Losing Weight?

We had our appointment with our homebirth midwife yesterday. Last week at Kaiser, I weighted 145 lbs. This week I weigh 144.5 lbs. Not a lot of weight loss, and the weight was measured on different scales, but if I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week at this point, I should be at 146. Also, when she measured me, I was measuring a centimeter behind - 31 cm instead of 32 cm.

She didn't seem too concerned, although she pointed it out. She said sometimes, once they descend into the pelvic bone, they will measure shorter just because it's harder to get an accurate measurement.

I had some glucose in my urine again, but my blood pressure was 108/68. Still no major concerns.

We talked about water birth, and I'm officially convinced to purchase the birthing pool. Even if I decide not to use it at the time, I'll have it to use as a kiddie pool when Baby Simon is old enough, and at least I'll have the option. It isn't very expensive anyway.

We set our home visit appointment for August 4th at 4pm. Everyone who is planning on being at the birth should try to attend. I know this won't be completely possible for those who are from out of town that may come, but it is an opportunity for Debi to meet everyone and for everyone to meet her. Also, if anyone has any questions or concerns about the homebirth situation, she is welcome to answer anything.

So Uncomfortable!

It seems like all I do these days is complain, but I am just so uncomfortable. My little body can't take much more of this. I'm 32 weeks along today, so I still have 8 weeks left.

For the past two nights I have woken up every two hours. My body is super stiff and my back hurts like crazy. I roll over and change positions and try to go back to sleep. Going back to sleep usually isn't too hard, but then I wake up again after about two more hours stiff and hurting again.

Once I get up and move, the stiffness goes away, but today my backache never left me. So I'm sitting at work with a sore back wondering if I will ever be the same again.

All I want to do is sleep. I know it's just going to get worse when the baby gets here. Can't I have a break before he comes?

We finished painting the nursery walls on Saturday evening. After inspecting the dry paint last night, we were satisfied with the job and took the tape off the walls. Most of the walls were fine, but in a few spots, the paint started coming off with the tape. ARGH!

The trim looks pretty bad. The previous owners did a horrible job of taping when they painted that ugly brownish color, so a lot of the trim has that brownish color on part of it. At some point, maybe during maternity leave, I will have to tackle that. This time around, I am going to go one section at a time and take my time doing it.

Next Monday the carpet cleaners come to clean and sanitize the carpets. Then we'll set up the nursery.

Spotting again?

Last night was our last night of Bradley classes. It's been ten weeks of two-hour Friday night classes. We learned everything from the anatomy of a pregnant woman to how to care for a newborn. It was quite informative.

There were four couples in our class, and after class we all went out to eat at a little Mexican place not too far from the class site. Everyone had their disgusting looking Mexican dishes, and I had a side of french fries. We had eaten dinner before class as we usually do anyway, so I really wasn't that hungry.

On the way home, I had to pee really bad. I had finished my 32 oz jug of water at the restaurant and it hit me. The baby was moving around like crazy, kicking me in any organ he could reach, including my bladder. When we got home, after I relieved myself, I had blood on the toilet paper. Not again?!?

It has been awhile now since I have spotted. I think the last time I spotted was in the second trimester. Now that it's the third trimester, and we're close to the end, I just don't want to have any complications that would cause me to have a hospital birth.

It wasn't a lot of blood. Not enough to fill a pad or anything. It was bright red. I put a panty liner on to see how much spotting I was having. Over the night, there was definitely more, but now this morning I can't see it on my toilet paper anymore. I'm taking this as a good sign. But I decided not to run this morning due to the spotting. :( I'll be monitoring it the rest of the day.

Kaiser Appointment

Last Saturday, while doing our butterfly exercises before bed, I had a bunch of creamy discharge. I didn't have any other problems, and there was no spotting that went with it, so I decided to wait until my Tuesday appointment to ask about it.

