The Dirt on Pregnancy Weblog

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.