Update – although not a lot to update. Still leaking (fun). Getting some period like cramps but nothing substantial. I can still function so it’s definitely not proper labour. I feel a bit funny around the head though, like headachey but not, hard to describe. Managed to have a decent nap this afternoon so hoping I can get some sleep tonight. Looks like we are going to have to go in for induction tomorrow unless things change a lot in the next 12 hours.

Mark got his curry for dinner, and I had a bit, but we didn’t pick a very good curry house so that was a bit of a washout (chicken shashlick didn’t taste like anything to me).

His family keep checking in but there isn’t really anything to say. He’s convinced it’s all a hoax to ruin his birthday now, the twit.

Appropriately, see part of his birthday present here. I got him the orange ‘old’ and ‘new’ set. ‘Cause he’s old today. Wrong side of 40. I’m still the right side of 30, going to take me 11.5 years to catch up. Ha ha.

Alright, so clearly expecting it to arrive late and planning a birthday party put us in good standing and now things are moving along a little faster than I had anticipated…

While watching Lost last night (third to last episode – but I have to wait two weeks for the final two episodes) at 11ish I realised that something funny was happening – either I was wetting myself without using muscles or it could be some waters breaking. However, it was just kind of happening every once in a while so I kept watching the show (hey, it was a good one). Got up to use the toilet and realised I really had completely wet myself except not with urine (I know you all want to hear this) so cleaned myself up and discretely called the hospital around midnight. They said to monitor the situation using a pad – if it gets saturated, call us back and you’ll have to come in.

Well, it was the middle of the night, and I knew that it continued to happen, but not at great speed, so I let Mark sleep and tried to get some sleep. I didn’t really get that much though. So I called the hospital again when he got up around 6:30, and informed him that wasn’t he lucky that he didn’t have to go into work on his birthday and we had to go into hospital.

So I got ready and then I swear waited about a half hour for him to come downstairs, only to find him dragging huge luggage with him (he has somehow ended up packing himself a bigger bag than me?!) – I’m like give me a break, can we just go, they are probably going to send us back anyway!

Which they did – however, waters have broken, which means they want this kid out within 24 to 48 hours, which means that if things don’t start on their own we have to go in for an induction tomorrow morning at 10 (23 hours from now…). Not great, but what can you do. It’s all strange as it’s not what I thought would happen. There’s no great gush of waters breaking like on tv; I just seem to be continually wetting myself without meaning to (lovely feeling). I’ve had some evidence of the ‘show’ this morning too so I guess it is falling into place. Thankfully nothing worse than a period cramp as far as pain goes though – definitely not in labour yet.

But they are going to want this to happen pretty quick (they worry about risk of infection when waters break before labour starts) so stay tuned…

And poor Mark, we had to cancel his party tomorrow night. Now he has something he can hold against the kid for the rest of its life, anyway!

So the last few days haven’t gone entirely to plan.

The Christmas lunch I was really looking forward to at Mark’s mums (mmm….turkey) was tainted by the fact that his step-dad decided to brag to us how little amount of time it took the bird to cook! Oh great, let’s kill everyone. So I didn’t end up eating very much. It all just wasn’t quite well done enough. Dessert was good though, at least, as they had catered for those of us who can’t stand Christmas pudding.

Recent conversations with his family also seem to be focusing on the fact that we are looking to move to Canada later this year – like probably in the autumn – so I am not really sure why it’s coming up now, and I am not really sure why we are getting the stick at this time, but it’s not very nice and I would like it to stop.

Boxing Day was meant to be lunch with his dad and step-mum, but we haven’t seen them yet as his dad isn’t feeling very well with a chest cold or something. We had booked a pub lunch and paid a deposit on it, so we went anyway, and luckily they didn’t charge us for the meals that were cancelled. And at least the turkey was cooked!

I’ve been wanting to see the latest Harry Potter movie, and we were meant to go yesterday, but I really wasn’t feeling very well, so I am not sure when that is going to happen. We did manage to go sale shopping in Milton Keynes early yesterday, and I bought a few bits of clothing from Monsoon etc. for when I am back to ‘normal’. It was slightly depressing however as I found many nice items I would have liked to purchase – and then I would think about it and go ‘no actually I don’t need this as I don’t have a job to wear that for!’. Well, saved me money. Bought myself the newest Jamie Oliver cookbook which was very on sale, and splurged at Starbucks but they had run out of eggnog mix which was very sad.

From tonight we have to start preparing the house for many more guests than it can handle, for Mark’s birthday party (birthday is actually tomorrow). And we need to go food shopping tonight. I’d like to make a cake but I need to find a good recipe, and one that fits the limited range of baking tins we have (I prefer cooking to baking). Will do some research this afternoon.

