Posted by Emily on February 4, 2010
Since I doubt I would be able to bargain going more than a week late these days, it’s pretty much a given there will be a baby here in the next three weeks. Two weeks and on or close to the “due date” wouldn’t be bad. Mostly I want to avoid going late so that I don’t have to deal with people going on baby watch. “Have you had her yet… let us know when something happens… do you have our number… feel any different?” We’re excited, trust me, we’re not going to forget to announce the presence of our gorgeous baby.
Here’s the deal:
38 weeks
No stretch marks
No barfing
No sleep
No recent ER trips
I’m actually down with her holding the stomach fort as long as she wants, though that’s probably because I’m not throwing up anymore.I think most women are ready to go at this point because of the aches and lack of sleep. I don’t really mind it because anything is better than going for months and months…. and months feeling like you have the flu, and I already had trouble sleeping. No flack off my back. Cook as long as you need, baby girl.
You know, it’s probably the swelling, too, that really gets to people about this time. I bought my rings at a size 4 1/2, which is too big for me, and they have only just gotten to the point where they fit me the way a ring is supposed to fit. So obviously I’m not exactly suffering on the swelling standpoint either. And yes, Amy, I do feel a little triumphant about the ring.
Posted by Emily on January 11, 2010
What?
Just kidding! I actually don’t feel huge or anything, it’s just a little awkward to roll out of bed with a hurt bum.
How cute is that whale? OK, I’m a little freaked out by the clear fin, but I’m not even sure I should admit that.
Posted by Emily on January 5, 2010
As I have alluded and linked to, I fell on my bum last week- hard. I’m still avoiding sitting with all my might. Also, getting up from a sitting position is pure torture, if for some reason I have to do that a few times in a row, I start to believe I’m dying a slow death.
In what’s going to seem unrelated, this made me afraid to go in for my OB appointment today. I know that many drs aren’t willing to mess with it, and if you have a banged up tailbone, they want you to have a c-section, no questions asked. I voiced this fear to my father, who knows my doctor because he has on and off been my mother’s doctor, and my dad said, “Dr. _______ won’t do that to you, he might recommend that you have an epidural though.”
I’ve been planning on going natural, as my dr well knows. He’s been very supportive and has talked about why it’s better for them (the drs), me, and the baby, to do so. Such taboo things to say these days. Which actually drives me crazy. If I hear one more woman throw around the words, “no increased risk,” I think I’ll have a hernia on top of everything else. I don’t care if you plan to have an epidural, but for goodness sake, please at least know what you’re talking about. Maybe not of death, but there’s all sorts of “increased risk,” that people have just started thinking of as a normal delivery.
Off the soap box.
So at the end of every appointment he usually says, “the plan is still to go natural, right?”
All of the sudden today it changed to, “so the plan is to go natural while keeping our epidural options open, right?”
And, of course, I agreed with him, because if it’s banged up bad enough that I still feel like this next month (please don’t be, please don’t be, please don’t be)… I’m just not sure I see any other reasonable way to go.
I’m disappointed that such an outcome is so real, but determined to feel as I’ve always said I would if something unexpected comes up; simply grateful for modern medicine.
But if you’re interested in popping your bubble, here’s a pretty good list of epidural side effects. Click Here Personally, I’d rather go through the pain upfront for myself instead of doing something that will slow down recovery, and 10%-15% is high for fetal distress. This is not my number one way to go. ( forceps, episiotomies, c-sections! Nooooo. Must Not Think About It)
Being grateful over here!
Posted by Emily on January 3, 2010
At least, that’s the plan. Interesting thing is that she could be born in the end of January, or the beginning of March, and still be considered “term.” (37-42 weeks) Way to keep up the mystery.
We now have enough baby stuff that I think we could get by, other than picking up diapers and wipes (call me the devil, but I love disposable). Yes, life will be better if we have more sheets and clothes, which I’m sure we will, but I at least don’t wonder if we’d just have a naked baby if something unexpected happened. And considering the massive fall I took last week, I’m taking the unexpected a little more seriously. And yes, my tailbone is still killing me. And yes, promises have been extracted that I will stop busy-bodying up and down and all around the stairs.
