Waiting, Waiting, Waiting…….

La Dolce Attesa literally translates as ‘The Sweet Wait’ and is a nice way of saying that a woman is pregnant in Italy but I have to tell you that for me, the ‘sweetness’ is starting to wear off a bit now!

Baby M's Room

Baby M's Bedroom ready & waiting.....

I am very ready for this baby to be born!  But it seems quite comfortable and not in any hurry to meet us yet.  Did I mention that I’m ready?  I’m so sick of this heat draining my energy and this huge tummy making me feel all the more uncomfortable.  Emiliano is nervous about me going anywhere too far from home in case labour starts and my dad is here patiently waiting to meet his new grandchild but my sister would prefer I gave birth after the 9th September as she will be busy filming the 3rd season of her cake show all week. (priorities clearly need to be re-assessed sis!)  My suitcase is packed for the hospital, the baby’s room is ready and now each morning I wake wondering if anything is going to happen today.  Tomorrow the 5th September is my official 40 week ‘due-date’ so I am probably being a little bit too impatient but  I’m ready to take back possession of my body and start this new adventure.  I am so very curious to meet this baby of ours and see what it looks like.  I will admit also that I am a bit nervous about the birth – just the unknown really.  Not knowing when or where the first contractions will start, hoping I’m not driving or in public when my waters break, not knowing how much pain I am going to go through before the epidural is administered………. wondering about the recovery afterwards-will my girly bits ever recover?  Will I have milk and be able to breast feed?  I really hope so as don’t want to have to return my impressive new electric milk expresser!  (Can’t believe I’m excited about milking myself like a cow!)

Watching births on YouTube probably wasn’t the most intelligent decision – way too much information!!!

39 weeks

Tomorrow morning I have two appointments at the hospital.  The first is for a Cardiotocografia where the baby’s heart beat will be monitored as well as the amniotic fluid.  They will also check for contractions and I’m sure knowing Italy, I’ll have another ultrasound.  I am very interested to see what they say after this.  Then we have an appointment with the department that looks after stem cell donations as we have to sign some documents advising that we wish to donate the placenta and umbilical cord.  You should have seen Emiliano’s face when I advised that in some cultures, they eat the placenta!  I asked if he preferred it raw, fried or roasted!  He was not amused!

So stay tuned and hopefully within the next week I will be introducing you to our new little Tuscan/Aussie baby.

New friends waiting to play