I also did tons of housework this week. We can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel! I'm feeling rushed because I'm moving slower with every passing week. Must get things done while I still can!
I decided to use a pregnancy survey this week instead of my usual train-of-thought babbling. I can't believe how quickly time is passing and I want to remember all of this!
How far along? 35 weeks pregnant today. 35 days left until my due date! (absolutely crazy!)
Weight gain: Uhhh it greatly depends on the time of day, but it's safe to say I've gained at least 26-28 pounds. Perfectly normal considering I'm supposed to gain 25-35 pounds based on my pre-pregnancy weight. My weight stalled out for a while there between 28-32 weeks, but has picked up rapidly in the last few weeks! The baby alone is gaining up to half a pound per week at this point.
It's funny because I'm bigger than ever, but I am finally comfortable with it. I love being pregnant right now! I feel like my belly is going to pop sometimes, but it's so fun to watch it grow. And to be totally vain, I feel like it's big enough to pull some of my back fat forward and smooth things out. It's also big enough that my legs are starting to look skinny in comparison! Hey, just being real.
Stretch marks? Shockingly none yet. I do have some from a growth spurt between 8th grade and high school, so I'm assuming more will pop up eventually. For now, though, slathering on the almond oil every night seems to help. If nothing else, my skin is super moisturized!
Sleep: I struggled on and off with early morning insomnia for a while there, but lately I've been sleeping like a rock between bathroom breaks! I very rarely wake up hungry like I did during the first trimester, but I'm definitely thirsty when I get up to go to the bathroom once or twice. Overall I think I'm so physically exhausted from the days I do work on the house that sleep thankfully isn't an issue right now! (Although I'd like to stop going to bed after 11pm. I'm sleeping well, just not long enough due to our schedules right now!)
Best moment of the week: Tuesday night, the baby was kicking directly outward and making all sorts of hilarious shapes in my stomach. I could tell it was a foot pressing out every time, which was awesome. But hands down the best moment was the bedside ultrasound that the Midwife did at my appointment Wednesday to confirm that baby was no longer breech! He'd been head down for months but then flipped last Thursday and really freaked me out. I spent the weekend doing all the things they tell you to do for breech babies: go swimming, do handstands, put ice on the baby's head, sit in an inverted posture for a while... something must've worked because early in the week I started feeling kicks to the side and top of my stomach again. I'm so thankful to know that the little movements I feel down low now are just his hands and arms, which aren't so little anymore! He was sucking his thumb on the ultrasound and his fingers are getting chubby! He's really folded up in there, but my fluid levels looked good and baby was opening his eyes and practicing breathing. I'm officially in love.
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| (doctor's office selfie-- so excited to have a belly!) |
I didn't even realize I'd been holding my breath until that day. I have been maintaining my distance emotionally. Why? Partly because I think with your first kid, it's hard to fathom just how drastically your life is about to change; partly because I'm so distracted by this stinkin' house; and partly out of fear that something will still go wrong. Late miscarriage and stillbirth still scare me. But after I hit 34 weeks, I noticed I started to believe this might actually just happen. He might be born healthy. It might just be real, and not too good to be true. I bought some baby clothes this week for the first time this pregnancy because I suddenly realized oh crap, this kid is actually real and he's going to need something to wear when he comes out. So it's been a fun mental transition and the ultrasound just made me even more excited to meet him in person!
Miss anything? Nah. I believe in everything in moderation (except the obvious things like cocaine), so I've been cautious but not ridiculous with food restrictions and all that. I miss working out more than 1-2 times a week, but that's more a product of my schedule right now than anything else. I'm by no means over pregnancy yet, and as excited as I am to meet him, I'm in no rush for him to come out. I'm still enjoying feeling him move all day long, and if anything I'm preemptively worrying about missing being pregnant!
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| (entryway selfie at my brother's house after Body Pump) |
Movement: I still don't feel it all day every day, thanks to an anterior placenta, but I certainly feel lots of movement. It was nice to know my intuition was right last week when he flipped himself into a complete breech position, and it's equally nice to know that his little butt is right back where it was... crammed beneath my right ribcage.
Cravings? It's been quite a while since I've had OMG pregnancy cravings. I really enjoyed leftover jam teff cookies last week, but I wouldn't call it a craving. Most of those seem to have been limited to the first trimester when not much sounded good. I think overall the cravings that have characterized this pregnancy have been Lulu's Thai food, sushi, and grapefruit. Strawberry jam, fresh pineapple, watermelon, and fresh berries would be next. All of these things always sound good!
Aversions? On the nights I'm nauseated, nothing sounds particularly good, but I don't have any true aversions to any one thing in particular.
Symptoms: Nausea and heartburn haven't been as bad since I got my massage last week, but they still pop up if I'm not careful if/when/how much I eat. Otherwise, in the last few weeks I've noticed skin tags (who knew that was a pregnancy symptom?), hair loss (my thyroid is fine, so my midwife things it's stress. Hair loss isn't supposed to come until postpartum!), and occasional waddling now that baby is head down again. Also, I have a numb/tingly spot on my stomach that comes and goes! It popped up unexpectedly over the weekend and it was a good reminder that things could always be worse. Overall I don't have many symptoms to complain about, but I'm aware that could change at any moment.
Signs of labor? Thankfully none! I do have Braxton-Hicks contractions all day long, but the painful contractions I had while we were packing and moving seem to be backing off for now.
Belly button in or out? It was a solid innie pre-pregnancy, but it's been out since about 15 weeks. Ridiculous! I think it's because I had an umbilical hernia when I was a kid and the muscle is just weaker there.
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| (taken in a spare bedroom at my brother's house... suburbia started to look reeeeeally good while we were there) |
Happy or moody? Last week might best be defined as panicky. This week, thanks to good baby news, house progress, and sunshine, I'm feeling pretty happy!
Looking forward to: Moving into our own house! The nomadic lifestyle is not for me.
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