38 weeks

I’m a week behind, but I’ll have Derek take a 39 week picture tomorrow and post it then.

I also forgot to do 37 weeks, because I can’t remember anything lately, so I’m going to post one picture for 37 and 38…it was taken right in the middle of the week anyway.

 

This week I had my 38 week ultrasound to determine how much the baby weighs. At my regular appointment on Monday, the OB told me that I hadn’t opened at all and there was no change. I guess the week before when she thought I had dilated a little, I really hadn’t. I don’t know. Anyway, I told them that I wasn’t really contracting or showing any signs of moving along at the ultrasound. The tech said the heartbeat was pretty high so they decided to put the baby on a heart monitor in order to see if I was having contractions (which would speed up the baby’s heart rate) and just not feeling them yet. Turns out, I’m not. The baby’s heart rate was just high because she was being poked at and was moving around like crazy. After she settled down and her rate went back to the 150’s, they didn’t notice any signs of contractions. The baby weighs a whopping 7 lbs 6 ounces right now and I have no clue how she is moving so much when she was so crowded in there. I have a great 3d picture of her with her face pressed against my uterus like it’s a window; she looks ridiculously chubby and hilarious.  Her head is super super low and everything is ready, but my body is making zero progress to get her out. Maybe it knows I haven’t vacuumed yet and its waiting for me to finish cleaning.

I stopped working last Saturday and I have to say I feel much better health wise. People keep asking if I’m miserable and the truth is, I’m not comfortable, but I feel so much better now than I did this time last week. I’m not as tired because I can nap if I don’t sleep well, I’m not sitting in one position all day, so my hips and lady parts aren’t hurting quite as much during the day, my feet are definitely not hurting as much, and my stomach, while still giving me some trouble, isn’t as much of a problem because I’m in comfy clothes, at home, near a bathroom, and I can eat small meals all day instead of having to eat lunch at a certain time, etc.

Derek seems like he is more ready for me to be done being pregnant than I am. He says I’ve managed to get every pregnancy symptom in the book. I tend to disagree, until I list them, and realize I had a little bit of a lot of them.

1. Snoring – poor guy says its like sleeping with a freight train…I feel so bad that its gotten that loud but I can’t help it. I’m pretty sure I’m snoring when I’m awake half the time.

2. stuffy nose – this is a recent development, but apparently common. It certainly doesn’t help with the snoring

3. Swollen hands and feet – this has been a problem since right around the time we went to GA, but it got really bad when we got home. My hands are so swollen that they increased water/blood has caused carpal tunnel in my hands and wrist. So my fingers are always sore and when I wake up in the morning its like I can’t bend my them at all. My hands are going numb and tingly (like they are falling asleep) and its pretty uncomfortable. My toes/feet are sore too, but for some reason it isn’t as bad with them.

4. Stretch marks – that have only gotten bigger

5. Reflux – we all know enough about that

6. Exhaustion – all the time

7. Anemia – the iron pills seem to help a little though

8. Morning sickness

9. Loss of appetite

10. Back pain

11. Constipation – well I haven’t had that, I’ve actually had the opposite, which isn’t all that fun either and leads to some other symptoms I’d rather just not talk about

12. Pressure in my hips and lady parts for the past 3ish months

13. Difficulty sleeping

14. Mood swings

15. Cravings – though really they weren’t all that bad or all that strong. I could use some Chick-fil-a right now though.

16. Forgetfulness

17. Dizziness/running into everything and falling down

18. Gas

19. Painful boobies (and then leaky ones)

20. Bleeding/swollen gums – they haven’t been too awful though

21. Round ligament pain

22. Having to pee all the time

23. Being too hot constantly

 

I think that is everything, although I’m sure I’m forgetting something unpleasant. Despite it all, I’m feeling pretty optimistic about being pregnant at this point. I guess I feel like this is the only time I’ve really gotten to relax and enjoy being pregnant. I have the time and energy to take care of myself and to focus on the baby moving, instead of being irritated because I can’t sleep, I’m hurting, and I’ve gotten up 8 times to pee in a half hour. I’ve listed these for posterity's sake but I want it to be known that I feel pretty ok at the moment.

 

I think tonight I’m going to try and practice some newborn photos on the dog. I don’t know if it’ll involve putting him in baby clothes yet (depends on whether Derek lets me get away with it or not). Poor puppy doesn’t know what is in store for him.