I am pretty sure that I can feel when my belly is about to grow – it reminds me of the growth pains right before a growth spurt when I was younger. Painful and then boom the bump is bigger! My memory loss began last trimester but I’m officially useless at remembering anything now, which means a list for everything. Also, is counting out gestational weeks and pregnancy months not the most confusing..? Can it just be 40wks and 10mo and none of this 4wks in one month and 6wks in another to get it down to 9mo? Or you could just have a month zero and start counting month 1 at 8wks. Problem solved.
Month 7 (27-30wk): I failed my 1hr glucose test for gestational diabetes and had to go in for the 3hr (which actually takes about 4hr with 4 blood draws). The drink at my hospital was 8oz of concentrated Sprite-like syrup and so sugary-disgusting that it made my taste buds burn. It was miserable riding the sugar high but I passed it (turns out I was just lucky and borderline failed the 1hr test)! My sciatic nerve started to bother me this month in an on-again-off-again pattern. It seems to be kept at bay if I stretch every few days, but I’m not sure what is causing it – except my belly getting huge. Lady M is definitely growing in size and strength. While I’m sitting, she likes to crawl up into my rib cage and leave one side fully bruised to where I can’t even breath without pain. When not preoccupied with my ribs, she enjoys stretching as much as possible and then giving me the old 1-2 punch. We don’t have a full name for her yet, but right now she’s known as “The Bruiser”. At night, she wakes me up way too many times! Towards the end of this month, I feel like the pregnancy is kicking my butt. I am more tired, uncomfortable, and starting to slow way down… I’m talking instead of 5 things to do after work, let’s cross our fingers to get one done! I feel useless and helpless, but thankfully Kris is around to help and we muddle through! To take a lot of stress out of our situation (which includes neat & tidy type-A personalities that are noticeably happier when the house isn’t ridiculous), I decide we may try to bring someone in once a month to clean house when baby girl arrives – makes me feel better already even though my floors still need mopping desperately.
Month 8 (31-35wk): Round ligament pain, pelvic girdle pain, or whatever.. It is horrible and showed up early in the month – hurts to stand, walk, get dressed, exercise, bleh. Plus my insomnia is back which makes me irritable yet filled with delirious energy.. pregnancy is weird. Luckily, Santa got me an extra massage that I used ASAP which helped for a bit. A few weeks into the insomnia, I accidentally fell asleep propped up on pillows and the rest was glorious! Something about letting gravity help with my crowded organs and heartburn really worked. Since our families know I like clean floors, we got two vacuums for Christmas- a Roomba and a new Shark upright! Tip: if you don’t have a great vacuum (like ours was a basic no frills Bissell, maybe eight years old), get one before you have a baby (or if you have inside dogs)! In spite of weekly cleaning, our floors were absolutely, shockingly disgusting. Eww. Kris gave me a head cold that lasted forever and I learned that pseudoaphedrine hypes me up and then hypes little girl up. At least it wasn’t the flu! The bruiser is still living well, though we found out she was breech – chilling sideways and working her muscles against my hips and ribs. I tried some inverted, yoga-like poses and some old wives tales (music, frozen peas) to coax her into a better position. Something worked and two weeks later she was head down and I was WAY more comfortable. Now that her bones are hardening and she is getting bigger, it is readily visible from the outside when she moves – just like in the movies when the person has an alien inside of them writhing around! Through all of this, feeling a human move inside of another human has got to be the weirdest, most creepy, most awe-inspiring, miraculous thing. In week 34, this crazy urge to eat started. I’m not hungry yet feel a need to be stuffing my face at all times – doesn’t even matter what it is (although I’m struggling to keep it delicious and at least partially healthy).
Month 9 (36-40wk): Kris had hit ‘nesting phase’ a few weeks ago and put together a bunch of stuff in the nursery (I think when I really started looking belly pregnant), but mine didn’t kick in until the last month. I feel less of a need to do anything baby and more of a need to organize EVERYTHING – craft supplies, nursery, bathrooms, clothes, anything. This makes Kris scared because my organizing always involves throwing things away, so he is restraining that as best he can. New this month are crazy whole leg cramps and worsening heartburn – as in she moves and there is acid in my throat – bad. I end up sleeping in our new recliner every night (per a suggestion from my boss who has regular heartburn) and it is amazing. Not being completely flat means more room to breath, not putting my limbs to sleep, and taking care of the acid which means I only wake up once or twice a night! A milkshake every now and again doesn’t hurt, either. I’m visiting the doc every week at this point, and early in the month we go to a prep class at the hospital. It was a one day deal and helpful in learning how the hospital does things. Towards the end, some days I feel amazing energy and others I feel like I need to sleep all day. There are some extra emotions floating around but overall this month has been the best for me. I’ve had my hair cut, pedicure with friends, and last prenatal massage in preparation.. although, I’ve also been horrible at exercising this month.. no excuses, just guilt. We decided we should get some pictures of me at the end (ie: we procrastinated until 39+ weeks and it could happen NOW!), so we spent a frustrating hour laughing at each other but ended up with some great shots.
Overall, the pregnancy has been normal, healthy, and uncomplicated (in spite of what my complaints have been) for which we are grateful. At 40 weeks minus a few days, I am ready and Kris is crazy excited! Everyone at work is surprised to see me in the morning, and our families/friends are waiting on the word. Kris has been on some rotations that he has enjoyed and that have had better hours, so the last half of this pregnancy has been wonderful for us in terms of getting ready and spending quality time together. He goes to trauma one week after the due date.. which is sad and causing some anxiety over whether Lady M will come before then so that A) he can be there and B) he can spend at least a few days with us after the birth. Wish us luck.. some walking (it will be warm this weekend!!), spicy food, pineapple, watermelon, and raspberry tea are on the agenda for this weekend!
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