Hi ladies,

Well i am a little mad about my midwife this week. She was a woman i'd never met before. She gave me the standard lecture on the dangers of homebirth, i nodded but ignored her as usual! LOL! THen my blood pressure was up - i mean it is fine but it is high. Like it was 143/84 when i was booked so they just call that "high essential blood pressure" as at 11 weeks the bubs shouldnt be affecting it yet. Well i was at the hospital for my booking-in and i felt stressed and thought it was white-coat hypertension. Well this time, at 18 weeks, in my GP practice it was 1-something/88. Now if the lower number goes over 90 that counts as high BP, but in pregnancy the doctors give you 15 points above your booking rate (so 84 + 15 = 99) before it counts as "high". BUt it does mean if i go above 90 i might have to have my check-ups at the hospital which will mean more (unpaid!) time off work, and more stress. I have gained no weight, my baby is moving, i have NO headaches or blurry vision, and my urine is fine, so there is nothing to worry about but she wrote it all carefully on the chart. Despite that when she weighed me and i was 2.5kg LIGHTER than book-in, she didn't think that worth writing in! GRRRRRRRRR!

Lee, my DP was also a little dubious about homebirth at first so i made him read "birth your way" by Sheila Kitzinger, which goes into details about what to expect at hospital, at a homebirth and at a birthing centre. After that he came round a little but did say "do you think you can handle a homebirth?" and i just said "I am having this baby the way i want to, and the day you feel the contractions and have your lower regions ripped open shoving a persons head out of you is the day you can tell me what i can and cannot handle." He laughed at me and said he took my point and now is 100% supportive. I feel that while the baby is inside of me, the choices on what to do and how are mine. It is my diet that has changed, my body which is being taken over, my hormones running riot. DP can moan about my skills once i get the baby out, but before then he just has to trust in his choice for the mother of his child ad let me be. But i realise this wouldn;t work for every couple. I can be very headstrong, and any attempt to control me makes this much worse LOL!

I'm still in my jeans but they are annoying in that if i pull them up over the bump they stretch out and fall down, and if i don;t they fall down anyway! My maternity trousers are cool but make me look MUCH more pregnant so i only wear them when my jeans are out of action. I might get some maternity jeans soon. Long Tall Sally seem to be the way to go as their mat trousers are nice. My only dilemma is which size to get. I got 18 mat trousers and they seem bigger every time i put them on (except over bubs!) but i'm worried if i get the 16 i will suddenly pile the weight on and they won't fit... The most annoying thing is that i need to order them so i can;t try them on until AFTER i buy them and have them delivered. What do i do ladies?

HAna