But at least we got a bit of snow! Not much, but some. I took a photo but blogger seems to be having some issues…

We’ve recently started receiving some great gifts in the post – everyone is being so generous! Grace sent some cute little moccasins made on Manitoulin Island, Christine sent a gorgeous Roots sleeper with a hat, and today I opened up a large box from my aunt and uncle and there is a fantastic huge puffy snowsuit in it (would be great for today!), along with some other very cute bits and pieces.

Also managed to buy a few things yesterday in the sales but it’s a really bad time NOT to know what you are having as most things are not gender neutral! We don’t really need much clothing anyway I don’t think, but I bought a few bigger sized things as we probably don’t have enough of that. It’s not like we are going to end up having a small child, between Mark and I.

In the last couple of days I’ve finally started swelling up with water retention after managing to avoid it the whole time. Puffy ankles and rings that are too tight – I can’t decide whether or not I should take them off to improve circulation and risk not having them on again, or just leave them. I’ve been trying to drink extra water in case it’s just dehydration and it does help but not eradicate the problem.

I felt like absolute death yesterday – seriously bad headache, hips were killing me, I couldn’t really function as a human being, but I am back on track today. Had almost 12 hours sleep last night and it did the trick. I had tried a few nights this week to sleep in our bed again, but it’s not giving me enough rest, so I am back on the chair downstairs and there I wil be until…when?

When I remember to, I have been taking raspberry leaf tea in tablet format from a few weeks ago as that is apparently meant to ‘tone’ your nether regions to prepare for birth, but I think I am going to kick things up a notch as far as old wives’ tales for inducing labour. We’re going grocery shopping tonight to get the bits for Mark’s party and I will be sure to get some fresh pineapple. He wants a curry for his birthday, probably because he’s been deprived of it as I haven’t wanted to eat any Indian at all for 9 months, but I am going to try to force myself to eat some as that apparently sometimes does it too.

If we go really overdue, I’ll go for the orange juice + castor oil but the thought of it is repulsive right now!!

Just came in from taking the dog for a walk in the crispy leaves at Ashridge and it’s a balmy 10 degrees out there in the sunshine. This is the problem with spending Christmas in the UK – it sure don’t feel like it’s the 24th of December. However, there is a good chance of snow on Tuesday! Wahoo! I will be really excited. We only had about 5 flakes last year, which was entertaining as Piper was really young and she tried to eat them. I would enjoy romping in the snow with her (although I am unsure how much romping I am currently capable of!!). Plus it makes everything look nice. It’s much too green in the fields outside the window right now.

We were out early this morning so that Mark could finish his Christmas shopping (typical male) but luckily only had to go to the supermarket and not a shopping mall as that would be horrible today. He’s got to wrap everything tonight still, and we have some cooking to do as well.

We are spending tomorrow with his mum, step-dad, nan, sister, sister’s boyfriend, and sister’s boyfriend’s grandmother. We’re bringing along the cranberry sauce (my recipe – it’s good ’cause it tastes like sangria with orange zest and red wine, dead easy to make), some roasted celeriac (Mark has a thing for it), and smoked salmon with brown bread. I don’t like or eat the salmon but I am on bread duty. When we moved in I bought a bread maker, a Panasonic, which is universally acknowledged as a really good one, and there was a deal on at Amazon. I haven’t used it as much as I should but it’s pretty good and I need to fire it up tonight.

The thing the UK does really well at Christmas is put on lots of good television. I think that’s what most people must do here for the holidays – eat and gather round the telly! This afternoon and tonight, just on a couple of channels, we’ve got Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone, Tomorrow Never Dies, the last in the current series of Little Britain, and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Tomorrow, Jamie & Jools Oliver are doing the alternative Christmas message while the Queen is on, there’s a new Doctor Who Christmas special, they’re showing The Importance of Being Earnest, and as per every xmas, a seminal episode of Eastenders. Excellent. I am also going to have to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation tomorrow night at 10 as that is the best.

We’re seeing his dad and step-mum on Boxing Day – they are coming here as I didn’t really want to stray too far at this time, and we are going out for a pub Christmas lunch in Berkhamsted. And the 27th, I think, will be shopping time…

Happy holidays.

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Originally uploaded by emmabean.

Have been doing some work on the nursery this morning and thought I would share some pics. If you click on here, it will take you to a slide show as opposed to loading them all on here.

Congrats to Mimie and Rob who had baby Ella on the 19th December. I think she was 2 days overdue so she gives me hope.

Antenatal appointment yesterday lasted all of about 3 minutes. Everything is fine, come back on the 5th if you haven’t had it yet. I am betting I will have to go to that appointment. Anyone want to wager against me and lose some money?!?!

