31 week checkup

Yesterday I had my 31 week checkup appointment.  This past week / week and a half, I've had some not so fun 3rd trimester symptoms develop.  I felt like such a Debbie Downer going into it all with the doctor ... "and this is wrong and that is wrong and then this is funny, and is that normal?!" ... but I'm guessing, especially with first time Mom's, most of that is normal.

My headaches are back, but I feel like they're due to the fact that I'm constantly thirsty.  I just can't get enough water.  I'm easily drinking about a gallon of water a day, and am still thirsty.  I've taken to just filling up a 2 qt pitcher with water and putting a straw in it while I'm working.  It's much easier than getting up all of the time to get more water.  I pee frequently enough without needing to go into the kitchen for a new cup of water all of the time!

My back, hips, pelvic muscles (umm...didn't know those even existed prior to the past few weeks), and tailbone all hurt, but all of that is pretty normal 3rd trimester stuff.  My right hip hurts bad enough that I can't lift up my left leg too high without being in a lot of pain.  I actually think that's from slightly over-doing it, but things don't hurt while I'm doing them...they just hurt afterwards.  All of that stuff is normal though...it's just my body reacting to all of the changes its going through.  The tailbone isn't necessarily normal, but that's been bothering me since the beginning, and it's not surprising that it's getting worse the further along I go.  I guess it's a "Kara normal".

I'm supposed to make sure that I feel Kalia moving 10 times in an hour every 6 hours.  Prior to last week, I hadn't really had to think at all about it because she was just a kicking/moving/punching machine.  This past week, she's really slowed down to the point where I'm actually timing and counting to make sure that she 'passes' her movement tests.  I read in my book though that she's developing REM sleep right now, so I'll notice her less active for longer stints of time.  Chris read in his book that the bigger she gets, the less room she has to move, so the less active she is.  I think I'm still a little bit too early for that though.

At my checkup yesterday, they were somewhat concerned that she hasn't been as active...they said it's normal for her to slow down for a few hours at a time every now and again, but the amount of decreased activity had them a little concerned.  So they hooked me up to the contraction monitor and the heartbeat monitor for 30 minutes.  All of that came out looking fine...her heart rate was between 120-160, which the doctor said was good.  I had one contraction...no biggie.  I kind of heaved a sigh of relief when they came in and looked at everything and said it all looked good.

And then he went through the normal things he does every 2 weeks and measured my belly to see how much my uterus has grown.  I've been either on the small side or normal at every measurement, and after he measured three times, he told me I was measuring large and that he wanted to do an ultra sound next week to check out everything to see what's going on with Kalia.  It could be nothing, it could be excess fluids, or it could mean she's growing too big too fast.  I have no idea what I'll do if it's anything.  I'm trying to stick with the mindset of not worrying until there's something to worry about.  You guys should do the same :-).

In more fun updates, Erin took our maternity pictures last weekend, so I'll have some decent pictures to upload for week 31 at some point!  I have to go back through and post pictures on some of the other weeks we've taken pictures.  I know, I'm slacking!

Even though we're nowhere near done with everything we want to get done before Kalia gets here, I'm still starting to get anxious and excited about her arrival.  I'm ready to see this little person I've been growing for what seems like forever now!!  T minus 8 weeks and 4 days!!!