I'm halfway through this pregnancy. Which means 20wks down and 20wks to go. It's hard to be patient sometimes. I really want to enjoy every minute of this last pregnancy because I know I'll never do it again, but at the same time I already feel like I'm tired of being pregnant. It seems like with every subsequent pregnancy my body has just given up a little bit more, and some days I feel like I'm much further along than just 20wks, which makes me scared for how I am going to feel at 25...30....35wks!
Still can't really complain though. Well, I can, but I shouldn't. I feel good, am eating well, sleeping fairly well, and managing to stay active.
Not sure how much weight I've gained at this point though, maybe around 15lbs. I'll check it out tomorrow at my midwife appointment. I feel huge sometimes, but actually when I look at pictures from my last pregnancies at this same point I look about the same, so I don't think I'm bigger than I should be for 20wks along.
We had our big anatomy scan last Thursday and it went really well. The ultrasound tech was really nice, but the scan took forever, or at least that's how long it felt as I lay on the table needing to pee so badly. It's really cruel making a pregnant woman drink so much water and then not letting her pee. I don't like scans simply for that reason. But everything looked good as far as we could tell, of course she couldn't actually tell us anything and we'll have to wait to hear if anything looks amiss from the pictures. We saw two arms and two legs, and it looked like baby had all 10 fingers and toes. I was surprised that I wasn't even tempted to find out about the sex! It's too late now, we really have to a wait until baby arrives.
I'm feeling tons of movement and have been for many weeks already, since about 14wks. I have always felt movement from 14wks on with all my pregnancies, which I know is early. Now I am feeling full out kicks and can even feel them with my hand on the outside. All of my babies have been super active in utero, and this one is no exception!
One thing I can complain about though is I am experiencing a lot of discomfort in my hips already. I have felt it before in my other pregnancies, but it occurs earlier and earlier since my body is more relaxed from having gone through this before. It's just given up! So while I stay active and I feel great when I am exercising, by midday and the evening I'm often in a bit of pain. It's affecting my legs which get tired and sore very easily. I have been seeing my chiropractor and a massage therapist which really helps, but I am pretty much always aware of the discomfort all day long, every day. It's only going to get worse I imagine! One thing that really helps is sitting on my exercise ball instead of on a chair or couch, so I try to do that every evening as well as stretching.
I'm coming to terms with the fact that this will be my last pregnancy and feeling pretty good with that decision. My hubby has made it clear that he is not interested in more children after this, and while I really did agree I also found it hard to shake the feeling of not going through it again. It was hard to close the door on pregnancy and babies for good. But as time goes by, I am actually looking forward to being done with this stage. I have always loved being pregnant so much, and so I'm sure I will always miss it, but I am very ready to move on and focus on me, and get my body back! There are things that interest me that I haven't been able to fully pursue because I've either been pregnant or breastfeeding or taking care of small children. So I look forward to the days when I will get to do more stuff for me again.
On a related pregnancy topic, I finally got my copy of More Business of Being Born! I have watched two of the four dvds so far, the one in which they visit the Farm Midwifery Centre in Tennessee and speak with Ina May Gaskin and the other midwives there, and the one about VBAC. They were interesting for sure. I look forward to watching the other two dvds as well, hopefully sometime this week.
Will try to post pics of my last ultrasound if I get around to scanning it onto the computer, and will write more after my next midwife appointment as well.
