38 weeks: Here she is!

And not a moment too soon, considering that Eden Leah weighed 10 lbs and 2 oz at birth--following one of the fastest and most intense first-time labors I've ever seen! More on that later, but in the meantime, we're resting up, cleaning up, and enjoying our little girl.

37 weeks: belly casting!

One of the members of my birth team was kind enough to bring things over yesterday to do a belly casting (as well as an aromatherapy foot bath)! We had a great time doing it and I think it turned out really well. Here's a photo of the process, plus front and side views of the finished cast:

36 weeks: On the home stretch

Here is the updated progression, with my 36-week picture on the right. Notice how despite cheating and switching to a maternity tank top last picture (at 32 weeks), the tank top can still no longer contain me? Yeah, neither can most of my maternity clothes, either.

It's hard to say much about being 36+ weeks pregnant in June without sounding like a whiner. So, I'll just let it rip.

The heat doesn't bother me all that much (though that's easy to say when one spends most of one's time indoors these days), but the now-permanent swelling has gotten a little old. My (c)ankles are like grapefruit, my fingers and toes like sausages, and my face, well, I feel like one of the Munchkins or something. NOT FLATTERING. (Other people are afraid of having their neither regions caught on camera during birth--I'm totally cool with that, it's the idea of a head shot that makes me cringe.) My blood pressure is still good and everything else is fine, so no true concerns--I'm just massively bloated, and no amount of drinking water or cranberry juice or herbal tea or keeping my feet up seems to help (though plenty of things seem to make it worse). And just when I thought I was home free in terms of the final indignity--hemorrhoids--all of a sudden one day my rear end looks and feels like a cluster of grapes that somebody, somehow, for some reason decided to attack with a piece of sandpaper. Because I'm all about solutions on this blog, I'll admit I have finally gotten a decent amount of relief with warm and cool compresses and frequent applications of Florasone (thank you to my helpful husband for the suggestion, as well as the sympathetic ear), but I'm haunted by the thought of what these bad boys are going to be like after birth.

Being on my feet for very long is exhausting, but you know how good it feels to fall into bed at night when you're really exhausted? Well, that respite is now soured by a) how stiff and uncomfortable I am after spending more than 15 minutes in any given position, b) how incredibly uncomfortable it is to try to CHANGE positions, and c) the prospect of getting up to relieve myself of a tablespoon of urine approximately every hour and a half. Nighttime is not the right time, anymore--at least not where rest is concerned.

Besides that, and gaining 45 pounds despite eating more healthfully and remaining more active than the majority of pregnant women that I know, well, besides that I'm doing well and I do know that I have a lot to be thankful for. Though crabby and uncomfortable, I'm healthy. The baby is big and active and we're getting so excited to meet him or her. I have the world's most loving and helpful husband. We have another baby shower coming up on Saturday and things are already pretty well set. (You can see our crib, changing table, and diaper stash here.) I'm anticipating the kind of birth that many women can only dream about, surrounded by a few cherished loved ones and warm water and familiar things. Matt and I both have downright heroic birth stories in our families, and so despite the concerns voiced by everyone from my coworkers to checkout clerks, I'm not worried that this baby is too big to come out the old-fashioned way. I have faith in birth, in myself, and in my birthing team. It's late pregnancy that's the challenge!

New angles

Something besides the standard white tank top/belly shot.

Or my grapefruit ankles, which was the other option.

32 week picture

Once again...I look at the last picture we took and it makes me think I looked downright skinny! Obviously I've increased in size yet again since the 24 week picture, and these days anytime anybody asks when I'm due and I tell them, I'm met with raised eyebrows, incredulous looks, or comments like "Are you sure your dates aren't off?" or "Do you think it might be twins?" (Yes, and no.) My measurements are right on (fundal height of ~33cm at just over 32 weeks), so I don't really have an explanation of why I'm carrying so big. Some days I feel it more than others; after we moved, I had several days of seriously puffy feet/hands/ankles, backaches, and aching feet, but I seem to have normalized again and am actually feeling quite good. During the same period, I had another bout with feeling like I might be starting the first twinges of a UTI (possibly due to dehydration), but my cranberry/blueberry juice and Vitamin C regimen has me good as new again--except that I have a few more pounds of baby sitting on my bladder than I did last time.

