Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Pregnancy 34 Weeks 5 Days

Baby is almost here!! She could come whenever she wants I expect but it is better for her to stay all of the way to the end. (The end is August 30.)
It is getting a bit more awkward. Sometimes it is hard to walk because her head is jammed into my pelvic bone. Sometimes 5 minutes after peeing, she starts to push her hands into my bladder and I have to pee again. Such a strange feeling. After our flight to our Babymoon in the south, in June, my ankles and feet have started swelling and no matter how long I try to keep them raised, they seem to stay swollen. The only shoes that fit now are the Birkenstocks with the straps loosened to the last holes. It is challenging to bend over and to close the door to the car once I've gotten in and to pull my feet up high enough to put my pants on. I can't reach my tennis shoes to tie them when I go to the Y without grunting. But, I have no back pain, no food aversions or cravings, no queasiness or nausea, not bad hemmorhoids, not bad indigestion, not bad constipation and, based on all the crap that could be bothering me, am pretty lucky.
I'm getting good exercise though. I go to the Y on Mondays for strength training, Wednesdays for Aqua Aerobics and Sundays for Prenatal Yoga. I do my perfect pregnancy workout video on Fridays. It is one tough video. My weight is pretty good, so far 27 pounds, which is within average as per my graph which allows 3 pounds the first trimester and an average of a pound a week thereafter. I'm only 2 pounds over my dashed line.
My boob is apparently looking better according to my OB. I read a very inspirational article about a woman who breastfed her 5 children, 2 of whom were a set of twins, with one working breast. It gave me lots of hope.
We hired a doula to help out with the birth. She will come when I call and help me to know when to go to the hospital as well as help me throughout the birthing process with pain relieving techniques and advice and calming ways. It has relieved so much of my fear of the birth and I am hoping to not use an epidural. My doctor is skeptical about all of this though, I think she things epidurals are great and why not use them. But from what I've read, it takes you from being an active participant in your labor to being a patient who has to have lots of stuff attached and is basically stuck in the bed lying down the rest of the time and I want to move about and feel things and help baby out with my positioning etc... Of course I am not in the midst of any birthing pains right now and may feel very differently when the time to make the decision really comes. But right now, I am hoping to not do the epidural and I know the research shows that the Doula helping out makes that much more likely to happen.
I'm staying pretty well informed, reading 4 pregnancy books and "The happiest baby on the block" as we prep the apartment for baby's arrival.
We have the changing table and the co sleeper and lots of Ikea storage stuff for everything I'm getting from my showers. Got the yoga ball to sit on when I get too restless on the chair with my feet up. Practicing my flylady techniques to keep the apartment clean and dust free and to get the cluttered areas cleaned up so that the nesting that's supposed to kick in soon shouldn't be too bad.
All is well!
Also, think I didn't mention in the 20 week stuff that we have a name picked out.
Emily Katherine Gilbert.
mKat for short.
Initials EKG.