What to name your kid – or not what to name your kid? The top baby names of 2005 in UK.

The dog is in disgrace. Well, in fact, she should be dead, as I found her literally playing in the traffic this morning. I’ve been leaving her out in the garden for longer periods of time as she normally plays a bit, then relaxes, sits down and sniffs the air for a while, just like she used to do at the old house. I was a bit paranoid when we first moved here because although it is fenced in, it’s mostly like chicken wire around a basic wooden frame, and the gate is made of quite widely spaced metal bars. So I didn’t trust her for a while, but she only actually made it through a hedge once when there was an actual space in the chicken wire that we quickly fixed. She’s been fine since, with only the minor problem of digging large holes to China. Anyway.

Generally she is not an escape artist, but there are many temptations around here – we have a resident pheasant who often runs beside the back fence which she chases from inside the fence. We have rabbits, deer, and foxes frequently sighted when we pull into the driveway with the headlights on. And there seems to be a group of escaped farm chickens that hang out on the main road farther up towards the village – but all of these things produce interesting smells which of course she needs to investigate.

I was dozing in front of the tv before 9, and luckily I heard her barking, so I called her in immediately. We’d already had a lot of barking this morning at about 7:30 when a Parcel Force delivery man showed up with my brother’s Christmas parcel to us, and she attacked him in her lovely way as he walked bravely up the path despite her welcome – not with teeth but with high jumps and please can I kiss you and smell you. I apologised profusely.

Anyway, at 9, when I called her in, she ran up the driveway, and waited at the gate as I had to run up and let her in in my bare feet. She was likely barking at the traffic, as we are on a busy road. She’s a complete idiot who I now want to kill as she should really be dead, but at least she somehow knew enough not to run into the traffic – just to bark at it instead. She’s such a twit.

To top it off, I pulled a leaf off her ear that was caught in her fur that stung me, and my thumb is still hurting 3 hours later. Thanks, dear.

In better news, my stocks of Kraft Dinner have gone from nil to 5 thanks to lovely Christmas parcels from friends and family! Hurrah!

Off to antenatal appointment in a couple of hours, and then Mark has to finish his Christmas shopping (probably more like start it), so we are going to the giant crazy shopping mall in Milton Keynes.

Ooh, sorry that’s a bit blurry. I can’t find the scanner in the mess of the spare bedroom (it looks like a bomb hit as we have thrown everything in here that hasn’t been unpacked or doesn’t have a place yet) so I had to take a photo of this invitation instead.

It’s a little crazy to be planning a party when we may have to cancel it all, but Mark doesn’t turn a very very old 40 everyday, so on the 30th we are serving some booze and nibbles to celebrate his birthday (which is actually the day before). I didn’t bother sending any invites overseas, but if anyone just happens to be planning a trip over, let me know so I can put you on the guest list!

I think it’s just going to be Mark’s family (on his mum’s side) and some of his airplane-flying friends joining us. Which is good as I probably won’t be up to entertaining quite so much, and we have very little room in this place. I think we are probably going to have to add some furniture to the pile of junk that is this spare room to make space, and borrow some chairs. If it was summer, the garden would be even more perfect for a marquee than the old house, but oh well.

There will be copious amounts of alcohol available yet again as we still have about 30,000 bottles of various things left over from the wedding…

What to do when you are bored at home…

Take the guaranteed Chinese Gender Predictor Test (Karen says it always works).
This is fine except that on websites where you have to enter in your details, such as here, it says a girl. Then when you go to websites where you look on a chart, such as here, it says it’s a boy. How helpful.

Then, get Madame Zaritska on pregnancyandbaby.com to predict your birth experience:

What she senses for you:
The day you deliver, outside will be cloudy. Your baby will arrive in the
early evening.
After a labor lasting approximately 3 hours, your child, a
girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and will be
19 inches long. This child will have light brown eyes and a lot of hair.

Not a chance! The scan techie lady last week said she thought it already weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces. And that was last week (did I mention they did a growth scan – my fourth scan in the end, and we still can’t tell what it is?!). And a three hour labour?! HA HA. I will quote Ms Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky.

And then take a photo of yourself with your brightened up better hair with decent highlights (it was very nice to go to the hairdresser today) and come out looking not at all like yourself:

Mark is currently making his way home from his work’s Christmas do, so I will get off the computer and entertain an annoying drunk guy this evening – oh how fun.

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Originally uploaded by emmabean.

Okay, I am posting loads of photos to catch things up. Thankfully all internet glitches are now sorted – although I am completely vulnerable to computer viruses and bad things until we get a new security system as it was Norton that was stopping access to secure sites, so I had to get rid of the evil thing.

This year’s Piper at Christmas shot is a lot different from last year’s, no?!