38 Weeks!

Yesterday I went for a really long walk -- an hour and half! I had to have gone at least 2 or 3 miles, maybe even 4! I want to take the car and retrace my route so I can see how far I actually went. The walk went good except for the hill I had to climb. Wowie. That was intense. There are so many hills around here. The only bad part was all of the puddles that I had to maneuver around. There was no way to get around one except to hop it and I was obviously overly optimistic about that. It should've been apparent to me BEFORE I tried jumping that my belly would just be a big weigh down, but nope. I ended up landing smack dab in the middle of the puddle and making a really huge splash. I felt like such a doof. To anybody who had been watching it must've looked like I deliberately tried to jump into the puddle, just based on where I landed. I didn't even clear the 3 1/2 foot puddle! How embarassing. I had a good foot and a half to go. Not only did I feel like a huge dork but I ended up with sopping wet socks and shoes anyways!

I really felt my belly tightening up throughout the walk. That's a good thing, though! About 20 min left to go on my walk I just got poopered out. I tried calling Sam to see if he was on his way home from the movie yet in hopes that maybe he could pick my tired buns up. No such luck. I got home and then made some Kung Pao Chicken dinner stuff! It was delicious.

Got a good night's sleep last night. Went to bed around 12.30 and woke up this morning at about 9.30ish. I kept getting awakened by my stomach tightening up though, the "practice contractions", only they were alot stronger and closer together than usual. I was hopeful for a little bit and thought maybe I was starting labor! But no. I woke up today and they've just been sporadic. Nothing that even resembles a pattern so I'm thinking it was just prodromal contractions, the ones that help get the cervix ready before you actually START labor. So.... hmph. I was all excited. I'm just waiting. I have been getting some pretty bad headaches the last few days and they all usually start around noon. I don't know what that's about. Maybe extra hormones or something. But it sucks. Tylenol doesn't help. So I'm just trying to relax and stay occupied.

37 Weeks + 6 days.......heartburn

Ugh. I thought this whole heartburn phase was over with! Just when things were getting better. Not as many leg cramps, my ribs/lungs quit hurting, and the heartburn was gone. Psych! It's back. I went to bed early at 10.15. Woke up a little before midnight to that familiar burning sensation and gross taste in my mouth. Reflux, or whatever. Yucky. and it's now 4.19 and i'm still awake. I wish I had some Tums. I tried a glass of milk. I tried cottage cheese. I even tried an apple and that usually helps; nothin'! I did lay back down for about an hour but I never actually fell asleep. I started cleaning the apartment. But then I got pooped. Now I'm relaxing on the couch. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to bed soon. But laying down doesn't help heartburn. It makes it worse because more "stuff" comes back up so I'm trying to stay upright. Rrrrr...... not too much longer of this though! I hope....

5:53 Laundry

Actually I put the laundry in at 5. I woke up at 4:40. Made a pb&j on toast and then put on some track pants and my tennies and went to the laundry room. I had the last couple of things to wash for baby: my nursing pillow cover, hospital sleeper gown, slippers, some onesies, and his over-alls outfit. Then I walked the hallways for 30 min and came back to the apartment to stretch a little bit on the exercise ball and take a breather! I'm going to head down to the apartment common rooms sometime today whenever they decide to open it up. I'm going to go on the treadmill for a long time. My poor fingers though, they get so swollen from walking! Whenever I straighten them out they turn bright white because they're so full of water. I'm surprised my fingers didn't get stretch marks!!! :) haha. But I think that would be highly unlikely. They're crazy looking though. I can't wait to be able to fit my rings back on! Before I was unable to wear them anymore, I could still keep one ring on. It used to fit my ring finger, but, in the last couple days before I took it off and retired it to my jewelry box until after I have the baby, I could barely squeeze it off of my pinky! Well. Back to the laundry room. I have a feeling I'm going to accomplish a bunch today.... well until about 1 p.m. when I crash.

