27 Weeks. 6 Months. 2/3 Of the way through. 3 Months to go. However you want to look at it, the weeks are just flying by. Nevertheless, it does seem like a long way to go still before the baby arrives, though I know it will go quickly.
I can say at this point that this has been my best pregnancy to date. I have especially enjoyed these last few weeks immensely. I feel great, and I can honestly say I attribute that to staying healthy and active. If only I had been so diligent the first two times around!
That looming hip and pelvic pain that I was having has not increased, in fact it has improved greatly. I have figured out that a combination of staying active, daily stretching and exercise, and resting smart has meant virtually no discomfort. There are times where I feel a bit of pelvic pain if I have been sitting or standing for any length of time, so really the trick is to stay moving. I also make sure that any time I am sitting and relaxing, I'm on my exercise ball and not on the couch. It really is the best place to sit for optimal back and pelvic positioning, and I never get sore from sitting on my ball but if I spend time sitting on the couch or chair I'm sure to feel it when I get up again.
I am still doing all the things I always have done, with no sign of slowing down. I do wonder if one day the pregnancy will catch up with me and I won't be able to do as much, but I'll deal with that the day it comes. I remember with my last pregnancy it was around 7mos that I stopped doing my regular bellydancing, so we'll see how I feel at that point. But I expect I will push through much longer than that.
Not too sure how much weight I have actually gained but I know that this is the smallest I have been yet out of any of my pregnancies. In fact I have been getting a lot of comments about how great and tiny I look, which is music to my ears. With the boys, when people would ask how far along I was and I would say "6 months", it was usually followed by the comment, "REALLY, that's all?" With my first I easily looked 9 months pregnant at 7 months.
Yesterday I had my latest midwife appointment with Lynne-Marie, who I had met before I was pregnant but not yet for any of my prenatal appointments. She is fantastic! We chatted forever and she was really great to talk to about my hopes for a homebirth and the attitude that I had been met with from my husband. Her words and experience were really reassuring to me. Everything checked out fine and she said she has no concerns at all about my pregnancy. My blood pressure was perfect, in fact I don't think it's been high a day in my life. I'm measuring about 25 weeks which is a bit smaller but I'm happy with that! As far as she can tell the baby is head down though I know it's still early and that can change, but it's still reassuring! It was at 26 weeks that we found out our first baby was breech, and he never moved from that point. I'm hoping this baby has decided that is the best place to stay. The baby's heartbeat sounds great, between 140-150, which interestingly she said indicates that it might be a girl. I don't know if I believe any of that kind of stuff though!
I have declined the glucose screening test, given that I really do not have any risk factors. It's interesting because I didn't know it was optional, in the past it was always offered as a routine test. Lynne-Marie said we could always test at any time if any red flags came up, but I feel confident that gestational diabetes won't be a problem for me. It's funny knowing what I know now, how many different decisions we are making with this pregnancy than we did with the other two. Before I just opted for all the testing offered to me, but this time around I have more information and it has been the simplest pregnancy so far, with fewer scans, blood tests, and other tests in general. It's kind of nice to not have to go through all that.
I spoke with another midwife as well named Jane who just joined my team. I had met her previously as well at the parenting expo I attended in October and was happy to see she was on my team. She also had some very reassuring things to say about planning a homebirth and said if there was anything we needed they would help us with out decision.
Next week is supposed to be the homebirth information night that I booked us for, but I hadn't written down the date and now we can't make it which is a bit disappointing. But we can still gather information from the midwives and attend the next one in June. Lynne-Marie and I discussed the possibility of a homebirth and even a waterbirth, and she gave me a list of things I would need for both as well as a registration package for the hospital. I figure the best thing to do would be to register at the hospital and plan for the possibility of either a home or a hospital birth.
So I finally got up the courage to bring up homebirth with my husband again, and at least this time was not met by total negativity or hostility about the topic. He was more understanding but it's obvious that he is still far from comfortable with the idea. I think I have to accept that homebirth is never going to be something he is comfortable with, but hopefully when the time comes he will be able to trust my instincts as well as the midwife's to know where the best place to have this baby will be. It might very well be the hospital, but it might be home too. We may not know until the day arrives.
This baby beats me up on a regular basis. My first son was active in utero. My second son easily topped him. This one takes the cake by far. It actually turns my stomach and makes me feel ill occasionally with all the kicking and moving it does. I have said to my husband that I can't bring myself to believe that this baby is a sweet little girl, and that it must be another crazy little boy.
I have actually been experiencing a very tiny little bit of mild heartburn lately which is not something I have had in the past. I don't recall it at all with my first pregnancy, and with my last one I think I had it the odd time, again very mild and not enough for me to even know for sure. It's very similar this time in that I'm aware of it, I *think* that's what it is, but it is not bothering me at all. It's not like I need to take anything for it or lie a certain way to make it go away. But it does seem to be happening with more frequency than it had in the past.
I feel very ready to have another baby in the house, and there really isn't all that much we have to do to prepare. We have essentially all the gear we will need for this baby. Clothes we can get when we need them. I do need some cloth diapers and a few diapering items, but those can wait awhile as well. I can't think of anything specific we will be needing for when the baby comes.
We still need some names though as we have yet to agree on any single one, boy or girl. Agreeing on names has always been a challenge for us, it's a wonder our children get named at all!
So a pretty good update from me. All is well and I'm feeling great. No complaints, let's hope it stays that way for the next 3 months!
No comments:
Post a Comment