Day 262
Symptoms: contractions, back pain
Cravings: chocolate and ice cream
Weight: 75kg
Food Aversions: none
Mood: Good, but tired
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: You are cleaning like your mother in law is coming for a visit (other wise known as nesting).
Baby J is still kicking in there making me uncomfortable. Last Thursday I had my home visit from the midwife. Everything went well and we are now all set for a home birth. Now it is just a matter of waiting to go into labor.
We thought Friday night was going to be the night. I had been having contractions on and off all day. In the evening I starting getting them more regularly and more painfully. I went to bed to get some sleep, and for the most part I slept well. I woke up a couple of times to contractions, but nothing serious. By the morning they had become irregular again. We decided to see if we could kick start them up again. We went for a long walk (about 2 hours) and the came home and had sex. Well apparently these things don’t induce labor at all for me. My contractions stopped completely! I had nothing the rest of Saturday and only a sporadic one on Sunday. How disappointing!
Today I have been having contractions again, lots of them, but they don’t seem to have any rhythm to them so I am trying to not pay too much attention to them.
I hope he comes soon!
Pregnant Me
Day 256
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, pressure
Cravings: chocolate and ice cream
Weight: 74 kg / 163.9 lb
Food Aversions: none
Mood: Good, but tired
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: bloody show is one sign of labor.
It’s time to come out baby J! Or at least that is how I was feeling yesterday morning when I woke up. I had enough, I wanted him out. Screw bedrest was my motto all day. I decided try some more sex to try to get things moving (my husband must be so pleased by my sudden interest in sex again, even if its main motive is labor). I then went grocery shopping. Since we do not have a car we have to walk everywhere. This walk ended up being over 2 hours and I tried my best to keep pace with my husband and not slow us down with my waddle. I then came home and washed the bathroom from top to bottom. I also made sure to pick up my daughter a lot.
Nothing Happened.
I think I had two contractions that I felt yesterday.
What. The. Hell.
I just spent the last 4 months on restricted activity where even getting up to pee would give me contractions. I spend all day yesterday being active… and nothing noticeable.
I was pretty sore by the time I went to bed though. Laying in bed watching Fringe with my husband before going to sleep I was getting a lot of cervix action, so perhaps being up all day did do something and moved him down some more. I hope all that cervix bumping was also doing some thinning as well!
This morning I am up early. I woke up at 5 a.m. and it is now 6:30 a.m. and I am wide awake. I am planning my action today. My day will probably be spent cleaning. There is nothing like the midwife coming to your home to spark some nesting. I can’t wait until my appointment on Thursday. I’m not sure how it all works though. If it will be just about the home birth details or if she will check me out also. I hope she feels and can tell me how far the baby has dropped and the approximate size she thinks.
Well I think I am going to try to nap or read before my daughter wakes up for the day.
Pregnant Me
Day 253
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, contractions, pressure
Cravings: chocolate and ice cream
Weight: 74 kg / 163.9 lb
Food Aversions: none
Mood: Good, but tired
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: Baby’s crown to rump length is 35cm or 13.8 inches. Baby weights about 2850-2950 grams or 6.3 -6.5 pounds.
Only one more week until full term (does happy dance, sits back down). I can’t believe that as of next Thursday afternoon after my midwife house visit I will be able to go ahead with a home birth. This pregnancy had dragged on for so long with all the stress of the possibility of me going into labor. Now that I am near the end it is going really quickly, most of the time. As all of you who read this blog I have been over being pregnant for a long time. As my due date gets closer and closer I spend most of my days wondering if today will be the day. Especially because no one really thought I would make it this far! I can’t wait for labor to start, I just wished I had some idea of how it started.
Yes, I have a child already, but since I did not go into labor on my own with her I feel like a first time mom wondering (constantly) if every contraction I have is the start of labor. It is frustrating!
Another thing adding to my frustration, but is a really good thing, is that I know a few people who either had their baby (an old friend of mine had a baby today!) or are about to. I am happy for them, it is exciting, but I am really jealous too. To those having their baby this coming week.. good luck! I can’t wait to hear about it. I am sure you know who you are.
I have had an interesting couple of days, well to me anyways. The other night my daughter woke up a few times. I was feeling really sick and uncomfortable but if I managed to stay on my left side I was okay. My husband got up with our daughter the first time. I got up to pee at this time and as soon as I stood up I was in so much. My back and stomach hurt. I hobbled to the bathroom and tried to sit down and that just made it worse, but I had to pee so I forced myself to sit through the pain. I made my way back to bed and layed down. As soon as I layed down on my left side the pain decreased considerably, but the sick feeling increased. Once my husband came back to bed, I was feeling really sick and my back was hurting again so I got up. Standing again made it worse. I figured I would go on the computer to distract myself. Sitting was horrible so I kind of paced around the room. My husband asked if we should call L&D, I said we will wait and see. After pacing a bit the pain went away, and after about an hour or so of distraction on the computer I felt well enough to go to bed. I did managed to get some sleep, but unfortunately my daughter woke up again and was a pain to get back to bed. I felt sick all night, and both my husband and I work up exhausted yesterday. This happened to be his first day back at work and my first day with our daughter alone since November. It was a long day of my daughter being fussy from being tired and me feeling sick.