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37 Weeks + 5 days

Walkin'

I like my glasses. They're really cute. I am glad they came. I walked the apartment halls for 30 min. Hopefully nobody noticed me, they probably think I'm a nutso! But it's ok. Unless somebody's looking out their peephole like, "Oh my. That girl's gone by 3 times already." I think they'll just assume I'm going to an apartment or something. By the time I get to my door my legs are exhausted and I can really feel the pressure on my pelvis. I generally have about 3 contractions every time I walk now, so I'm hoping that's a good thing =D It makes me encouraged when I get them. If I didn't get so breathless I could walk more. I want to go again tonight. But right now I'm going to hit the hay. I'm exhausted. I was falling asleep in the chair. But that just means I'll wake up around 3 a.m. wide awake. That sounds like a good time to continue my hall walk. Maybe I'll even throw my laundry in! Who knows. I'm usually ambitious when I wake up around that time. And I'm hoping he comes any day now! So exciting. Scary, but exciting.

Glasses

I'm officially relieved. My glasses came in today! I was worried they weren't going to be here before I went into labor. Thank God they're here. Sometimes you can't wear contacts or women have problems with contacts during labor and then they only allow glasses. Being blind and going through labor would suck.... These are the first glasses that have been a different style since the end of my freshman year of high school. It was traumatizing picking out a new pair! They stopped making the other frames that I loved that I just kept getting. Those frames finally snapped. Which I guess isn't so bad. I'd had those particular frames for 3 years and they ARE only plastic. These new frames are black with a little white. They're kind of chunky and bigger than my other frames, but oh well. I like them enough. Hopefully I can get used to them! I'm excited to see how they look. I am picking them up in a little bit. Woohoo. It's such a relief, but it's also scary because that means that d-day is getting closer! Where's the jeopardy music when I need it? It should continually be playing for my life right now because that's what I feel like =)

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37 weeks+4 days

Anxious

I feel like the kid in the back of the car on one of those long trips saying, "Are we there yet?" Ugh! I just want it to be now. I am sick of waiting! I just want him to be here already. I never thought I'd get to the point where I was so anxious and so ready, but I'm definitely there! Just like I never thought I'd get to the point where all I would want to wear was sweatpants. 4 months pregnant and I was convinced that I would be able to live in my trendy maternity jeans the day until delivery. Not. I also never imagined I would get to the point where I would trade my stylish, outfit-matching slip ons for some old, dilapitated tennies from sophomore year. Then again, this shouldn't come as a surprise considering this entire last year has been full of them!

The last week or so I've been getting really down and stressed with how I'm ever going to manage being a single mom. Especially with finishing school and having Sam gone in the AirForce. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. So I just have been praying about it. Well, today I got 2 letters in the mail. One from my grandmother and one from my aunt. They were exactly what they needed and it was so ironic that they came on the same day. My aunt is a single mom and she basically just wrote that we never get more on our plate than we can handle and so somebody must think we're able to handle alot and that's why we're given the challenge. My grandma's card was equally as perfect fitting for the situation and how I've been feeling. It said that God never gave us more than we can handle. They made me smile and I felt reassured. My grandma also wrote a letter on the inside of the card. One of the lines she put in there I think will stick with me for the rest of my life, "God never wastes time on anything - every experience He allows to come our way - every thing we go through - all things have a divine purpose." I really like that quote; it's so true.

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37 weeks + 4 days

M.I.A. Ankles

I was such a crab yesterday. Whoa. Talk about hormonal, mood-swinging, grumpiness! Yikers. I just wish I would realize how grumpy I was being when I was in the act. See, but then when it's happening I'm just telling myself, "No. I'm not crabby. This is completely legitimate." And then I get to the next day and feel like... yeahhhh..... nice. So.... sorry Sam! I was probably a bear yesterday.

Anywho. I actually got to sleep in my bed last night! Very exciting. It was the first time in over a week because I've been having that lung pain. Except that I had to make myself go back to bed at around 3 a.m. because I wanted to get up and do stuff. But, I knew that wasn't a good idea because I've been sleeping so poorly and I had an appointment today and I didn't want to be tired. Woke up this morning, though, and guess what pulled a magic trick and disappeared? MY ANKLES! They're completely gone. Here's a slight analogy; pretend my ankles were previously mountains. Mt. Everst, let's say. They're now more like.... rolling hills. You know, the tiny ones that you barely even notice? It's like playing I Spy when you're looking for my ankles. The only shoes that fit me now are these stretchy tennies I've had since sophomore year. Boy I'm glad I kept them because they're so comfy & amazing!

