today marks 33 weeks. c-section date is 6 weeks away, but we had a bit of a scary false alarm today. since yesterday evening, i started feeling tightening in my belly that was uncomfortable. i knew they weren't real contractions, but they were really unpleasant and accompanied by back pain that sort of felt like back labor. i figured i should just wait it out a little bit to see how i felt, because if they were real, it'd eventually become obvious in the form of more regular and increasingly intense contractions. if they weren't real and were just braxton hicks, they'd eventually go away. i was also exhausted so i wanted to get some rest. so i went to bed, but i ended up waking up every 30 min to 2 hours all night - the contractions kept waking me up. and i think stello didn't like them either because he kept moving every time they happened, which kept me up even more. at some point during the night they also started getting a little painful. i tried to get more sleep but at around 6:45am i gave up and called my OB. she wanted to err on the side of caution so she told me to go to the hospital.
we went to the hospital at around 7:30. they hooked me up to the monitors to check for contractions and also did an FFN test which apparently is some sort of indicator as to whether you're likely to go into preterm labor. the FFN test came back negative, and the monitor picked up a couple mild contractions but otherwise the nurse said it seemed more like the uterus was just doing practice "exercises." i talked to my OB afterwards and she said it's not real labor and everything looks fine, so i should just go home and rest. i was so freaked out that i'd be giving birth so early, so thank jesus it was a false alarm. as much as i joke that i want the baby out, no one wants to go into preterm labor. but now it seems another thing has been added to this already-full pregnancy plate of mine because on top of the pelvic pain, these fake contractions are pretty exhausting. all day the top of my belly tightens and cramps and there doesn't seem to be anything i can do to make them go away. if anyone has any tips or has any stories of similar experiences, i'd greatly appreciate it - they're driving me mad! the back pain is a little better but it comes and goes (which is why i really thought i was going into labor). it's a good thing stello is my second - if he were my first, i'm pretty sure he'd be an only child with how hard this pregnancy is. makes me really feel for moms who carry multiples or have way worse complications than the ones i'm experiencing. i guess it's not an easy task, this business of making people.
with this new development i wonder how much longer i can work. my OB said she would sign my short term disability form any time...i'm going to try to last as long as possible esp. since i'm basically working from home every day now, but i do feel like i'm going to get to a point soon where even sitting and working at the computer will get really hard. jesus please let these next 6 weeks go by fast!
last OB appointment was this past friday. i've gained 11 pounds now. baby looks good, but doc said i could drink more water because she wants to see more amniotic fluid.
hubs said maybe we should get the hospital bag packed now, just to have it ready. i wonder if baby will come early because of these fake contractions? not sure if there's any correlation, but it just feels like my body is already getting ready. i just realized i haven't posted a bump picture in so long. just take my word for it, i'm huge!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
31 weeks.
today marks 31 weeks. exactly 8 weeks to go till 7/7/14. i am starting to wonder if there is much more to write on this blog because i sound like a broken record about my pelvic pain. but i guess a part of the reason i like to write is to keep records for myself (i'm so glad i blogged when i was pregnant with lana, bc i don't remember a thing) and also just in case it proves to be helpful for other pregnant mama friends.
some things to note from the past two weeks:
- OB said i passed my glucose test. i basically eat sugar like it's the only food group that exists so this is a huge relief. my appetite was getting pretty good but the past few weeks, it's gotten pretty bad again. i'm back to not wanting rice or most normal foods. dinner tonight was cereal (waffle crisp, to be exact) and a banana. in the past 3 weeks, i gained 1.5 pounds. i am now at +8.5 pounds total.
- we went to my 30 week ultrasound. stello is still big. doc said he looks perfect, so we are so thankful for that. he is wayyyy more active than lana was in the belly (and lana was pretty active herself). this scares me. i am pretty sure he will be a hyperactive child.
- lana is potty trained as of a couple months ago, but this means she wakes up in the middle of the night to go pee, then insists on sleeping in our bed the rest of the night. tips from parents with 2+ kids on getting your first to sleep alone, please! we can't help her waking up to pee, so that's fine, but we need to try to get her to fall back asleep in her room afterwards, with minimal help from us. we can't keep doing this when stello's here. keep in mind lana is utterly not sleep-trained - she doesn't fall asleep alone either. but now that she's almost 3, i'm hoping we can reason with her (read: bribe) so that she'll sleep alone. we're not expecting miracles - but even if she can fall asleep half the time on her own that'd be a huge help.
and now back to the main theme of my pregnancy - the pelvic pain. i've been going to the chiropractor for a while just to help with general back/neck pain, and he recently hired a PT to join his practice so i've seen him twice now. he has me doing various stretches and exercises to try to strengthen the muscles in my pelvis/back/thighs to support the pelvis. i hope it helps but to be honest, i'm skeptical as to how effective it will really be bc of the fact that this pain is rapidly getting worse. today has been terrible - i couldn't get out of bed or really walk this morning, and usually i'm much better in the mornings and am worse at night bc i'm fatigued by the end of the day. the pain was also just soreness/achiness and now it's becoming a lot sharper and harder to deal with. i think my days of going into the office, even the 1-2 days a week i do now, are numbered. i've also gotten to a point where i can't sleep well on my side - i think the position makes the pelvic pain worse. problem is, when you're in this later stage of pregnancy, you can't really sleep on your back anymore either. a friend suggested trying a foam wedge so i'm going to see if that helps. i'm constantly googling and researching ways to manage this pain, but you know, i don't know if there's much i can do other than having the baby. i really hope the next 8 weeks pass quickly, but if this pain keeps getting worse, i think by the end i will be on bedrest. i think i'd go crazy so i really hope that's not the case. i am not good at staying still. i get restless very very quickly. but i am trying to not think about it for now and take it a day at a time.
