our babymoon tomorrow!  Yipeee!
Also, I wasn't just making it up about everyone wanting dragon babies - this article from the WSJ has interviews with people who are getting fertility treatments so they can have dragon babies!

24 weeks

Things (me) have been growing rapidly lately.  Even just looking back on the pics I posted just a couple of months ago I can't believe how much I've grown.  I'm not sure why I'm surprised, but here I am, six months pregnant.

He's been seriously practicing his kick boxing lately. I love feeling him move, it's just hard not to put my hands on my stomach all the time, or tell everyone in earshot that I just got kicked. So mostly I just give in and do both of the above. The last couple of nights he has been *very* active. It's hilarious thinking about this tiny little baby kicking away with some sort of intent (I'm sure there is none, but I'm imagining there is - la la la, I'm keeping mum up, pow, pow).
My focus is gradually shifting to the fact that we are going to have a baby soon, and trying to get ready for that.  Unfortunately, that also entails giving birth, which I need to really start reading up on and thinking about.  We have a doula, which I'm really pleased we did.  She dropped over about 10 books yesterday on birth, so I'll have a look through those and see what grabs me.  I really like the idea of someone being there with us the whole time who knows what they are doing and who has seen it all before.  Even more when they are a trained counsellor and know how to calm down hysterical screaming women in labour.  Sure, I'll be in a hospital and have an obstetrician, but they don't stay with you through your labour, and I really want that extra support, especially if I need it.  I'm trying to be positive about it all though.  Buuuut enough about that.
This week, the Wheaters brought over presents in the form of cute baby clothes!

How awesome is all this stuff???  Ahem, especially note the furry hooded jacket on the right.  IT HAS EARS ON THE HOOD.  Cutest thing ever.



Christmas at the beach

We spent Christmas in a beach house with the team from Wheaterville.  We (Em) orgnised this early on in the year, so much self high fiving (me) was taking place in the lead up to our trip.  And it wasn't a disappointment at all.  In fact, it was perfect.  Nothing too fancy, just a nice beach house, with wooden fish and nautical stripes everywhere (just in case you didn't get you were near the beach).  I can't remember ever having done a quintessentially Australian Christmas like this before - walking on the beach in the morning, having a swim, lazing around reading and watching videos, eating massive amounts of food, chatting, and just chilling out.

We were a bit of a comedy of errors between the lot of us, with each of us becoming sick or injured at some stage, with one of us even needing a trip to the hospital with a nasty burn.  My personal affliction was some sort of gastro bug which took hold on boxing day.  I'm not quite ready to admit that any of the food I ate the day before had anything to do with it, although it does seem the most likely conclusion.

This isn't the best picture, but it's the living room and kitchen of the house (stripes! oars!), with Em, Muz, Josie and Jamie (behind Josie in the kitchen) one morning.

 We were within walking distance from the beach (we still drove), and had amazing views:

 This is my first helping of food on Christmas day.  So many pretty colours!

 Christmas eve we had prawns (I abstained - just like I did from the champagne - sigh) and a whole fish cooked on the BBQ.  The prawns looked so pretty...

 And the Christmas feast on the table.  We made (for four people and a baby):
- glazed ham
- turkey breast (stuffed with pork mince and cranberries)
- spiced pears
- cauliflower cheese
- honeyed carrots
- rocket, feta and pomegranate salad

Despite the Kilcare curse that got us all (except Bunny - phew), it was a great trip, and went by way too quickly.  It also reminded us of old times, when we all used to effectively live together in Perth.  And of course, next Christmas there will be another baby and life will just keep marching on.  But for the Christmas that was, it couldn't have been any better (maybe it could have been better without the gastro).

Weeks 21, 22 and 23

Here's me on Christmas Day (more to come on that shortly), at our beach house, in my new maternity frock - 21 weeks:

 22 weeks:

 And 23 weeks:

I'm feeling good.  We bought the first furniture for little Bruce on the weekend - a cot and a change table - both white.  Found the experience of spending a couple of hours at "Baby Kingdom" totally overwhelming.  So much stuff!  What do I need?  What does it all do?  Thankfully, I can ask lots of questions from my friends who already have kids, and have also done a list of things that I am assured are "essential" baby items.  I don't want to be sucked into the great baby consumer machine, buying things out of guilt and paranoia, so I'm going to (try to) stick with the essentials, and then work out the rest as we go along.
Our Woolies delivery guy told me that this is going to be the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, which is very good, especially for boys.  He said everyone wants dragon babies, and that they bring good luck.  I liked that.  My little dragon boy.
We have also booked a babymoon for the near future, and because I'm totally spoilt, we are going to.... Qualia.  Yesssssss.  We were going to go somewhere more reasonable, but the hubby reasoned that if we are going to do this, we might as well do it properly.  Ummm, OK!!  If it's good enough for Oprah, I think it will be sufficient for us.  But I will report back.
The dragon boy has been ACTIVE in the last couple of weeks.  He kicks up a storm now, some days he just dances away all day.  Lots of the things I read said it feels like butterflies, but I never got that.  It feels pretty much like there is a 30cm little person inside you kicking you.  Or popcorn.  That is the most accurate description I have read.  Funny how so much baby descriptor stuff relates to food.  In particular, the updates you get each week, saying "your baby is as big as a potato now".  Which isn't the most helpful thing in the world given how much the size of a potato can vary.  And what the hell is a yam anyway?  Apparently the dragon baby is the size of a banana this week - again, I find "29 cm" a little more useful to visualise things rather than just "a banana", but hey, the more things relate to food the better.
Speaking of which, I still haven't had any mad cravings.  I'm kind of disappointed.  I am drinking a lot more milk, especially with Milo, which I used to be mad for when I was younger.  But that's really it.
I went for a swim the other day, and there were a bunch of young girls in the change rooms who were part of a squad and had obviously just finished training.  It made me feel all nostalgic.  There I was, in my maternity bathers, waddling around, but I used to be just like them.  Chatting, borrowing moisturiser, gossiping, fit.  And here I am now. And not that I'm sad to be here, or want to go back, but just listening to these girls made me smile.  I suppose in 15 years they will do the same.