Appointment overview : The midwife I had today (Margo) was the one I had spoken with over the phone on Thursday night. My ultrasound from Thursday and the test results had been faxed over to the Marshfield Clinic so she got a chance to look at them. She apologized....and good! She should've because she was ridiculous that night. The results showed that my gallbladder actually WAS slightly inflamed (the radiologist on call that night had missed it.... nice, huh?) and that I did have pleurisy. I called it! The tissue was all swollen between my lung and rib area which was causing the pain. She even asked and double checked that I didn't need a refill on my painkillers because she said she can't imagine how painful it was. Well, she's right. haha. But I didn't take any. I don't want them unless I absolutely need them, and it's been getting a little better. Baby's doing great! I gained 4 lbs in water weight.... ugh. Where the hell is the weight stabilization? grrr.... You can definitely tell. I feel like I'm sloshing around when I walk and that's the reason for my sausage fingers and M.I.A. ankles. But he's growing, too. My fundus height (uterine growth) is 41 cm this week. Ahhhh!!! Big baby on the way. I'm only 37 weeks, so his growth really shot up there. If he doesn't come within the next week they're 95% sure they'll have to induce me, otherwise he'll be too big and I'll end up with a C-section... which I don't want. His heartbeat was 151 bpm's which is perfect! Normal is anywhere between 120&160 and he was moving around so 151 was great. It was cute, when she put the doppler on my belly to listen to his heartbeat I don't think he liked it because he kicked it right off =) What a lil stinker. I'm getting so excited for him to get here. My mind is racing when I go to bed and it's getting harder for me to sleep. I just want to be able to see him and play with him. Mmm.... I can't wait! I have baby mania.

Vlogs & Walks

I did my 37 week Vlog. It only took me 4 tries to get it started right. I hated the beginnings of the other ones. I just wasn't feeling it to start out with. Ummm mum mum. Just kind of chilling. I am breathing much easier which is so nice. I think just resting today really made a difference. I am going to go walk the apartment halls in a couple of minutes, though. I have to get some exercise today! Plus I want this baby so I gotta get my buns movin' so he drops even more. I think he dropped just since yesterday. I can feel the difference when I'm standing and stuff. It feels like there's a gigantic bowling ball between my legs that's just going to drop out at any time. Kind of disconcerting at times. Hm, not much else to report! I've just been making more frequent trips to his room and looking through his clothes and getting more excited. Making up reasons to go in there; such as organizing rubber ducks. hehe. It's fun.

Whoopie!!

After sitting up and sleeping last night, I actually got to lie on my side!! So exciting! I didn't even need to take any painkillers or anything before bedtime. Hopefully this is a good sign =) I'm really liking it.

Lullaby & Goodnight

Just finished burning baby lullabies and stuff to a CD for him! I downloaded the Fisher Price lullaby soundtrack and a couple extras. No words, though. Very relaxing. I have the songs on my cell phone (which doubles as my Mp3 player) and I put the phone on my belly and play them. They say that babies can hear them and if you put the music on before you go to sleep, they'll associate those songs with bedtime. Hopefully it works! Maybe whenever he hears "Twinkle, Twinkle" he'll stop crying and just zonk out? I can only hope it will be that easy....

Baby Shopping

My mom and my brother came up to visit! It was a really nice time. I finally got the Stuffed Crust Pizza Hut pizza I've been wanting for about 2 months. It was heavenly. Mmmm.... Yesterday, she and I went baby shopping around Eau Claire. I needed to get him some newborn socks so we stopped at a place called Savers. It's basically like a Goodwill..... only it's nicer. I figured we should check there first for some socks because at WalMart & Target the cheap socks are $7.99 for 6 pair & some were $5.99 for 3 pair! They have a large bag of 12 pair of socks that say 0-6 months, but there's no way they would stay on his tiny feet right away; they were way too big! The socks at Savers were .49 cents a pair! 2 of the pairs were completely brand new and still in packaging and the other ones looked like they'd barely been worn. Well, really? How do babies wear out socks. They only wear them a few times before they grow out of them and it's not like they're walking around and wearing them out or anything. So I wasn't too worried about used baby socks. Besides, we got all different kinds and they're so cute! 9 pair came out to be around $4.50. Also found him a pair of new fleece slippers there for $1.99 and some tiny little baby tennies to wear with his track outfit. Super cute! Then we also got a Boppy Nursing Pillow while we were uptown. I am not especially fond of the cover it came with but it was on sale so I'll just pick up a plain blue one. I figured I'll probably want to have 2 covers anyways in case one gets dirty, then I can just slip the other one on without having to worry about getting it washed right away.