Other than gifts, we pretty much got everything used, because really, why spend a ton of money on something she’ll spit up on and grow out of in perhaps weeks? There’s some very nice children’s consignment shops around here, like super nice. As cheap as goodwill, but clean and new looking! The only exception is a car seat and crib. It’s never recommended to get a used car seat unless you know the person you’re getting it from.
OK, well that’s not happening. Everyone is still using them…
Then there’s the crib, which we originally intended to buy used, but after a ton of recent recalls and a big hoopla about whether or not drop-sides (which is just about all you can find used) should be pulled from the market completely, we decided that we’d go ahead and buy a new one. We got one that can be found at babies r us, who doesn’t even sell drop-sides any more. Phew, it’s been a process.
Among all the adorable baby things floating around here, I just want to make mention of two blankets. The pictures don’t do them justice! (particularly poor winnie the pooh…)
This was made and given to me by a friend at church. Honestly, the top is so divinely soft and the underside is so delectably silky, I don’t know how she expects me to let a baby lay waste to it. Don’t worry though, I will manage it 
Enlarge to see Winnie the Pooh!
This one is made to be a little studier. My mom made blankets for each of us. We all loved having a blanket that mommy made, so she helped me make this one for my little girl from fabric that I had picked out years ago. Hubby and every one of my siblings tied a little bit of it:)
Also, I got the dress below for $5. Holy Cute!
Posted by Emily on December 30, 2009
I just got another point. The rash on my belly is completely GONE, and I didn’t even put anything on it.
So, for anyone that’s counting, that would be …
Pregnancy: Billion and two
Pregnant Lady: 5
Can’t hold me down.
Posted by Emily on December 23, 2009
“Oh, I’m sorry you weren’t feeling well, I had heartburn during my third pregnancy so I know how you feel.”
That’s right, the woman just compared normal heartburn to my ulcerated stomach. It was in an email and I didn’t know how to respond to it. So you can understand my bafflement; let me tell you what it feels like… having felt both. It’s kind of like being stabbed in five different places at the exact same time, but the pain of the initial impact lasts for hours.
Trust me, it doesn’t feel related to heartburn in the least.
Posted by Emily on
So you shouldn’t fear if you’ve never been pregnant that you’ll be like me. I’m weird.
Here’s the latest and greatest:
I have planter fasciitis in my right foot.
OK, that’s true, but not the latest and greatest.
I was in the hospital for approximately, um, I don’t know, EVER yesterday.
I went to my regular appointment yesterday, and it so happened that while I was there I was having some pain that has been coming and going for the last week. Upper abdominal, chest, and upper back pain. Like, searing pain.
I came in and their first red flag was that my blood pressure was 20 pts above my normal(and take into account that I’m often not feeling well when I’m there), even though I hadn’t moved in 20 minutes. Making it a whole 120/80. Yeah, I’m a high roller. Then they noticed how much trouble I had moving.
It was all downhill from there. After short discussion, I was being sent to the women’s center at the hospital for evaluation, but wait, I can’t go the the hospital across the street because I’m at 31 weeks and what if I’m in labor? I tried to talk them out of sending me to any hospital; I tried to talk them out of sending me to Atlanta.
Apparently you’re not very convincing when you are in so much pain that you can barely walk.
But bless my mom for dropping everything and not only driving me down there, but hanging out with me once there.
It’s a flurry of tests and I was hooked up to a bunch of monitors. Their top list of things it might be:
- Preterm labor
- Gallstones
- Expanding ribcage (really?)
- Air trapped under ribcage (a nice way of saying gas gone amiss)
I’ll confess that I did not know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t as serious as the first two, or as trivial as the last two.
