Pregnancy Update - Week 33

Today we went to our first ante-natal class (or "parental education class") at the Birmingham Women's Hospital. It was great to see so many young couples our age, with everyone in a similar boat. I haven't done any obstetrics yet (my Obs & Gynae placement begins just after Maddy is due!) so I was pleased to learn a great deal. The first session was an introduction, and mainly talked through the physical process of labour and what to expect. We feel much more confident that we will know when to go into the hospital now; although it has made us slightly anxious with the realisation that such a life-changing event is just around the corner. I looked very silly at one point during an interactive session, when faced with scenarios and what to do (call 999, go to hospital, stay at home etc). For the scenario "Your wife wakes you up in the middle of the night saying 'I feel like I want to push' what would you do?" I was the only one standing by the station 'Labour could begin at any time' rather than 'call 999' which most men were correctly at! So I'm a little bit too relaxed, and should trust my wife's instincts more!!

We have now set up a clothes rail in our bedroom, where Maddy will stay when she's born, and put up all the beautiful little clothes we have bought or been given for her. As you can see, there are a lot of cute pink things and frilly dresses, so we certainly hope the ultrasonographers were correct in predicting a girl! Well, when I saw the scan my initial thought was that it was a girl too. You get to see whole cross sections of the pelvis, which is amazing, and not what you'd expect to see judging from people's printouts.

Wendy is well, experiencing a bit of breathlessness and pelvic pain, but very excited about giving up work in less that 2 weeks time, and becoming a full-time mum! What the world of physiotherapy has lost, the world at large will gain!!