I’m 5 weeks PP, and Rhys is 5w old tomorrow! I can’t believe it has gone so quickly. Rhys has changed so much in the past 5 weeks, and it feels like things are starting to settle down here. I actually have time to pet the cats, and get chores done while Rhys is sleeping. Or I get to nap while he’s sleeping, which is a huge perk. Except for today, when he’s only been sleeping in 40 min increments. Just enough to get a shower, and be hooked up to the breast pump when he woke up and started SCREAMING. Sigh.
I feel like I’m handling being alone with Rhys most of the day better. Every once in a while I want to just scream (see above situation), but I just put him down and walk away for a few minutes to get my bearings. Some days I get more sleep than others, which definitely has an effect on my patience levels.
Christmas is on Friday, and we decided to make the trip to see family this weekend. My parents want me to stay with them a few extra days, and they say they’ll get me back down to Bmore, but in truth, it’s more work for me if I stay there without J. He helps me with the middle of the night feedings, and I know my parents won’t (not that they don’t want to, just that I don’t expect them to do so). I’d like to stay, too, but I need my sanity at the end of the day as well.
So, we’ll drive up after J gets out of work on Christmas Eve, and spend Christmas day with my parents, and visit J’s family on Saturday (but won’t stay up there). It’s going to be hectic and exhausting, but it will be nice to see other people/ adults to talk to, at least for me.
Okay, I’m ready for a nap. Or maybe not, as Rhys just started waking up as I typed that. #Newmomlife
Rhys is 3 weeks old now, and we’re slowly making our way through what is known as the ‘fourth trimester’. I didn’t understand it before Rhys was born, but I get it now.
Postpartum (PP) recovery is no joke. I have some stitches from the episiotomy, and it took several weeks for them to be comfortable enough to really walk around a lot. And truthfully, my body wasn’t ready for a lot of walking/ movement until after 2 weeks, either. I’ve been taking ibuprofen since the birth, and just in the past few days haven’t really needed it as much.
My stomach has (truly amazingly to me) bounced back quickly. I don’t have a saggy belly, although I do have some stretch marks, on only one side of my stomach (??). They are fading pretty quickly, though, and they don’t bother me. I would still wear a bikini at this point. I also have lost all but 7lb of about 35lb I gained during pregnancy. A huge chunk of that weight was from swelling, though. I’m so excited- my ankles are normal again, my fingers barely hurt any more,a nd I can almost fit my wedding bands on again!! My knees don’t hurt when going up the stairs anymore, either.
It’s going to take a while to get my stamina back to what it used to be. I won’t be doing any 12 mile hikes right now (ignoring my stitches and recovery from those). But I knew that from the beginning, so I’m not worried about it. One step at a time, right?
Emotionally, things have been relatively okay. It definitely takes a village, though. I knew from the very beginning that I don’t have the capacity to be a stay at home mom, I need to work and be out of the house. So, being indoors with a very young child that constantly needs attention has been difficult for me at time. J stayed home for the first week and a half, and that was a huge help. We’ve worked out a sleeping schedule that doesn’t leave either one of us useless the next morning (I’m exclusively pumping because I knew I would never be able to handle a newborn while being his sole source of nutrition 24/7. No sleep makes me crazy under normal circumstances. It was absolutely the right decision for our family, and I have no regrets.).
I’ve had several moments where I just had a total breakdown, generally over nothing. J has (thankfully) been there when all of them happened, and able to help me through the crying jags. Having a newborn is amazing, but it is also one of the most trying, exhausting, painful experiences I’ve ever had. And the hormones don’t help at all. As someone who has experienced anxiety and depression previously, though, I’m glad that it has not been anything more severe.
So, at three weeks PP, I think we’re doing great. It’s not easy, but it is incredible to have this little human that we made together. I’m just looking forward to when he sleeps longer than 2-3 hr at a time! ;-)
And his name is pronounced ‘Reese’, in case you’re wondering. No, we didn’t make it up, either! My name is scottish in origin, and the spelling of his name is Welsh. We just liked the similarity in origin of the names, and had been looking at a lot of Welsh/ Scottish/ Irish names over the last few months.
And on to part 2 of Rhys’ birth story!
So, everything got crazy. I suddenly had J on my right hand side, holding my leg, a nurse holding my hand, another nurse holding my left leg, and at least one midwife and OB with their hands totally up my crotch. I wasn’t 10 cm, only about 9-9.5, so they needed to help pull it open a little to get his head out. I pushed. And I tried to breathe. And I pushed. Tried to visualize my happy place (this did NOT work for me, except in very early labor. I did not practice any meditation techniques or anything because I never planned on doing an unmedicated birth, ever). He was stuck, and the doctors and midwife said they were going to try the vacuum. J told me later that they couldn’t get it to work, most likely because he has SO much hair. I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t helping at the time, but didn’t have enough breath or ability to focus on anything else to ask. I heard the OB ask for lidocaine, and they told me afterwards that they performed an episiotomy, since the vacuum didn’t work. I wish they would have at least told me beforehand, but in truth, there was nothing else to do. He was just stuck at my opening, and it was way too late for a C section at that point.
