Pregnancy Weeks 33, 34, 35

I don't even know where to start...I guess first off, see my previous blog for an explanation to where I've been and what's kept me away from Blog land the last few weeks. I guess I'll just jump right in and try my best to remember everything.


How far along: 35 weeks

Weight gain: went the midwife yesterday. Up 4 from last appointment 3 weeks ago. Total for pregnancy 34.

Stretch marks: yes, not scary deep, but definitely all over! Tiger stripes! Roar!

Maternity Clothes: That bra I bought a few weeks ago is AMAZING!!!! It is so friggen comfortable I have contemplated buying another. I will only be able to use it as a sleep/lounge bra, but still, it is reassuring to have something!

Sleep: I just started within the last week getting up twice to pee. I know many women are up far more times, but if I do wake up a lot to attempt to switch sides. My hands fall asleep a lot, and it wakes me up. My chiropractor things its because of my neck. Who knows.

Best moment this week: definitely my baby shower (see previous post) and my doula visiting.

Miss anything? Beer--but I think its mostly because I would have drank a lot these few weeks with all the stress I was under. Lunch meat.

Cravings: Salty things. Chips, fries, snacky things.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Just stress...lol

Gender: Boy

Wedding rings: On, but barely

Belly Button: Still there...

Movements: He is definitely running out of room. His movements are getting more and more painful.

Symptoms: Major edema! Feet, ankles and calves. My pubic pain is all day now, and I just feel sore all the time. Sinus headaches-damn allergies-, numbness in my first three fingers due to my neck issues, tired, stressed, emotional, exhausted, braxton hicks--usually at work when I'm doing too much.

Mood: stressed to say the least. emotional for sure

Looking forward to: my baby boy being here! :)

Midwife update: Liam had a strong heartbeat of 130, he is still head down, his butt was (and usually is) resting on my right side with his legs across my belly. My fundal height was 41cm, so I am still measuring about 6 weeks ahead. Liam is estimated to be 6.5-7lbs!! So I have been advised to watch my carb and refined sugar intake. My blood pressure was 110/70--pretty typical. We did my 3rd trimester lab work--still waiting for results. I have been advised to decrease the number of hours I can work as well. I will be talking to my HR person so figure out if I would still qualify for my insurance. Next appointment is next week wednesday.

So now that my crazy schedules are pretty much done, hopefully I will be able to stay up to date on my blogs.

Hope you all are doing well!!
N.

Pregnancy Week 27

This week has marked the end of my 2nd trimester! Hurray!! Just 12 more weeks! St. Patty's day was a blast! Liam jammed right along with us while listening to my brother-in-law's Irish rock band play. Friday his other band played locally as well, so we had fun listening to some bluegrass as well! Our last birth class went well. I'm sad they are over. I love spending time with Rachel and getting to know her and the whole birthing process. We ended with breastfeeding and newborn care. Most of which I already knew. --(other than the techniques of breastfeeding). Rachel is also the La Lache League leader in my area, so she is a fantastic resource for breastfeeding. Also, I have realized that my calendar is beginning to fill up with appointments and special dates before Liam's due date. It is becoming a bit overwhelming so I definitely need to find my daily planner and start writing out to do lists and such. Next week we will be purchasing our birth kit and birthing pool. I cant believe we are already this close! I will also start a list of "hospital bag" items, just in case. I wont pack that for awhile yet, but I just need to get my thoughts in order. Anyways, this week Scott and I went to the eye doctor. I havent been in at least 3 years. I am sick of my glasses, and my eyes reject my contacts now. I know you arent supposed to get new glasses while pregnant since your eyes can change shape and whatnot. But we have the insurance now, and we might as well take advantage of it. My eyes did change .75 in each eye. And I have a pair of trial contacts on order to see if it was just the style of my contacts or not. I can't wait to see my new frames! They should be in this week. Scott got new frames as well, although his prescription only changed .25 in each eye. He cant remember the last time he was at the eye doctor. Must be nice. :) I have made a chiropractor appointment for april 3rd. I have been having terrible back and sciatic pain as well as pubic pain. I described it to Rachel and she thought it sounded like pubic symphsis. More on that later. .Anyways, enough rambling onto week 27.

How far: 27 Weeks

Weight gain: I will update this when I get back from my midwife appointment on Wednesday

Stretch marks: more and more

Maternity Clothes: yes and yes! And I cannot wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear my flip flops instead of attempting to tie my shoes.

Sleep: I would definitely say bad, but I know its only going to get worse. I wake frequently, not usually to use the bathroom, but for some odd reason. Attempting to roll over is always a challenge, one that I know wont improve anytime soon.

Best moment this week: Feeling Liam jam out to the music we have been listening to. Birth class, eye doctor.

Miss anything: not anything new. coffee mostly this week. I think more so because I'm so tired.

Cravings: pretty much the same. Hot ham and cheese on deli roll with dijon mustard. and of course OJ.

Anything make you queasy or sick: not really

Gender: Boy

Belly Button: In

Wedding rings: Off, again only for trying to get my hands back to normal. The dry winter (pseudo-spring) is terrible for the skin.

Movements: you betcha! Especially to the fiddle music!

Mood: tired, but good.

Looking forward to: my 28 week appointment on wednesday. I cant wait to find out if he is still head down.

