Wow another post in April!
I'm hoping the nesting instinct has started to kick in. Today I cleared my desk, and for the first time in months I can actually see the top of it. Other cleaning has also happened in the past week or so too, we've Freecycled the surplus furniture from our spare room, and we're ready to start decorating and building wardrobes next week.

It's turned out to be rubbish timing though as within days of getting rid of the spare double bed I started with what I thought was hayfever (it probably was a bit) but turned out to be a stinking cold. At night I've been sniffling, snoring, & coughing. I can't get comfy because of either my bump, achy ribs, achy hips, or heartburn, and poor Porl hasn't been able to escape to a spare bed. For the record, he snores too, and hopefully mine will stop when the cold goes... or maybe not :/

The nesting instinct might also have triggered my craftyness again too. All I've done craft wise for months is cross-stitch, but Net posted about some badges she'd made and they inspired me to get my badge machine out. I've only made 3, but it's a start, and it's not cross-stitch.
Now I just need someone to inspire me to take photos of things. Maybe next post.

We've also had cat antics this week.
Saturday night Gonzo hobbled in on 3 legs. He'd done something to his left back paw, we checked it thoroughly but couldn't see any wounds and it looked and felt normal, he was also putting it on the floor but was obviously painful. We didn't have much option but to wait and see how he was on Monday before deciding whether he needed to see the vet.
By Sunday morning his paw and lower leg were swollen to about twice their normal size, he wasn't putting it down, and he was very very quiet (but still eating of course.) By Monday he was much more like himself, he still wasn't putting his paw down, but the swelling was going down so we decided we'd get away without the expense of the vets, or trauma of a car journey.
The last time the cats went in the car was when we moved house, it was a traumatic, loud and smelly couple of hours for both them and us.
Wednesday morning the swelling was almost gone and Gonzo was walking pretty much normally. He was also able to escape from the garden on his supervised toilet trips. He got away from me briefly in the morning, then had a longer adventure in the afternoon when he escaped from Porl but a neighbour managed to lure him back to our house.
Then Wednesday night Porl phoned me at work to say we had to get Gonzo to the vets as he had a wound on the top of his paw about the size of a penny piece.
The soonest anyone could see us was Thursday afternoon. Thankfully although he was loud in the car there were no unpleasant accidents. The vet was lovely, and Gonzo was very good. (Terrified into submission by all the dogs he could smell and hear, even though we went to a different waiting room.)
We think Gonzo had probably had a small wound which got infected causing the swelling, but the swelling got so bad that it ruptured the skin causing wounds on both the top and bottom of his paw *eurgh* So the swelling went down very quickly, but left nasty wounds. He's got a couple of types of tablets and orders to stay inside for a few days.
Hopefully we've sussed out how to get the tablets down him without argument (the technique vets show you about prising the jaws open and rubbing the throat till they swallow doesn't work with Gonzo, he's big, strong, and has claws.) I bought some potted meat, I cover the tablet with it, and Gonzo eats them... so far anyway.
Now we just have to suss out how to keep Gonzo from miaowing constantly because he wants to go outside.
His foot better heal soon!

Hi, still here, honest. My life at the moment seems to revolve around work, and getting ready for the blips arrival and I didn't really want to bore everyone with the little day to day details this involves. So just one update instead, and I haven't a clue when the next will be.

Blip and myself are both doing well. We're 24 weeks and 5 days today. We had another visit to see the midwife today to check me out and listen to the heartbeat again. No problems with either of us. Blip seems to have inherited its fathers twitchy leg (for those who don't know Porl he has a habit of playing an imaginary drum kit if he has to sit for very long). The Blip also seems to be constantly fidgeting and kicking, which is a lovely reassuring sensation, except when I'm trying to go to sleep.
If only I could swaddle it now.

I'm getting quite big, well I feel quite big, but people have said I'm still relatively small for 5 months. That's fine by me, hopefully blip is using up some of the surplus weight I had before getting pregnant. Also I'm guessing that while my bump stays small I'm likely to have more energy, and I've got lots still to do (decorating etc.) so I need energy.
Not that the bump isn't getting a bit unwieldy. I keep walking into things, and I have think first before bending over. I suspect in a few weeks I'll be having to get the guys I look after to fasten my shoe laces instead of me fastening theirs.

As well as seeing the midwife today we also had a visit to see an anaesthetist. When I had my 20 week anomaly scan they told me the placenta was low, hopefully it's nothing to worry about, the midwife described it as "like drawing a dot on a balloon", so as I get bigger the placenta should move. I'm not concerned, especially as all my medically qualified friends have shrugged it off as nothing to worry about, I'm just looking forward to having an extra scan at 36 weeks.
But if the placenta doesn't move, then it means I may have no option but to have a c-section (which I really really really don't want.) This slight chance of surgery made the hospital think a little more carefully about my possible latex allergy, hence the trip today to see the anaesthetist.
I had RAST (general allergy) tests and latex allergy tests done a few years ago because of my job. I never saw the results but I was told the RAST tests were very high, (I'm allergic to lots of things, no surprise there.) The latex tests were apparently inconclusive, but it was probably best to avoid it.
Great, it meant I get to wear funky blue or purple gloves at work, but it didn't actually tell me whether I was allergic to latex, which makes me look a bit of a fool when talking to doctors about the possible implications of surgery. "I think I'm allergy to latex." "Have you ever had a reaction?" "Erm... no, but I had some tests done which didn't say much but the hospital told me to wear special gloves."
Thankfully I managed to get copies of the old test results and it turns out I am allergic to latex, but only slightly. At least I know now, and the hospital can get to work writing "LATEX ALLERGY" all over my notes.

The anaesthetist did wind me up a little by telling me I would be having surgery. I tried pointing out I was only seeing him as a precaution, he disagreed, and I decided to ignore him as he'd only just met me and only spent 2 minutes reading my notes. Porl spotted the look in my eyes and we had the "surgery, last resort" conversation as soon as we left the room.

So that's about it. I've got another week and a half of proper work, then I start doing part time hours to use up my annual leave. That means the clearout / decorating / re-organising will start in earnest. I've already Freecycled a few boxes of junk. Emmaus will get the bigger things like the bed and wardrobe, because they have a van and strong men who are probably used to carrying things up and downstairs. Once they are gone Dad will have space to start building our new built in wardrobes, and Mum and I can paint.

Now though I'm exhausted from all this typing so it's time for my nightly dose of Gaviscon, and off to bed.

What's the chances of me updating again before this baby arrives?