Today we made another baby run. Went to Walgreens & WalMart. Walgreens had this breastfeeding lotion stuff on sale. It's for dry cracked skin, etc. That's the part I'm almost half dreading is the first few days when I'll be really sore! Got Christopher some cute little handmits. Dark blue, light blue, and white with little dinosaurs. They all came together otherwise I'd have skipped the dinosaur ones. haha. His grandma (my mom) bought him a swing! It's adorable. It's a portable swing that is close to the ground and doesn't have the traditional hard back. The chair is bouncy seat material (really soft & full) and it's for newborns because when you put them in there, their head automatically sinks into the material so it creates head support. I love it. There's a removable mobile. It has 5 speeds and 7 songs. It's so nice! I love that it folds up really small and it's also close to the ground. We are going to get alot of use out of it! Also got 3 small baby bottles (which I already sterilized) and an oil candle warmer. I know. It's not really baby related but it's going in his room because it smells so delicious! My dad is making curtains for the baby's window; well, he PERSONALLY isn't making them himself. haha. That would be comical, but he's "overseeing" their production. =) He cracks me up. He's such a project guy.

Pleurisy?

Now, I'm no doctor but I do know how to work my way through some of my medical terminology books, web MD, and GOOGLE. I don't think this is my gallbladder. 4 doctors think it's my gallbladder, but I don't. I don't know if they think I'm faking pain or have a low pain tolerance or some crap like that but.... the symptoms of gallbladder do not coincide with what I'm experiencing. I think pleurisy fits. The last time I went into the doctor with this same kind of pain (only more mild) at about 25 weeks they prescribed my codeine. He said it was the inflamed cartilage (I twisted wrong when putting on my seatbelt) but he didn't think that was the only thing. He had mentioned pleurisy which is another inflammation of the lining of the lungs and ribcage that's usually cuased by a viral infection and pregnant women have a higher chance of contracting.

I really think that's what this is. Not only that but now I'm starting to produce more phlegm; a symptom of me not being able to take deep breaths and so it's all building up. About once an hour I try to take 4 deep breaths in a row just because I don't want to end up with pneumonia or something because of this. I think I might go back into the doctor or urgent care and see somebody there. Hopefully they'll be able to prescribe me more pain meds because at least that knocks the pain level down to half and makes reclining at least semi-tolerable so I can get a couple hours of rest in. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do. The midwife I have an appointment with on Tuesday is the one that's convinced I merely "strained" something when I got my blowdryer...... WHAT-ever. I don't trust her to make any good calls about this. Midwives special in pregnancy and pregnancy related things, anyways. She's not certified to make any other medical calls.

Well, that's all for now. Me and baby are just chilling. At least HE'S awake to keep me company! Sam, Michael, and my mom are all asleep. I'm jealous. They all went to sleep before me and they're all still sleeping. I want to get an airhorn and wake them up or something. I'm bored.

Owwwie

7.02 a.m. Probably got 2 1/2 hours of "sleep". Much better than nothing. It was challenging but basically heavenly while it lasted. Pain has actually gotten worse. It now hurts to swallow and drink. I am hesitant to take a painkiller. I only have 6 left and who knows how long this will go on or if it's going to get worse. Whatever is irritated on the right side has gotten more swollen. It feels like there is "water" or something around a couple of my ribs. Whereas I can feel bone on the left side, no problemo; I have to poke through squishy, sore tissue to get to the rib on the right side. I have no idea what's causing it. I hope they figure it out soon, though.

