Thirty-Three Weeks

In the middle of the night on Monday, I woke up with the menstrual-cramping-throbbing pain (which I think are contractions) again. They started around 1-2 AM and progressed throughout the night until 4-5 AM. I dozed on/off and refused to get up and call the dr. I just really needed sleep as I’ve been so tired lately. Also, I thought if I was going through pre-term labor, I wasn’t ready for the baby yet and was trying to will him back. I did get up a couple of times to check if there was any fluid dripping, but there wasn’t — so I figured it wasn’t an emergency. I told myself if it was still going on in the morning, I’d call the dr.

When I got up, the throbbing had subsided and was intermittent. I felt the belly and it seemed hard. We had learned in childbirth class that if the belly was as hard as your forehead, chances are, it’s labor. I decided to get ready for work and by the time we left the house, the throbbing had stopped. When I got to work, I called the dr’s office and spoke to the nurse who said they can’t assess anything unless I call while it’s happening. She asked if I was dehydrated, and I told her I didn’t think so because I was going to pee every hour and the urine was clear. She told me to just make sure I drink plenty of water.

Last night, I didn’t get to drink a lot of water when I got home from work because we ran errands and got home late. When we did, I promptly lay down and drank three glasses of water. But then my belly got hard and tight. It wasn’t the menstrual throbbing, just a lot of tightening, which are Braxton Hicks. It just felt very uncomfortable like my belly was going to burst. I couldn’t tell if it was from being dehydrated or drinking too much too fast?

The Fear Has Set In

I recently finished two of my pregnancy books and I have to say, although I wanted honesty about labor, the descriptions have thoroughly scared the crap out of me. I am really, really dreading labor. Nothing about it (other than receiving a cute little baby) sounds at all pleasant and I don’t understand why Mother Nature has made it so difficult for women to deliver children into this world. You’d think somehow with evolution, our bodies would somehow learn to adjust and there wouldn’t be as much pain involved. Everything involved with having a child is frightful from the beginning to the aftermath.

I probably shouldn’t have read these chapters right before bed because I had hard time falling asleep and sleeping well. I just got really anxious and nervous. For example, I didn’t know that the epidural can give you the shakes and you might feel extremely cold, so the nurse will pile blankets on you. I didn’t know that you’ll bleed for about 4-6 weeks after the labor. I didn’t know that you might have to sit on a pillow for a few days because of how sore you’ll be. Combined with trying to take care of a newborn too?

Now I don’t understand how people can have friends and family in the room with them during labor. Going through the contractions, having random medical personnel poke at you, and right after delivering, the woman’s still recovering — can you imagine how annoying it would be to have these people chatting away like it was nothing?

Seventh OB Appointment

Again with the nurse practitioner. I think I’ve seen her more than any of the doctors. She’s very nice and all, but sometimes she doesn’t know the answer to my questions and has to “get back” to me. (She’s very young, probably in her mid-20s.)

When I arrived, another nurse took my weight (hate that) and asked if I had any swelling. I sighed, “Yes.” She said, “Don’t worry, it’s normal.”

I told the nurse practitioner about the contractions from last week, and she told me to time them next time and if they happen over a period of several hours, to call the office and they may get me in to be monitored. (She gave me handy pamphlet on pre-term labor.) She said sometimes dehydration can cause contractions. I have had some strange soreness and shooting pains in the pelvis area too this week, and she said those are probably related to my ligaments stretching or the weight of the baby.

Thirty-Two Weeks

I am getting physically tired of the pregnancy. Not like the fatigue that hits you in the first trimester — but just tired of all the symptoms, the weight, and feeling not myself. I think part of it is allergies, which makes me feel foggy. But sometimes I get home, and my body just aches and I can’t breathe. However, I don’t have that “get the baby out of me” feeling yet that I’m supposedly to start feeling later in the pregnancy. Right now, I can definitely wait for the baby to arrive.

The stale taste in my mouth has gotten worse. I constantly have this disgusting taste/feeling in my mouth even if I haven’t eaten, have eaten, or have brushed my teeth. Mints don’t really work, so I’ve been chewing gum, but after I’m done with the gum, the stale taste returns.

The baby’s definitely bigger because the pressure on my bladder is worse. I have to use the restroom every few minutes, sometimes right after I’ve just gone! At night, I’ve been waking up every hour to go. Someone told me to try not to drink anything before going to bed, but I have the swelling, so I should be drinking and I wake up with a dry mouth when I don’t have enough fluids.

The baby’s been very active. I was worried for a couple of weeks because he seemed to have slowed down, but last week, went through a growth spurt and has been very active since. I can tell he went through a spurt because suddenly last Thursday, my belly grew quite noticeably in comparison to earlier in the week. I don’t feel him kick as much, but he rolls around and sticks his butt or head into my side. I think he may be already facing head down because I started feeling little jabs and rolls near my pelvis, which I haven’t felt before. Sometimes I think he’s doing the worm because I can see my belly ripple like a wave.

