Filed under: 9th month | Tags: colostrum leaking, last trimester pregnancy symptoms, pregnancy swollen ankes, pregnancy weight gain
Since this is my last month of pregnancy, I thought I should write about some of the symptoms, since it has been a while. I am still sporatically emotional and some days are worse than others. But, for the most part, I don’t tear up as much as I did in the 2nd trimester.
I still don’t have swollen ankles or legs but I think that happens when the baby drops and mine really hasn’t yet. I think I read somewhere that the baby clamps down on a major vein that pumps the blood from your leg back up to your heart, causing more blood to stay in your legs and swell. So, we’ll see if that happens once the baby drops.
I gained most of my weight in the second trimester as well and really haven’t gained that much this trimester. So far, I have gained 25 lbs, which I’m very happy about. I will say that it’s been sooo nice not worrying about how many calories I’m eating. I just eat whatever I want until I’m full. I’m still very conscious about getting enough nutrients and protein but if someone brings ice cream or cake to work, I will be having some! I’ll also admit that while I’ve been pregnant, I’ve had fried chicken, taco bell and a delicious cheeseburger happy meal. (Probably won’t be doing that again after the baby comes… but then again, that happy meal was REALLY good!) Before I was pregnant, I feel like I stressed about food and weight gain a lot more so hopefully I’ll be able to keep the same stress-free attitude towards food and calories after I’m pregnant. I will also admit that I walk a lot, which has probably helped with the weight.
Speaking of walking, I’ll move on to my next symptom…achy feet. I can’t walk too long anymore because my feet hurt if I stay on them too long. I try to sit whenever I can because carrying around this weight takes its toll on my bones. Comfortable shoes are a must at this stage in the pregnancy and I am so grateful that I work at a University and my clients are undergraduate students who come into our office wearing pajama pants. The atmosphere here is pretty casual and even more-so right now, during the summer months. I wear my Chaco sandals everyday and t-shirts. If I worked at a law firm or another professional atmosphere, I think I would be a lot more uncomfortable. Thank god I don’t have to squeeze into a suit or wear heals!
Sleep. Let’s just say, I don’t really get a lot of quality sleep anymore. I’m up every 45-60 minutes and can’t sleep through the whole night anymore. These past couple of nights have been brutal as I have gotten up 3am and not gone back to bed until a couple hours later…only to get up an hour after that. I’m also exhausted when I get home from work but try to stay up as long as I can because if I take a nap, I’ll be up at 3am again. I just want to wake up feeling refreshed…I wonder how far out I am from that. 18 years?
The last thing I’ll talk about, just happened yesterday and took me a bit by surprise. I had my first sign of “this-baby-is-coming-activity.” I was eating breakfast and felt a wet spot on my nipple. I touched it to see if my shirt was wet and it was. Then I looked down at it and there was a wet spot exactly the same size as my nipple, right over my nipple. I felt the counter top to see if it was wet thinking I bent down into a wet spot or something but then remembered that I read somewhere that Colostrum can leak before you have the baby. My bra was wet in exactly the same spot and my nipple was sticky. It was weird. I finished getting ready to go to work thinking that this spot on my shirt would dry and it never did. It just hardened. I had to put on a new shirt and open my box of breast pads! Totally awkward but I’m so glad that it happend at home and not at work. Can you imagine a wet nipple spot on your shirt all day? I now have a change of clothes and a towel in my car just in case that happens again or my water breaks suddenly.
Filed under: 9th month | Tags: 37 weeks pregnant, things you can do to induce labor, waiting for baby to drop
So, here I am, 3 weeks away from my due date. After a trip to the Doctor’s office today, I learned that I have NO activity in my cervix and the baby has not dropped yet. I know that most first time mom’s don’t deliver early but I was sort of hoping I would be one of the few. I really just want the baby to drop and get the hell out of my ribs. I’m almost certain that they are bruised because it hurts to touch them. Occasionally the baby will kick my rib and that just plain hurts. I am doing what I can to get the baby “down and out” like sitting on a ball all day, squatting and walking and also doing the nipple stimulation and orgasms/intercourse. I read somewhere that I can use my breast pump too, which I find amusing. Am I supposed to trick my body into thinking that there is something that needs my breast milk even though the baby is clearly still inside me getting what it needs? Oh well, I’ll try anything around my due date…except for Castor oil. I don’t want to get the runs all day or night and THEN go into labor. That sounds terrible.
So we wait. They should call being pregnant “in waiting” because I feel like that’s all I have been doing. Waiting to ovulate, waiting to get my period, waiting to take the pregnancy test, waiting to see the ultrasound and now waiting to deliver the baby. I am trying not to stress about it too much and just take it day by day. I’m pretty much totally ready for the baby (car seat is installed, baby room is done, baby gear has been bought, diapers and wipes have been bought, major work assignments are complete and my temp has been trained). I’m also trying to stay positive. It’s starting to get really hot here and I’m more tired every day BUT, I didn’t gain any weight in the last 3 weeks, the baby is small to average sized (wahoo!) and I still have time to nap when I get home from work. I love naps.
