Nearly week 37

So tomorrow will be Week 37. Only 3-5 weeks to go. 3 weeks. I guess I can handle that. 5 weeks...please let it all be over before then. Everyone keeps saying that one way or another, at some time this baby has to come out. Still a little in disbelief that we are not far from the point where Maru chan will be a whole separate person and I will be a mother! At about 11pm every night when kickboxing practice in my tummy starts up, I am relieved that it won't be too much longer till I get kind of get my body back. But then sometimes the kicks are kind of cute and I think I will miss our special little relationship. 

When I found out that we were finally having a baby, I said to DH that I wanted this baby to be an Eco Baby. By that I meant, that we shouldn't go out and buy all new everything - tempting though it is! But borrow or buy as much as possible second hand. Luckily for us, being a bit challenged in the fertility department meant that pretty much everyone we know has already had at least one if not two children and so we quickly had offers of all kinds of things from friends in Japan, who were pleased to have some space back in their tiny storage closets.  I "may" have splashed out on some cute clothes from NZ but in my defense, they were all on sale! Opposite seasons rock. 

Then we had the earthquake and the nuclear power station up the road had a melt down etc. I decided to decamp to NZ. For a second time, I have been shown amazing generosity by friends and even relative strangers. Someone I have never met, who works with my sister gave me a beautiful bassinet for Maru chan to sleep in. Someone else is giving us a changing table. Not to mention all the great clothes, car seat and other paraphernalia my friend P gave me. The only thing we have had to buy new is disposable stuff like nappies, creams and what not. NZ also has the most amazing array of great reusable cloth nappies which I am planning to use after Maru chan is out of the 7-10 nappies a day stage that newborns apparently go through. The environment will have to forgive me those disposable diapers and the energy and resources it cost to make them. At first I was skeptical about using cloth (keep in mind I still haven't actually used them yet!) but after researching the issue, running the numbers and thinking about our lifestyle in Japan and how we wash clothes (using recycled water from the bath tub, only drying on the line in a very sunny part of Japan at our house that has solar panels on the roof etc), I decided that it would work for us and since doing the laundry is strangely the one chore I don't mind I have decided to try using them.

So, only 3 more weeks until DH gets here and on his bday too! Now remember everyone, we are putting it out there to the universe that Maru chan will be born from the evening of the 11th of June or sometime shortly after! :)