today was mother's day, and honestly, i keep forgetting that i'm a beneficiary of this holiday. bc i just think of my own mom. we would be an absolute MESS without her right now! she is basically doing everything for us these days, esp. as i become more immobile and less useful. i sat on the couch about 10 hours today watching tv and playing on my phone. the hubs brought me snacks and flowers from whole foods. the rangers won for me, so that helped a bit too. lana's gift for me was a painting…
…on her face. i was on the computer for literally 2 minutes and then this happens. -_-
happy mother's day to all the mommies out there. it is seriously the craziest but best job in the world. one thing i keep thinking about these days is how oblivious we were to what our moms did for us when we were kids. i mean, it never once occurred to me that it's hard to raise three kids, clean the house, cook for the whole family, drive us all to violin/piano/hockey/friends' houses/etc., break up fights and maintain some sort of peace in the house, keep us relatively clean and healthy, etc. etc. etc. the list just goes on and on. it's overwhelming, if you think about it. but i took it for granted. i mean, that's just what she did, so, that's cool, i guess. but as i get older, i realize more and more how unbelievable an advantage it is in life to have moms (and dads) who pour their lives out for you in this way, who make you feel secure and loved, who give you the tools to be prepared for life. sometimes i feel like a fake mom in comparison, but i hope that i will rely on God to be a good mom to lana and stello (who is still nameless, btw).
EIGHT MORE WEEKS. 56 days. (and bc of pregnancy brain, i literally whipped out the calculator to do 8x7. don't judge.)
some things to note from the past two weeks:
- OB said i passed my glucose test. i basically eat sugar like it's the only food group that exists so this is a huge relief. my appetite was getting pretty good but the past few weeks, it's gotten pretty bad again. i'm back to not wanting rice or most normal foods. dinner tonight was cereal (waffle crisp, to be exact) and a banana. in the past 3 weeks, i gained 1.5 pounds. i am now at +8.5 pounds total.
- we went to my 30 week ultrasound. stello is still big. doc said he looks perfect, so we are so thankful for that. he is wayyyy more active than lana was in the belly (and lana was pretty active herself). this scares me. i am pretty sure he will be a hyperactive child.
- lana is potty trained as of a couple months ago, but this means she wakes up in the middle of the night to go pee, then insists on sleeping in our bed the rest of the night. tips from parents with 2+ kids on getting your first to sleep alone, please! we can't help her waking up to pee, so that's fine, but we need to try to get her to fall back asleep in her room afterwards, with minimal help from us. we can't keep doing this when stello's here. keep in mind lana is utterly not sleep-trained - she doesn't fall asleep alone either. but now that she's almost 3, i'm hoping we can reason with her (read: bribe) so that she'll sleep alone. we're not expecting miracles - but even if she can fall asleep half the time on her own that'd be a huge help.
and now back to the main theme of my pregnancy - the pelvic pain. i've been going to the chiropractor for a while just to help with general back/neck pain, and he recently hired a PT to join his practice so i've seen him twice now. he has me doing various stretches and exercises to try to strengthen the muscles in my pelvis/back/thighs to support the pelvis. i hope it helps but to be honest, i'm skeptical as to how effective it will really be bc of the fact that this pain is rapidly getting worse. today has been terrible - i couldn't get out of bed or really walk this morning, and usually i'm much better in the mornings and am worse at night bc i'm fatigued by the end of the day. the pain was also just soreness/achiness and now it's becoming a lot sharper and harder to deal with. i think my days of going into the office, even the 1-2 days a week i do now, are numbered. i've also gotten to a point where i can't sleep well on my side - i think the position makes the pelvic pain worse. problem is, when you're in this later stage of pregnancy, you can't really sleep on your back anymore either. a friend suggested trying a foam wedge so i'm going to see if that helps. i'm constantly googling and researching ways to manage this pain, but you know, i don't know if there's much i can do other than having the baby. i really hope the next 8 weeks pass quickly, but if this pain keeps getting worse, i think by the end i will be on bedrest. i think i'd go crazy so i really hope that's not the case. i am not good at staying still. i get restless very very quickly. but i am trying to not think about it for now and take it a day at a time.
today was mother's day, and honestly, i keep forgetting that i'm a beneficiary of this holiday. bc i just think of my own mom. we would be an absolute MESS without her right now! she is basically doing everything for us these days, esp. as i become more immobile and less useful. i sat on the couch about 10 hours today watching tv and playing on my phone. the hubs brought me snacks and flowers from whole foods. the rangers won for me, so that helped a bit too. lana's gift for me was a painting…
…on her face. i was on the computer for literally 2 minutes and then this happens. -_-
happy mother's day to all the mommies out there. it is seriously the craziest but best job in the world. one thing i keep thinking about these days is how oblivious we were to what our moms did for us when we were kids. i mean, it never once occurred to me that it's hard to raise three kids, clean the house, cook for the whole family, drive us all to violin/piano/hockey/friends' houses/etc., break up fights and maintain some sort of peace in the house, keep us relatively clean and healthy, etc. etc. etc. the list just goes on and on. it's overwhelming, if you think about it. but i took it for granted. i mean, that's just what she did, so, that's cool, i guess. but as i get older, i realize more and more how unbelievable an advantage it is in life to have moms (and dads) who pour their lives out for you in this way, who make you feel secure and loved, who give you the tools to be prepared for life. sometimes i feel like a fake mom in comparison, but i hope that i will rely on God to be a good mom to lana and stello (who is still nameless, btw).
EIGHT MORE WEEKS. 56 days. (and bc of pregnancy brain, i literally whipped out the calculator to do 8x7. don't judge.)
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