Category: motherhood

Picture actually taken around 34 weeks by my friend Cio Alvarado. More maternity pictures here!

Symptoms: I step outside and I feel like I swell to twice my size. In reality, I think my hands are slightly swollen all the time, my feet and legs swell when it’s hot, and same with my face. The carpal tunnel syndrome persists, and I have constant pain and numbness in both hands but especially the right one. Working with needles probably isn’t the best thing for me to be doing right now, considering I stabbed myself in the finger with one at work yesterday. (It was clean!) My ribs still cause me pain almost all the time, and now I have previously-unknown pieces of cartilage sticking out. Yay!

Medical Stuff: So far I’ve gained 33 pounds, which is fine, but I was sure hoping I’d be one of those girls who only gained like 20-25 pounds. Oh, well. I just can’t get rid of this anemia, which adds to my utter exhaustion. The plan is to check my blood counts after delivery and possibly see a hematologist at that time. I see my doctor every week now, and at this point my cervix is still closed, which is good. I had a quick ultrasound which determined that Meredith is head down (very happy about that since I have an arcuate uterus that gives me a higher chance of breech birth), however she’s facing up and we want her to face down. So everyone pray that she turns, okay?

Movement: Sometimes I look at my stomach when she moves and I just laugh. It’s such a strange thing. I love that I can actually determine body parts now, like when she kicks her little foot out I know what it is. So ready to hold her!

Clothes: Well I only have two pairs of scrub pants that still fit me, so I’ve been doing a lot of laundry. Haven’t bought any more maternity clothes and I don’t think I will. Only a few more weeks to go, I can make do! However, it’s not unusual for my pants to sag and my shirt to ride up, leaving the bottom of my belly exposed. At this point I really couldn’t care less.

Preparation: I have one more baby shower this weekend, and then after a couple more purchases with our gift cards, we should be all set on gear. Starting today (I have the day off so my mom is coming to help out) the plan is to get the nursery organized. This weekend I also want to pack a hospital bag, install the car seat, and finalize our plan for when I go into labor, like who will do what. Still to do: make post-baby budget, watch The Business of Being Born with David, have the house cleaned (I have a LivingSocial coupon for this), and start on my maternity leave paperwork.

Also: I’ve barely had any baby dreams this whole pregnancy, but they are becoming pretty frequent now. The most interesting one so far was where Meredith just sort of emerged and separated from my belly, like a cell undergoing mitosis. It was kind of creepy/cool. Lately people like to comment on how high I’m carrying her, which is somewhat disheartening. I’m ready for her to drop! Not only will that mean we’re getting closer, but hopefully it’ll also take some pressure off my ribs. My doctor told me she ideally wants me to deliver around 39 weeks, so once that point hits I’m going to try every natural thing possible to get labor going. That’s less than three weeks away!

On our recent trip to South Carolina, after church.

Symptoms: Friends, I am becoming quite uncomfortable, to tell the truth. I still have the wandering rib in the back, but now add to that inflammation of the rest of my ribs (called costochondritis) and the result is fairly consistent pain, worse in the evening or after I eat. If I’m hot my hands swell up like crazy so I took my wedding ring off a few weeks ago. I think I have carpal tunnel syndrome too, because my hands are constantly falling asleep, especially at night (it wakes me up), and it feels like they are on fire. Plus, the joints of my fingers and wrists are very sore and stiff all the time. I get periodic heartburn. I still have anemia despite taking iron three times a day for over a month, so I’m tired all the time. Oh, and I have side effects of taking a lot of iron which I won’t get into.

Medical Stuff: I don’t even know how many pounds I’ve gained, but it’s probably close to thirty by now which makes me cringe. I failed one of my glucose tolerance tests, but thank God I passed the final one, so I don’t have gestational diabetes. Yay! I really do need to start eating better, though. I mentioned that I still have anemia, and it hasn’t improved at all. I don’t know if it’s just due to pregnancy or if there’s some underlying cause for it, but we’ll just have to wait until I deliver to find out.

Movement: I feel less kicks now and more whole body wave-like movements. My belly bulges in different places all the time and is usually lopsided. It’s kind of fun, but very strange. :)

Clothes: I finally bought a pair of maternity shorts for weekend wear because it’s so hot out. Other than jeans and yoga pants I have two dresses that fit me and one skirt. I’ve begun wearing the hand-me-down maternity shirts I was given as well. My regular scrubs are still hanging in there for work, and I really hope they last!

Preparation: Well, we finished our childbirth classes, and part of that was making a birth plan. We also met with our doula. My registry is basically complete and my showers are scheduled. The nursery is far from being done, but it is almost painted. This weekend we will finish painting, install new blinds, and put the furniture together. I’m signed up for a breastfeeding class, and hopefully I can schedule a tour of the labor and delivery unit of the hospital soon too. We found a daycare that is two minutes from our house and has plenty of spots open. Vacations have been taken. Maternity photoshoot is planned. We’re making progress!

