The Final Stretch and the Gas War

Week 30

This week was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing. I had my OB appointment on Friday, May 23rd and had a lovely midwife, new to me. She answered all my questions and made me feel really safe and comfortable. I am going to find out if I can put in a request to have her deliver my baby instead of one of the doctors. We went over my medical records and everything seems to be right on track for me and the baby. I measured perfectly for 30.5 weeks, the baby’s heart rate was 150 and as of right now, he’s positioned head down. She also told me that I have another 10lbs to gain and not to worry since I’m fine medically.

I noticed some stretch marks in bizarre places and I’m really unhappy about that. The cocoa butter crap does absolutely nothing to help reduce or prevent them. I guess that’s just another silly old wive’s tale. I’m guessing that stretch marks are a genetic thing. I went to try on this really cute maternity skirt for my baby shower and noticed strech marks on my legs, ewwwwwwww. Boy am I ever disappointed. I’m starting to look like a real heffer after many weeks of looking great. So sad!

The midwife also told me that my baby should still be sleeping about 12 hours a day. In what universe, I ask? LOL! This child feels like he’s doing nothing but moving around and if he does sleep 12 hours a day, it must be in 20 minute incriments when I’m not paying attention. My next appointment is in 2 weeks. It’s almost the final stretch, folks! I’m going every 2 weeks until week 36 and then I have to go in weekly. I get all my paperwork for the hospital, fetal count charts and the “what to expect” talk on June 6th.

The Gas War
Week 31

My friend Stacy tried to politely warn me back in December about the many nusances of pregnancy, mostly about setting off the natural gas line. “Just wait” was her famous phrase. If I thought I had problems with gas before, it’s nothing compared to the war I’m fighting now with my ass and common courtesy. At this point it’s uncontrollable! It hits me first thing in the morning, is present all day and gets worse at night. No matter what I do or what I eat, there’s no “off” switch. If it’s this painful for me as a 29 year old adult, I can only imagine how it must be for babies. Just horrid!

My sleep was great in week 30, but this week I’ve been waking up at bizarre times again. 3, 4 and 5am. It’s like someone has shot me up with an instant caffeine fix and I can’t go back to sleep for the rest of the day. That’s good in a way because I can still get stuff done, but sucks because I’d love to have a good 8 hours. I highly doubt I will once the baby is born though so I better just suck it up and take it like a man, eh?

The baby feels like he’s getting heavier. It’s either that or he’s curled up in one place south of the border. I woke up this morning feeling like I was carrying a ginormous rock. A lot of people on this baby message board I check out is having Braxton Hicks contractions. I’ve read that it can start at about 20 weeks. I don’t believe I’ve had those yet, but you never know. Sometimes I’m oblivious to that stuff due to my daily routine with Dave and the kids. After all of the uncomfortable symptoms, I can still say that I’ve had an easy pregnancy. My only complaint is having to suffer from unnecessary drama and stress.

Dave is getting super excited about the baby now. Stacy sent us the cool swing for our shower gift last week. He’s been playing with it and showing it off every chance he gets, lol. It’s really funny to watch because the only thing that triggers natural excitement with him is his favorite sports teams. The other day I caught Dave gushing about our son to his friends and he acted as though having a boy is going to be his salvation in this house. Though he loves the girls and I dearly, I believe some testosterone will do him some good.

I’m leaving for Michigan tomorrow to visit family, friends and attend my first baby shower. I have to go shopping today for birthdays, Dawn’s baby shower gift and a pair of maternity Capri pants so that I look fairly decent. No shoes. I’m going to do the barefoot and pregnant deal, which is the most comfortable thing, aside from slippers, for me at this point. Due to the warm weather we’ve been getting, I’m blowing up like a marshmallow faster than you can say, “where did my ankles go?”

That’s all for now. I’ve got a lot to do in such a short time before we hit the road at 7am tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well!