Finally, after 15 minutes of pushing an episiotomy, he was out. They took him, cut the cord, and rushed him out of the room. I was so shocked that it was over. That I survived it without any medication. That absolutely nothing went like I expected it to go. The midwife came back and told me baby Rhys was doing great, and took J out to see him. There was a nurse pulling on my umbilical cord while I was just laying there, trying to get my bearings, and I finally had my moment, and snapped, “What the heck are you doing?” The midwife and nurse both looked shocked (I felt bad, haha), and she told me she was trying to get out the placenta, and that if I felt like pushing a little, it should come right out. So I did, and let me tell you, it felt like taking the best shit ever. I felt a lot better with the baby and placenta out!
I asked for pain medication, and the midwife was like, oh my goodness, you can have pain meds, you definitely earned it. She told me that I did an amazing job pushing, and that especially because Rhys was sunny side up, it made a vaginal birth more difficult, ignoring the fact that he needed to get out fast. If I hadn’t been able to push well, we would have ended up with an emergency C section. They would have had to knock me out, since I already was too late for an epidural.
I owe a lot to being in shape. I don’t think the pushing/ birth would have gone nearly as well if I hadn’t been in shape prior to getting pregnant, and staying as active as I could while pregnant. It wasn’t much at the end, but it was something.
I still have a lot of emotions about the way Rhys’ birth went. After having time to think about it, I’m just so shocked that it turned out well. That Rhys is okay, and that I didn’t end up with a C section. That I made it without medication. That so much went wrong, but it still wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I struggle with what could have been, even though it all turned out fine. I’m sure part of this is hormones, but still.. it scares me, even now. J has been nothing but an absolute pillar of strength for me. I know I’ll move on, but some of what happened still bothers me. I also could not have asked for a better team at the hospital to help us, adn they were total professionals. I doubt I even had the ‘scariest’ birth of the night or even week there, but it was still mine, and they were amazing. I can’t say enough good things about how the whole situation was handled.
We ended up spending about three hours in L&D while I recovered a bit, and I think they were keeping an eye on me. I had a bag of pitocin, because I was bleeding (a lot, I think. I’m not positive, but I don’t think pitocin is a normal treatment after birth unless you’re bleeding a lot. Rhys came out at 6lb 12 oz, and 21″ long. He was so much smaller than I imagined, I totally thought I would have at least an 8lb baby!
This is going to get long, I promise. So for anyone who doesn’t want to see it, well, I have added a ‘read more’ link just so you don’t have to do so! :) This will have gross details, so if you’re squeamish, I recommend a skip on this post.
Last Wednesday, I went in to have my weekly midwife appt. I was tired, in pain (thanks pelvis!) and just so done. The midwife took one look at me and said, “You’re at 39 weeks. Are you interested in having a membrane sweep done?” A membrane sweep is when they insert their fingers between your cervix and the amniotic sac. It causes the body to release prostaglandins, which jump start labor- if your body is ready for labor. It sounds bad, and honestly, it wasn’t comfortable. But you better believe I was ready to try anything to get this baby moving. The midwife told me I would have contractions afterwards, but that they would likely peter out, and if labor was going to happen, it would be in the next 24 hr. So, basically just ignore any contractions and go on about my normal day.
Well, I started having contractions by the time I was back out to my car. They weren’t strong, but they hurt- definitely not Braxton Hicks. I went home, and spent the afternoon relaxing. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner, and by the time J made it home, I was having decent contractions, maybe five minutes apart.
By 8 pm, the contractions were definitely uncomfortable, and I was packing up the rest of the things on my list for my labor bag. I called the midwife at 9pm, and told her the contractions were intense, and 3 min apart. She said that it would be unusual for a first time mom to be ready for L&D after having the sweep only that afternoon, but to come in when I felt ready. Well, I didn’t want to be sent home, so I waited it out until 10pm. By then, I couldn’t talk through the contractions, and my back was On. Fire. All my labor was back labor, and my midwife had indicated earlier in the day that the baby might be occipital anterior, or sunny side up. It means his spine was up against mine (still head down), when he should have been face towards my spine. It guarantees a more painful labor, and makes it more difficult as well. There are a few things you can try to get them to flip, but because he was so engaged in my pelvis, the midwife wasn’t sure it would help. I had said something the previous week to another midwife about the back pressure and pain I was having, and she just chalked it up to my history of back injury. I was pretty sure it was the baby being sunny side up, though.