We saw the Kaiser midwife yesterday for our bi-weekly appointment. Everything is going well. Thankfully, she didn't even ask about the GD test, so I didn't have to decline it.

The baby is head down. We told her that we suspected that he might be breech because of all the movement down low. She felt around a little, then "cheated" and used the ultrasound machine. The baby's head is definitely down, so we're back to the optimal fetal positioning we need to deliver. There's still time for him to move around though.

Rob is convinced that all the different things that we did over the past week was what turned him. I played music with my headphones near my pelvis. I put an ice cream carton and bag of frozen peas on the top of my stomach. I did some pelvic lifts. I don't know exactly what did it, but I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about it at this point.

I did have some traces of sugar in my urine, which is a symptom of gestational diabetes, but the midwife said there wasn't much, and it could have been because I had recently eaten. My blood pressure was 112/74, so she said she wasn't worried.

I asked about the discharge. She did a vaginal exam and took a sample. After testing it, she said that I have bacterial vaginosis. She explained that it was an imbalance in the good and bad bacteria that normally lives in the vagina. She said it's very common in pregnancy, because of the hormones. It isn't going to hurt the baby at all. She gave us the option of taking antibiotics or just waiting it out and eating yogurt every day. We chose the yogurt option. Even if the antibiotics have been proven to be safe for the baby, I'm not taking anything if I can help it.

Lack of Motivation

I'm having one of those days where I just can't seem to get motivated to do anything. I'm sitting at work with no meetings and nothing really going on. I have an hour and a half left before I feel I can leave and have my 40 hrs in this week.

That numb spot I had earlier is not feeling well right now. The skin is still numb, but underneath is a horrible stretching feeling. The baby is pushing on my ribs and it is very uncomfortable. My ribs are so tender, they feel like they are bruised. I still have two more months left.

When I have to pee, the pee just seems to trickle out so slowly. I don't know if it is because the baby is putting pressure on my pee tube (what is that called)? Maybe it's because of the Kegal exercises I'm doing twice daily now? Sometimes the pee comes out so slowly that I can't hear it in the toilet and don't even know if it is still coming out or if I'm finished peeing. I still have two more months left.

I've gained back my exhaustion that I felt during the first trimester. I feel like I could just close my eyes and fall asleep at any time. This is especially alerting when I'm driving. I stop at a red light and close my eyes and just want to fall asleep. I think this comes partially from waking up so much during the night to pee, or having some nights were I just can't fall asleep. I still have two more months left.

I am hearing more and more about friends who have already had their babies. I know the exhaustion probably only gets worse after you have the baby, but at least you don't have some creature kicking or head-butting you in the ribs.

I remember the time where I was excited to feel the baby kick. Now I just wish he would stop. Not for real, because I don't want him dead. I put seven months into this already. But just stop hurting me and bothering me so much! Is that too much to ask? I still have two more months left.

Why can't pregnancy be seven months? Why can't babies be fully developed at 4 lbs? If this were the case, I bet we would be overpopulated by now, because it would be so much easier.

I still have two more months left. :(

Midwife Appointment

We had our second homebirth midwife appointment yesterday. It was much shorter than the last one, but she still spent a good amount of time with us answering questions and getting to know each other.

I am measuring 30 inches, which coincides with the number of weeks I am, so that's good. The baby's heartbeat was around 150. My blood pressure was up a little compared to last time, but still in the normal range. I gained two pounds since last week.

She said that she was not concerned about me having Gestational Diabetes. I will officially decline the test from Kaiser at my next appointment.

Unfortunately the baby has turned and is currently in an anterior breech position. She didn't seem concerned about that, since we still have 10 weeks to go and there's "still plenty of room in there." She said she would start getting concerned if he was still breech at 39 weeks. She told us of some things we could try to get the baby to turn - putting a bag of frozen peas right below my ribs (the baby will try to get away from the cold), putting headphones down near my pelvis (the baby will go toward the music), etc.