37 Weeks Full Term

Full term. Yay! Means I could have him ANY day now. Which I am hoping will be sooner instead of later. Still no luck sleeping. Laying down agitates whatever it is that's causing all of these problems (presumably the gallbladder) and makes me unable to take in any breaths. So, fun fun. It's 3 in the morning and I'm still awake just plugging away taking small lil breaths. No laughing! Or burping. Betcha never thought burping would be painful! hahaha.... haaa (that's the only way I can laugh) =) But yup. Just getting through everything. All I keep thinking about is that in a week or 2 weeks I'll have my cute little baby to hold and it'll all be worth it. Nighttime is when he moves around the most now and really presses down on my pelvis. Oh, and I know this is gross and probably way more information than you want, but I started spotting today (well technically yesterday). I noticed it. It was past the 24 hours since my pelvic exam though, which can sometimes cause the bleeding, so I think it was a genuine sign of cervix dilating! After you notice bleeding labor usually begins within the week. Hopefully this means I won't have to be induced and I'll just go into labor on my own! Alrighty. Well I'm going back to watching House and relaxing here on the couch. Hopefully I'll nod off for at least an hour.

My hospital ordeal...

Before I even start: I just typed up this whole thing. Then my computer froze & it all got erased. I was on the last paragraph & now I am starting all over. F***. And I am actually finishing it now at 3.40 in the afternoon because I couldn't get it done this morning!



Yesterday, well technically 2 days ago now because it's already Friday morning, I woke up and I had this stabbing pain on my right rib underneath my boob area. I figured I'd just slept wrong or something and got over it. It didn't get better the whole day so I took some Tylenol for it and a hot shower, which seemed to help. I figured I'd just be able to sleep it off and wake up and be fine. Wrong. I woke up yesterday and the pain was so much worse than the day before. I couldn't take in a deep breath without it feeling like somebody was stabbing my lung. Still, I figured I could just ignore it and get on with the day until it got to the point where I could no longer sit or lay down. You know that little inhalation breath you take before you sneeze? Yeah, I had to stifle 3 sneezes because I couldn't catch that deep of a breath. So of course I surf the internet for rib pain during pregnancy. The best I came up with was slight rib separation, baby's foot stuck, gallbladder problems, or just "pregnancy pains". Eh. That's probably what it was; pregnancy pains. So I tried the heating pad. Nada. Frozen corn used as an ice pack.... still nothing. Eventually I ended up calling the Marshfield Clinic Midwives (my pregnancy care providers) to see what they thought I should do. When they finally got ahold of this dum-dum (it took her 12 minutes to answer her pager and even the receptionist was annoyed) she didn't tell me any breaking news. Had I taken a warm shower? (check) Tylenol? (check) Sleep? (impossible) or how about an ice pack or a warm compress? (check, check!) Obviously nothing had worked for me and that's why I was calling. She asked if I remember doing anything that could've set it off..... nope. Nothing at all? Well, I did bend over to get my blowdryer, but that's about it. I said that.... mostly as a joke but apparantly to her that was the lightbulb! It MUST have been the darn blowdryer and now I had a muscle strain. Ding, ding, ding NOT! Yeahhhh.... must've been my 1/2 pound blowdryer that caused this, right? Considering I woke up with the pain. Sure. Whatever. It was useless continuing to talk to her so we just got off the phone and I just agree with her. Doesn't help that she talked at speed of snail.... Well, just to humor one of her suggestions I tried taking another hot shower for 20 min. Guess what didn't help? The hot shower?!? No way.



Next I skipped a step and just called the Sacred Heart ER and they told me to go ahead and come on in. Easier said than done. The car ride was hell. It hurt so bad to sit there I was in tears. Thank God Sam was driving. I just wanted to scream. Inhaling literally just hurt so bad it was taking my breath away. After what seemed like forever we finally get to the hospital. Check in & that takes 15 min. Then of course because I'm pregnant they send me up to the 3rd floor: Labor&Delivery, even though this had nothing to do with labor and delivery. They put the baby on the monitor and he was great, which was a relief to me. He was healthy and kicking and moving. They also picked up my contractions which were irregular. 11 minutes, 6 minutes, 14 minutes, 4 minutes, and 5 minutes apart. I also got to have the super fun VAGINA exam where she jams her fingers into your cervix to see if you're dilated. That's bad enough alone but add that to laying down in excuciating pain and I could've kicked her in the face. I wasn't dilating at all, which was good. But they couldn't do anything for me up there so they had to send me back down to the ER. Hm. Go figure. 2 hours later.

