Boring Week 27

Wow, the baby has been really active the last few days. I think he has decided he likes to chill in front rather than in the back where I can't feel it. I am not sure when he sleeps. He often wakes me up moving around and as far as I can tell he never really mellows out. I really hope me feeling sick doesn't affect him, but I am sure all of the sneezing, coughing, etc bothers him since it makes me stomach contract. Luckily I haven't had any more severe Braxton Hicks contractions, just a few little ones here and there. I am torn between really liking feeling him move and just wanting him to calm down for a few minutes. He is also really squirmy, and I am not a huge fan of that feeling in general, it is gross feeling, like he is slimy and slithery. I like it better if he just kicks or flips, even though it sort of hurts sometimes. I just hope I feel better soon so that I can pay more attention to him.

Baby's lungs are going through some major developments these days, which (combined with the opening of previously plugged nostrils) means he's now able to practice inhaling and exhaling. The lack of air in your womb means every "breath" is filled with amniotic fluid, but hey -- it's progress.
Your baby weighs about two pounds and is about 12 to 15 inches long, about the size of a small pot roast. If your baby were born now, he would have an excellent chance (85 percent) of surviving. He still isn't fully formed and would probably not be able to breath by himself. He would need to stay in an incubator to keep his body temperature regulated, and he would have a weak liver and immune system. (Fact: Babies have more taste buds at birth than they will have later in life. Newborns can sniff out and tell the difference between their mother's milk and someone else's.)

The weight of your baby is putting pressure on your back, which can cause shooting pains (sciatica) in your lower back and legs. Lifting, bending, and walking can make the pain worse. Warm baths, ice packs, and changing positions may help. The volume of your amniotic fluid is reduced by about half. With less cushioning blocking the view, you'll be able to see bony knees and elbows poking out of your stomach when the baby kicks and turns. As you grow, you may start to see stretch marks on your breasts and abdomen. You may also have a hard time bending over and tying your shoes. Your heart rate may have increased, causing you to feel flush and look winded with less exertion.

Trimesters

Trimesters in pregnancy are a giant scam. Or really bad math. Women are pregnant for an average of 40 weeks. That includes the two fake weeks at the beginning. Mathematically that is 13.3 weeks each, or 93.3 days each. It isn't like that though, at all. I totally understand this in the first trimester. Developmentally, the baby changes from an embryo to a fetus and major organs are formed. Medically this is significant. Women start to feel a little better, hormones stabilize, the chance of miscarriage significantly decreases and the baby can take more because risk to the brain and other organs is significantly decreased. So, I get the 12 week mark (even if you aren't even pregnant for two of those weeks). That leaves 28 weeks. Logicially, that should make the third and second trimesters 14weeks long. But it doesn't. Why? I have no idea. I have done a ton of research and there is nothing special that happens at 28 weeks that doesn't happen at 26. Nothing for mom or baby. In fact, there isn't even consensus on when the damn third trimester happens. Some things say I am already in the third trimester, but not my book or doctor. They say 28 weeks. Why do we say the third trimester starts at 28 weeks! This really frustrates me. It is just illogical. The third trimester should start at 26.6 weeks or at 26 weeks, but no, it doesn't. Lame. Oh well. My belly grows inches (literally) every day. It is getting huge. I had a really cute pic, but I accidentally deleted it. I took more. Here I am at almost 27 weeks, which is a completely uneventful week in pregnancy.

Possibly the Whiniest Post Ever

OMG I feel like shit. I cannot believe how horrible being sick is when you are pregnant. I had no idea. Yesterday I felt pretty bad starting around mid-morning. But I sucked it up and worked all day. By mid-afternoon I was thankful that I did not have kids at school because I don't think I would have made it. I went out for drinks with some co-workers from a previous job that I really wanted to see. Some of them I hadn't seen since Welby closed, so I was excited to see them and went even though I didn't feel well. On the ride home I started to feel really sick again. What is hilarious is that I just have a cold. I don't have flu or anything. I am not even that sick. I have a horrible stuffy nose, headache, my throat hurts and body soreness--more skin soreness, which is really common for me. In fact, my skin hurting has always been my complaint when I am sick. That is it. I don't even have a cough. If I breath really deep it hurts. Yet I am miserable. I may even be more miserable than when I had pneumonia, because when I had pneumonia the fever would make me delirious, I would choke down some pills, the fever would break and I would pass out for 4-6 hours, just to be awoken by the fever again. I literally just slept for three days during the worst of it. It was way more scary, and I totally felt like shit, but I was asleep.