The baby’s room is pretty much done, thanks to the hub. Whenever I walk by, it’s kinda strange to see this uninhabited room that will soon house a new person and be a complete mess.

Two Months and Counting

Exactly two months from today, my son may make his entrance. (I’m still thinking he’ll be early.) But it really puts things on a much scarier time line.

Last night, during my prenatal fitness class, I felt this weird tightening sensation from my pelvis to my belly. I thought I had pulled something. But as I left class, it began to throb like period cramps. When I got home, it was still happening — pulsating on/off. I lay down on the couch and massaged the area. Eventually, it went away, and then a couple of hours later, started again. I wondered if I was having contractions, or were they Braxton Hicks? They were bearable — not exactly painful — but more of a deep discomfort. I went to bed and they had dissipated, but woke up in the middle of the night from the same throbbing pain. I was so tired, I just fell back asleep. When I got up in the morning, I told myself if it happened again, I’d call the doctor. I haven’t experienced them again.

This week, along with the warmer weather, my allergies have started. Runny nose, sneezing, tearing eyes — and I can’t take anything — so I constantly carry tissue with me. In meetings, I’m constantly wiping my eyes and nose, and I think people are beginning to think I’m emotional from the hormones! I should try and take advantage of this, like to get out of projects.

Another recent phenomenon is increased body temperature and sweat! I sweat just putting on my shoes or walking down two flights of stairs. I told the hub, “Man, if this isn’t motivation to never get fat, I don’t know what is.”

Thirty-One Weeks

My belly is definitely rounder. That’s how people have been describing me lately: “All belly” or “rounded belly.” We took our last family photo of the hub, doggie, and I and my arms are no longer defined from weight training pre-pregnancy. I can’t decide if they’re just flabby or fatter. I suppose it will all come back once the baby arrives and hauling him around, not to mention the diaper bag and car seat.

The most difficult thing for me lately is the breathlessness. I get breathless over the most simplest things, like putting on my shoes. (Well, one of two choices of shoes that I can wear at the moment.)

Speaking of feet, I have heard that after the first baby, most people’s feet go back. After the second, you’re most likely to go up half or one size. Hope that is true for me as I have plenty of nice shoes I wouldn’t want to give up. This explains why for a petite woman, my mom has duck feet. And as the child who most resembles her, I sure hope I don’t end up with duck feet!

I have had a lot of people ask if I’m going to take off early from work. I intend to work until the very end as long as the doctor says it’s fine. The hub only works down the street from me and we’re really close to the hospital. My friend said she took off two weeks early from work only because her coworkers were getting on her nerves. She said the mood swings were so bad and the insensitive things people said were the main reasons why she took early leave. Now that makes a lot of sense to me because at the moment, I would like to bitch slap almost every person I work with — even if it’s just over email.

As I have previously mentioned, DC — especially the metro — is very unsympathetic to pregnant women. This morning, I was taking the metro and was having a hard time getting off my stop even though I kept saying, “Excuse me,” to people blocking my way. I would normally push my way out but wasn’t doing that because of the baby belly. But since no one was moving, I pushed a man in front of me aside to get through. And the guy pushed me back! At first I got off and was so appalled that I just kinda stood there in disbelief. Then I got back on the train and pushed him back really hard and yelled, “Oh, that’s right, go ahead and push a pregnant lady!” He just stared at me. I got off the train. I hope that he was thoroughly embarrassed during the entire ride.

Shaddap You Face

The coworker who stalks me about my weight has said, “I can’t believe you’ve got two more months to go and are going to just get bigger,” pretty much every day or every other day. I’ve been feeling rather mean and hateful lately (the mood swings return), and pondered quite seriously at saying, “Well, at least I’m not permanently ugly like you are.”

Then she proceeded to tell me again about a friend of hers who tore and had to be reconstructed. She shuddered and said, “I can’t imagine having something come out of me.” I wanted to say, “No, of course not. Because you’re in your mid-40s, unmarried, alone, bitter, selfish, and the only pleasure you have is to smoke like a fiend ten times a day. You will never know what it’s like to put someone before yourself.”

My friend who’s also pregnant (and Korean) said she believes Asians don’t have a filter when it comes to pregnant people. I had mentioned to her the Korean waitress who asked me if I was nine months along and I said I was seven, and she told me I was huge. But I don’t think it’s just Asians. I think it’s just something that everyone feels they have the right to comment on. I especially don’t appreciate the comments from people who’ve never been pregnant because they don’t realize how hard it is and how sick we get from hearing the same comments over and over. It’s not like we pick at them on a daily basis about their sorry lives! I’m realizing that the women who’ve been recently pregnant are much more positive, telling me how great I look and how much I’m glowing. The women who’ve never been pregnant or who had children a long time ago are the ones who say the inappropriate things. Those are the ones who deserve a good kick in the ass!