My due date is now one month from tomorrow. I’m still ready but will be REALLY ready after next weekend. We’ve got one more house project to finish and I should be in a good position to leave my job for 12 weeks at the end of next week. I feel like half of the brand new mothers I hear about were 3 weeks early and the others were a few days late. Physically, I don’t think I’m ready. The baby hasn’t dropped and there was no activity in my cervix when the doctor last checked. But, I’ve been pregnant for 8 months so what’s another month? I am not to the point yet where I’m miserable and “just want this baby out of me!” In fact, I feel pretty darn good. (knocking on wood right now) I don’t have any heartburn and my joints aren’t swollen, which usually is pretty typical around this point of my pregnancy. I still take things day by day though, so you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4 month belly shot, 5 month belly shot, 6 month belly shot, 7 month belly shot, 8 month belly shot
Here are the latest belly shots from month 4 to month 8. After viewing these, I am totally scared for what 9 months will be! Why haven’t I tipped over yet?! Looking back, I should have probably taken a picture before I was even pregnant to really show how much I have changed! I guess I’ll have to wait for the next pregnancy…
Filed under: 9th month | Tags: baby's room design, boy nursery design, nursery decorations, tree silhouette, wall art, wall decoration
Well, the baby’s room is finally finished. We kept the color that was already on the walls since we just painted them last year and didn’t mind them so much. After the furniture was assembled and set into the right spot, we started looking at images that we liked. We knew that we didn’t just want to pick cool designs and paint them on the wall. We really wanted them to have some meaning behind them. We ended up choosing the following silhouettes because we wanted to evoke a sense of family, nature, exploration and fun. We know we will change or add more designs later when our son grows up but thought that this was a good start. We also painted some speech bubbles that are filled in with chalkboard paint that anyone can be creative with. (I suspect my husband and I will have more fun with this than our kid!) I was unable to snap a good picture of them but I will try later.
I had my first baby shower and it was lovely. I came straight home and moved all of the new gifts into the nursery. I was able to fill our bookshelf completely! My mother-in-law gave us our glider, which was the last piece of furniture needed for the nursery so we are now complete. Mr. G and I drew our silhouette outlines on the walls and I started painting them last night. I think they look pretty amazing. I have filled in the outlines with white paint but we are going to add some colors to them to brighten up the designs. I will post pictures as soon as I finish, which I’m hoping will be this Sunday night.
My last OB appointment went well and my iron levels are back up to normal so my supplement has been working. I am no longer slightly anemic. My fundal height remains to be normal and the baby is still in the head down position. He is, however, facing “sunny side up” which only means that if he stays that way, I will probably have more back pain with my labor. I’m going to do some exercises to try and turn the little guy so we’ll see if he stays put at our next appointment.
I did some research and called all of the main delivery hospitals in the area to ask them their c-section rate. I was of course at the mercy of the people I talked to and their honesty, but found out that the hospital I chose, had the lowest rate. The national average is 35-36% which is just crazy (I think) and our hospital is 31%. Still not great but better than the other hospitals in the area that averaged 40%. I need to check again but I believe our doctor has a 20% c-section rate for his clients (if I remember correctly from our first meeting) and I am happy with that number. Ultimately, I think it’s your doctor’s rate that matters more than the hospital you will be delivering at but either way, I’m happy with our decision.
Stay tuned for 7month and 8 month belly shots in a few days!
Filed under: 8th month | Tags: 32 weeks, baby movements, baby position, fundal height
My last OB appointment went well. I only gained 2 pounds over the last month and my fundal height measured in at 32 weeks and I am 32 weeks along. So, the baby was probably sitting high in my midsection before when it was measuring 2 weeks bigger, but now has nestled his little head into my pelvis, where he should be. So I lost hope that the baby would have a reason to be 2 weeks early but I also lost the nightmare that the baby would be a 10 pounder. By touch, the doctor was 90% sure that the baby was head down. Based on the movement I feel, I’m 99% sure he is head down because I feel movement up high by my ribs which would be his feet, movement low and to either side by my belly which should be his arms and hands and then I feel slight, subtle movements right around my bladder which should be him turning his head. I think it is amazing that some people out there claim to never know that they are pregnant until they give birth. I feel my baby move ALL the time and can even make a determination on how he is situated based on the movements and there are women out there who think they just had “bad gas?” Come on!