Since I am pregnant I can't take anything. I get 325mg of Tylenol every 4-6 hours. That is nothing. So my headache, body aches and everything just remain. In addition to this loveliness, if I drink anything, including water, I get heartburn. Like all illness, it gets worse at night, so last night I was miserable trying to sleep. All of the pressure from blowing my nose was pushed into my ear causing a massive earache. Apparently that is normal too, but I have never had it. Advice online? Don't sleep on your side. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't sleep on my belly, or my back, and now not my side. So I tried to sleep in the recliner down stairs and keep my head propped up with pillows, but now my back hurts like hell. My ear is better though, so that is good, at least it isn't a bacterial infection. Mostly I am just so tired because laying down causes heartburn or backache, so I am just trying to stay up until tonight when I can hopefully sleep. I suppose I need to eat something for gigantore, all I have eaten today is a bagel and fruit smoothie (both of which I regretted immediately due to the heartburn).

However, the most fun of all of this is the sneezing fits. If I am sitting down and I sneeze I am fine, which is good since I can't really lay down. However, if I am laying down to standing up and my body is extended the sneezing fits cause Braxton-Hicks contractions. For real. I was worried about it, but I looked it up. Sneezing can even cause labor if you are really ready to have the baby anyway. Crazy. It is just the force. But regardless, feeling like shit and having contracts sucks. Ohhhh, I feel like shit. Oh well, at least it isn't stomach flu or influenza.

26

Holy crap, I only have 14 weeks left! Less than 100 days. Shit!! I am feeling better overall because Colorado is no longer in the middle of an arctic cold front that prevents me from being outside for more than 10 minutes unless I want frostbite. Literally. I guess it was actually less than two minutes for exposed skin the other day. Don't get me wrong, I love not having to work because it is too freaken cold to heat our ancient building and kids cannot wait for buses, but it also means you have to stay inside. I get really depressed without the sun, and vitamin D isn't really the answer. So this weeks high 50s and Colorado's plentiful sunlight makes me a much happier person.

I am definitely getting HUGE and that is hard. Growing so fast is hard on your body--your bones, muscles, ligaments--really everything, are just not prepared for it. My belly hurts all the time, and the round ligament pain is sort of ridiculous. I also eat all of the time and am gaining the amount of weight I am supposed to in a month EVERY WEEK. However, I only have 14 weeks left, so I can do anything for three months.In baby news, he is finally a new fruit and is the size of an eggplant.
Baby's soaking up your antibodies, getting her immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and she'll soon be practicing the blink...perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes. Your baby weighs about 1 1/2 pounds and has undergone a growth spurt in the past few weeks. From weeks twenty to twenty-eight, he almost doubles in height and now would be about a foot tall if he could stand. This week marks a major milestone in your baby's hearing and sight. Your baby's hearing system (cochlea and peripheral sensory end organs), which began fine development during week eighteen, is now completely formed, and over the next few weeks, he'll become increasingly sensitive to sound. In about a month, you'll feel him jump if he hears a sudden loud noise. Sound passes easily into your uterus, which helps her ears develop. His eyes are almost fully formed. Did you know that all babies have blue eyes in the womb, no matter what their genetic inheritance is? A baby's eyes don't get their final color until a few months after they are born. The air sacs of the lungs, called alveoli, will be developed by the end of this week and will begin to secrete a substance called surfactant that keeps the lung tissue from sticking together.

In mama news:
Don't panic if your uterus suddenly starts tightening and relaxing -- Braxton Hicks contractions often begin around this time. They're simply your body's way of practicing and preparing for labor. (If the contractions are regular or particularly painful, call your doc just to be sure it's not the real thing.) Sleeping is definitely getting uncomfortable. Try sleeping on your left side. Your baby has to battle with your backbone when you're lying on your back, and sleeping on your back will also position your uterus over a major artery, cutting off blood flow. Between now and the next three weeks, you may be tested for gestational diabetes with a glucose tolerance test. This test requires you to fast for twelve hours and then drink a glucose-rich liquid usually in the form of a syrupy orange-flavored drink. After an hour, a blood sample is taken. If you do have gestational diabetes, you'll be advised to adopt a low-carbohydrate diet. Gestational diabetes is a temporary condition, which goes away after the baby is born.