Ok. So now it's midnight. Checking in again took another 15 min. It was alright though because I got to stand at the front desk vs. sitting in the waiting room and that felt alot better. Sam was dozing off. I felt bad, he was so tired! Finally we got called back. They wanted to run some bloodwork on me to see if it was my gallbladder. Pregnancy can affect how your gallbladder works and gallbladder inflammation and stones runs in my family anyways. Ugh. I hate hospitals so much. We were put in a room. It only took 45 min. for the lab tech to draw my blood. I was in so much pain sitting there but I didn't want to take painkillers yet in case they had to do an ultrasound. I wanted to be able to tell them where it hurt. Well, they decided they could try this one shot that was supposed to help with the GI tract/gallbladder. I had to get the shot in the top of my butt.... ow. It burned alot. Not only that, but it didn't help. 2 oclock the doctor came in with the results of my labs. Turns out a couple of the enzymes associated with the gallbladder were elevated so they were going to go ahead and do the ultrasound. 2.30 a.m. the woman from ultrasound came to get me. Sam was zonked out. She just wheeled me and the whole bed to the room. I wanted to scream. It hurt so bad to breathe and then I had to lay down for the procedure and that just about put me through the roof. She had to hold the ultrasound transducer on the spot that was sore and I wanted to shove it down her throat. Omg.... I seriously was just laying there crying.... it sucked. =( Then I was supposed to lay on my left side but.... yeah. That wasn't happening. I half screamed and then I just couldn't breathe at all because it hurt so bad I was gasping for air. It's just the worst feeling. So she took me back to the room.

Next came another hour long wait. The procedure was inconclusive because they couldn't really get a good view of my gallbladder. I was unable to take deep breaths (obviously!) so really it was kind of pointless. The doctor came in to talk to me. She thinks that it's probably still the best bet that it's the gallbladder. Pregnancy causes gallbladder stuff anyways & that makes sense. It just means that basically there's nothing they can do for me. Which is just so frustrating beyond belief. All those doctors and all that time in the hospital and basically they just chalk it up to "pregnancy pains" and unable to do anything for it. Sucks. The only thing that will clear it up is delivery. Ugh. So not much longer. They tried giving me some Tylenol-3 for the pain which is really just strong Tylenol with a little bit of Codeine, but that's it. I can't even take over the counter ibuprofen. Basically I'm just S.O.L. So that was it. The only thing they gave me were 8 prescription Tylenols. EIGHT. How many are in a dose? 2. How many uses is that? 4. how many days will that cover at the MOST? 2. Great. Good thing it only hurts when I sit, lie down, and what's the other one? Oh yeah!! BREATHE! ugh... Then we went home. The car ride home sucked even worse than the one there. I was in tears the entire time and it's just soooo frustrating because I want to know what's wrong and I just want it to get better. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Got home. Tried taking another shower / bath. No luck. The baby was moving around so much, the most he's ever moved before. Every time he moved he pushed on my pelvis and my thighs cramped up. Maybe this whole hard time breathing thing is just my body getting ready for labor, which I don't think will be too far away. I tried sitting up & eventually found a good enough position where it wasn't excruciating. 6.30 a.m. & I caught a couple winks. Finally. I just can't take any deep breaths. Shallow is the way to go. As long as I don't raise my voice or talk loudly it doesn't agitate anything, either. So, looks like that's what I'll be doing. However they were talking about early induction for medical reasons. I just want to know what's going on before I go into labor otherwise I have no idea how that's going to work. If I can't breathe, there's going to be no way I can deal with contractions or push. Whenever I have a contraction it irritates the rib area and that doesn't feel very pleasant. If this is still acting up by the time I go into labor I'm forgetting the waterbirth. I'm just going to take the nicer, more pain-free way and get the demerol until the epidural. I'm overall just kind of frustrated and exhausted with the whole thing. I want it to be over, or at least feel better. Christopher is a little fish in there, too. That's not helping. He moves my whole belly around and consequently pushes on the sore spot. But it's ok. He's the only one I'll let push on it and get away with it =) Well. My brother and my mom are coming up tomorrow. That'll be nice. I think they'll take my mind off of stuff and mom's going to help me with a couple of things around the apartment hopefully. So, I'll just be kind of taking it really easy for the time being. Nothing exciting. No funny movies because laughing is off limits. Maybe I'll get to catch some sleep eventually when I just crash!

