How far along? 28 weeks
Total weight gain: +22
Maternity clothes? No new maternity clothes.
But please stop making me put on jeans – they are THE most uncomfortable thing
to wear pregnant in the heat.
Stretch marks? None
Sleep: On and off. I’ve been having a lot of cramps in my legs during
the night which give me a harsh wake up. I have to do a lot of stretches and
ankle rolling before I get in bed or it gets real bad.
Best moment this week: Feeling
our little guy move around so much and spending time with family that has been
out of state. I spent some time holding my twin niece and nephew and getting
used to the newborn babies… can’t wait to hold my own!
Miss Anything? Having control of my own body. I miss it a
lot this week… more to come on that later.
Movement: More than ever, he has quite the leg
muscles! I was lying in bed the other night and jumped because he kicked me so
hard. I’ve been able to feel his arms
and legs poking out… it’ll form this lump in my belly and I sit and rub it and
try to figure out what part of him it is. A lot of times I can set me hand on
my belly and he will rub up against it… so sweet!
Food cravings: Not too many this week. Except I guess with
the weather getting hotter, I have been craving snow cones super bad. How come
they aren’t open yet?!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Being sick makes me
sick…
Gender: Boy.
Labor Signs: Braxton
hicks contractions I think? Not that that’s necessarily a sign of labor… but I
think I’ve been able to feel those lately.
Symptoms: I have third trimester pregnancy written all
over me – read on.
Belly Button in or out? Kind of flat? Kind of poking out on top?
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Mood: Happy,
but tired this week. Once again – read on.
Looking forward to: 40 weeks
to come!!!!!!!!! Haha oh do I hope it comes quick.
Random Ramblings:
Well this week was an interesting one for sure. I have hit
my point of wanting to reach the end. Pregnancy has been a lot different than I
thought it would be…. I expected that I would LOVE being pregnant. I have
really enjoyed pregnancy, but it has been rough recently and I don’t know that
I can honestly say that I LOVE being pregnant at this point. I have been so
used to being in control of my body and it’s been an eye opener that it is now
not in my control. Saturday morning I woke up with a back ache. I had woken up
to one like it before in my first trimester and so I rubbed it for a while to
get it out like I had the first time. But it never went away. I took a warm
bath, I massaged it, Gabe went out and bought me some heating patches to put on
it, but the pain was even worse than what the heat could cover up. It started
making me nauseous and I spent the morning on the bathroom floor with Gabe in
the hallway keeping me company. It started to come in waves of pain and kept
getting worse. The midwife clinic was closed on Saturday and I wasn’t sure if
it was considered an “emergency” so I didn’t page them. It got so bad that I
would be hunched over holding onto whatever I could to try and ease the pain.
It was the most excruciating pain that I have ever experienced in my life. I
started to be able to start timing when the waves of pain came and it was
worrying me, so after my next round of sickness I told Gabe to call the
hospital. We were admitted to labor and delivery at the orem hospital and they
hooked me up to an IV and took all kinds of tests. They took a test to see if I
had a chance of going into preterm labor and that came back negative. They
didn’t think it was kidney stones or a bladder infection. My cervix was
completely closed. They hooked a few straps around my midsection that recorded
the baby’s heartbeat and any contractions I was having. It was fun to be able
to listen to his heartbeat for so long… although they took it off at the end
because he kept wiggling all over the place and they couldn’t hold it in one
spot. I was having some sort of contractions so they gave me a few pills to
calm them down. We were there for about 6 hours I think..? Gabe kept us
entertained with Netflix on the iPad. Of course once we got there my symptoms
weren’t present and I actually didn’t have any pain for a few hours. By the end
when they came in and told me how they weren’t finding anything I started
having bad back pain again. They monitored us for a while and the doctor
prescribed something for the nausea and told me to take Tylenol for the pain.
Thankful to have permission to take pain medication we spent the next night and
day on the couch surrounded by pillows and all sorts of snacks. So I guess what
was causing the pain is uterus contractions. The uterus is connected to my back
with tendons and when my uterus contracts it sends the pain to my back. At
least that’s the best I could get out of the doctors explanation. So it sounds like I am doing all that I can
and that it may or may not come back. (update: it has)
It has been a very humbling experience to make myself just
let go. It’s a different experience to realize that I can’t control this and
that my body is going to do whatever it wants. But to realize that it isn’t
permanent, it’s only a few more months. My body can gain another hundred pounds
if it wants. I can spend the next three months on the bathroom floor, my calves
can swell to the size of bowling balls, my stomach can look like zebra stripes,
I may not get any sleep, the house may become a mess and dinner may not always
be made because I need to sit down to bear the pain. But you know what? All
these things are leading up to what will be one of the happiest days of our
lives. My body can do whatever it wants, it’s growing a baby and it will do
whatever it needs to do. And I will deal with it. Just let it go… it’s out of my
control. And cross my fingers that once the day comes, certain things will
become a new normal and I can be comfortable with myself again. We are in the end stretch!
