Time flying by

Wow we were 25 weeks pregnant in the last post and are now rapidly approaching 32 weeks; all I can say is time really has flown!

In chronological order, then, Me and Al went out with the Billesley Players for a meal the following week to congratulate ourselves on a job well done. but Sheila, the director of the next play in November had a sad announcement. There are simply not enough male members in the group to do the next play so it was cancelled. I wasn't going to be in it anyway but it's a sad situation for the group. It's not that men haven't joined but they've all either left after one or two plays or they've walked out half way through the rehearsals process; which is always a nightmare. Girls have joined and stayed but boys just don't seem to care enough about the community aspect to not bother about letting the rest of us down. Of course, Sheila could have directed a play with just girls in it but at the end of the day she has to direct a play she likes and she couldn't find anything appropriate.  I think it was a bit of a shock for the group and the problem will take some thinking over...

We had a couple of weeks after this of just normal life. We went to work, I went to church, we rested, we cooked; it was nice! This in itself deserves  a mention as it's been all go for months and to have a couple of weekends where the biggest plan involved going to the pub was amazing. I think Alex is enjoying the bonus of having a designated driver, and to be honest I really don't miss the drinks - there are some great non alcoholic beers out there; I'm quite partial to a Cobra. Then we celebrated Sam from thatre's wedding and Emma's birthday on the same day and for one day it was busy busy again.

The following weekend I went to see We will Rock You (click on the link to see the tour's official photographs) with mum and dad. I'm still not convinced they recognised half the songs but we had a great time which is all that counts! It was at the Birmingham Hippodrome and it was brilliant. I mean, don't go if you want something with a super clever storyline, or even a plot that holds together all that well; but it has great one liners, witty characters (Scaramouche, for want of a better word, rocks!) and of course stellar music. We finished on a real high, on our feet crooning to Bohemian Rhapsody, arms in the air and generally high as kites! I had to sit down for the last minute or two as all the excitement had worn me out but I still gave Scaramouch a standing ovation, along with the rest of the audience. The only weker point was Galileo who seemed to much of a sweetiepie to be the rock star super hero that we were meant to believe him to be. Maybe it was because I read in the programme that he'd starred in Grease musical on stage as Danny Zucho - or maybe it was because he actually still looked like him with the white T shirt. He wasn't a Freddie Mercury at all - but then who on earth could claim to be?

The next week was my 28 week blood teast and with it the midwife measured the bump and plotted Bean's size on a graph. He is apparently just slightly over the average size but I'm not taking it with more than a pinch of salt. Those graphs are based on average sizes and basically until he's out we're not going to know. And, as Alex puts it, a few ounces either side won't make too much difference; it's still going to hurt. Thanks hon!

That Saturday me Danielle Laura and Claire went to the IMAX in Birmingham to see Harry Potter in 3d. If you want to get a feeling for what it was like basically click on the link above to see the trailer and you'll get about 2%. The 3d film was spectacular, a proper roller coaster, the 3d element wasn't gimmicky it was really cleverly done. The first image of Hogwarts from the air shorouded in mist and dementors would have been great on any cinema screen. But in 3d you actually float through the sky and through the dementors, like they're just THERE! OK it was my first 3d experience and it's probably not worth it for many films but go and see Harry Potter at the IMAX (Thinktank, Millennium Point, Bham, Midlands, UK - ok?) if you see it at all because it's brilliant!

The next day we awoke with plans to take a leisurely shopping trip for baby items. But the best laid plans of mice and men as they say... The old freezer had broken so we had to defrost it and rescue what food we could before heading out to choose and buy a new one. That said in one day we did well; we bought a travel cot and monitor, changing mats and a few other bits from Mothercare, and a normal cot from John Lewis. In fact John Lewis took so long serving us they knocked 30% off the price which was good! Finally Alex went off to collect the freezer, he took the old freezer into the garden, unpacked and turned the doors over on the new one, and got the kitchen back to normal while I cooked. Restful it was not; but it was damn useful.

The next Tuesday me and Alex attended our Parent Education class at the Womens Hospital. We learned about the labour itself; types of pain relief; what to expect and the likely order of things; the differences between the delivery suite, birth centre and a home birth; we got a tour of the delivery suite (a normal hospital room where all types of pain relief and doctors are available) and birth centre (a more relaxing environment that can be used with more flexibility); and got to ask as many questions as we liked. We also did a tiny intro to breathing and massage. It was really useful and made us feel loads more prepared and involved.

So now we approach 32 weeks and I feel like we're getting 'there' - wherever there is. It feels good. Four weeks and 2 days left at work and then it'll be Bean time proper! Bring it on!