Every single time, without fail, that I sit down to blog, I have to get up and down multiple times to do things. I have to plug in the laptop, the wi-fi needs plugged in, Tru needs something… It’s ridiculous. I am just ready to sit down and stay down until this baby gets here.
I don’t want to come off as whiny or complaining. I do realize how blessed I am and that this discomfort is something that I personally longed to experience and I also realize there are still people reading my blog who would give anything to be experiencing this end of pregnancy discomfort right now. So please don’t take it wrong or think me ungrateful when I say that I am SO uncomfortable. I cannot find a way to sit, lay or stand that does not cause one or all of the following – inability to breathe, my legs fall asleep (this is actually when I am standing especially bending forward so it’s kind of scary), I have the urge to pee so badly I am crossing my legs, my pelvis feels like it’s splitting in half and I have a hard time walking, getting up and rolling over because of that combined with the pain in my inner thigh that has been going on over 2 months now. It’s pretty intense!
I probably shouldn’t even blog today because I am in a bad mood. It snowed again this morning and I wasn’t able to go to my once a week job. As much as I was dreading getting Truett and myself out in the cold, I do need the money and considering that our pipes have been frozen for 4 days now, I would love to be somewhere with running water where I don’t have to keep running back and forth with milk jugs full of water to flush the toilet. It gets old quickly. I am also tired of washing dishes with water heated on the stove. Sponge baths also suck so I have been making a point to get a shower at either of our parent’s houses at least every other day between sponge baths. And then I feel terrible that I am complaining because, we do have water! It’s not easy to get since we have to go beg, borrow and steal it from our parent’s (actually they don’t mind) and we have to haul it in the house etc, but we are fortunate because so many people in the world have NO water. Literally, none. And that is heartbreaking.
I did have a check up yesterday and it went very well. I saw one of my not favorite Drs but we actually had quite a good visit! It was just the basic stuff. She put in the order to switch me from Macrodantin (Nitrofurantoin) to Keflex, and from Lovenox to Heparin (starting next week) and ordered Levi’s growth ultrasound for next week and my GBS (group b strep) test. Now, here is another example of how different Drs have different ways of doing things and opinions vary greatly even in a group practice. At my check up 2 weeks ago, I asked the Dr I saw then if we were going to switch to Keflex since I knew I did with Tru at 32 weeks. She said no, she didn’t want me to switch. She was happy with me staying on Macrodantin through to delivery (and I assume breastfeeding too because I am always on a suppression dose of something). I was uncomfortable with that decision and decided to ask the Dr I saw yesterday because:
FDA pregnancy category: B Nitrofurantoin should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed; use of nitrofurantoin is contraindicated at term (38 to 42 weeks gestation), during labor and delivery, and when onset of labor is imminent. Comments: Contraindicated because of possibility of hemolytic anemia due to immature erythrocyte enzyme systems (glutathione instability) …..Nitrofurantoin is excreted into human milk. Nitrofurantoin is considered compatible with breast-feeding by the American Academy of Pediatrics, although there is a theoretical risk of hemolytic anemia in neonates and G-6-PD-deficient infants. The manufacturer recommends that due to the potential for serious adverse effects in infants less than one month old, a decision should be made to discontinue nursing or discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother. – Taken from http://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/nitrofurantoin.html
So as you can see, the risk is minimal but I don’t want to take that particular risk. Better safe than sorry, you know.
Sorry to have just bored you with all of that. You really didn’t need to know, I just wonder why opinions vary so much and why it’s so hard to get consistent information.
How far along? 34 weeks 4 days – in other words 8 and a half months! 🙂
How big is the baby? As I mentioned, growth ultrasound next week Lord willing. But I feel like he is already as big as Tru was when he was born. There’s a lot of baby in there!
Total weight gain/loss? About 29-30 pounds.
Sleep? I can’t really get comfortable. Levi doesn’t like me to sleep on my left side. Oftentimes he will push out on both sides very hard until I roll to my right. The aching in the pelvis and the pain in my thighs when I roll over is pretty intense at times.
Best moment this week? DH took the day off work and we took my brother clothes shopping after we all went to my NST and AFI appointment. (The U/S tech said my AFI was 18.1 – last week it was 11.2 and the week before, it was 12. I know that she measured the area that both previous techs said baby’s umbilical cord is. The same thing happened several times with Tru. They do this every day! How do they mess up and measure the cord area? I didn’t say anything. We will just wait and see what it is next time. It’s no big deal because baby looked great on the NST. She also showed us his butt cheeks and let me just tell you, they are adorable!!) 🙂 We went out to eat at a buffet – not the best place for a person who gets full after 1 plate of food, but it was delicious!
Symptoms? You can read all my perfectly normal end of pregnancy complaints above. I might also add that I had consistent BH contractions the other evening/night when DH was unable to get home from work and had to stay with his cousin. I didn’t freak out about it, but I sure was thinking, this would happen to me. The Dr said she is happy that I had so many contractions because she hopes that means my body is starting to get things ready so we can have this baby naturally. She said if we get to 39 weeks and no cervical changes, we will have the c-section talk, but if I have started to dilate and they can break my water and start pitocin, they will. But we both are hoping that I will go into labor naturally before then. We also talked about me breast pumping once I hit 37 weeks. Nothing extreme. Maybe once a day. Not before 37 weeks though.
Food cravings? Sweets and it is not a good thing. I have been eating protein bars instead whenever I can because I’m sure that’s what my body really needs. Not reese’s cups. I also want Taco Bell. We could just eat Taco Bell soft tacos from now until forever. That is fine with me. 🙂
Gender? Baby Boy. 🙂
What I’m looking forward to? Kind of looking forward to labor if it happens naturally. I get a little rush when I think about how I would feel if I ever went into labor. I’ve never experienced that before so it would definitely be interesting. Ask me again how I feel about that after a few hours of REAL contractions. 😉
Milestones? Every step I take feels like a mile dragging a hundred pounds of stones.