Right before we were heading out the door, the rest of my mucus plug came out. And boy, there was a LOT of it, and a lot of bleeding. Gross. The hospital is less than 2 miles away, and as I was getting out of the car, I felt a gush of fluid. (water breaking!). J dropped me off so he could go park, and I walked into the front door of the hospital, half bent over. The security guard took one look at me and called for someone to wheel me up to L&D. Once he dropped me off, I started signing paperwork, and had to stand up through a few contractions (worrying the check in nurse). Then my water gushed again, which I told the check in nurse, and that got things moving a bit faster.
I was taken into triage, and by then J was back from parking the car. There was a lot going on, and I was in a lot of pain. I told them about the baby probably being OA, and they got me hooked up to a heart rate monitor, contraction and baby heartbeat monitor. I think they had a really hard time monitoring the baby, a lot because I couldn’t lay flat during the contractions because they hurt so badly. Let’s just say, also, that birth is not for the faint of heart. There were fluids flying everywhere, because your amniotic sac rarely bursts all at once, so every time I had a contraction, there was more fluid. And I was bleeding, everywhere. And had multiple people up in my cooch. It was fun.
So, I was 6cm and 80% effaced. Because I was Group Beta Strep positive (GBS+), and my water had broken, they would have admitted me anyway. I asked (okay, begged with everything I had) for an epidural, which was the plan to begin with. J just held my hand and didn’t flinch while I crushed all the bones to dust. I was so far gone, that a lot after this point becomes a blur. I was wheeled from triage to a birthing room, and shit got crazy. They checked me again, (maybe 20 min after the first time), and I was 8 cm. I had an IV for penicillin put in (again, for the GBS. They want the baby to get treatment in their system before being born, as the GBS is in the birth canal, and they can contract it on the way out).
The midwife eventually told me they needed to do an internal heartbeat monitor for the baby, because they were unable to get a consistent reading with the external. They attached it, and I begged for the epidural a bit more. The anesthesiologist was with another laboring woman at the time. And honestly, things moved so fast after this that there probably wasn’t time for it.
After a few minutes, the midwife and OB came to me and said, “Your baby’s heart rate is too low, and has stayed too low for too long. We have to get him out, right now.” Thank God I was out of it. I look back at that moment right now, and I tear up, because I realize how important it was, even though I didn’t at the time. I would have panicked if I had been cognizant enough to recognize the situation for what it was.
This got a lot longer than I planned, so part 2 will be up shortly!
Or better known as, oh HAI STRETCH MARKS. Seriously. I’ve done great, and then around 37w, a couple started just below my belly button. And then to the left lower side of my stomach. They’re fading already (39w today), but they itched and hurt like a mofo. And I really wish they would’ve not happened at all. Mentally, I’m okay with it, I just don’t appreciate the last minute arrival.
So, lately. I had false labor (again) last week on Sunday night, and I thought for sure it was it- Braxtons and real contractions all night. All. Freaking. Night. From 1-7am or so, they were constant, but most of them didn’t hurt. I had a midwives appt at 8:30am, so I didn’t bother calling them this time. And I was still only 1 cm, and about 40% effaced, no mention of station this time.
Last week was my last week of work. I was going to try to go to the end of this week (two days before my due date), but I just couldn’t. I can’t even walk through a grocery store trip without having a ton of Braxtons and pelvic pain, and work was just leaving me exhausted. Ending at 38w was the best decision I’ve ever made, even though it was hard, as my position ends concurrently with my maternity leave starting. I’ll miss my lab, but this is the right decision.
Physically, I feel good overall. I take Tylenol every day, and that keeps the pelvic pain and back pain/ pressure from the baby at a bearable level. I’ve reached the point where I need J to help with a lot of stuff, and I refuse to bend down to reach for anything now (and this blows, because I have the dropsies like you wouldn’t believe lately).
I picked up a bunch of food at the store today to help make freezable dinners, assuming the baby doesn’t come early, and I’ll do that with my week off. To my great delight, I found out I could freeze homemade pizza dough!! This is life altering for me.
Rant about a phone call with mom below the cut. I love her, but sometimes.. I just wish she wouldn’t.