Peeing made difficult

Yeap, that is really what this post is about--this may be a post to avoid, but my blog is about adventures with procreation, and this definitely counts. Peeing has become an adventure. First of all, there is very little room in the bottom of my belly, which means the baby is constantly pressing against my bladder. In the middle of the night, when I need to roll over because my arm is asleep or whatever, the baby is also pulled by gravity right on top of my bladder, so I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, every time I roll over, seriously, every time, even if I remember and immediately roll back over. It is too late. Secondly, when the baby is awake and head up, he enjoys kicking it, which feels very similar to having a bladder infection, except it is intermittent. It is this insane feeling of "I need to go THIS INSTANT" but then it is gone, and you are left with an odd feeling of not really understanding your body. I think this serves the double purpose of making mom's realize what it is like when they try to potty train too early and a child really does need to go "THIS INSTANT," the other purpose is lost on me. Luckily, the baby likes to chill transverse in general, so this is less frequent than it could be. Finally, when I actually go pee, I can't. There is NO pressure. It is like all of the muscles forgot how to work. I pee in a very unsatisfying trickle. I cannot seem to make it work better, and I have to move around and push on my belly to even fully empty my bladder. So I pee for like 10 seconds at a time, rearrange, then do it again. I guess there is something in there that the baby can lay on. I should have paid more attention in anatomy. I have no idea how the baby can lay on so many things at once. So peeing is fun, and not peeing every 30 minutes is impossible.

Alien

I think the baby is trying to get out. I have been able to feel the baby move for a really long time, like 15 weeks or something. Mike has been able to feel him since 18 weeks or so. However, it has always felt cool, now it feels....I don't know, like he is trying to come out through my belly! I think he grew a lot, I gained some weight and was really tired, and that may have been due to a growth spurt, but this is crazy. I think he is going crazy in there. I think he loves to flip around, not up and down, but traverse over and over. And I think he uses his legs and arms to propel him, so I just feel and see all of these things move as he turns. And I feel him on both sides at the same time, but not the top and the bottom. So weird. He pushes SO hard. My belly is just this weird lumpy mass and instead of feeling light movements it really does feel like something trying to escape. It doesn't hurt or anything, but it is not a "sensation" anymore, it is clearly a living being moving around in there. SO WEIRD!

Week 25?

I have been slacking on the blog front. It is exhibition time at school, which on top of a lot of other shit means that I work 7:30-7:30 most days, have no time to do anything at work and am generally stressed and exhausted. Exhaustion leads to mild depression for me, which makes me more exhausted. If I can sleep it off I am fine, but if I can't it gets worse. It also triggers insomnia. I am sure you see the catch 22 here. So, after posting about sleeping all the time I faced a week that entailed not sleeping, stress, exhaustion, a lot of crying and mild breakdown (or three). At least Mike is on nights :) Anyway, Friday night I crashed hardcore, I don't think pregnant Donna can do insomnia the same way (plus Mike was actually gone--I have a miserable time sleeping alone if he is here, but if he is at work I am usually okay). Anyway, I slept all day, went shopping with my mom and had dinner with Mike, just to go to bed at 8:30 and sleep another 12 hours. I woke up in a much better mood and opted to not spend my only day off (I am counting yesterday as mental recovery and NOT as a day off) cleaning. So I went baby shopping...

It didn't go well. For one, I am out of clothes because I didn't do laundry yesterday. So I wore my only remaining pair of maternity pants in my closet. It is a sad day folks, I have grown out of a pair of maternity pants. That cannot be a good sign. Anyway, I was super uncomfortable. I went to get a pedicure figuring the massage chairs would be nice, and they were, except my pants hurts my belly. Then I went to Home Depot to get some room stuff and got very hungry. So I blew $100 on some Martha Stewart organizational bins and came home, where I spent the next hour in my underwear eating roasted potatoes on blood oranges (not together).

Finally I went grocery shopping, in a comfy, albeit dirty, pair of large maternity jeans. I got general groceries and stuff for dinner tonight, that I suppose we will call Valentine's Dinner. Plus I made two pans to go in the deep freeze for when the baby arrives.