Acupressure Points

So, I'm back. I have my red raspberry leaf tea (which is supposed to soften the cervix and tone the uterus and get it ready for labor! in case you were wondering...) and am reading up on natural labor induction methods. I was reading through the list a couple minutes ago and there are a few teas you can try etc, etc and castor oil, which doesn't sound like fun because that gives you diarrhea and then I get to acupressure. I've heard about this, like women going in to have a pedicure if they're having prelabor symptoms and then they'll start going into labor afterwards. Supposedely, there are points on your body that correspond to your reproductive organs and pregnancy. Ok, so here's a little background info; the other night, after I was done taking my bath, I noticed there was a point on the bottom inner sole of my foot that hurt when I massaged it. (I like massaging peppermint foot oil and cream into my feet before bed. It's my fav!) Anyways. I noticed it when I was about 4 months pregnant, but the other night it was just reeeally bad, and sore. Well, I thought it was a blood blister or something until I realized it was in the exact same spot on my other foot. I figured it was just swelling or something pressing on my muscles. Alright. So here I am reading acupressure points on the body that correspond with pregnancy and the most common ones are the webbing between the thumb and pointer finger, 4 finger-lengths above the ankle bone on the calf, and the most uncommon one that not all women experience? The bottom of the foot on the inner sole! I couldn't believe it. Then I was thinking back and remembered that after I massaged my foot that night I did have some pretty intense Braxton Hicks contractions. Well, being the curious person that I am, I just had to try it out again. I started massaging the bottom of my foot right where the sore spot was, and guess what? Braxton Hick's contraction within 30 seconds and it was really strong!! Crazy huh? I think now that I tested that out I'm probably going to leave the foot massages out of my routine for at least a week.
=) But I just had to share. I thought it was pretty nifty.

* White * Out *

SNOWING!?! Again.... I can't believe it. Today is (and I quote) "The worst traveling day this season." So much for that walk today. I was going to go at 1.30 when Sam told me that. I'm really glad I listened otherwise I could've been out there in the blizzard trudging along. haha. Looks like I'll be walking the apartment hallways again. Just an interesting side note... only 12% of women have their water break before labor, contrary to what the movies make is seem like. The only connection that scientists have found to the environment and why some women break their water is barometric pressure. When there is a storm; women break their water! Crazy huh? I'm glad I'm not further along otherwise today could've been the day! I should check out what the weather looks like for the next couple of weeks. =) Sam called into work and we're going to download a movie to watch today. We were going to go to the video store and rent one, but the sideways snow and white out had us reconsidering that thought. That's about it for today. Up until this week, sure I was pregnant, but it didn't really bother me much. But THIS week, boy do I feel pregnant. I literally have to maneuver around just to get out of a seated position and waddle around. It's crazy. It definitely takes a toll on you. I'm really just wore out. But I'm excited because I know there's only a couple weeks left of this! Yay. Oh, and the cutest thing? For Valentine's Day I got Sam a coffee mug & this little stuffed puppy to fit inside it. Well, our kitty pretty much adopted him. She will pick him up in her mouth and she carries him all over. She has her own chair in the living room and blanket and she'll literally give him a bath and cuddle with him in there. It's so cute. So we found another little stuffed bear to give her and she treats them like her kittens. It's so cute! <3>

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36 weeks + 5 days

Leg Cramps

Scratch the walk; guess who didn't make it out the main doors of the apartment? Yup. Me. I took a nap and then Sam left for work at 3.30 so I was going to go for a walk then. My inner thighs had been cramping up but I thought that once I got out of bed they'd be better. Nope. The only thing that happened was I got such an intense wave of pressure in my pelvis that I ran to the bathroom otherwise I am pretty sure I would've peed my pants. My thighs haven't really stopped cramping up yet, they do it once every 10 minutes or so or whenever he moves around. Standing and walking is really uncomfortable. It feels like I have a bowling ball between my legs and I'm walking around with it there. It's one of the strangest things and probably the most awkward that I've ever felt! My waddling factor definitely just went up a few degrees.