Today was mostly okay. I think I have a bladder infection and that is why I am feeling sick so I have been loading up on the cranberry juice. I am still feeling sickish and I am really crampy and uncomfortable. My husband let me crash for a couple of hours this afternoon and that was great. This evening I went to go pee and I heard a plop and felt something fall out. I of course looked in the toilet right away, however could not see anything, whatever it was had already disappeared down the toilet. I continued on and when I wiped it was really mucusy. Right after, before even standing up I was hit with a pretty decent contraction. However, other than feeling a bit crampy and sore nothing else has happened. Now I think it may have been my mucus plug, however (warming too much information coming (if it hasn’t already…) my husband and I had sex last night. Now this always leads to me being leaky for a day or too, however it has never ‘plopped’ out of me before. However, I think it is still very possible that it was just his left overs. I think thinking that it was the mucus plug is just wishful thinking. This kid is going to torture me to the end!
Pregnant Me
Day 248
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, contractions, sore legs, hormonal, round ligament pain, horrible horrible groin pain
Cravings: chocolate
Weight: 74 kg / 163.9 lb
Food Aversions: none
Mood: Good
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: Now is a good time to pack your bag for the hospital.
Well baby boy has dropped and stayed dropped this time. While this is a good thing today I have been in so much pain because of it. I feel like I have pulled my groin and can barely move or walk. He must be really low and pinching a ligament or a nerve. Either way, it sucks!
You may have also noticed that my weight is increasing not so slowly anymore. Since Christmas I have gained just about 4 kg or over 8 pounds. Considered that is about how much I gained in the first 7 months of my pregnancy I would say that is a lot. Over all it is not very much, and they do say that you usually stop gaining in the last few weeks, but at the rate I am going I will have caught up in weight gain that’s for sure.
I can’t believe I have made it this far, but now that I have I have a feeling that this babe is going to stay put. The other night I thought for sure he was coming. I all of a sudden had all this energy etc. He didn’t come that night, but the next day I thought for sure it would be soon. Now I don’t think so. I think he is gonna stay in there at least until the due date. I really hope not, but I really think so.
I guess there is a positive of him staying in there a bit longer. After next Thursday I can go ahead with a home birth. I sit her and look around, and boy do I not think our apartment is ready for a home birth. I’m not really sure why though. For once it is not overly messy. I think it is just because it feels too crowded for my liking.
Whether baby boy decided to come really soon I am excited to finally get to meet him and give him a name. I am also ready to move on from this part of my life (being pregnant). That being said, my husband swears that this is our last, and a small part of me is sad that it will be over soon.
Pregnant Me
Day 240
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, contractions, sore legs, hormonal, round ligament pain
Cravings: none
Weight: 73 kg / 160 lb
Food Aversions: none
Mood: okay, but a bit grumpy
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: Baby should be turned head down and preparing for birth
Well it has been a few days since my last post. I have a serious lack of blogging motivation. Actually that is not entirely true, I have been thinking about my blogs, but just not writing in them. I have been more concerned with getting the apartment organized and other aspects of life that I need to try to have some sort of order in before baby boy gets here.
So whats new with me you ask? Well, I had a check up last week. It was not very exciting, but I do love to hear baby’s heart beat. It seems to be slower than my daughters. Beside the contractions and the continuation of restricted activity (I really should just call it bed rest since I am not supposed to walk or do any housework including the dishes…) everything looked good. The doctor estimate that if I make it 37 and weeks above I can expect a baby that is over 8lbs. Now, I don’t trust his measurements. With my daughter he seriously underestimated the weight at one of my appointments that had my midwife confused and saying he doesn’t know what he is doing there. However, I know I am having a bigger baby. I am huge compared to my daughter. Here are some pictures.
This is me right now. I am feeling pretty big and heavy and having some really horrible round ligament pain that brings me to tears when I try to roll over at night.
This is a picture of me with my daughter at 36 weeks. Two more weeks than I am now. I think I was this size over a month ago.
The last few days I have felt horrible. I have been just exhausted with this persistent headache that will not leave. I also get upset very easily and frustrated. Only 40 (more or less) days to go right?…….
In other news, not pregnancy related, we decided to give cloth diapering a try. We live in an apartment, a small apartment and can not do laundry every day so I had originally vetoed cloth diapering. However after so research I figured out a way, if it should work, that work for us. The system we have opted for is diaper cover, flats on the inside and a disposable, biodegradable liner to ‘catch’ the poo. Before I spend the money to purchase all the supplies I purchased one cover, some flats, liners and a couple of fleece liners to give it a try on my daughter. So far I am not 100% convinced. There is definitely a learning curve to cloth diapering! I think I have found a fold that works. The first day went okay. The first night was a disaster so I decided to try a new fold the next day. Again, no problems during the day, at night we had a huge leak but I am not sure why. I used the new fold and doubled up on flats. Both flats were wet but where not soaked through, but the entire front of my daughters PJ’s were soaked when she got up in the morning. Yesterday we took a break from the cloth diapers so I could give the cover a good wash.
