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!!!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Birthing Class
Last Tuesday and this Tuesday Chris and I went to childbirth preparation class. It was two 2.5 hour sessions. Overall, the class was pretty helpful. The first days class was mainly geared towards Chris...the instructor talked about how to calm the Mommy-to-be, what pressure points feel good for relieving pain, and how to try to get us to focus on the husband / breathing, so we're not overwhelmed by what we're feeling / our bodies are going through.
She talked about avoiding 'tigers' or things that normally upset or are annoying to the wife. Things like bad breath, saying certain things, trying to be funny when the wife wants to strangle them, etc.. All very useful information and good points to make!
They don't do the lamaze breathing stuff anymore...we just all sat around the table and talked, but she did tell us how to breathe during a contraction, and that we should start and end with a cleansing breath. Then she told us that we needed to practice our breathing so we were prepared. She told us to go home, grab a handful of ice and let it sit in our hand for 30 seconds while staring at it and focusing on the ice. She said then grab a handful of ice with your other hand, practice your breathing, and make it so you don't notice the pain of holding the cold ice.
At this point, Chris just started laughing. He said we've got this one in the bag. The first time Chris sprained his ankle when we were playing volleyball, I told him he needed to stand in an ice water bucket for 15 minutes, then leave his ankle out for 15 minutes, and repeat 3 times. He made it about a minute before taking his foot out and saying it was too cold and he needed to gently get used to it. I told him to stop being such a baby and just do it. He said I didn't understand how cold it was, so to prove a point, I stood in the ice bucket, with both feet in, for 15 minutes while I watched TV. After all of the injuries / breaks / etc. I've gone through, blocking pain from ice isn't really that big of a deal to me anymore.
I still don't think I'll be prepared for the pains of labor, but it was humorous! On the way home from class we were talking / laughing about the ice thing, and I told Chris that it's funny that I'm scared of labor, which many many women go through...but I'm confident enough in my body to run a marathon, and even a half marathon at 8 weeks pregnant, which is a pretty small percentage of people that do that. It actually helped put things a little more in perspective for me though...if my mind is capable of going somewhere else while my body endures the pain of running 26.2 miles, my mind should be pretty strong with going somewhere else during contractions...at least until I get my epidural!
We ended the first weeks class by getting traumatized. They showed us a video from the 1980's of a fully naked woman giving birth. The video was shot from the vaginal angle. We're Engineers. I'm squeamish. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to see Kalia come out. I want for her to get from my belly to my chest, and the doctor deal with the goriness of whatever goes on inbetween. After the instructor turned off the video and turned the lights back on, Chris and I looked at each other with the exact same expression on our face. Our mouths were slightly opened and our eyes were huge. At least we're on the same page when it comes to the viewing!! We'll both be staying on the north end and the doctor and nurse can stay on the south end. There are a lot of things about growing a baby that is beautiful...the gory details of birthing isn't one of them! :-)
We also went to the hospital and met with the anesthesiologist to watch a video on getting an epidural and to fill out the paper work. Chris was semi-freaked out by that one too, but I really wasn't. I guess it's better that way than the other way around, huh?!
She talked about avoiding 'tigers' or things that normally upset or are annoying to the wife. Things like bad breath, saying certain things, trying to be funny when the wife wants to strangle them, etc.. All very useful information and good points to make!
They don't do the lamaze breathing stuff anymore...we just all sat around the table and talked, but she did tell us how to breathe during a contraction, and that we should start and end with a cleansing breath. Then she told us that we needed to practice our breathing so we were prepared. She told us to go home, grab a handful of ice and let it sit in our hand for 30 seconds while staring at it and focusing on the ice. She said then grab a handful of ice with your other hand, practice your breathing, and make it so you don't notice the pain of holding the cold ice.
At this point, Chris just started laughing. He said we've got this one in the bag. The first time Chris sprained his ankle when we were playing volleyball, I told him he needed to stand in an ice water bucket for 15 minutes, then leave his ankle out for 15 minutes, and repeat 3 times. He made it about a minute before taking his foot out and saying it was too cold and he needed to gently get used to it. I told him to stop being such a baby and just do it. He said I didn't understand how cold it was, so to prove a point, I stood in the ice bucket, with both feet in, for 15 minutes while I watched TV. After all of the injuries / breaks / etc. I've gone through, blocking pain from ice isn't really that big of a deal to me anymore.
