38 Weeks

Technically we're at 38 weeks and 2 days, but I thought I would wait until my doctor's appointment this morning to see if I could report any movement toward labor and delivery.  The answer is no.  Baby isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 


All signs are pointing to him eventually coming out.  Someday.  His head has dropped so I now have the distinct feeling of "baby head in my pelvis" whenever I bend over, curl up my legs while I'm laying down, walk, or move at all, really.  There's a feeling I never figured I'd become super familiar with.  Baby is getting really crowded and I get a kick in the ribs a few times a day now.  I'm officially waddling instead of walking, and I can't do that for very long.  My lunchtime walks are a distant memory.*  My feet and hands seem to be swollen permanently now at about twice their normal size, though wearing the carpal tunnel wrist braces helps push some of the swelling from my hands to my arms.


But everything is still sealed up nice and tight, so that slightly early baby I was hoping for (I've told him next week would be super) probably isn't going to happen.  It's amazing how constant discomfort and no sleeping (woke up 6 times last night) can take away the fear of labor.  I'm just ready to be done with this part.




*A co-worker was telling me how his wife was going for runs in the days leading up to giving birth and I just have to ask, "How?!"  I feel so unable to do anything right now.

36 Weeks

I'm getting cabin fever.  I know that sounds ridiculous since I leave my house every day to go to work when all I really want to do is sleep a little bit longer (since I'm also not sleeping great), but the problem is, I have become super sedentary.  Every movement is a chore and my hips hurt if I sit too long, and they hurt if I walk too long, and they hurt if I stand too long.  So lest I risk wondering if I'm going to be able to walk the quarter mile back to my office from where I get lunch (true story - that was an honest question I asked myself last week.  Don't worry, I made it back to the office.), I'm pretty much staying put in one place and just letting the hips hurt from sitting too long.  So the me who used to swim 100+ laps at a time, or at least walk a mile or two on my lunch hour, is feeling antsy.  I'm already daydreaming about plopping baby in his stroller and going for walks after I recover from delivery.


Baby is getting stronger and longer.  I'm feeling kicks waaaay over on my right side, almost to what I would call my back.  Last night Jason got to see the full belly show.  Usually baby is kicking me all day long at work, but quiets down at night.  So far Jason has seen a little movement here or there, and felt an occasional kick, but for some reason, baby was awake last night before we went to sleep, and Jason got to feel how strong baby's kicks have gotten, and see some of the baby gymnastics that have become a regular part of my day.


Speaking of awake versus asleep, he's been a bit quiet today...  I'm hoping this nocturnal pattern doesn't become too much of a routine because I was feeling a little encouraged by the go crazy during the day/sleep at night thing he had going on.


Had my 36 week appointment today and everything is still good.  Baby's head is down, I'm still healthy (if unwieldy), all good.  Now I start going to weekly appointments and I have a few scheduled for after my due date that will be baby and me appointments.  Jason and I have a silly Simpsons game we play on our phones and I blew his mind a little yesterday when I pointed out that when the latest special event on the game is over is 33 days, we'll probably have a baby in our home.

34 Weeks

I have an doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and I know she's going to ask me about exercise.  Yeah, not happening right now.  In addition to feeling like I have a 10-15 pound (maybe 20...) bowling ball hanging off the front of me, and related pelvic soreness, I'm valuing the sleep I get a lot more than the idea of getting up early and going to the gym (because now there's snow and ice on the ground so walking outside isn't going to work).  My sleep pattern for the last few weeks has been: go to sleep around 10 or 11, wake up sometime between 3-5, stay awake for 1-2 hours, go back to sleep for a little bit, drag myself out of bed between 7:30-8 and barely get to work between 9-9:15.  I've been staying a little later at work to get things done, so by the time I get home, I don't really want to go to the gym.  I've always been a morning gym person because something always comes up in the evenings.  Now what's coming up after work, in addition to work meetings and events or just seeing friends, is I'm hungry and tired.  Honestly, I feel like a rock star for completing a full day of work.  And this past weekend, I had to work some on both Saturday and Sunday to meet a Monday morning deadline.  Even though I wound up having a snow day on both Friday and Monday, I spent both of those days on my laptop working.  It's a busy time right now and while I can, I'm working hard.


The point is, the gym, walks, etc.  Not happening. 


Now for the good news.  I've been seeing the pre-natal chiropractor regularly and I think it's really helping.  The one thing I definitely know that's helping is the piece of kinesio tape she puts on my lower back at the end of every session.  It's helping to support my lower back and has actually cut down on the pelvic pain in front.  Yay for that.


