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- Anna's pregnancy diary: Week 40
Anna's pregnancy diary: Week 40
Mum Knows Best
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If you're uncomfortable in bed, or suffer backache, tuck one end of a v-shaped pillow between your knees to get your hips level, put the 'v' under your bump and cuddle the top. It was my midwife's idea - it also cured my insomnia.Isabelle Jacobs, 34, from Edinburgh, mum to Paul, 3 months
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Drink ginger tea to beat morning sickness - it really works!Jenny, pregnant with baby no.1
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To help beat morning sickness, as soon as you wake up - eat a piece of dry toast.
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I was convinced the TENS machine I used wasn't working because labour still felt very painful. However, it was only when I took it off that I realised it had been effective, as I could feel the difference. It got me through the first few hours until I got in the pool, where my baby was born. Michelle, mum to Sam, 6 weeks
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Ditch as much of your housework as possible and don't stress because the house is a mess or there's ironing to do. Your baby will sense you're calm and, with luck, he'll be calm, too. I know it worked for me - Daniel is a chilled-out, happy baby!
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If you have trouble sleeping in pregnancy, read a baby names' book. The monotony of the list means that by the time you reach 'D', you'll be gone!Emily Gale, 31, from London, mum to Madeleine, 2, and 35 weeks pregnant
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I started getting really bad headaches when I was about 12 weeks pregnant, but forcing myself to drink two litres of water every day really helped.Jennifer Shepherd, London
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If you're set on having a natural birth, read up on visualisation and breathing techniques so you feel strong when the time comes. It really helped me when I was having Honey.SJ Drew, Paignton
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Before you go out and buy lots of expensive maternity clothes, have a good rummage through your wardrobe. You'll probably be surprised at how much stuff can be adapted or worn a little differently to still fit you!Natalie, mum to Bobby
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'Any news?' my next door neighbour asked my husband at the front door... WHAT? I can not believe they have come over especially to ask if the baby's been born yet. I'd just nodded off on the sofa and now I'm awake again, is that news enough for you? And surely they'd be able to hear a crying baby through the wall if it had been born? OK, I admit, I'm a bit of a grouch at the moment. I'm four days overdue and it's getting to me a little bit.
Even though I've always known that my due date is an estimate and that most first babies are a week or two late, it doesn't stop that from being your total focus for nine months. In the lead-up to that date you get yourself prepared and shop and wash clothes and tidy the house and nest and go out a lot and visit friends and get your final pedicure done and then... the date arrives. And then it goes by.
In my head I still want to be busy. There are lots of things I want to do, like sell stuff on ebay, go shopping, sort out various cupboards, but I actually can't any more. My pelvis is too painful to go shopping, I'm tired but not sleeping and if I go and meet people I'm uncomfortable in cafe seats and I don't have much to say, except: Hurry up baby!!! and discussing natural ways to induce labour.
But at least I'm not alone. Not one of my NCT class has had their baby yet. There are now five of us overdue. There are 12 women in my group and when 10 of us met up in a cafe last week we were an alarming sight. Imagine 10 very pregnant women walking towards you up the road. The cafe we went to is known for being very child friendly and the whole back room was stuffed full of mums and babies, the middle full of buggies and the front stuffed full of pregnants. It was weird because it was as if we were all waiting to cross pramland into the back room area.
Being overdue feels like standing on a precipice and just waiting for the OK to jump into your new life. Fears of labour are overtaken by wanting an end to heartburn and waddling and of course the main goal - meeting your baby. I've had a word with Lenny and told the baby it can come now, but it's not budging one little bit. At my last midwife meeting they decided to give me a sweep on Thursday when I'm 41 weeks and if that doesn't work then I'm booked in to be induced the following week.
I don't really want to be induced, but I guess it takes all the worry away from when to go into hospital and whether we'll be able to get a cab and all that sort of thing. I'll just turn up knowing that this is really it and when I next leave the hospital I'll have my baby with me. So at least I have another deadline now, and this one's a real one! Here's hoping this is my last diary without a baby. Wish me luck!
- Coming up: Will Anna have had her baby by next week?
- Previously: Anna can't sleep and is getting more uncomfortable
- Read Anna's pregnancy diary from the beginning
- More about week 40 of pregnancy
More pregnancy help and advice
- Sign up for our pregnancy newsletter- Your pain relief options during labour
- Baby names generator
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Your comments
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Clare, posted 9 months ago
Hang in there Anna! Hope you don't have to wait too long. Love reading your diary xx
