It’s too darn hot

I finished work for the duration at the end of last week *yay*

So far, however, I haven’t really had the opportunity to enjoy it because of this heat/humidity wave we’re being subjected to at the moment. Twice when we were out shopping at the weekend I came over ‘all unnecessary’ and had to have a little sit down in the store. Yesterday and today, I spent most of the day flaked on the sofa stitching and watching Farscape DVD’s with a fan trained on me. I’ve found that propping a freezer ice pack in front of it gives a nice cooling blast regardless of the ambient air temperature. Today it wasn’t particularly sunny, more hazy really, but the humidity, oy!

On the plus side, I have nearly finished stitching Ewoks Birth Sampler, apart from all the birth info and the name obviously. I’m really pleased with how quickly this has gone, because I did want to get it ‘finished’ before the birth. Of course I’ve no idea when I’ll have the time to actually finish it, but at least it’ll be mostly there.

I had my first antenatal class today, one run by the physiotherapy department that focuses on exercises and postures to help relieve back and pelvic pain during pregnancy and labour. Amongst all the other stuff, she showed us a couple of exercises using a gymball, just sitting on it an either bouncing up and down or rotating it with your hips. I found it really comfortable to just sit on and afterwards my back felt a lot better. I’ve found one at Argos for £3.99 so I’m going to get it, because I think it will be a big help with my back even after Ewoks’ arrival.

On Saturday, Wookiee and I went to visit the two maternity units in the area. One is at the local hospital and is where I am currently booked in. The other is a small midwife only unit, which is a bit further away, but I’m still within the cachement area. I’ve heard good things about this type of unit so I wanted to see for myself, and I have to say I was very impressed. The main difference is that there are no doctors there, it’s all midwives. This means that if you require any kind of intervention that can only be provided by a doctor then you have to be transferred to the hospital, and if you know in advance that such treatment may be required then they won’t take you in the first place, although you can still go there after the birth for your recovery.

On the plus side the atmosphere is more like being at home, you can still have all the various types of pain relief with the exception of an epidural (which I don’t want anyway) and because it’s much smaller and maternity only, it’s a lot quieter and more peaceful than the hospital. I’ve decided that that’s where I want to go provided I can get there when the time comes and that there’s no complications in the meantime, but even if I can’t go there for my labour I definitely want to go there for my recovery afterwards. Anyway, I’m seeing my midwife again on Thursday so I shall speak to her about it then, and all being well, I’ll be calling them up to ‘book myself in’.