God forgive me, but I am completely DONE being pregnant already!!
At 35 weeks, I am so uncomfortable and sleep-deprived.... I don't remember being this bad off this soon with Evie!! Even though going back and reading this blog will tell me otherwise...
I made a little sticky note 5 weeks ago at Week 30 that said, "This is when the misery began," so I could be sure and document it in my blog. I'm a firm believer in "this too shall pass" but honestly, things have not really eased up on me in the last 5 weeks and I could not be more ready to have this baby!!
I think when we last left off, I'd mentioned that Conan returned from New Hampshire after being gone from us for two weeks. We were so glad to have him home! And then literally the day after he came home, Ev started vomiting and had a stomach bug.... which Mommy caught, and let me tell you, a stomach bug at 32 weeks pregnant is no bueno. My entire body locked up on me from the heaving. I guess because typically your abdomen takes the impact of vomiting (and obviously it can't when you're hugely pregnant), my back took all of the impact instead, and I literally could not move or lay still without crying from the shooting pain in my back, shoulders and neck. I was either constantly laying on the heating pad, or Conan was massaging the mess out of my back for an entire day. While the bug only lasted 48 hours, it was brutal.
Following the episode with the stomach bug at 32 weeks, I started having acid reflux and heartburn. I don't know if the vomiting instigating it or what, but it has sticked with me. I've resorted to Tums and regulating my diet a little better, cutting greasy foods/chocolate/carbonated drinks out as much as I can (I don't eat a lot of greasy foods as it is, but I did love my Diet Coke a day, my Dasani carbonated sparkling waters and of course... chocolate!) Don't get me wrong, I still indulge here and there, but I've really had to cut back to manage the nasty heartburn. There's nothing worse than having that nasty feeling in your throat like you're going to throw up your dinner. Eck.
Along with the heartburn, I began to have awful restless legs. Every night, my legs will jerk or I'll feel the need to kick them and move them for hours upon hours until I can fall asleep. Usually this is around 2 or 3 a.m. :( I've tried stretching before bed, which worked at first.... tried Conan giving me a leg massage (which he is NOT inclined to do every night, but who can blame him?).....and per Dr. Marino's recommendation, I tried a calcium/magnesium/zinc supplement. Still, I have horrible restless legs.
My mom had recommended Hyland's homeopathic tablets for restful legs, and those worked like a dream for a few weeks, but then when I asked Dr. Marino if they were safe, he said there was no research to support their safety.... so I should nix them if I was smart. I could've burst into tears!
So here I am at Week 35 not having slept more than 3 hours a night in probably 3 weeks now? It's not just the restless legs, it's also the overwhelming thirst in the middle of the night (which I can't seem to stave off even if I drink gallons of water all day long)... and it's having to get up and use the bathroom.... get up and eat during two different times during the night (my tummy is so squished right now that I can only eat small meals at one sitting, so I have to eat often).... or it's back pain, neck pain.... feeling my heartbeat in my belly because the baby is resting on an artery... round ligament pain or just the overall uncomfortableness of an extra 25 pounds of belly while trying to sleep.
I swear I do not remember complaining this much at Week 35 with Evie, but maybe I did.... When people tell me "Not much longer!!!" I want to slap their faces because another 5 weeks sounds so incredibly impossible to me.
I toured the hospital's maternity wing last week, where a nurse informed me that mommies who have been induced before are likely to have to be induced the second time. And, she added, Dr. Marino is known to not want to induce before 41 weeks. I could've laid on the floor and cried... NOT the prediction that I wanted to hear at all!!!!!
I did ask him about that today at my 35 week checkup. He laughed and said it would all depend on my cervix, and he would begin checking my cervix each week, starting at my next appointment, which is 2 weeks from now. Dr. Christian never checked my cervix once until my due date, so that I wouldn't be at risk of an infection, but at this point, I am ready for Dr. Marino to start checking me and hopefully see that I am getting ready sooner rather than later!
I was in bad shape at my checkup today. My blood pressure was high (145/95 the first time they checked it, and 142/88 the second time they checked it). He seemed concerned about the first check, and felt better about the second check, so we will watch it in the coming weeks. I would not be surprised at all if I end up with hypertension with Eleanor just like I did with Evelyn. If it happens this time, though, Lord, just let me go ahead and have the child a few weeks early, PLEASE!!! And keep her safe in the meantime!
Eleanor did sound perfect today, by the way, which is great. But Mama was a different story. Dr. Marino was glad to hear that I'd scheduled an appointment with a pregnancy-certified chiropractor tomorrow morning to see if he can help alleviate some of this neck/back pain and restless legs and help me sleep!! I am so ready, I cannot see straight. I hope he can find some way to crack every bone in my poor aching body.
The other thing I forgot to mention is that last night, I had pretty painful Braxton Hicks contractions for the first time, for about an hour. I made myself drink two large glasses of water, rested on the couch and then took a warm bath to ease them, and that seemed to work. I may have been a little dehydrated because I'd walked three miles earlier that afternoon, and dehydration does tend to bring those contractions on. But Dr. Marino also said it's good that I'm having those BH contractions already... means the baby and my body are preparing for labor, so the reality is that she COULD be planning on coming a little early after all. I should also note that she has really been pushing on my cervix the past couple of days... I have those random shooting pains in my vagina that are real zingers!
Dr. Marino told me today that if I started to have contractions this early on, they wouldn't do anything to stop them and Eleanor would be A.O.K. being 35 weeks along already. Of course he doesn't WANT her to come this early, but she would be O.K., and that is reassuring for me.
In the meantime, I feel like I have to get my butt in gear and knock off the last few things on my to-do list before she DOES arrive early and unexpectedly!
When I left Dr. Marino's office this morning, I called my mom and just had a coming apart on the phone, and then I did again at home. I remember having the same coming apart to my friend Steff when I was living in Seattle and late in my pregnancy with Ev. It happened for the very same reasons back then -- I came home from a dr.'s appointment where my blood pressure was too high, and I was scared... for me, for baby and for the whole looming experience of labor and the reality that I'm about to have a newborn. I'm not scared of labor this time by any means, I'm just scared of what the next 5 weeks will feel like if I don't get some relief from this pain, sleeplessness and high blood pressure. I'm scared of not feeling equipped to take care of Eleanor because I'll be so damn tired and beaten up by that point!
So, prayers that the chiropractor will help ease some of this pain and restlessness for the next few weeks.... and that Eleanor will come on just a little bit (but not too) early!
xo,
Ames
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