Sixth OB Appointment

Again with the nurse practitioner and also fairly uneventful.

Got weighed and gained two pounds since the last weigh-in. What happened to the leveling? At this rate, I’ll weigh as much as the hub! I lamented about this to the hub afterwards and he said there’s not much I can do, which is true. I think I fairly eat well and am still exercising, so it’s just nature taking its course, I suppose.

I asked the nurse about my expanding feet and she said it happens. She said sometimes they go back to normal. She also told me that my swelling wasn’t too bad and to drink plenty of water. Yeah, yeah. My sister said she drank tons of water and it hardly brought down the swelling. It’s probably just hereditary for us.

I also asked if the baby is head down. She said at this point, he still has plenty of room to swim around, so not yet. She said if I feel something hard press against me, it’s usually his head! She told me that I won’t have anymore sonograms since it appears there are no problems. Then I asked how do we find out how much he weighs? I really don’t want to be surprised by a huge baby. She said the doctors will find out via a sonogram. Huh? I’d like just one more sonogram to give me peace of mind, I guess.

The nurse measured the belly and said I’m on target (30 1/2 weeks). We listened to the baby’s heartbeat again (143 bpm) and I can truly say that I never tire of hearing that sound.

Thirty Weeks

Thirty weeks… not so good so far. Amazing how one week changes everything. It’s as if I woke up one day and a host of new symptoms arrived.

My feet have expanded. No, they aren’t swollen. They’re just wider. Apparently, the body is producing hormones that causes looser joints, which in turn expands the feet and which may be permanent. Now I only have two pairs of shoes that fit properly. Shoes that fit me last week don’t fit at all. Cute shoes. Shoes I barely wore. Shoes that I was looking forward to wearing after the baby. Like my delicate wrists, my formerly skinny feet are now fat feet. And speaking of my wrists…

My arms are chunky. They definitely fattened up a bit early on because I couldn’t wear my regular wristwatch, but I recently noticed that they’re now chunky looking. I pushed the sleeves up of my shirt and my arms were squeezing out like sausages.

I am tired. Not fatigue like it was in the first trimester, but just tired from carrying the weight. Even simple walking physically wears me out and I’m huffing and puffing. I get breathless so easily nowadays from my lungs being squished to accommodate the baby.

My heart! Sometimes when I lie down, I can feel it thumping loudly against my chest — I think because of the squishing.

Constipation. If I have a bowel movement, it’s a major cause for celebration.

Twenty-Nine Weeks

I am approaching the “30″ week mark with much trepidation as I did when I turned 30: anxiety, the “what ifs,” I’m not ready yet!, life as I know it will be over soon…

The other night, as I readied to take a shower, I noticed a medium looking bruise on my upper part of my belly. I didn’t remember bumping into anything that would have caused a bruise. It was so strange. The only thing I could think of was the day before when I felt the baby kick really hard in that area. Is that possible? The bruise was pretty much gone by the next morning.

I also noticed new moles, mostly on my chest. And a new trail of freckles on my left cheek that trails from my cheek to the edge of my mouth. I did a search and didn’t read anything that said they would go away or stay afterwards.

In the past couple of weeks, I have woken up at least a couple times in the middle of the night drooling extensively. Or with a streak of drool down my cheek in the morning. Apparently, pregnant women produce excessive saliva. Sexy.

In my prenatal yoga class, some of us mentioned strange dreams we were having. I definitely feel like I have had very vivid and emotionally raw dreams, but when I wake up, I don’t always remember them. Two women in my class had dreams about giving birth to dogs! One of them also had a dream that Steven Colbert delivered her baby. Another woman said she had a dream that Donkey Kong was chasing her. Last night, I dreamt that this really weird looking old lady in line behind me at Target butt in front of me and I confronted her, but she wouldn’t move. I had all this rage inside me and yelled, “I’m pregnant!!! Move aside!!!” She finally did. I wonder what that means?

I got the results from my glucose screening and they were normal. Yay! Keep the cakes, cookies, pancakes, and candy coming!

I’m still feeling pretty good and the baby’s movements are getting stronger and stronger (not to mention, more distracting). I’m really curious as to how big he is. He does a lot of rolling lately as opposed to kicking, and sometimes I think he’s just adjusting himself. I think I felt him get hiccups twice so far — one time being last night. I kept feeling this repeated thumping and presumed hiccups. So cute! (Except I was trying to sleep…)