For our last Valentine's Day as single people this is what we are having:
Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells in a Pesto Cream Sauce
Romaine Salad with red onions, cucumber and avocado
Extra thick brownies with balsamic macerated strawberries and whipped cream

As far as baby goes (or went about 6 days ago):

That oh-so-handy sense of equilibrium is kicking in, and baby's learning to distinguish right side up from upside down.

Your baby weighs 1 1/4 pounds and is a little more than 11 inches long, about the size of a small bag of sugar. In the last third of pregnancy, he'll double and triple his weight. Your dexterous baby can touch and hold her feet and make a fist. Your partner may be able to hear his heartbeat by pressing his ear against your belly. Your baby has a regular sleep schedule now and active and inactive periods. You may or may not be able to discern what those periods are. his nostrils, which have been plugged, open up.

And in mama news (although thankfully this hasn't actually happened yet):

Got a dark line running down your belly? That's your linea nigra, and it's totally normal. Pregnancy hormones might also be making your complexion a little spotty. Switching to oil-free, water-based, noncomedogenic makeup should help clear things up.

Welcome to the third trimester! You're really in the homestretch now. While reaching the third trimester feels like great progress, with it comes a return to fatigue, dizziness, and constant trips to the bathroom. To relieve back, hip and leg pain now, try to keep walking, swimming, practicing yoga or doing any other nonweight-bearing activity. This also can help you recover faster physically after childbirth. To make sure you'll enjoy your baby shower, schedule it between weeks 30 and 36; you'll still be spry enough to enjoy it.

And my favorite piece of advice this week:

[ tip ] Skip the elaborate nursery decorations and spend the savings on an extra-comfy rocking chair. At 3 a.m., baby won't know the difference...but your back and bottom sure will.

What's Cooking

I want to cook a lot of food that can be frozen and then baked/reheated after the baby comes. I am not going to want to cook or even have the conversation about what I want for dinner. I hate that conversation. So I think this is the best option. I figure 20-30 trays of food will make all the difference in the world. I don't even like takeout very much, so this is the best option. We can just grab a bunch of fresh produce for salads and stuff and be good for dinners and breakfasts for a long time. My only issue is freezer space. We actually have a regular, albeit small, refrigerator upstairs and a beer fridge downstairs plus a deep freezer. However, Mike and I are talking about buying a cow to cut back on cost, I am not sure how we will fit all of this in the fridges, especially since they are already full of deer. Hopefully Mike and clean out the freezer from anything too old (although I think it is in good shape after our European adventure this summer). Hopefully there is room, but there won't be if we store the other half cow for someone else. Anyway, for a later date I suppose. I figure if I find recipes now that I like and I start making 1-2 per weekend, I will be set. I have 16 weekends left and I am sure I won't bake for all of them, but having all of the recipes picked out will help a lot, so this is what I am thinking. I figure it will feed us for now too.

If anyone has other great, freezable meal ideas, let me know!

This weekend:
Blueberry Muffins
Spaghetti with meat sauce

To make soon:
Dinners:
Turkey Sausage Lasagna
Chicken Tikka Masala
Stuffed Peppers
Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells
Roasted Veggie Meatloaf
Skillet Lasagna
Cream Cheese Chicken
Chicken Enchiladas--my recipe
Cornbread Casserole--my recipe
Honey Lime Chicken
Chicken Spaghetti Bake
Baked Ziti
Chinese Meatballs
Chicken Paella
Chicken Paprikash (modified from this recipe)

Sides:
3 portions rice
1 portion Spanish rice
2 portions mashed potatoes
Frozen veggies
Egg Noodles

Breakfasts:
Pineapple Muffins
Banana Waffles
Smoothie packets (fruit, spinach, yogurt)

