Ok,
it feels like the countdown is really beginning. I still can’t believe how fast this is all
going. 9 months seemed like such a long
time on the front end! At our last doctor’s
appointment, the midwife said that if I go into labor a week from now, they
won’t do anything to stop it – i.e. the baby will be medically ok. That is not to say that the baby is coming in
a week. The due date is still July
7(ish), and I was measuring a little small at the last appointment. So don’t get super excited. But it is very intimidating. We still have so much to do! The baby’s room now has organized piles of
gifts and gear. The changing
table/dresser is halfway finished. Once
that’s done, I can actually put away all the baby clothes I have so carefully
washed, folded, and separated by size.
The crib is still in its box, waiting to be assembled. But we have a bassinet and a moses basket for
the kid, so if she does arrive early, there is a place for her to sleep even if
the crib isn’t finished. And honestly,
she won’t really be using the crib for a while anyway as she will probably be
sleeping in the moses basket or bassinet in our bedroom for the first couple
months.
Now
that I am 35 weeks, I am definitely entering the “this is not so comfortable
stage” of pregnancy. In comparison to
complaints I’ve heard from a lot of other pregnant women, I seem to have had a
relatively easy pregnancy so far (you never know, karma could come kick me in
the behind when it comes time for labor).
But please allow me a little digital space to vent about what ails me
now.
My
belly is now so heavy that sleeping is definitely not the most comfortable
thing in the world. Imagine strapping a 25 pound backpack onto your belly and
NEVER taking it off . . . now imagine that backpack is under your skin, so your
skin has to stretch to accommodate it
-
that’s getting close to how it feels.
When
I sleep, I have to stick a pillow under my belly for support so that gravity
doesn’t pull it too much down towards the bed.
Then I have my body pillow that I curl up with and stick between my
knees to alleviate any hip pressure.
Plus I have a pillow at my back so that I don’t accidentally roll over
on my back in the middle of the night (once you hit a certain point in your
pregnancy,
you are not supposed to sleep on your back).
Poor Aaron has to deal with the fortress of
pillows surrounding me when he finally climbs into bed.
Next time I’m getting one of those special
pregnancy body pillows!
Once
I do wake up, transitioning from the laying down position to a standing
position is an exercise in and of itself!
My ab muscles are pretty much useless at this point because they are so
stretched out, so in order to go from laying to standing, I have to roll over
on my side, and push/crawl my way up with my arms. Then I wiggle my way to sitting with my legs
off the bed, and very slowly stand up.
The weight of the belly first thing in the morning makes it really
painful if I stand up too quickly. And
then there’s the sciatic pain that emanates from my tailbone making it
impossible to stand quickly anyway.
The
other discomfort that I have fairly often is from the baby sticking out from
under my ribs. I swear this kid is
growing exponentially every night! Literally,
the other morning I woke up, and put my hand on my belly and it was noticeably
bigger than the night before! She seems
to like to hang out under the right side of my rib cage. She’ll poke out or kick and I try to massage
her back in a little bit because it can get really uncomfortable. Though, right now as I type this, she seems
to be sticking directly out of my midsection, like a little alien, which I have
to say is much more comfortable than sticking out the side.
My
hands are also starting to swell on a regular basis. My hands are normally so bony normally that
no one would ever notice if they didn’t know me, but my wedding ring is
starting to get to the point where it’s not quite comfortable to wear very day
(though my engagement ring is half a size bigger and is still fine). My feet seem to be ok, so far, as long as I
don’t wear heels. The midwife looked at
my feet and said, “Oh good, I can see your ankles, that’s a good sign!”
Also,
for those of you who don’t know, we are remodeling our master bathroom. Five weeks before the birth of our first
child might seem like an odd time to start a major renovation project (we are
gutting the entire room and replacing everything). But we figured it was probably better (and
safer) to do it while the kid is still contained on the inside rather than
dealing with a squirmy little one and construction dust at the same time. Wish us luck!
Here's a sneak preview at the "before" (this was the demo done day 1 to the bathroom):