Filed under: 8th month | Tags: baby to-do list, chosing a hospital to deliver, pregnancy, resting last month of pregnancy
Ok, so after talking to the doctor, we have decided to go with the original hospital we toured. His office is located on the same campus, which will be nice if we are ready to deliver the baby Monday-Friday between 9am and 5pm, because he can just hop on over. If we don’t deliver during those times, oh well, he’lI still be there when he needs to be. I think it also gives us a better chance to get a labor tub. We’ve had a lot of discussions with our doctor about our childbirth wishes and he is on board with all of them. I’m really glad we switched doctors and both my husband and I feel really good about him. Now that that’s decided…I can stop worrying about it. We have met with an attorney and have our living will and power of attorney drafted up so we just need to meet with him and sign on the dotted line. I love checking things off of my “the baby is coming To-Do List.” We just need to finish the wall designs and decorations for the baby’s room and I’ll be happy. The goal is to have everything completed a month before my due date so I can just rest that last month so I’m ready for labor. The neonatologist who works in my office told me that so many times, she has seen women who wait until the last minute to do everything…put the nursery together, buy clothes and gear for the baby, and by the time they go into delivery, they are too exhausted to properly give birth. Since, I’m planning on doing it naturally, I want my body to be rested and prepared for 12-18 hours of labor. It’s been about 5 years since I worked out for that long when I had 4 practices a day for College Field Hockey. But even then, we had a good 1-2 hour break in between the sessions!
On another note, in our last Bradley class, our instructor informed us that the last handful of hospital births she has either attended or received a call about have all been really positive, natural experiences. Perhaps the local hospitals and/or nurses are jumping on the natural train finally?
Filed under: 8th month | Tags: chosing a hospital to deliver, labor and delivery accommodations, labor tub
We toured the second hospital and still have not made a decision to where we should deliver. I’m more confident with Hospital 1 and their ability to take care of me and the baby should something go wrong but Hospital 2 seems more capable of supporting us through a natural delivery. Hospital 1 has a labor tub that can be rented for $200 and set up in the room, and Hospital 2 has 2 rooms that have a jacuzzi bathtub in the bathroom of the room that, if available, are free. There is no guarantee that either the tub or jacuzzi will be available when I arrive to deliver, but the labor tub, in my opinion, has a better chance of being available since it is reserved and it brought into the room as apposed to coming with a room. Hospital #2 has bigger rooms and better sleeping arrangements for my husband. They are both about the same distance from our house and my OB delivers at both places. Hospital 2 also has the labor, delivery and recovery all in the same room and Hospital 1 has a separate room for recovery so we would have to change rooms after the baby is born. Honestly, people say how nice it is to not have to move rooms once you’re there but I kind of think it would be nice to move to a new, clean room to bond with the baby in recovery. I guess it doesn’t mater to me, I’ll be wheeled around and won’t have to actually do any unpacking and packing…that will be my husband’s job. I guess I need to decide how important the tub/jacuzzi is to me because if it is really important, I think we should go with hospital 1 but if it isn’t, than we should go with hospital 2 because I think overall, it’s mission and birth philosophy is more in line with our birth wishes. But then again, we hired our Doula to help us get our natural birth wishes and be an extra experienced advocate for us so it shouldn’t matter where we are. Oh, and the whole labor in warm water thing isn’t even a definite. Some doctors don’t want their mom in the water after their water has broken and some patients don’t get to the hospital in time to use it because by the time the tub is filled up, they are ready to push. Decisions, Decisions…
We have our last monthly appointment with our OB tomorrow so I’m going to ask him if he has a preference of hospital at which to deliver or has a recommendation to where he thinks we will be more comfortable.
Filed under: 8th month | Tags: 31 weeks, doula, nursery preparation, Pediatrician, pregnancy
I’ve finally entered the stage of my pregnancy where I am counting down instead of counting up. It feels so nice. The nursery is mostly done. We still need a mattress for the crib, a changing pad for the dresser and to paint some fun things on the walls but the furniture is set up and the custom closet has been installed. All of the clothing I have has been washed and hung and the new rug has been vacuumed. For the most part, we are ready. I will post pictures when it is all complete, hopefully in 2-3 weeks.
We’ve interviewed and chosen a pediatrician and are happy with him. He answered all of our questions to our liking and was the chief resident at our local children’s hospital so seems more than qualified. He also went to Dartmouth medical school which scores him some major points. We’ve also interviewed and chosen a Doula with whom we have developed a nice rapport. She met us at our house yesterday to talk about our wishes and concerns for the birth. Overall, I think we know what we want but still need to make a decision on a few things, like circumcision. I really hope everything goes how we would like it to and there is as little medical intervention as possible once we get to the hospital. I’m trying to do everything I can to prepare for a natural birth like making sure my diet is complete, continuing to go on frequent walks and working on my birthing exercises. We have four more Bradley Classes and I’m really happy we signed up for them. The amount of information we are learning is amazing and I feel more prepared to give birth after each class. Our Doula gave me a couple of books to read as well and those are very helpful.
So, the countdown continues and I can’t wait to have a little baby in my arms! We tour one more hospital tomorrow that has two rooms with jacuzzis and will hopefully have the hospital chosen shortly thereafter. We also have our last monthly doctors visit on Friday and then we will go to biweekly visits. My first baby shower is in two weeks and can’t wait. So far I don’t have any sign of stretch marks but I have a feeling my belly is going to grow faster than it ever has in the next 9 weeks so we’ll see!
My sleep still sucks and my energy level is decreasing again so I’m definitely not as mobile as I used to be and have slowed down a bit. Baby G continues to move and kick which is always fun to watch and feel. Things are surely getting exciting now!
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