I still don't think I'll be prepared for the pains of labor, but it was humorous! On the way home from class we were talking / laughing about the ice thing, and I told Chris that it's funny that I'm scared of labor, which many many women go through...but I'm confident enough in my body to run a marathon, and even a half marathon at 8 weeks pregnant, which is a pretty small percentage of people that do that. It actually helped put things a little more in perspective for me though...if my mind is capable of going somewhere else while my body endures the pain of running 26.2 miles, my mind should be pretty strong with going somewhere else during contractions...at least until I get my epidural!
We ended the first weeks class by getting traumatized. They showed us a video from the 1980's of a fully naked woman giving birth. The video was shot from the vaginal angle. We're Engineers. I'm squeamish. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to see Kalia come out. I want for her to get from my belly to my chest, and the doctor deal with the goriness of whatever goes on inbetween. After the instructor turned off the video and turned the lights back on, Chris and I looked at each other with the exact same expression on our face. Our mouths were slightly opened and our eyes were huge. At least we're on the same page when it comes to the viewing!! We'll both be staying on the north end and the doctor and nurse can stay on the south end. There are a lot of things about growing a baby that is beautiful...the gory details of birthing isn't one of them! :-)
We also went to the hospital and met with the anesthesiologist to watch a video on getting an epidural and to fill out the paper work. Chris was semi-freaked out by that one too, but I really wasn't. I guess it's better that way than the other way around, huh?!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
29 weeks
My sister Jennifer needed some 'cute pregnancy' pictures for our baby shower invites for our Melbourne baby shower. I set up my camera on the self timer and on my small ladder, and attempted to get a good picture. We were trying to mimic our 20 week picture that Steph took of us in Hawaii
Hmph...I don't like that Chris isn't keeping up his end of the deal in the baby growing process. I look like a tub-o-lub, and he looks like Mr. Happy Daddy. Sigh...
We decided to take a few to make sure, and our first born decided that he wanted to be in the 'family picture' too...
Chris thought that if he put Kodi in between his legs, we could at least get a picture that was decent of the two of us and crop Kodi out to send to Jenn.
What the heck? How did Kodi know to look at the camera?! It's on a ladder and self-timer. He seriously cracks me up!
Kodi left after the last one, so we attempted to take another one without him and he came running in...so he's not 'positioned' for the picture.
We cropped him out of the pic above...just big ol belly to little belly going on here!
This next one though, Chris did the whole hold him between his legs again thing...
And I accidentally knocked the camera sideways when I was running to get in the shot, so minus the angle, how funny is Kodi?! I have no idea why he looks at the camera!
In the picture above, I couldn't stop laughing. Kodi starting 'talking' to us while the picture was being taken.
Seriously...funniest dog in the whole wide world!
Lets ham it up again!!
Oh wait, the boys weren't ready!!
And finally, Kodi hamming it up one last time before we called it quits. Most photogenic dog ever, yes?! I swear, there were no treats, no nada behind the camera. We didn't point to the camera or anything...we just smiled at it...and Kodi followed suite!
Hopefully at least one of those turned out good enough to use for the invites! My 29 week pictures with my boys are so much more fun than my solo fatty pictures I've been taking! We might have family photo sessions from now on!
Hmph...I don't like that Chris isn't keeping up his end of the deal in the baby growing process. I look like a tub-o-lub, and he looks like Mr. Happy Daddy. Sigh...
We decided to take a few to make sure, and our first born decided that he wanted to be in the 'family picture' too...
Chris thought that if he put Kodi in between his legs, we could at least get a picture that was decent of the two of us and crop Kodi out to send to Jenn.
What the heck? How did Kodi know to look at the camera?! It's on a ladder and self-timer. He seriously cracks me up!
Kodi left after the last one, so we attempted to take another one without him and he came running in...so he's not 'positioned' for the picture.
We cropped him out of the pic above...just big ol belly to little belly going on here!
This next one though, Chris did the whole hold him between his legs again thing...
And I accidentally knocked the camera sideways when I was running to get in the shot, so minus the angle, how funny is Kodi?! I have no idea why he looks at the camera!
Seriously...funniest dog in the whole wide world!
Lets ham it up again!!
Oh wait, the boys weren't ready!!
Hopefully at least one of those turned out good enough to use for the invites! My 29 week pictures with my boys are so much more fun than my solo fatty pictures I've been taking! We might have family photo sessions from now on!
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