Otherwise, we're doing really well, and starting to kick our preparations into high gear. In addition to the move to a bigger apartment (though our plan is still for the baby to sleep with us--the extra room will function as an office/spare bedroom/repository for all the baby's gear), my work threw us a shower a couple of weeks ago and we were thrilled to receive a variety of cloth diapers (including BumGenius, FuzziBunz, and plenty of unbleached prefolds) and covers, all of which we need to launder to get them ready for use, as well as plenty of baby clothes and other essentials. We found an Ikea dresser which matches our bed, for $30 on Craigslist. We're planning to use it for the baby's things, and it's also the perfect height for a changing table. Double duty is a definite plus when space is limited!

Other than that, my size and the frequency of Braxton-Hicks contractions I have would leave me unsurprised if this baby showed up a week or two before his or her due date, so we're anticipating having everything ready to roll by the end of June, just in case!

The big 3-0

30 weeks. To some extent, I feel like I'm settling into this pregnancy--starting to understand its rhythms, its rhyme and reason (if there is such a thing). There are fewer surprises these days, and knowing what to expect counts for a lot. Even discomforts like the sometimes-excruciating pelvic pain seem to be somewhat predictable: if I overdo it, or if the baby and I seem to have a growth spurt, I'll have a very painful several days, over the course of which acupuncture, chiropractic, ice, and rest will gradually help me back to a functional (though not totally pain-free) state. Bike riding, unfortunately, is another thing which seems to aggravate it very predictably, and so I am most likely going to give that up until I'm no longer pregnant--much to my chagrin, since it's the only way I can propel myself around in a way that makes me feel light and speedy. Otherwise, I'm more or less getting used to feeling large and slow and short of breath a lot of the time (I always say I have room in my belly for the best 2 out of 3--my stomach, my lungs, or the baby. Especially after I eat, my lungs seem to be the ones to get short shrift).

On the other hand--I can't say that I'm not looking forward to having the baby in a couple of months (which now feels like the home stretch to me--I am a good 75% done!). My body seems to be slowly but steadily gearing up as well: The Braxton-Hicks contractions I've felt since 10 weeks are slowly getting stronger, the baby's movements are getting progressively stronger, and my bladder capacity once again seems to be shrinking. Annoyingly, my expanding girth means that I bump into things almost constantly and people bump into me, and I find this leaving me increasingly short-tempered at times. My walk has settled firmly into a waddle (as people don't seem to mind telling me), which seems to have a lot to do with my pelvic issues, and I'll be glad to resume some semblance of a normal stride--along with the ability to move with some degree of speed. I had to try to chase one of the cats around the apartment tonight to take away a rubber band she was chewing on, and the effort it took made me reflect wistfully on how athletic and energized I felt at this time last year. I also miss my wedding rings, and my ankle bones.

At the same time, I still feel lucky to have had such a healthy pregnancy so far, and I'm optimistic that we'll have a healthy, normal birth as well. I know the discomforts I'm feeling are both temporary and worth it.

And, I'm beyond pleased to report that some of my stretch marks are even starting to fade already.

Puff plus

photo by Omgayeo

All I can say is that I am so swollen this weekend!

Granted, the fact that this is my number one complaint is an improvement over other weeks, when I've been unable to keep down nourishment or have been in excruciating pain, but still. Rampant discomfort is no picnic either.

It started toward the end of last week and it started where it always does: in my hands. Even before I was pregnant, my hands have swollen in response to heat and/or exercise. So it's no surprise that at 7 months pregnant and with the thermometer tipping 90 degrees this weekend, I finally had to take my wedding ring off (or face the idea of having someone cut it off).

By Saturday, my feet had joined in the party and I was rocking full-on cankles. There are those who would say that a hotdogfest around an open fire probably didn't help things any, but as this article aptly points out, too little salt can actually prevent your body from being able to keep fluids in your bloodstream and contribute to swelling as well. In general, my salt intake is pretty moderate, so I'm not too worried that this is my problem. It also felt like everything I drank just stayed on board, despite my best efforts to flush my system with water, cranberry juice, and decaf iced tea. I can see it in my face, too, in the pictures we took on our camping trip this weekend. Uff. Few things leave a person feeling less sexy (or even particularly mobile) than feeling like you've bloated up with a few extra pounds of water weight...

And summer hasn't even begun yet. So, the game plan: acupuncture (which I got yesterday, after skipping a week due to working nights last week), regular swimming, forcing myself to drink more fluids, and staying as cool as I possibly can, since I know that heat is always a trigger for me.