I had a baby shower on Saturday and Jason and our friend Jessica had our pub trivia quizmaster* come and do baby-related trivia.  He brought his speaker set up and DJ'd songs with "baby" in them all through the shower too.  The trivia angle was a huge surprise and I was thrilled!  Even without the trivia, a few friends made so much delicious food and we probably had 20 people from all different aspects of our lives here in New England and it was a great time.  I had so much fun and felt loved and I love Jason for taking the initiative to make sure it happened. 






* We've really gotten into pub trivia over the last couple of years.  Our team is currently ranked 8th in our league and baby had better hold off until after the tournament on March 5.

32-33 Weeks

Baby has started kicking my butt this week.  I'm 32 weeks and 3 days today and have decided that 5 whole days of work in a week is just too much.  I've been tired on a Friday afternoon before, but this is a new level.


And I know, once baby comes and won't sleep and I'm sleep-deprived, it will be even worse, but I'm complaining about right now.


Also, suddenly he's very heavy.  I've had round ligament and pelvic pain for a few months, but this is more.  Usually when I go for a walk at lunch, I feel better once I'm up and moving around for a few minutes.  On Wednesday, the pain and weight just kept getting worse and worse.  I have some supportive, ahem, undergarments, but they're not doing the trick, so today I ordered 3 heavy duty maternity bands to try out.  Hopefully one of them will work.


I really do want to make it to 40 weeks, because I have it all set in my head that baby will be here in late March and then I have my scheduled leave planned accordingly, but I'm starting to understand why women start saying "Alright, I'm done with this whole pregnancy thing now."


That's my complaining for the moment.


On the other hand, Jason came to my prenatal appointment yesterday morning and the doctor showed him where the baby's head was and how to feel it.  So that's pretty neat.

Results

I do not have gestational diabetes!  That's a relief.  One more potential complication to check off the list.


Interestingly, my blood glucose level after 3 hours was really low - lower than even my fasting test.  My doctor emailed me this morning to ask if I was feeling ok after the test because it was so low.  I told her I was tired and headachy, but got lunch right afterward and was okay.  However, it's really interesting to see those results and have some data to validate a couple of things I know about myself. 


First, I get hangry.  The first time Jason and I went on a big trip, I think he was shocked with how irritable I got when my blood sugar dropped too low.  When we travel, we're definitely partaking in the local fare.  That time we were in Paris and had started our day with delicious pastries, followed by my subsequent carb crash.  We know now to keep snacks at hand just in case we can't eat regularly while we're traveling.


Second, I feel healthier and more even-keeled in general (with less hangriness and less mid-afternoon drowsiness) when I eat a low-carb diet.  Even though my insulin seems to be working just fine, it looks like my body might overcompensate when given a burst of sugar like it had yesterday.  My carb crashes are intense, so it's best for me to stick to fat and protein and low-glycemic carbs.

Tests

I had the 3-hour glucose test for gestational diabetes this morning and I'm just going to say, it is not fun.  I've already had 2 1-hour tests.  The first was early on because I'm overweight and old and my doctor wanted to do an early on just in case my sugar was all out of whack.  You go in, drink 50 g of glucose, and then sit in the lab for an hour.  Then they draw your blood.  That seems a little unscientific to me, given that they don't have me fast and don't take a baseline draw at the beginning.


Anyway, the first one showed that my sugar was normal, but my doctor is very cautious and wanted me to do the 1-hour again.  So I did it a few weeks later and got a number right on the border, so of course in for the 3-hour I go.


I feel like this test is a little more reliable.  First of all, I'd been fasting since 6:30 PM last night, and they did a baseline blood draw.  Then I drank 75 g of glucose and got a blood draw every hour for 3 hours.  You're not allowed to leave the lab, so Jason very kindly put some TV episodes on my tablet and I watched TV and knitted for 3 hours.  (And sat on very uncomfortable chairs.  My bent tailbone issues that I've had since I was 8 or so are only exacerbated by pregnancy.)


I left the lab feeling so crummy and immediately got some food.  I already know that I feel better on a low-carb diet and that eating a sugar bomb in the morning is the worst thing for both my physical and mental state.  No matter how good waffles or pancakes taste initially, I end up paying for it later.  I've been known to eat fewer than 75 g of carbs in a whole day when I'm being diligent about eating low carb.


So I really hope I don't have gestational diabetes because of possible risks to Baby, but I suppose it would be really good motivation to have to eat the way that makes me feel the best anyway.