I have to say I was pretty discouraged with the nighttime issue. I want it to work all the time, not just some of the time. My husband has been encouraging saying not to give up on it yet, we just need to figure it out. So we are giving it a try again today, but I am not sure about the over night. There is also an important factor that we have yet to face. The poop factor. Not being able to do laundry everyday and at times every second day I just can’t have poopie diapers sitting around. Yes, I understand that you clean the poo off before it goes in the bucket. I am really not into that, and to be honest with a very active 10 month old and a newborn on the way I just don’t see myself as having the time to scrap poo off a diaper, rinsing it off etc. In my mind it would be faster and easier to peel off the disposable liner, flushing it and quickly rinsing the flat if it needs to be.
My daughter had yet to poop in her new diaper. The first day we started in the afternoon and she had already pooped. The second day we had to rinse off the cover and let it dry for a diaper change, and of course this is when she pooped. Yesterday was an off day for the cloth diaper and she pooped twice. So far today, she has yet to poop… So we are still waiting to give a verdict!
Pregnant Me
Day 235
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, contractions, sore legs, hormonal
Cravings: none
Weight: 73 kg / 160 lb
Food Aversions: none
Mood: tired
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: Dress in layers if you find yourself feeling hotter than usual.
Not much to report today. I’m very tired and hormones are bringing up a depression that I am having a hard time keeping under control. As I said, I am very tired.
I have been feeling leaky, as if I am having little gushes of fluid, but when I go to the bathroom to check there really isn’t much there. I figure this is either from the baby pushing on my bladder or just increased discharge. I have also had a lot of mucusy discharge now since Christmas. Both of these happened to me with my daughter in the last couple weeks of pregnancy. I really hope my body is not gearing up for another water break and inducement. I would be really unhappy with that.
Day 232
Symptoms: fatigue, heartburn, contractions, sore legs, hormonal
Cravings: none
Weight: not sure
Food Aversions: none
Mood: at this moment, cranky, very very cranky.
Daily Pregnancy Calendar Says: Baby’s crown to rump length is 31 cm or 12.2 inches. Baby weighs about 2100-2250 grams or 4.6 – 5 pounds.
First of all, Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful evening. Ours was good. I make turkey dinner, then we relaxed and watched a movie and TV and waited for the fireworks to really get going. I crashed shortly after 12. I had all these plans to write a sappy blog post last night about the end of 2010, bla, bla, bla, but after cooking dinner all afternoon I was pooped and having contractions so I didn’t do a whole lot of anything. So here is the short version: Good bye 2010 (thank you for my daughter), Hello 2011 (can’t wait for my son)!
My first day of 2011 has not been a good one. I woke up tired and just not in a good mood. Everything my husband did was wrong from the start. My hormones are running rampage! I have no patience today. I got upset about the disaster that is our apartment and how much I hate living in a one bedroom apartment. I can’t wait to move into something bigger! Later I was laying on the floor and my daughter was attacking me and laughing. It was fun. I started to laugh and then couldn’t breath and had to sit up. As soon as I sat up I got overwhelmed and started to bawl. I just lost it. I felt like someone had died or something. Mean while my daughter was continuing her attack and I was trying to laugh but was devastated for no apparent reason. It was a very strange moment and it took me a while to recover from it. Once I got myself together I told my husband I needed a break from them. I was just too over whelmed.
I took some time to myself, then the nagging feeling of nesting kicked in and I started to organize one area of the apartment that really needed to be worked on. Of course this is the time that my daughter decided that if she is not being held she is going to scream as loud as she can. My husband was trying to get dinner warmed up for us, so I held her as I stood and organized paper. I then put her on the floor where she proceeded to dump a cup full of pens all over the place. However, this was keeping her happy and allowing me to do what I wanted so I just let her play with the pens. She now some really nice pen ‘drawings’ on her leg..
Fast forward to dinner. For some reason I was just angry. Feeding a 9 month old with ants in her pants who is also in a fussy mood and an angry mom is not a great combination. I made it through most of dinner, but had to excuse myself again. My husband finishes up dinner, cleans up and leaves me alone. Not thirty minutes later I hear a bang in the living room. My husband comes into the room with our daughter and picks up the vacuum. I go out to the living room and my lovely daughter has knocked over a plant. Dirt everywhere. I had to replant the plant and clean up all the dirt while my husband bathed my daughter.
My daughter is now in bed and I think I am going to go curl up with a book and some ice cream…
Pregnant Me
Pregnant Me, 280 Days 