Third Trimester!
We're in the final stretch now! I might actually consider the last few weeks the final stretch but you know, you take the milestones where you can get them.
How I Look
On one hand, there are people that ask me if I'm having twins. On the other hand, my midwife says as she measures my belly (uterus size), "textbook, right on track"... So I guess it just depends on your perspective. From my perspective, all I can say is: you can tell I'm in my third trimester!
How I Feel
Thankfully, I am feeling great lately! If I didn't have this wiggle worm in me reminding me that I'm growing a little sweetie pie I'd think I was just really chubby. Essentially, I really have no complaints lately! I suppose my back sometimes hurts, but nothing like it did before. On occasion I get heartburn, but again, not as bad as it has been and pretty rarely. I generally just feel good and I'll take it while I can! I do wake up a lot at night, for no reason really, but I'm not tired in the morning, just tired earlier in the evening. I consider that good training for what life will probably be like sometime in June ;).
What I Feel
She's still a wiggle worm, but she also has clear sleep/wake times. She did go though a few days of being really still, which was weird, but now she's back to her usual squirming. I'm sure it's getting tight in there and that probably changes things some. I can usually tell which way she's facing, in or out, but these days it's hard to tell if she's up, down or sideways... except when she's pushing on my ribs.. then it's pretty clear! She likes to do that more often, especially when I'm sitting with my legs up to one side. I can also feel those fantastic hormones working on my joints and ligaments, which makes my hips a little sore during the night if I don't switch sides often. I know those hormones have a job to do and I'll be glad they did it when the time comes! I also feel 'practice contractions,' as my midwife calls them (Braxton Hicks), very regularly still, but that's to be expected. Oh, and one funny thing that started lately, I feel my pulse in my uterus when I compress my abdomen (like if my pants are tight or if I bend forward while sitting etc.). Feels funny!
What We're Doing
Organizing all those lovely gifts we received at our first baby shower - so much fun (I'll try to post some pictures)! I have also started to decorate the 'nursery' a little and am working on making some things to that end. I also spent the week making over 60 thank you cards for this shower and my others. That was fun! I might have to post some pictures because I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Card making isn't exactly my primary hobby, so it probably took me longer than it would take a seasoned card maker and scrapbooker, but it was fun anyway. Now that the weather is nicer, walks are happening more often and very soon Blake is quitting his second job which will drastically change our weeknight routines to include a little more focused working out!
I passed my glucose screening last week. I was so thankful to avoid the 'orange drink' and instead I got to just eat a specified amount of food (two eggs, two pieces of toast with two tsp of butter, 8 oz of milk and 8 oz of orange juice.. to be exact) and have my blood drawn two hours later. So much better than the killer headache that the orange drink would have given me (or anything with that much sugar). I also had my iron levels (or rather hemoglobin and hematocrit levels) tested to see if I'm anemic. While those levels were just a little bit low, my midwife thinks its because I've been good about getting protein and thus built up my blood volume sufficiently, and that my iron levels will catch up. I mostly understand what she's talking about ;) but am just glad I don't need to take iron supplements (I have enough gas and constipation issues without them, thankyouverymuch)! I try pretty hard to get lots of iron in my diet anyway (in addition to the dose that is already in my prenatals) but lately I started drinking green juice in a fruit smoothies (usually kale and spinach juice - we just got a juicer!), which is high in iron too.
We also had our birth classes with our midwife these weeks. She came to our house and did two classes with us, going over the expectations of latent and active labor through postpartum care and nursing. We did some homework practicing ways to handle labor (positions, strategies etc) and will continue to read through some of those ideas as we wait out the next 10-13 weeks. We're trying to stay patient as this final stretch begins, but we're also getting so excited to meet our little Sweet P!
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Um... I'm glad we are not pregnancy buddies. You shame me with your excellent healthy food choices! :) Pumpkin, you are a lucky baby.
ReplyDeleteYou look amazing! Love the picture updates, so fun!
(I know you aren't sharing names, but I am strongly hoping her name will start with a P. The whole Sweet P thing ;) Not that I made my kids' names match their fetus-name, but still, there's a high cuteness potential there!)
-Lisa