Last week the Kaiser midwife said that the baby would probably turn one or two times between last week and labor, so I'm not really worried at this point either. There is still a lot of time left.

In other news, I am about to grow out of my first maternity shirt. I'm feeling very cramped in there and my ribs are being pushed on. I still have that numb spot right below my ribs that no one can tell me the reason for.

It is getting harder and harder to bend over. I can't see my feet when I look straight down. I am going to attempt to paint my toenails tonight, but I don't know if I'll be able to reach them anymore :(

Chain of Irony

I had the best commute this morning. It was a cruise control ride (9 miles over the speed limit) all the way down Holcomb Bridge (which is 2/3 of my commute). Traffic was light. I hit almost all green lights. And I got the very first parking space when I got to work.

Then I opened my hatch to get my computer out...and it wasn't there. I hadn't put it back in my car after using it to work from home on Friday.

So, I got back in my car and drove all the way back home to get it. On the way back, as I was stopped at a yield sign waiting for a Yukon to pass by before proceeding, a kid hits me from behind.

If I hadn't forgotten my computer and had to go home, I never would have gotten rear-ended. If I had left a few minutes later or earlier, I never would have gotten hit.

No one was hurt. It was just a little fender bender. The damage is minimal, because, let's face it...I was stopped, and he couldn't have been going more than maybe 5 miles an hour or so. But it's enough that I'll probably have to get a new bumper. That means dealing with insurance agents and time without my car.

Luckily, he didn't hit me hard enough to knock me out into the road where the Yukon would have hit me. That would have been disaster!

Apparently, this is the second time this kid has hit someone at a yield sign. Hmm...maybe he needs to look forward to make sure the person in front of him goes before looking to the left to see if there is anyone coming so he can go. And how he thought he could beat that Yukon is beyond me...so maybe I actually stopped him from having a much worse accident. Who knows.

He was pretty young, probably a high schooler. And this was his first day at his job, probably a summer job.

Hopefully his insurance company will pay for the damages, and it will all be a quick, easy experience.

It truly is a Monday.

The great GD debate

I had my appointment with Kaiser on Tuesday. According to the midwife at my last appointment, I was supposed to have glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes (GD) during this appointment.

The appointment was scheduled for 3:30, and the waiting room was busier than I've ever seen it before. We didn't get in until after 4. When the midwife came in and looked at my record, she asked if I already drank the stuff for the test. I told her no and she said that they should have done that, but they were so backed up today that they must have forgot.

I started asking questions about risks and change in care if I tested positive. She said that the main risk of having GD was the potential for having a big baby (over 10lbs is considered big). If I have a big baby, it would reduce the chance of a successful vaginal birth.

She said the change in care would consist of watching my diet (cutting out bad carbs), and testing myself with a glucometer four times a day (i.e. pricking my finger). I am more than willing to change my diet, but I am not going to prick my finger four times a day to check my glucose, even if I did test positive.

She said the test was highly recommended and that she has seen people with GD who had no symptoms. She said I could think about it and research it more and then make a decision in two weeks when I come back.

I don't mind drinking the stuff (although I've heard it tastes gross), but I am not so keen on getting more blood drawn.

I was debating even taking this test because of the needle. I am not high risk for GD. There's no family history that I know of (which is the highest risk factor), I eat fairly healthy (although I do enjoy my share of sweets every now and then - particularly ice cream), exercise on a regular basis, and have a BMI lower than 25 even with all the weight I've gained during this pregnancy. I don't really see a reason to have the test.

I have an appointment with the homebirth midwife next Tuesday. I'm going to ask her if she thinks it is necessary. If she is comfortable with a homebirth not knowing if I have GD and the baby might be big, then I'm comfortable not getting stuck with needles. If she thinks it is in my best interest (and her best interest) to get the test, I'll do the finger prick test with her after fasting for 12 hours instead of the full-blown needle test with Kaiser.