Weeks 37 and 38 of my pregnancy have mostly been centered around trying to chill out and slow down a bit more. I have also enjoyed a few final nice nights out and about which has made the extra relaxing at home I’ve been doing (aka: trying to do more daytime TV and Friends box set watching than chores!) more bearable as I have been getting a bit of cabin fever!

Last Friday Sam booked us a meal at our lovely local Italian as a treat as once the baby is here I imagine meals out may take a little bit of a back seat for a few weeks/months! Then last Sunday I went to see James Martin’s ‘Plates, Mates and Automobiles’ show with my Mum and Stepdad Cliff in York. It was part of my Christmas present and we had such a good time! It’s given me loads of new dishes that I’d love to try as cooking, and eating in general to be honest, is one of my favourite things to do.

37 weeks + 5 days bump dressed for James Martin

37 weeks + 5 days bump dressed for James Martin

That’s been one of the really nice things about being off – having some time to spend cooking and baking for a few afternoons as I’ve continued to fill the freezer with some post-birth meals and have satisfied my pregnancy sweet tooth with homemade cookies. I made oat and raisin ones most recently to at least pretend they are a little healthier than normal, shop-bought biscuits…! I used to regularly spend my Sundays cooking most of the day but haven’t done that in so long so I’ve loved doing it again. I also made some amazing granola this week kind of for Sam’s breakfast but it is SO delicious that I think I will be helping him get through it. Check out the recipe here on Buzzfeed (I went for: oats; quinoa; almonds; hazelnuts; pecans; agave nectar; egg white; cinnamon; ginger; raisins; cranberries and dark chocolate chips – YUM).

This week I went to my friend from my old work Amina’s house with another ex-colleague for a girly dinner and it was so nice to have a good catch-up and lots of banter! I didn’t get home until midnight – who said being nearly 39 weeks pregnant made you boring!? It was quite funny talking to Amina and Cat about the baby moving and how close I am to giving birth and seeing the slight fear in their eyes but I can’t wait for them to meet the baby when it finally arrives.

I definitely feel like my bump has grown noticeably bigger again this week but it still doesn’t seem to have dropped at all. We finally brought in the birthing pool and all the rest of the home birth kit from the car this week and inflated both the Swiss exercise ball and the pool to make sure everything was in order and to see how big the pool was. It was also really great to see how quickly the pool blew up – it took fewer than five minutes which is reassuring to know for when the baby does decide to start making an appearance! We haven’t done a “wet run” yet but I’m hoping we can do that tonight. I have been making good use of the ball though to try and encourage the baby to engage – we’ll see at my midwife appointment today if it has made any difference!

Bumping along on the exercise ball

The pool’s “dry test”

As yesterday was Mother’s Day I spent the day at my Mum’s with my little sister Sabra and nephew Harry. We’d both done some baking for our Mum as a treat and spent a few hours just chatting, relaxing and playing with Harry with our old childhood toys! So we all had a lovely day. If I hadn’t already had a nice enough day, when I got home I saw a little envelope on the mantelpiece addressed to “Mum” in Sam’s handwriting and he said it was for me. As I opened it I realised it was my first, slightly early, Mother’s Day card from “mini Lawley”/the bump! He’d written such a lovely message in it that made me cry, what a fabulous and unexpected surprise. I can’t wait until we finally meet him/her in the next few weeks and I get to see how his loving, caring side makes him the fantastic father I know he’s going to be!