My mom called tonight, to ask about how I was feeling in general, but in reality to harass me (again) about when we’re calling after labor starts. We’ve had this conversation about six times now, and I’m just over it. I don’t think it’s necessary to call my parents the instant I go into labor, as I may be laboring at home for ten hours. I don’t think it’s necessary to call them if I go into the hospital at two am. I more than likely will be there in labor for a long time. J and I want a couple hours alone with the baby before having everyone descends on us. I mean, let’s be real here. Everyone wants to see a new baby. No one wants to deal with a screaming three year old having a temper tantrum. I’m going to be dealing with both of these (at some point!) because this is my child. So, I get first dibs, and to tell people what I want to tell them, when I want to tell them. Of course I want my parents there, after he is born.
When mom asked (AGAIN) if anyone else was going to be in delivery with me, I said (absolutely) not, it was just going to be J and I. And then.. she shut down. Just stopped talking to me. Which was fine, because I knew what she was doing. Guilt trips seem to be a specialty of hers. I wouldn’t allow my midwife in the room if it wasn’t necessary, so why on earth would I have my mom there?? This isn’t a jealousy/ competition thing with my in-laws, because they aren’t allowed in delivery with me, either. Getting the silent treatment isn’t going to change my mind. Truthfully, I kind of don’t want to let them know until after he’s born, more and more, because of this kind of thing. I’m going to talk to J about it, because I just don’t know. I don’t want the guilt and the drama. My parents live 3 hr away, and J’s are 4.5 hr (1.5 past my parents, same direction). It would give us some more time alone with him, anyway.
AND, it looks like we finally have a name!! So excited about this!! And hopefully, next time I post, we’ll have a little one to share some photos of as well!
And I don’t feel like I can really talk about it many places. If I put up some cryptic message on FB (which I hateeee when people do this, especially when it’s obviously just an attention grab, and they don’t actually want any support or help), I will have 10000X people asking if it is baby related.
I had a mixed bag of real and ‘fake’ contractions earlier this week. I had been perfectly content to not worry about the baby coming yet, but this was a wake up call. I wasn’t ready, at least not mentally. The apartment is ready, we have everything we need to take care of him, but it was a shock.
But, now I have a problem. I had a midwife appt that afternoon anyway, and they did a check- 1 cm dilated, and the baby’s head is at -1 station (they didn’t tell me effacement). And suddenly, all I want is for this kid to be OUT. I feel like a jerk, but it’s not so much that I want to meet him. I just have hit the wall. I don’t want to do this anymore. I love feeling the baby move around, and knowing he’s doing great and healthy in there, but.. I’m over it. I want to be able to breath again. I feel like an oversized whale. I hate that I’m not able to physically workout the way I love to do, and every single part of my body hurts. My fingers don’t bend properly, and I’m (obviously) emotional. I didn’t talk to J most of last night because he didn’t want to get me pizza for dinner, for pete’s sake. The man is allowed that right. But I didn’t talk to him because I was afraid I would just explode and say a thousand terrible things that I didn’t mean.
Oi. Well. I just sincerely hoping this babe comes out sooner than later, even with the statistics are not on my side for that. Hopefully, my mood improves, too. Yeesh.
Time is really starting to slow down and fly by at the same time around here. Phew. My due date is Nov 22, and I’m looking forward to it at this point!\
J and I had two baby showers, two weekends in a row. One with his family, and one with mine. They are 1.5hr apart, and pretty much no one on either side would travel that far so a pregnant lady wouldn’t have to drive 3 and 4.5 hours one way, two weekends in a row. So, yeah, there’s that.
The shower with J’s family was wonderful, but honestly, I preferred the one with my family. I actually had zero extended relations there (we had one with my dad’s side in NH last month, and mom’s side is in Indiana, so that wasn’t going to happen), but the people who are the closest to me/ known me the longest were there. That meant a lot to me, including have a close friend and her MIL (who I ADORE) that came from 2hr away. They are seriously the best.
J and I ransacked BabiesRUs on Wednesday night, picking up stuff from the registry that we didn’t get (but really need), like bottles, a mattress, etc. I felt awful because we had several duplicates from our registry to swap out, and so we did all of our transaction at the customer service desk. And there was a new girl training, who had never: worked the register. Used gift cards to pay for a transaction. Used coupons. Returned items without a receipt... you get the idea. And it was 8:30pm, so no biggie right? I teach people all the time at work, I have patience for this stuff. But the FOUR people in line behind us, waiting to exchange like one pack of diapers each, didn’t look quite as patient. #winning
Last night, I spent several hours clearing out all the stuff we’ve had living in the crib for the past two weeks from the baby showers. I unwrapped, cut off tags (and more tags. And TAGS FROM THOSE FRIGGIN CUTE BABY OUTFITS. Those plastic bits holding tags on are the bane of my existence, and our kitten desperately wants to eat them all) and generally nested my way into super swollen ankles (because I took my compression socks off. Silly me.)
