Third trimester

I kept going to work even though I was doing it tough. Everyone in the office were wonderfully supportive and understanding. I was often sick at my desk and tissues and glasses of water would be fetched by my colleagues. If I needed to work from home I could.

I stayed at work until Friday 5th June, 2009. It was a sad day with mixed emotions. I had worked at NTC for over 4 years and it was totally weird and uncomfortable having to let go of the reigns on the projects I had been working on. To try and cheer me up Robbie and I had a lovely 'date night' in the city once I packed up my things from the office. We had dinner down on the water at Docklands and then went and saw Cirque du Soleil which was just breathtaking!

I sure did get around with my bump. We went to the Wallabies match on 23rd June. Good thing mum had bought me a large jersey for my 21st all those years ago as it fit snuggly over the top of my belly!

When you're in the sleep-work-sleep cycle of life and that's pretty much all you do, I found the entire concept of being home with a baby hard to imagine. When I was on leave however I sure did keep myself busy! For the weeks leading up to my due date I pulled out the sewing machine and started appliqueing baby bodysuits and bunny rugs and making bibs. This kept me amused and my mind off things to come. I never felt anxious about the birth or having a baby. There was no angst as the 'big day' approached. It was very hard to sleep at night but I was lucky not to have morning sickness for the last month or so. I did however get the brown line that ran from under my breast right down to my pubic bone.

I never got a single stretch mark and my belly was enormous!!!

My belly just kept on getting bigger and bigger. We went up to the scenic deck at the Eureka Tower on 11th July. We tried to stay active and keep doing as much as we could before our little one arrived. We were just so excited about it - I kept saying we both wouldn't be able to hack it if bub went over the due date. Considering we're both control freaks we needed to know bub was coming on the 27th and it was set in stone!

I actually hoped I would go into labour before my due date just so it was all over and done with and we wouldn't have to wait any longer! We attended antenatal classes at Peninsula Private Hospital for 3 sessions. They were pretty informative but even though we saw a baby be born on video, I kind of felt the classes were not really designed to prepare you for what was going to happen. Apparently 'huffy puffy' classes are a thing of the past and the new idea is to just let the mother 'go with the flow'... I didn't want to have an epidural but besides that I left my options open.

Penny was due on 27th July and a fortnight before hand my cousin Brendan was getting married on the Friday afternoon. We travelled for around 4 hours and by this stage it was a tough gig to sit so long on my tail bone.The family still laugh at how HUGE I was and that I looked like I was about to explode. I recall saying to mum that I only felt as big as another woman there who was 6 months pregnant - when everyone burst out laughing I realised maybe I was a little bigger than I thought! The wedding was beautiful and Robbie even managed to get me up for a boogie on the dancefloor!

Little did I know bub was all ready to make her grand appearance less than 48 hours later...