38 Weeks

How am I feeling? I'm in a lot of pain.  I'm not going to lie--it's fairly miserable.  I have been feeling near constant pain whenever I move for the last 3 weeks or so.  I can't come up with a better way to explain the location but to say that if you imagine where the legholes of your underwear hit your legs, it's there.  It hurts whenever I move--when I change positions in my chair, when I walk, when I roll over in bed, when I bend over.  I cannot lift either leg independently without a large amount of pain, so I sit to put on underwear, pants, and shoes.  It's worse on the left side (I think Boomer is still a little to that side), but that evens out a bit if I sleep on my right side for a night.  I've also noticed I can relieve the pain a little bit if I take a full-sized pillow, double it over, and sleep with it between my thighs.


I've had VERY small amounts of swelling, but I think they can mostly be attributed to the warmer temperatures, eating a lot of ham this weekend, and doing a lot of walking.

I did notice this week that my complexion is changing.  If I don't wear makeup I can see definite darkening on my left cheek and back toward my hairline on the right side of my face.  It's splotchy and not really that attractive.  I'm just glad I've got a darker complexion so it isn't as noticeable.

Lastly, I am having contractions.  They still feel like Braxton Hicks, though, in that they don't hurt at all.  When I slow down and pay attention, I can notice them every 10 minutes or so when I'm having them.  I actually haven't noticed any this morning, which is a little odd, but yesterday I felt them most of the day, even though I was fully hydrated and didn't exert myself any more than normal.

Weight thoughts: As predicted, I gained like 4.5 pounds from last appointment.  I pointed out to my doctor that I'd lost 3 pounds between the two previous appointments and that just meant a 2 pounds (or so) gain over two weeks.  She seemed fine with that.

Doctor appointments? I had an appointment on Tuesday.  BP remains fine (102/60, I think?).  My doctor said that my cervix "is beginning to soften" and "is closed up tight".  Gee, those are some really encouraging words.  But she seemed a bit more optimistic and said that while it's good to have the C-section on the books, if I show more progress at my next appointment (next Tuesday) she'd let me go for another week.  So I'll keep on walking and praying.

She took my fundal length and sort of giggled.  I looked at her and said, "over 40 weeks?" and she just sort of chuckled and nodded.  Yep....I'm huge and so is this baby, I fear.

Regarding the C-section.  I want to do a larger post on the way I feel about a VBAC versus a C-section, but I did want to say that I'm feeling some pressure from my family to do a C-section.  They don't *get* why I wouldn't want to do it, plus it's so much easier to plan that way.  My ILs already took the day off for next Friday and have plans to come down that morning and stay for some of the weekend.  I feel like I should keep the appointment just for everyone's convenience, which seems so silly as I write it.  But then I was thinking last night while I was doing Baby Girl's bedtime how much I would miss it if I was recovering from a C-section.  I'll be in the hospital longer and won't be able to do nearly as much when I get home.  A VBAC recovery would be a lot easier with another little one already in the house.  So I'm still going back and forth with what I want to do.  The Hubby is being supportive with whatever I choose and I think we'll have more of a discussion after next Tuesday's appointment.

Movement? Boomer's movement has definitely slowed down, but he still gives me some reassuring rolls and kicks every once in awhile.  Yesterday he got stuck on my left side and was giving me some major pain during a meeting, but after I walked back from the meeting, I didn't feel him there anymore.

I also wanted to mention that Boomer now has hiccups at least once or twice a day.  It's so fun to feel, as I've only been feeling it for the last week or two.  I hope they continue.  I remember that Baby Girl had way more hiccups than he has and those continued outside the womb.  At one point this week Baby Girl and Baby Boy *both* had the hiccups at the same time.  Adorable!

Baby preparation? I don't think we've really done much since last week.  The hospital bag is constantly in whatever car we're in.  I think we're down to two names.  If I'm feeling up to it this weekend, I'd like to do some freezer cooking and we're also planning on getting our laundry caught up and our refrigerator cleaned out so if our parents are spending time at our house they don't have to deal with our messes.

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This morning I got two different comments about my pregnancy within about a minute.  When we were dropping Baby Girl off, the sitter looked at my and told me that I'd gotten huge.  I laughed and told her about how big my doctor is measuring me.  Then when we were leaving another mom was coming to drop off her little girl and commented on how I was the happiest pregnant woman she'd ever met and that I looked pretty.  Two very different comments very close to each other!  I can see the pity and humor in my coworkers' eyes, though, as they watch me waddle around.