I'm assuming this just means the baby's moving into an even more uncomfortable position lower down. Stretching and yoga are supposed to help with muscle tenseness and cramping and I do yoga nearly every day (whenever Sam works because I refuse to do yoga when he's here! haha). So not getting enough stretches in isn't the problem. Geez, wouldn't that be crazy if I went into labor tomorrow or something!? Well, I don't want to jinx anything. I still have to get a few things yet and move my room around.

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36 weeks + 4 days

Spring's in the air!

I am absolutely loving the weather outside. It's beautiful!! Woke up at 9.23 this morning and guess what? I had an appointment at 9.30! I literally jumped out of bed, threw some gel in my hair and sprayed it, put a little bit of cover-up on, and walked out the door at 9.30 and got to the appointment by 9.37 a.m. Yay me! haha. Picked out some hand mits but Sam and I have to go to Target or somewhere and get him some little newborn and little baby socks. I'm going to go for a walk soon in this amazing weather =) Put on my tennies and go, go, GO! My inner thighs have been cramping up really bad, though. I'm thinking that's a good sign, means labor will be coming soon! Yay. Not yay for the labor but yay that we'll have the baby.

36 week appointment

Had another doctor appointment today. As I was getting ready to leave I asked Sam if he was coming and we got into an argument & stuff and I thought he was just trying to get out of it again so I basically stormed out all upset and went to the appointment by myself. Meanwhile last night I was stressed out because the apartment was messy and I've been so exhausted lately that I haven't been able to get all of the things done that I used to do and I was just freaking out and had a big attack and anyways. So I'm kind of cutting ahead but when I got back home, he had vacuumed the apartment, cleaned the bathroom, done the dishes, straightened everything up, put the garbage away, tidied the living room, moved the chairs, lit candles & incense, organized the kitchen, and hung up a picture. I was sooo shocked!! It was the best. Ok. Back to the appointment. So I get there and find out that I'm 20 min early. Perfect. Add that onto my already great morning. Finally get called back. I gained 2 pounds since the last appointment. They said that's fine because I haven't gained any weight for a month and a half and most of it's going to the baby anyways. Met with a different midwife. She didn't seem very for epidurals....... she was all about the natural birth stuff and the "labor pain is good pain" regimen. Yeah.... well, good pain or not, it's still pain. So then she callously introduced epidurals on the labor sheet and I wasn't about to even ask her her feelings on them because I already knew from the stingy tone in her voice. Don't get me wrong, she was very, very nice. Just one of the midwives that's about the ALL NATURAL way. Hopefully she's not there the night I deliver. haha. Hm.... they also did a Group B strep test.... the one I mentioned before where they take a va-jay-jay swab. FUN. ....

His head is waaaay down low. Which is what's been causing my thigh cramping and pelvic pain. I knew I felt him drop because I've been able to eat more these days. My uterine height is 39 cm. Which is crazy. That means he grew alot in the past 2 weeks. The entire pregnancy I've been measuring right on with my weeks. Uterine height is how large your uterus is and they measure it in centimeters with a tape measure. At 20 weeks your uterus should be in line with your bellybutton. So if you're 17 weeks the uterus should be 3 cm below the bellybutton and if you're 30 weeks it should be 10 cm (or fingertips) above the bellybutton. 2 cm above or below how far along you are in weeks is normal. For example at the last appointment I was 34 1/2 cm and 34 weeks, which meant I was right on. Now, I'm 39 cm and 36 weeks, meaning he grew.... ALOT. And also that he's slightly larger for his age which means.... HE'S COMING EARLY!! Just like I expected. I'm thinking within the next 2 weeks. So that was pretty crazy. I was shocked when she told me how much he'd grown. So much for a nice little baby to deliver.... =) His heartbeat was 141 which is perfect. So he's a happy, healthy little man! He's also very long..... even though his head is already engaged in the pelvis he's still able to kick me up in the ribs.... long legs! He didn't get that from me....