And btw, I loved every second of it! The room is much cleaner, and almost the entire crib is cleaned out. I’ve got a mountain of clothes/ blankets/ sleep sacks to wash, but it’s worth it.
Anyway, on to me: The last trimester is no joke. I woke up this morning with every single fiber of my body aching. My fingers hurt so badly from swelling, and I can barely bend them when I first wake up.
My pelvis doesn’t hurt quite as badly as it did the last few weeks, but I’ve also been cutting way back on my gym time. My weight is going up accordingly, but I think a good chunk of that is also water weight. I’m swelling like a water balloon, hence the pain in my body. And my cankles. Ugh.
Baby boy (STILL no name) is moving like a champ, and my stomach is getting wild enough for others to notice when we’re in meetings. It’s fun to watch, both him and their reactions, haha.
I’ve crossed figuring out breast pump/ insurance off my list (I found a place that will ship ASAP after we call to say the baby was born, since I plan on exclusively pumping/ supplementing with formula), finding out if insurance covers circumcision (it does), cleaning out the bedroom/nursery and organizing off my list. I started putting together the hospital bags for me and the baby, and we need to set up an appt to make sure our car seat gets properly installed. Or at least youtube the crap out of it to make sure we do it right. We also figured out my payout for my job when I leave, since my time here ends the month after I give birth (funding issues, nothing to do with being pregnant).
There’s a LOT going on right now. I’m excited. And scared. But excited!
I’m too lazy to try and copy/ paste my usual format, so here we go!
This week was definitely a tipping point. My hands/ fingers HURT (swelling is what the interwebs tells me is the problem). My pelvis feels ready to give up on me. My feet hurt from the extra 17lb I’m carrying, and probably just loosening of general body parts.
My baby shower in NY (with J’s family) is next weekend. I’m excited, and it’s fun to see things disappearing off the baby registry. :-D Our parents ordered the crib on Friday, so it will be here this week!!!!
I only went to the gym once this week. My body is waving the little white flag. I’m trying to at least walk more during the day, but it’s definitely getting hard. I’ve been sleeping poorly the last several weeks, although the past few days have improved drastically. And I feel even more tired than before, haha. Can’t win!
I weighed myself on Thursday/ Friday, and my weight seems to be holding steady at 17lb for the moment. We’ll see how that changes, I just feel like I’ve been holding a lot more water weight lately. Maybe bc I’m not sweating my ass off from the heat and semi-working out at the gym? Or just normal pregnancy stuff? Who knows.
J and I did the ‘childbirth education marathon’ class at our hospital yesterday. I feel like I generally knew a lot of the stuff, but it was great to have someone to really ask detailed questions (that isn’t an internet stranger). I know J learned a lot, since he obviously hasn’t been quite as much into the research on childbirth as I have been. We also did a tour of Labor and Delivery. I went to the Triage portion of it when I had spotting in August, but we got to see the labor and recovery rooms as well. Except for one really tiny room (which they don’t put women in unless they’re totally out of space), they were all spacious and really nice. Overall, it was a good place, and I’m excited to give birth there. That class made things feel a lotttt more real, though. Baby is coming in the next 7 weeks!!
Also, I don’t remember if I posted this last time, but I finally decided I’m going to try pumping, with formal supplementation. That way, the baby will still get breast milk, and I don’t have to BF. I honest to goodness just don’t want to, and that is okay. I met someone who also recommended a group called Fancy Pumpers on FB, and they are supposed to be very supportive of whatever decision you make. I need that right now, so I’m excited to join the group!
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t plan on breast feeding, solely because they do not and never have had any desire to do so? I just don’t want to do it. Never have, doubt I ever will. My midwives will support any decision I make, although they prefer BFing.
I’ve been researching combination pumping and formula feeding today, and it looks like there is a lot of judgement even for moms who are exclusively pumping (EP) and not necessarily supplementing with formula. It’s like, no matter what you do, you can’t win. Nobody wants to see your boob hanging out in public (admittedly, I fall in this category, but this has to do with the fact that I’m modest about this type of thing. I also know how to be a big girl, accept that’s what many moms do, and just not look). But, nobody wants you to feed your kid formula (POISON!), and goodness forbid you pump and feed your baby subpar breast milk that might have been in the freezer for a week. I mean, seriously???
So, what’s a soon to be momma to do? It seems like there are few women who will admit that they don’t want to breastfeed just because they don’t want to (MORE judgement), and I’m finding myself in a lonely place. Obviously, no one expects these things, but I’m not anticipating latch issues, my nipples are not inverted, tongue tie, what have you.