Symptoms: back and pelvic pain, swollen feet/ankles, tired, sleep sucks, hungry all the time. Here's the low down on Pubic Symphysis.

This is where your pubic symphysis is.

 The following is an exerpt I found on what to expect.com

What symphysis pubic dysfunction is

Symphysis pubic dysfunction, or SPD, is one of those weird pregnancy conditions that sounds bizarre and well, kind of is. It means the ligaments that normally keep your pelvic bone aligned during pregnancy become too relaxed and stretchy. This, in turn, can make the pelvic joint — aka the symphysis pubis — unstable, causing some pretty strange sensations and sometimes pain.

What causes symphysis pubic dysfunction during pregnancy

The culprit behind SPD is the aptly named hormone relaxin. Its mission is to make your ligaments stretchy so your baby can ease his or her way into the world. But sometimes relaxin does its job too well, making the ligaments around your pelvic bone during pregnancy too loose too soon (way before baby is ready to come out), and that causes instability (and unfortunately, pain) in the pelvic joint.

What you need to know about symphysis pubic dysfunction

While your legs won't actually fall off (promise), it may seem like they're going in opposite directions from each other (and the rest of your body). Walking, standing, or rolling over in bed can really hurt as one side of the joint shifts more than the other, throwing everything off-kilter. In very rare cases, the joint may gape apart noticeably, a condition called diastasis symphysis pubis, which can cause serious pain in your pelvis, groin, hips, and buttocks (truly, a pain in the rear!).

What to do about symphysis pubic dysfunction during pregnancy

Try stabilizing those floppy ligaments by wearing a pelvic support belt (readily available online), which "corsets" the pelvic bones back into place during pregnancy. And be religious about doing your Kegels and pelvic tilts, both of which strengthen the muscles of the pelvis. More tactics to try: Sit down to get dressed, and avoid heavy lifting and pushing (which you should be doing anyway).



I hope this helps anyone else who is experiencing this kind of pain. It definitely sucks, and I'm glad I made an appointment with the chiro. Scott also found some interesting information online about swelling feet can be caused more severely by your legs not being the same length. Which is true in my case. My left leg is slightly longer--you cant notice it at all, but sometimes if I'm walking a lot, I will notice some pain.) Anyways, this all ties together. If I truly have SPD, then it is messing with my alignment, and so my normal stance is all out of whack, which can cause more swelling. Hopefully going to the chiro will straighten out all of these issues, or at least improve them!

Thats all for now, enjoy your week!
Nikky

Pregnancy Week 25

Hey look! I'm on time this week! Wahoo!
This week felt like it took forever!!! I'm not entirely sure why, but the days just dragged on and on! Sunday I woke up with very swollen feet and ankles which sent me into panic mode. Checking and rechecking my hands and face to see if anything else was swelling. Billie came over and hung out a bit, then we went shopping (I wore flip flops for the first time this year! Hurray!!) She also painted my toes, since it's getting increasingly difficult for me to reach them and do a decent job of painting. Monday I was still swollen, and I emailed my midwives just so they knew. They gave me some good advice, and the next day the swelling was gone. I basically ended up drinking more water, eating more sea salt and more protein. We had birth class on Thursday, which was also my birthday (what a fun bday huh? work and birth class haha). Oh well. Afterwards, we stopped to get subway, and then to culvers for icecream. We ended the night watching Zombieland and I pretty much passed out after that. Friday I had off, and had to clean the house since my family was coming over on Sunday for pizza and ice cream. :) Saturday I cleaned a bit more and cleared off my bookshelf that I use as my night stand. I moved my books, and placed canvas bins on the shelves to hold Liam's things since his pack n' play with bassinet will be next to it soon. He will be sleeping in there for the first few weeks/months.

How far: 25 weeks

Weight gain: +1 this week, +1 for this pregnancy

Stretch marks: Yes

Maternity clothes: Yes, mostly just pants, shirts, and a few tanks

Sleep: Definitely sleeping on my side most often now. Still pretty consistent sleep, waking once to pee.

Best moment: Organizing my bookshelf/nightstand with Liam's things. I love getting organized!!

Miss anything? Coffee!! or at least coffee without the guilt! I used to have one travelsize mug everyday, and now, even though I switched to half-caf, and drink less on an occasional basis, I still feel guilty!

Cravings: nothing too extreme, OJ, blueberry anything, salty snacks, hot ham and cheese

Anything make you queasy or sick? Friday night we went out for chinese with some friends and the smell of the fish made me really queasy! This was pretty much the first "normal" item that made me this way. Normally the smell of stinky b.o. makes everyone sick...but this fish was sooo terrible to me, we were luckily about to leave and I bolted out of there.

Gender: Boy

Belly Button: In

Movements: All the time, on a regular-ish schedule.

Symptoms: Swelling, very hungry, sleepy in midafternoon, getting slightly more snappy/moody, out of breath.

Mood: usually pretty good, a little touch and go at times.

Looking forward to: the next childbirth class, we are doing a "labor rehearsal"! Sounds fun! Also I'm looking forward to St. Patty's day--even if I cant drink, my brother-in-law's irish rock band are playing locally and I'm stoked!!

--I am still planning on working on my notes from my childbirth class week 5 and 6. And also my baby shower planning ideas.