Remembering

So I guess there's a baby coming. At this late stage of 38+ weeks, we finally got down the baby clothes. Amps did a 5-point smell test for mustiness and separated the enormous pile into musty and non-musty. Musty ones will be washed, non-musty ones are hanging near the bedroom radiator. We ordered a crib. Obviously, we are not assuming this child is in any serious risk of being born early. Meanwhile I periodically sit down to see if it's still moving (it is). And I try to remember what it was like, last time. So here are a few quotes:

"we're ok here-- more of a rough night last nightm though, i'm getting frustrated with having NO time for things like email and showers and with feeling so stuck at home. even walking to tesco is so hard with her needing to feed almost continuously. i'm typing thos woth my right hand  on;y --  much slower going than usual, i can tell you. i hope to take her out soon but may use all available non-screaming time showering and getting dressed instead." --Nina was 11 days old.

Will it be like this? Or will this new child be a marvel of sleepy peacefulness (like my friends' second babies)? Or will it be in between, but encouraged in the peaceful direction by the fact that we will, this time, realise that we can put it down now and then?

One more: 

"a quick note before she wakes up - we're fine. our visitors have left but it went very well and they were quite helpful. it was great for me to have more to do. however nina had a very rough afternoon and early evening in the sense that she just finished one breast and went straight for the other one and wouldn't be settled at all. finally amps had her sleeping on him for 4 hours between 1:30 and 5:30, and then she came in our bed because it's easier to nurse and i was desperate. however she's now sleeping in there by herself and has been
for 2 hours, so perhaps the panic is over. don't know if it was a growth spurt or mild stomach upset - but i'll stay away from hummous today just in case that was it. i really hope it wasn't the 1/2 pint of hoegaarden i had - but i'd had one before and don't recall such an episode. but there have been other epic feeding days and other hoegaarden days so it's not ruled out." --Nina was 2+ weeks old.

Ok - I am not concerned about not having enough to do. I guess I was actually pretty bored. This time I'll have days with Nina too, days when she's at her nursery, and some really, really good friends I can call, and go and see. And a car, in which to get there.  After 4 weeks I emailed my dad that I had gone out for a run, twice, to enjoy the sunshine and keep up my mood. Looking forward to that. Just for fun, here's a video.

In other news, I had acupuncture the other day for my back. It was amazing - not so much at the time - it didn't really feel like much, but for the fact that by an hour later almost all of my intense back pain disappeared and it hasn't been back. Wow. The normal me might have wondered about the ontology behind it (is there really qi, or xi - the Chinese life force "energy" and does that make any sense and how can we tell? how does its theory relate to the theories I work with every day? and so on).

    But now: reactions? (1) Among the best 30£ I've ever spent. (2) awesome that this guy could see me the same day I called (3) am going back on tuesday morning (to his colleague, who's also a midwife and who I'd originally planned to see), (4) wow! (5) how'd that work anyway? (6) why did it feel so normal, to get a treatment involving needles from someone I'd never met, in a nice warm room in a house somewhere that was being renovated, with the smell of gently smoking herbs, and the sound of rain? (7) Among the better 30£ I've ever spent ....