Bebycenter.com Update: Week 35

It's 3:52 a.m. I'm awake. I know I'm "in training" for motherhood, but can't this be like marathon training, where I get to "taper" (lower my mileage and take it easier) in the couple of weeks before the Big Day? :-)

Tonight we go to the hospital for a tour of the maternity floor. Should be interesting. Then tomorrow it's off to Baby Care Basics class, part two. (For the record, P.C. excelled at giving the baby doll a sponge bath last week. He's really trying hard and doing a great job.)

This week I'm noticing that I have just enough energy to get through the workday and then I get home really tired and uncomfortable. Sort of like the first trimester, only I'm not nauseous and now my belly gets in the way. Last night I had a mini "I can't take this anymore but I'm terrified to have the baby" tantrum. Nice. I'll bet P.C. wishes he could run around the neighborhood screaming. He's been so great--I hope he's taking his frustrations out on the baseballs at work.

Here's this week's update from www.babycenter.com:

How your baby's growing: Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 pounds plus. Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How your life's changing: Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.

It's a Fine Line between Feeling Grateful and Feeling Guilty

I had lunch with a friend of mine yesterday, who has 7-month-old twins after three rounds of in-vitro. She asked me how I was feeling, and she told me that at the end of her pregnancy she often felt guilty for feeling lousy, because she felt so grateful for her pregnancy and had spent so much time (not to mention money) on getting to that point.

I can totally relate to that. On the one hand, I am so, so amazingly grateful to be at this point and have, for the most part, really, really enjoyed being pregnant.

On the other hand, I am feeling pretty lousy these days--my wedding band has been temporarily relocated from my finger to the jewelry box because it doesn't fit; I get heartburn whenever I eat, no matter what I eat; My right wrist feels like I have carpal tunnel syndrome because of all the swelling; I'm not sleeping; I'm cranky.

And I'm trying to balance both of those emotions. I do think I feel more grateful than cranky, though. And excited. And terrified. And ready. And not ready. And the list goes on and on.

Me and My Belly

Here's a picture that P.C. took last night of me and my belly at 34 weeks. It makes me laugh. I do have to say that I never thought I would feel beautiful at 8 1/2 months pregnant, but I do!

Spike

The picture at the right is a cropped view of my 33-week ultrasound. Now, it' s really hard to see, but if you look really closely you can see Spike looking upwards.
Look on the line where this text appears and move your eyes to the right.You'll see one eyeball on top of the other eyeball (almost vertical), then slightly to the right you'll see her nose and mouth. It's not easy to see at first, but once you get it, you get it. Ain't she a beauty?

Babycenter.com Update: Week 34

All is well so far this week. The baby is still "head up"--I know this because I can feel her head lodged in my ribs! I'm feeling slightly paranoid about making sure I feel her move during the day, but I've heard that's the normal, worrying pregnant woman thing to do.

Tomorrow P.C. and I start our three-week "baby care basics" class. Swaddling, diapers and infant CPR. Should be interesting. I predict that P.C. will be a champion swaddler! :-)

Here's this week's update from www.babycenter.com. It feels good to know that, if Spike arrives a little early, she'll almost definitely be okay.

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Babycenter.com Update: Week 33

Well, I went to the doctor's yesterday. The baby is fine--I got to see her in an ultrasound after many weeks!-- but two things are going on:

1. I have a fibroid in my uterus that will most likely keep the baby from turning, which means I'm probably on a short track to a cesarean section. We'll know more in a few weeks, but that's the doctor's prediction.
2. The umbilical cord is currently resting around the baby's neck. This isn't an emergency, as icky as is sounds, but it does mean that I need to more closely monitor the baby's movements. Wow, there's something I won't worry about....

Tomorrow I go back to the doctor for a blood pressure check.

Here's this week's update from http://www.babycenter.com/:

How your baby's growing: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

I had no idea my body was public domain...

I was warned about this. Random people coming up to me and touching my belly. People offering their horrifying birth stories. People offering all kinds of perenting advice. But really--people making fat comments?

Yes, I've heard them. "Are you sure you aren't having twins?" "You're HUGE!" "You'll have a really tough time losing that after the baby is born." "Your stomach is huge--and so is your ass!" (No, really, I'm NOT KIDDING.) "Your boobs are HUGE--you're going to go into letters of the alphabet I never even knew existed for bras!"

Okay, here's the thing. However jokingly said, however harmlessly meant, these comments hurt. I have never felt so beautiful in my whole life as I do RIGHT NOW, giving life to this amazing miracle growing in my body. Have I gained weight? Yes. Perhaps a little more thn I'd hoped? Yes. (Name me five women who gained precisely the "right" amount of weight while pregnant!) Have I also enjoyed eating while I've been pregnant? Yes. (And let me tell you, while I do enjoy a sweet or two, I am not gorging on donuts and french fries. For example, for breakfast yesterday I had a bagel with a scrambled egg and a slice of cheese. For lunch, a hummus wrap and some watermelon. For dinner, some tuna salad, carrots and strawberries. So there.)

And really, the bottom line is that it is nobody's damn business if I've gained 25, 30, 35, 40, or 70 pounds. Nobody's. Okay, my doctor's, but she has been fabulous about my weight.

And the breast size thing? Really? Do you want to go there? Talk about an area I have NO CONTROL over.

So, please, don't nag me about it--now or after the baby is born. There's a miracle going on right now--does my extra chin really matter? I really do believe that our bodies hit a natural, comfortable weight when we trust it to do so. And it won't be right away, but I'll find that place again. So butt out, okay?