I’ll spare you all the fun things, but I have to give a couple of highlights:
- Having a urine sample taken by catheter. BTW, I was ticked about this. They didn’t ask me, and catheterization is personal reason (as opposed to baby reason) #52 why I want to avoid an epidural. Every time you have a catheter it ups your chances of urinary incontinence and infection.
- Not being allowed to eat for 11 hours, and all I had eaten was a yogurt that morning.
- Finally going down to get my gallbladder checked and there’s no order for me. Waiting all alone, goodness knows where in the hospital, for them to get the order faxed down. Then the girl mentions checking my bladder and kidneys. “Um, not to be trouble, but that’s not what I’m here for.” Waiting all over again, alone, did I mention half naked, while that’s worked out.
- Day time TV. Oh dear.
- Finally being served a dinner, and it’s hospital salmon. Possibly one of the most nauseating smells on the planet. Even my mom, who likes fish, couldn’t stomach this, this… thing. Extreme. Disappointment.
Anyway, before most of the billion tests were performed, but after many hours of waiting, I was able to talk to a doctor. Within 5-10 minutes of discussion he was pretty sure I had some form of acute gastritis. An ulcer or herniated-somethin-somethin pushing up into my diaphragm, causing “pain episodes.”
Yes, apparently my heartburn is severe heartburn. I didn’t know! I have nothing to compare it with! I’m sorry I was never concerned, but the word burn is in the name. That tells me it’s supposed pretty stinkin bad, right?
So this severe heartburn has now done enough damage to my innards that it’s causing all sorts of addition pain, even when I’m not having heartburn. Not to worry, if I take this prescription proton pump inhibitor, it should heal itself right up. 
Oh, and my gallbladder is fine, and every nurse that looked at little girl’s heartbeat monitor raved about how perfect it was in relation to her movement. I know, right? 
Posted by Emily on December 19, 2009
I was at my parents house eating the most delicious Mexican food (OK, that’s totally unrelated… I just wanted to think about the yummy goodness) when my mom mentioned that the end of the pregnancy is approaching!
But then as one of us sought to put a number of weeks to it, we realized that we had both totally forgotten how far along I am. Ha. So we counted backwards from my due date.
I’m at 31 weeks, people, 31 weeks!
See, if we’d had a smartphone we could have just cheated by looking on here to see how many weeks it’s been!
Posted by Emily on December 15, 2009
1. I get Charley horses in my sleep. I’m not kidding. That’s whack, right?
2. This has been happening for months, but it only just occurred to me last week that it might be strange. I get heartburn everyday, but when it gets really bad, which is also a daily occurrence, I get shooting pains in between my eyes. I never had heartburn pre-pregnancy; I didn’t know that wasn’t supposed to happen! 
3. I have a rash on my belly. Apparently this is very common. Awesome.
4. I find myself being proud of the most ridiculous things. “What’s that, most women are ‘leaking urine’ when they sneeze right now? Well, I’m not. Booyah!” Or how about thinking about my massive mama-jammas and silently applauding them for still being so perky that it wouldn’t even be possible to try the pencil test. Or that I still have a normal belly-button!
Yeah, I think my link to reality might be fading.
New picture of the delusional pregnant lady to come.
Posted by Emily on November 30, 2009
So I’m an insomniac. Being pregnant has exhausted me out of my mind. I can usually cope by sleeping in and taking a nap every few days. I normally can’t do either of those things (I stopped taking naps before my older brother did as a wee child) even though I’m quite tired, but pregnant lady can often get away with it. I’m discovering that traveling puts the kibosh on that though. Just like would normally happen, sleeping anywhere but home means getting WAY less sleep. I can’t fall asleep, I can’t stay asleep, I can’t sleep in.
I hate sleeping at other people’s houses.
My head is throbbing from a few days of severe fatigue now and my stomach is still kind of upside down. (I had terrible nausea last night, threw up twice and spent the rest of the evening in that in between stage, “am I going to throw up? … yes… no…”)
Yep, bring on the day.
And There’s a Jacuzzi Tub in Each Delivery Room