Bump? I don’t think I took a picture. Maybe I did, I don’t know. But I’m NOT getting up to go look. You’re welcome actually.
Dear God, forgive me for my bad attitude and complaining about the weather and the cold. I thank You for our warm house and for all of our blessings. Thank You for the little boys You have blessed me with. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Yikes girl! I am so sorry! I can’t imagine having the pipes frozen for that long! Praying for ya!
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Thank you. It isn’t fun but last year we had no water or heat except for electric heaters in the living room. We were stuck in one room for over a week. So I’m counting myself blessed this year for sure!
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It is super cold here right now and even though all of our pipes are in the basement I’m always afraid they’re going to freeze! Hugs! How very frustrating for you, especially right now.
Do you mind enlightening me on the breast pump use at 37 weeks? Are you still breastfeeding Tru or is this to try to induce labor? Any help to get this baby moving out on time would be great!
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Yes it is super annoying! Primarily because my nesting urge is really really wanting to wash baby clothes and pack my hospital bag! Need water!!
So the breast pumping… I read that if you start pumping at the end of pregnancy, you can store what few drops of colostrum you get in sterile syringes in the freezer and feed that to baby while waiting for milk to come in. I really feel like the few drops that come out would be hardly enough to fill a syringe but what do I know!? The added benefit is the pumping can bring on contractions! So obviously, the Dr didn’t want me doing that before 37 weeks but she was fine with it after that. Tru is fully weaned at this point but it makes me wonder how women are able to breast feed to full term. Maybe the body builds up a tolerance?
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That’s what I was thinking! I know until this past weekend I was kind of frantic about getting everything washed and ready. Now that it is done, I’m very much relaxed, but you can ask my husband. There was no just leaving it and washing later.
I thought maybe it was all about the nipple stimulation to help the uterus get in shape and maybe jump start labor. I never got more than a drop of colostrum when I was pregnant/postpartum with Eva. I know some women start getting colostrum in like the beginning of the third trimester, though, so I was just curious. I don’t know how one would breastfeed all that time either, but I would bet that it is something the body is just used to if one were to do it consistently. I would really like to meet this ‘one’ because I bet she has a uterus/boobs of steel! Ha!
You might ask about raspberry leaf tea. I’m not recommending anything because I don’t know enough about it, but I read about a couple of studies that were performed in Australia on raspberry leaf tea. The tea is supposed to help the uterus tone up for labor, which helps labor begin naturally and end within a reasonable amount of time. The catch is you are supposed to drink like 4 cups a day. But, it might be something to ask about.
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Our water thawed yesterday and I have 2 loads of baby laundry in progress right now. YAY! 🙂
I definitely am hopeful that the pumping might bring on labor once I get to 37 weeks. 😉 I really can’t imagine nursing all through pregnancy or tandem feeding… I know it can be done but not by me. 😉
I actually just googled the raspberry leaf tea the other day and am interested in trying it out if my dr is ok with it. My mom had home births with midwives and they swore by it. I do remember her drinking that although I don’t know if she was getting 4 cups a day down! That’s a lot. I wonder if it would be good iced? I’m not such a fan of hot tea….
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Yay! I’m sure that is such a relief!
My hat is off to the mother that can/does. I can’t imagine either.
I keep forgetting you’re the one I talked to that has seen a home birth and such. I have been drinking the raspberry leaf tea for a week now. I’m hoping it helps. It doesn’t taste great, but I don’t add any sweetener of any kind because of the gestational diabetes. I’m sure it would be good iced with some sugar. Or warm with honey.
Do you know of anything else along the natural tea line that may help with labor? Shortening or inducing or rather bringing it on on time?
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I don’t know of any other teas, but have you heard of evening primrose oil? I can’t use it because of the slight anti-coagulant effect it has coupled with the blood thinner I am already on. But you might ask your dr about that. It’s supposed to help thin the cervix.
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I have heard of it but I wasn’t sure about it. Thanks! I will ask her about it.
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That’s so horrible about the frozen pipes! At our condo, we had some recurring issues with the main water pipes so they’d have to shut off the water to the whole complex. We rarely had warning and it was sooo frustrating to have water one minute and not the next!
I hear you on the pregnancy complaints. It’s easy to forget but if I sit and think about it, as much as I loved being pregnant, it really was uncomfortable and tiring pretty much the whole time. Something always hurt!
Oh and one more thing, if you get pitocin, don’t feel bad if you get an epidural because of the pain. I thought I had a pretty high pain tolerance but those pitocin contractions would make He-man cry!
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I’ve heard really awful things about the pitocin contractions. I don’t know if I am even brave enough to attempt those without pain relief! That’s definitely one of those circumstances that I wouldn’t be so interested in putting on my brave face. 😉
Our water came on yesterday after a full week of being frozen. DH spent several hours under the house yesterday trying to figure out if there were any frozen pipes under there or if they were all frozen underground. I am so hoping they don’t freeze again this week as the temps are supposed to drop again tonight.
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I second Random Squeaks on the epidural with pitocin! I don’t know what regular contractions feel like, but pitocin made me feel like my uterus was being ripped apart. So sorry you are miserable. Third trimester is hard!!!
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Thank you for the support. I don’t think very many women would be able to endure pitocin with no pain relief. It just isn’t natural. I sure wouldn’t be interested in putting on my brave face for that. I have nothing to prove….
I am getting miserable but everyone says you have to get miserable before baby will come. 😉 It’s all worth it though and I know I will barely remember this part once baby is here. 🙂
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