I am, however, willing to give pumping and formula a try. I want, and expect, my DH to be able to help feed the baby. He is very much on my side with this. I also know this very critical thing about myself: I can’t handle extended, long term sleep deprivation. I already know that BFing exclusively would turn me into a person that neither my DH nor I would recognize. It just won’t work for the lifestyle we have, and want to (approximately) keep up. I also plan on going back to work after maternity leave. I need to be able to focus on my laboratory work. Lack of focus can be dangerous in a lab.
So, this seems to be the compromise I have come up with. Will it be easy? Goodness, I doubt it. But nothing about having a newborn is easy. I want to make sure my child is well fed, first and foremost, no matter what form the food takes. Some say they had little success with EPing, others say they had great success. I think it depends a lot on each woman, and their body.
I just wonder if anyone else is thinking about taking this same path as me. Just because. Not due to any issues. I can’t be the only one.
- I’ve been having some trouble sleeping. I’m trying not to drink too much leading up to bed time, because that automatically means being up half the night peeing. Also, min wheats still win for helping the intestinal track loosen up a bit.
-My bump is growing and growing the last month, to the point I actually have a nice one now, especially at the end of the day. I had no idea that your bump could ‘grow’ based on eating, bloating, etc. That’s new for me! It is a little weird for me, though, because I’m not nearly as big as most people I know at this far along in their pregnancies. I guess most were much shorter, or a bit thinner, but I don’t have a stomach normally, so I guess the baby is just sitting back further or lower than babies with less room?
-I’ve been dealing with some cramping in my legs at night. It’s worse after working out, but I had one night a few weeks ago where I woke up because my whole calf was contracted. That hurt for several days afterwards, but thankfully hasn’t been repeated.
- We’ve started putting together a registry, and it’s been interesting. I’m trying to keep the doodads down to a minimum, as we live in an apartment for the time being. We don’t need/want that much stuff taking up precious space. In that same vein, I’m having three baby showers. Three. In an ideal world, I’d have one. But, my dad’s family up north wants to host one, as does my mom (in PA) and J’s mom (in NY). Our families live about 1.5 hr apart, and since most of his family is on the older side, they don’t want to travel that far. Mom really really pushed the one for family up north, and I finally gave in. She thinks more people = more stuff = us getting everything and anything. But I don’t want that. Sigh. Well, I’m done fighting about it, and I’m just looking forward to having a good time.
- I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about breast feeding, and researching it. I know how good it is, all around. I just don’t know that I can bring myself to do it- I’ve never, ever wanted to, and that hasn’t changed since I got pregnant.
-Also, telling my mom I don’t want anyone in the delivery room is going to be fun. I don’t even really want to tell anyone we had the baby until after he’s born, just to avoid the kerfuffle. I already know she’ll want to be in there, and I just.. ugh. I’m too private for that, and as they say on the Bump boards, if you don’t tell anyone you’re at the hospital, they can’t show up. At any rate, they live three hours away, so it wouldn’t be a quick trip for my parents.
-We’re working on the nursery. The room is already gray, and we’re painting an accent wall with navy and gray stripes, and one orange accent stripe (on an accent wall, lol). J loves loves loves the fox prints on everything for baby boys, so we’re going with that theme. I don’t want to go too crazy, since we’re planning on buying or building a house with my in-laws in the next year.
-Weight gain seems to be staying relatively slow. I haven’t weighed in since early last week, but it seems good.
Lastly, I had a surprise trip to labor and delivery this week. I had some spotting after some, uh, special time with J, and back pain that showed up around the same time as the spotting. The short version is that the baby is fine, my cervix is apparently closed and sitting very (very) high- thanks to having multiple people check for dilation. My hospital is a teaching hospital, which I’m fine with and encourage, but having four people in the room for a pelvic exam was.. interesting. A nurse, med student, ob gyn resident, and a midwife from my practice. Yeesh.
Oh, and I ordered a dress from Seraphine for my baby shower in NH. It will be a very laid back event, so the dress will be as well. http://www.seraphine.com/us/crochet-back-denim-maternity-dress.html
Well, this got a lot longer than I planned. Today starts 26 weeks!!
How I feel: I’ve been feeling really, really good the last few weeks. Definitely in the second tri happy zone. No nausea, minimal back/ whatever pain, not too much of an emotional roller coaster, although I did spend a week or so recently being a bit much to handle, even for myself. I have a great husband.
Cravings: Nothing specific. I’ll probably skip this from now on, I’m pretty much out of the cravings part of pregnancy (for the moment??). Mostly, what I’m having are these intense feelings of hunger around dinner, if I don’t eat enough lunch. Thankfully, this is usually a short lived feeling, and not a constant thing.
Aversions: None that I can think of.
