Thirty-Four Weeks

The allergies have derailed me somewhat… I get so tired sometimes, I can sleep for hours on end even though I have probably already slept 12 hours. The dr said I can take Claritin, but I’m still hesitant because I think it dries you up and I have been trying to prevent dehydration.

Since the weather’s gotten warmer and I have gotten bigger, I decided to forage into my sister’s hand-me-down tops, which you might remember were enormous some months back when I first tried them. Well, they’re still enormous. They hang off of me like dresses (very muumuu-esque), which I still fail to understand considering that my sister is about two inches shorter than me. She definitely gained more weight than I have in my pregnancy, but that’s width not length. Very bizarre.

Although it pains me to display my chunky arms, I have been suffering from really bad sweating episodes as my body temperature has increased. (A prelude to hot flashes, I presume?) In yoga class, I couldn’t stop sweating. It wasn’t the room or the poses… it was just me. Sweat poured down my face! I had to walk out at one point, go to the restroom, and pat my face with a tissue. The hair surrounding my face was also wet! Also, every spring/summer, the office cranks up the A/C and everyone comes into work wearing sweaters. Last year, I had to carry around a big blanket with me to all my meetings. But now, I have found the office quite comfortable, even just wearing a short sleeve.

I would like to keep active because I know that I’ll need to be in good cardio condition to push, but I have found that I am getting physically tired from the pregnancy. I feel heavy; the breathing is hard; my heart pounds frighteningly loudly (I now understand the term “heart in my throat”); sometimes my legs are just tired. So it gets harder for me to keep active.

I definitely notice a difference in the shape of my belly compared to last week. It’s grown more outward instead of downward (like hanging down). It is much rounder, like a ball. I can feel a difference in the baby too — he’s much stronger. His hiccups are daily now — several times a day — sometimes in the middle of the night while I’m trying to sleep, which is now not as cute as when it first happened. When I change positions in the middle of the night, he really doesn’t like it when I’m lying on the right. He always objects with big movements. (Sometimes I feel like he’s in the “tantrum pose” with legs flaying and saying, “Mooooom! Moooooove! I don’t liiiiike that!”)

I know that my organs have all been pushed back, but I don’t feel this, so I haven’t given much thought about it. Until recently, when I was very hungry and something on the left side of my body (near the rib) “growled.” It was definitely surreal.

I previously mentioned that I had no interest in having a work baby shower because I don’t like any of my coworkers. I told my boss this awhile back. This week, he said, “Now you’re sure you don’t want a shower? Because I keep getting inquiries.” I said, “No, it’s best not to give me one. See, I used to have a filter before… keeping comments to myself. Now that I’m in my third trimester, I’ve found that the filter is gone. I’ll probably snap at someone, especially when they comment on my size.” My boss nodded, “I understand. Let me at least try and collect some money… so we can go to lunch.”