Thirty-eight weeks and almost there!

Three weeks ago I left home for Syria. It was a tough thing for me to do, since Flo was at thirty-five weeks and the baby could potentially have been born any day and I didn't want to miss that! I'd just spent four weeks on leave from work, spending the time with Flo and nurturing the little girl inside her. But at 6:30 am on 1st July, here's is how I left Flo; I took this picture minutes before I left the house, not knowing how long I would be gone for, but determined I'd be gone for no longer than two weeks.

You can imagine then how happy I was to be returning exactly two weeks later, so glad that Flo had managed to keep the little one happy inside her and that I hadn't missed the arrival of our daughter into the world. And what a change! In just two weeks, Flo's beer belly (ha ha, she'll hate me saying that) has turned into a proper, beautifully round pregnant belly!


I've even had to restore the camera to landscape mode to capture the width and her belly is now officially larger than mine!

Although Flo is obviously starting to feel the strain of our little girl inside her, she's still doing remarkably well, especially considering how frail and fragile she was only a couple of months back. Yesterday she was at yoga, admittedly taking it easy, but stretching out and maintaining her health nonetheless. This morning we went swimming and I was surprised at how much energy Flo seems to have! Whereas I was feeling weak and a bit fragile (still getting used to bacteria from Damascus), Flo was zipping up and down the lane. It made me giggle, since a few colleagues have told me that mothers get a bit hyper-active close to the birth as the chemical balances start to prepare for the delivery. The great thing about her doing exercise is that it forces her to go and have a nap afterwards, which she would be less likely to do otherwise since she'd feel guilty about not having done anything, but physical tiredness overrides this mental anxiety.

So, we're expecting the baby any day now really. It's been an extremely long journey for the both of us and we're at the point where we're starting to get a bit impatient. We'd both so much like her to arrive now so we can finally get to meet her, although Flo is also getting a bit anxious about the delivery I think, which is pretty understandable. But the main thing is, we're both extremely happy!