Bump: Definitely growing! I’ll post a picture soon. Baby boy is growing like crazy- the ultrasound tech said he was 22oz last week, almost double the 12oz from my first anatomy scan a month ago (we had to finish up some pics from the first u/s).
Side notes: I’m having a lot of issues with overheating. I’ll be comfortable, but I’ll walk across the lab, or across the street, or wherever, and suddenly I’m 1000 degrees. I’ve had at least four people comment on how sunburned I am, and how I need to wear more sunscreen when I’m outside, lol. I do have very pale skin naturally, and I usually have a pink cast to begin with. The pregnancy ‘glow’ has turned me red, and toasty! I think it’s funny, though. What else can I do, but have a sense of humor about this?
I’m also keeping up with workouts. My lab schedule has been crazy for the past two months, but my experiments with the rats ended last week, and DH and I were able to get in 2 solid workouts at the gym, and a nice long (18 miles) bike ride yesterday. I don’t want to lose weight, but I do want to keep gain on a slow pace. I’m a fan of less stretch marks, weight, overall pain, etc.
My plantar fascitis is back with a vengeance, probably partly due to relaxin and having all my tendons/ ligaments loosening up. I miss having feet that don’t ache anymore!
Weight gain: Okay, the weight gain situation is slightly confusing, but I’ll try my best to explain. My scale is slightly off from the midwife office scale, and also I weigh myself first thing in the morning, naked, etc. Not with full clothing, after lots of water and food. You get the idea. Also, the midwives use my weight from my 8wk appt as a ‘starting’ point, rather than my pre-pregnancy weight. I saw them when I was 5w pregnant, due to having a well woman visit scheduled anyway, but they’re not using that weight.
SO, the short version is this: according to the midwives, I’ve gained 6 lb (as of last week). According to my pre-pregnancy weight, and my scale, it’s 10lb. Both are very acceptable to me, as I didn’t gain weight for a long time, due to nausea.
How I feel: Overall, great! My energy levels are good, and I’ve really started feeling little one (LO) kicking, allll the time. It was soft at first (starting around 18 or 19 weeks), and then much stronger now (I’m starting 23w today).
Cravings: Nothing specific. I’m eating more sugar, but I’m not really craving anything anymore.
Aversions: None that I can think of.
Bump: I’m starting to show very nicely now! My belly button is stretching in weird ass directions, but the baby has definitely hit a bit growth spurt. J’s mom said this week (after seeing us last weekend on our way to NH for vacation) that I’m definitely sporting a bigger bump now.
Side notes: J was able to feel the baby move for the first time last weekend, at the end of 21wks. It was really amazing, and special for both of us. I’ve been feeling him more and more, and it was awesome that J finally could as well. It’s mostly when I’m sitting, or laying pretty still, but I know it won’t be too long before it’s alll the time! We’re just back from vacation now, and I’m going to miss sitting on the beach, staring at the lake (my family has a cottage) and enjoying the little baby kicks. This next week is already promising to be a busy one.
Weight gain: I went up to 6 lb around 20wks, and I think it was 8 lb before I left for vacation (end of 21w/ start of 22w), but I was also super bloated and hadn’t pooped properly in dayssss. I have a midwife appt this week, we’ll see how it goes. They told me previously that they expect one month, usually in the second trimester, where I’ll gain 5-7lb or so. After that, they expect normal weight gain rates. Since I’m aiming for 15-25lbs total weight gain, hopefully it won’t be too much. 8lb at 23w really isn’t bad at all, but LO still has teh majority of his weight gain to go right now.
How I feel: Good. I want to ear food again, I’m not having any nausea (at all!) and my energy is back (except for 3pm). No complaints right now!
Cravings: Not soup anymore, I think I overdosed on it for the past month. Nothing specific I can put my finger on. I’ve been drinking a lot of Crystal Light, though.
Aversions: Not much.
Bump:My bump well and truly popped this week. I went from ‘meh, bloated at the end of the day bump’ to ‘holy crap, my stomach wasn’t this big last week, and what is going on with my belly button??’
Side notes: This was a big bump week. I can’t believe how much is suddenly grew. Also, I really started feeling the baby move around- it’s amazing to feel him kick, and can’t wait for J to feel him!
Weight gain: Still 4lbs. The midwife is happy with my gain so far, so I’m not sweating it.
How I feel: Overall, I feel good. My stomach muscle were aching on and off this week, which isn’t shocking, since the baby is *growing*! 9oz of baby, as of last Wed, to be exact. No nausea, although I’m having trouble getting food down sometimes. I’m hungry, but the moment I start eating, my stomach just goes, “Nope.” I think (TMI alert) it’s probably something I can contribute to not pooping enough, but I’ll take what I can get. Gas has been a problem this week, too, but having some rice based meals seemed to help move things along.