Advantages of Being Pregnant

For the most part, being pregnant isn't very much fun. It is cool, in theory at least, but it isn't very fun. However, I have found an amazing side effect: sleep. For the last 12 years or so I have suffered from clinical insomnia. Not occasional sleeplessness, but chronic insomnia. I have tried homeopathic remedies and prescription sleep aids. I have come to terms with this. I know how many nights I can go without sleeping, what truely not sleeping for a whole night feels like as opposed to light drowsing and what the side effects of medically induced, almost comatose sleep can cause. I know when I can get away with taking a homeopathic option, and when I really need to just suck it up and take the Ambien. Some people have insomnia because they can't stay asleep, and I guess Tylenol PM works great for that. I have the kind that prevents you from falling asleep in the first place. Sometimes I wake up and can't go back to sleep, but usually I just don't sleep. Apparently developing this type of insomnia is common in pregnancy. It is caused by an inability to stop thinking. Or stressing. Or whatever. I don't have the ability to "table things" for later conversations. I cannot sleep if I am mad, or worried, or distressed or even nervous. Hell, I used to not be able to sleep if there were dishes unwashed in the sink. OCD, I know. Since being pregnant causes a lot of worry and stress for many women, I was nervous about this. Sleep aids are NOT approved during pregnancy. However, since about week 14, I have had no problems sleeping. I have slept better than I have in my entire life. I can sleep with or without Mike. Don't get me wrong, I still have a hard time not worrying all the time, but it seems that my body doesn't give a shit about my mind anymore, and pure exhaustion just takes over. Yesterday I laid down on the couch at 7:30 and woke up around 10:30, only because my dog was whining at me. I actually don't worry too much about being pregnant (also very odd for me) but even if I did, I think it would just sleep. I feel so sorry for these women that can't sleep because not sleeping and growing a baby would be enough to make me cry, all the time. But for me, I can easily sleep for 12 hours as long as I don't need to eat in that time period. Pure bliss.

We had our 24 week appointment today. It went really well. I like our doctor a lot so that helps. He is really laid back and his general attitude is that growing a baby is natural and there are lots of variations, so just go with it. I asked about protein intake, and he essentially said if anything our baby is on the big size, so I probably shouldn't worry about him growing. I asked about some mild cramps, he said sometimes they get really bad, sometimes not, don't worry about it unless I have other symptoms. I asked about rapid weight gain, he told me I was normal and just catching up from before. I asked about being tired and gestational diabetics, he said I would take the test next week, I could do it early if I wanted, but really, being pregnant makes some people tired, that I should sleep more. I like this approach. I am such a control freak that having a laid back doctor makes everything so much easier (and less stressful since I could easily take thing wrong). Other than that, they weighed me, took my pulse, and measured my belly. He is measuring about a week ahead of schedule. No biggie. Next time I have my glucose screen. Yuck.

However, I did take pictures today anyway. So here I am at 24 weeks in my favorite gray sweater that makes me more pregnant. You can tell on the middle one because you can see the granny part of my maternity jeans. I am definitely showing now.

Rach, this is proof I love you.

V Day

Yesterday was viability day, the day that medical personal will do everything they can to save a baby upon early delivery. Although the chance of survival is still really low, it is nice to know that theoretically gigantore could survive without me. Though I would really prefer if he stayed in until at least mid-May. Normally I would take a photo of myself to commemorate this event, but it is 0 degrees here and I am not taking off my sweatpants until I have to go to work. I do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning though, so maybe I will get a belly photo in before then. I am definitely getting bigger very fast. I am starting to catch up and actually look like I may be 24 weeks pregnant. I need to slow down on this weight gain thing before I end up gaining too much.

What is up with baby?
Baby is still the size of a papaya. Baby's skin is becoming more opaque as the fat starts to pack on. And, thanks to the formation of small capillaries, his newly thick skin is taking on a fresh pink glow.Your baby weighs a little over a pound and is about 8 1/2 inches long. Your baby's skin becomes less translucent as pigment is deposited, and it looks wrinkly because her body is making her skin more quickly than it makes the fat to pad underneath it. Your baby's unique hand- and footprints are forming. You may feel jumps as she has bouts of hiccups. In fact, it may seem like the baby is in perpetual motion. Some babies now kick in response to sounds and touch from outside the womb. Encourage your partner to talk to the baby, and see if she kicks in response!

And the ever awesome list of great thing that happen to me:
Take a break from the computer if your fingers feel numb or tingly. It's probably carpal tunnel syndrome, often brought on by pregnancy. Stretch your hands frequently to loosen them up. For significant symptoms, try wrist braces or splints at nighttime. Your uterus is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches above your belly button, and your bump is definitely apparent and hard to disguise! You may be suffering from heartburn, muscle aches, sore feet, fatigue, and dizziness. Call your care provider if you feel dizzy often or if you faint; it may be a sign of anemia. Dizziness if often caused by low blood sugar or by standing up too fast. Rise slowly, and eat regularly.