After another day spent at home in our pj’s we were all feeling a little grouchy on Saturday morning. Ron’s cold had returned, his back was sore and he was feeling pretty miserable. I was feeling marginally better although still coughing with a deep rattling sound that caused an ache deep inside my belly and to be honest, was a little tired of nursing everyone else in the family when all I wanted to do was curl up in a dark place and rest. Amy has come off the lightest with this cold, just a nagging cough when she is going to sleep at night but otherwise in perfect spirits which makes it a little tough cooping her up indoors with sick parents. We decided to finish off the last few jobs around the house in preparation for the baby’s arrival.I asked Ron to hoover the living room and kitchen and in his typical fashion this meant moving every item of furniture, hoovering around the windows, in the corners of the rooms and then he moved onto the bedrooms. He hoovered picture rails and ceiling fans and every crack, cornice and corner of the rooms. I love the way Ron approaches jobs like this. I factor in time, other chores, Amy’s needs and lately my physical impairments. Ron just starts at the beginning and carries on until he is finished to his very high standards! While he was hoovering I dusted and moved things back into their proper homes before starting on the boxes of toys in the living room and Amy’s massive collection of soft toys. Its funny how many stuffed toys children end up collecting and ironic really as I don’t know any children who form attachements to more than one or two of them. Then we got started on moving the furniture around in the bedroom. The pic above is how it looked before, the computer table and chest of drawers against the wall so that the door opened just onto the laundry basket and the corner by the window was empty.
But in order to fit the bassinet next to the bed and be able to open the door and walk in, we needed to make some space so we turned the computer table round into the space by the window and moved the chest of drawers down. I like the end result actually, the bassinet is tucked up to the wall now but when we bring the baby home it will move right up close to my side of the bed so I can just reach up and bring baby to bed for a feed. Because I am lazy and don’t like getting out of bed if I don’t have to! Of course this might not work with this baby and we might end up moving the bassinet into the spare room after Mum leaves, or even moving the cot in there, we are flexible. For now the new arrangement means I get to look out the window into our front garden and enjoy the scent of the late blooming roses under the window.

A close up of the beautiful bassinet we have borrowed from friends. Even though I am not really that bothered about things like this, I have to say that it fits in nicely with the (hah) well thought out decor of our bedroom! I can’t believe a baby is going to be sleeping in that before too long.

I also promised a photo of the baby capsule/car seat for those of you who aren’t Australian and have no idea what I am talking about when trying to describe it. On one of my first trips to Australia we went for dinner with some friends who had recently had their first baby. I remembered them carrying her into the dining room in what I took to be a kind of baby shopping basket with distinctive blue handles. Its a clever contraption because it really does mean the baby can sleep while you pick it up and carry it to where ever you are going. Its not as fancy as a travel system where it actually clips into a pram but to be honest, life in Sydney is very different to life in London and I just don’t have occasions where I would use a pram from the car other than shopping and I am going to try and avoid doing that as much as possible!
So there is the capsule fitted into its base in the back seat of our car. We debated where to put it, behind the driver or the passenger but the end decision was taken out of our hands when the fitter explained that it would have to go behind the passenger as there is not enough room in our car when the drivers seat is pushed all the way back like when Ron drives. Hmm, who would have thought our medium sized family 4×4 would not be big enough! There is actually a teeny spot of space between the two seats so we can squeeze someone in the back if necessary, like when Mum comes over and we all want to go out at the same time. Ron, that spot is reserved for you because your arse is definitely smaller than mine or Mum’s (apologies Mum, but you know its true!)
To lift the capsule out you grab the handles, undo the harness and release the clip, all of which I have forgotten since being shown by the fitter, sigh, best read the instructions again. And now we are ready to go. Nothing left to do except wait. I did have a lot of rather uncomfortable cramps on Friday night which I am assuming are contractions but to be honest I am a little nervous about whether I am ever going to know I am in labour unless my waters break in a dramatic fashion or I have that ever elusive ‘bloody show’. Being induced at 42 weeks last time meant I went to hospital, had a pessary and was told to expect contractions shortly thereafter. I hope my body does what its meant to this time round!