J and I had a small sex reveal party this weekend with family- our parents, J’s grandparents (mine live halfway across the country), and my siblings were there. We had a nice BBQ, in spite of the unending rain, and everyone was so excited when they had cupcakes with BLUE icing! Everyone was really excited.
I noticed I was pretty cranky this past week. Mood swings happened a couple times, and while I don’t appreciate them, at least I know what’s going on. J has been patient, although I know I’ve been a bit trying a few times. I hope this is temporary, I’ve been really even keeled for most of the pregnancy so far.
Cravings: Still soup! I’m eating more foods with sugar these days, but my tolerance is still pretty low. There isn’t anything else I can say specifically- tomato soup and grilled cheese has been high on my list.
Aversions: Meh. Nothing I can put a finger on.
Bump: It’s getting there! Mostly still look like I had too big of a meal with clothes on, but by the end of the day, my bump game is getting fierce. This may or may not be helped out by my fierce lack of pooping game.
Side notes: I’ve been hitting the wall at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and all I want to do is NAP, alll the time. I’m also waking up at 3-4am, and having trouble falling back asleep (for a 6:20am wake up). A couple days was okay, but this has been going on a week and a half straight. I have to pee when I wake up, but that’s pretty much my life these days. I’ll try drinking less before bed, and see if it helps?
Weight gain: As of last Monday, I’ve gained 4lb still. I know it’s going to start increasing soon, but it’s been holding steady. I’m only checking my weight once or twice a week for my own sanity. I was trying to lose weight prior to getting pregnancy (and had lost 17lb successfully), so sometimes it’s hard to lose that mindset. I’m not having any problem mentally with gaining weight right now, but I’ve also only had minimal gain. It’s a bit of a relief to be slightly more laid back with my eating, but I’m still keeping an eye on it.
I had my anatomy scan this morning (I’m 18w3d), and it went great overall. The tech said we’d look at all the important bits, and if we wanted to know the sex, she would tell us at the end.
Well, we were not even ten mins in, and she exclaims (in this thick eastern block/ Russian accent) “Oh, look at the little wee wee! you’re having a boy!”. Haha, I was so not expecting that. So, it’s a BOY! AHHHHHHHH.
Everyone seemed tao think it was a girl, so I was a bit surprised, but not disappointed at all. I’ve always, always been a tom boy, so I won’t be having any issues relating to a little boy.
I have to go back next month for a few more pictures, since the baby was being stubborn today and we couldn’t get everything they needed. God, it all feels so real now. I’m finally starting to sport a bump now, although it mostly looks like a food baby. The joy this baby is bringing to our lives is just incredible, and I feel so blessed
Synopsis of last few weeks! I’ve been lazy with my blogging, but not a whole lot has changed recently.
How I feel: AWE-SUM. As in, ohmygosh I didn’t think I’d ever feel this amazing again. I’m tired, a lot, mostly later in the evenings. I think the first tri sleepiness that I never had finally caught up with me. The nausea really decreased in weeks 15/16, and I’ve felt none at all since last week. It’s incredible.
Cravings: All the SOUP. Soup everything. Especially tomato soup. Amazing.
Aversions: Nothing specific, even my greasy food aversion is lessened (but I don’t really like greasy food to begin with, so..)
Bump: A work friend commented last week that I was starting to finally show. Tight shirts = baby bump. Loose shirts = too much pizza for dinner the night before.
Side notes: I feel human again (YAY), but my mood swings have been a little back and forth the past week. Nothing extreme, but definitely more than since I’ve been off birth control (a year ago). I went kayaking and swimming this past weekend, which was absolutely glorious. I will be swimming ALLL summer. #true story
Weight gain: Staying the same at 4lb. I gained 4 initially (thanks, bloat), and never really seemed to go any further than that. I’m a bit overweight to begin with, so my midwives want me to be in the 15-25lb range. So not gaining a lot is a good thing.
Holy moley, hot flashes. This is a fun and new symptom.
My nausea seems to be almost completely gone (I’m afraid to say that too loudly, as I thought that at about 10 weeks, and then it came back with a vengeance 1.5 weeks later). So, I’m swapping hot flashes for nausea. Andplusalso, super exhaustion. I thought that was supposed to be first tri??
I’m really really happy, my bloating is pretty much gone. And I discovered that large amounts of water = pooping again. Life. Is. Good. Because you really have no idea how bad life can be, until you haven’t pooped in ages and you’re so bloated you can’t see straight. Oi.
I’m so, so excited about this baby. Terrified of money and other things, but excited. I can’t wait.
