38 weeks pregnant - A swollen ankle

They say that women in late pregnancy can only handle smaller meals due to the size of the baby. Not so with me! In fact over the last couple of weeks I've turned into a Hobbit.

Hello, Second Breakfast!

My first breakfast is a bowl of bran flakes and the second is crumpets or toast - always with peanut butter. I've eaten more peanut butter over the last eight months than the last two years. I think it's because I've discovered natural peanut butter - just peanuts, no additives. Yummy.

I'm just so hungry all the time, which isn't helping with my constipation!

My right lower leg is swollen - from the knee down - but it's mainly the ankle. Just the right one, mind you, the left is fine. Everything seems to be happening on the right side, now that I think about it - the shooting pains from the PGP and now the swelling.

This week I had a night where I slept through from 21:30 to 4:30. 4:30! It felt like a serious luxury. I'm sort of wondering whether my body is allowing me to sleep more in preparation for impending labour.

People keep asking me if I feel like labour is on the way. The short answer is no. I have no inklings at all. I don't know if anyone ever does, but I find the subject interesting. I mean, at any other time the 'status' of the uterus changes - i.e. for periods or new pregnancy - there are symptoms, so I sort of think there should be some sort of hint... Unless the first hint is just supposed to be when you go into early labour. If you have any thoughts, please let me know.

We had our 38 week midwife appointment and she asked if I wanted a membrane sweep when I turn 40 weeks. The previous night SBB and I had read about membrane sweeps in our pregnancy book. They do not sound like fun. When the midwife asked, I said no.

I'm a little annoyed that I'm not even at 40 weeks and they're already talking about interventions to force labour to start. Despite the fact that 75% of women naturally go into labour any time between 37 - 42 weeks. There's still plenty of time. Plus, I only finished working the day after my midwife appointment so I wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind for labour to start and I believe that a woman's state of mind has a lot to do with it.

Maybe as time goes on I might get a little more antsy, but actually I'm not that uncomfortable and not particularly eager to get to the end of pregnancy so I'm quite happy for baby to choose it's moment.