Also: David has been saying to me for months, “When will she come out?” It’s a little joke with us now. We are just really ready to meet her, and I’m really ready to not be pregnant anymore! Eight weeks still seems so far away right now, and time has been dragging, but I know it will be here before we know it!

I have worked long and hard on my  baby registry, and it is finally finished. Basically. I think I will be tweaking it up until I go into labor. Registering for baby showers is so much harder than for wedding showers because it’s a whole new world. I don’t have the first clue about what I need, what product is good, and what is a waste of money. It was all a little overwhelming.

Thankfully I had some friends that were willing to help. The first time I set foot in Babies ‘R’ Us I brought support, and I’m so glad I did because otherwise I might have just wandered aimlessly before breaking down in tears. Instead, however, I became excited after we methodically walked the aisles discussing nearly every product. The next weekend I took another good friend to fill in the gaps, and with their help along with much internet research and emails (mostly from my blog friends), I feel like I have a good list.

There is so much stuff out there, and I know I don’t need most of it. Some of it I won’t be able to choose until after I actually have the baby, so I left that off. I don’t want a lot of clutter, and I want people to buy me the things I really need instead of a lot of extra stuff. I’ve already accepted a bunch of hand-me-downs. So in the end, my registry doesn’t contain a ton of items, but there are several expensive things.

Thoughts on some of the products I’ve chosen:

>I’m going for a convertible car seat from the beginning plus a stroller somewhere in between the huge travel system and the umbrella stroller. (Plus a cheaper jogging stroller…because I have high hopes!)

>I plan to do a lot of babywearing, if she likes it, and I already bought an Ergo from Babysteals and I’m going to make my own Moby wrap. The only thing I registered for is a ring sling.

>We’re doing cloth diapers, and Fuzzibunz have come highly recommended to me by the most people. I also chose against the one-size in order to get a better fit, and we’re planning to use these for future children anyway.

>I chose a decent black diaper bag since my husband will be doing a lot of the work, but I also chose a super cute and really nice one that I’d love to have for myself.

I registered at Babies R US, Amazon, and Nurtured Family, a local store. Click the links to see my lists, and let me know what you think! I’m still totally open to opinions and advice. :)

Symptoms: Pregnancy is, like, the weirdest thing ever. Seems like every week something new is happening to my body. Like how three weeks ago I ended up in the hospital because they thought I might have appendicitis but it turned out to be only a bladder infection and possibly bad gas. Then there’s the fact that all my joints have loosened and one of my ribs is now “wandering” (as my doctor put it), not quite in place anymore. Ouch. I feel this strange sensation in my left upper abdomen, on top of my ribs, that is almost like someone pressing up from the inside and moving around. I’m thinking my intestines are way up there now. And every morning after I’ve been lying down, I take a deep breath and feel a vibration throughout my chest that feels like friction. It has my doctor stumped, but she suspects it has to do with the inflammation of my ribs.

Oh, and the hormones! After I saw my doctor yesterday, a perfectly good visit, I was suddenly struck with such a case of melancholy. It took a cup of coffee and total immersion in work to numb it. Then yesterday I drove the thirty miles to work and took the bus home, an hour-long ride, and didn’t realize that I had abandoned my car until I couldn’t find it at the park and ride. I wanted to cry. I believe this is what they call pregnancy brain.

Medical Stuff: I have gained a total of 15 pounds so far. I took my 2-hour glucose tolerance test yesterday, and since I haven’t heard that it was abnormal I’m assuming it was fine. Three weeks ago my blood counts were all low so my doctor retested them yesterday but I don’t know the results. I’m so tempted to look them up myself (it would be so easy), but that would be a violation of HIPAA and I’m too much of a goody-goody for that.

Movement: She moves! The first time I felt it for sure was on St. Patrick’s Day, and two days later early on Saturday morning David and I were lying in bed (he sleeping, me resting) and I grabbed his hand, pressed it to my belly, and he felt her. Neither of us can get enough of it now.

Clothes: I still wear my regular scrub pants most of the time, but they’re getting a bit tight. A couple of my scrub tops fit, but mostly I wear t-shirts with them. I can’t do regular pants anymore, but I haven’t bought anything yet. I have a few hand-me-down maternity clothes, including jeans, and I make do with those plus sundresses and yoga pants. I want to spend as little as possible on clothes.

Preparation: This is what has me the most stressed. We’ve done a lot of painting in our house, but there’s still a lot more to go. We’re attending childbirth classes, but lately I’ve chosen to read memoirs & humorous accounts of pregnancy & parenting rather than actual, informative books. We’re going to visit another daycare today, and I hope we love it because it’s the cheapest one around. I need to register but I need HELP.

Also: I absolutely cannot picture myself as an actual mother. I know people do this all the time, but I haven’t done it yet and I’m still pretty scared. I love Meredith so much but oh my goodness this is all happening so fast!