Getting Down to It

I was planning to work until April 13, but I think I'm done. I'll work through Friday, when I have my next OB appointment, and then ask her to clear me for short-term disability so I can go on leave early. I'm just so slow and uncomfortable and brainless that I'm not good for much more around the office than as a conversation piece. Maybe I'll work M/W/F next week. We'll see. The girl they brought in to cover for me is awesome so I'm not worried about that at all. There's no good reason for me to hang around.

Mombi and my mom are planning to have the nursery done this weekend, so Griffin and I will have their permission to do our thing as of Sunday evening. I'll take it!

36 Week Belly, from My Point of View

Guava Juice and Goldfish Crackers

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that, folks. What can I say, I've been busy being pregnant.

Friday was the baby shower at work, and it was fabulous fun. My friends and co-workers were incredibly generous, and as a result we have very little left that we need to get before Griffin arrives. And we have a LOT of thank you cards to write!

From what I can tell, the nursery is really coming along. I think they're planning to finish it next week. Cool!

I had an OB appointment on Monday and my first internal check. He's positioned well, and my cervix was still long and tight. That might be starting to change, though. I've definitely been feeling more Braxton Hicks lately, to the point where it sometimes feels like menstural cramps. I've been feeling him a bit lower the past few days, although not enough to relieve my heartburn. Mombi wants him to hang out with me at least another week and a half, preferably three weeks. I'm hoping for around two more weeks, so I can get my temporary replacement at work fully trained (or close enough) but not have too much extra time to hang around the office after that.

I'm still dealing with major heartburn (thank you, Pepcid, for some sweet relief!) and the pain below my ribs on the right. Pain in that area is apparently a less-common symptom of pre-eclampsia. My OB had me get some bloodwork and an upper abdominal U/S done to check for it, since my blood pressure and protein levels have been fine. The bloodwork came back fine, and I haven't heard on the ultrasound yet. Presumably, it's fine too. Of course, that doesn't help me deal with the pain, since it's still not clear what it is. Ah well. I've also developed some pregnancy carpal tunnel in both wrists, so now I'm wearing double wrist supports, too. Fun!

Griffin is still very active, although now it's more of a shift and push motion than a bouncing kick. I still can't tell what's what in there, apart from the occasional leg-and-butt shape when he's pressed out against one side or the other. I can't tell a foot from an elbow from a hand from a knee, though. Speaking of which, time to go do my kick count for the day. Catch ya later!

Grandma Brenda, Great Grandma Kay, and Aunt Bernie!

Griffin received gifts in the mail today from Mombi's side of the family! His Aunt Bernie and Great Grandma Kay each sent him handmade quilts, and his Grandma Brenda sent a big box of clothing, receiving blankets, and other goodies. The gifts area all lovely, but we were most thrilled simply by reading "To Griffin with Love from Grandma Brenda" on the tags. Mombi's mom is very conservative, and had indicated that she didn't plan to think of Griffin as her grandchild. So this is a huge turn-around. We're so happy!

He's looking good!

We had an ultrasound today to check back in on Griffin's choroid plexus cysts. They're totally gone, and he looks very healthy. We couldn't see much since of course it's getting pretty tight in there, but he held still well enough that we did get to see his face a bit, and confirmed that he is absolutely male. He's measuring six days ahead of the average, which is in the 75th percentile at just over 6lbs.

We also got to see him "practice breathing" which was fun. The tech used the setting that they usually use to see blood traveling through the heart and the umbilical cord, and instead focused it on his face. We could see red and blue around his nose as he "breathed" amniotic fluid.

Doin' the Griffin Dance

Today was a good day. Not for any particular reason, it just felt good. I did a bunch of boring stuff at work, expense reports and so on. I went to the chiropractor after work, and then did some long-delayed grocery shopping.

Through it all, Griffin was rocking and rolling, shifting and squirming. Sometimes I almost forget that the sensations I'm feeling are actually our little boy getting more comfortable or practicing his moves. Other times, I'm so tuned in to him that I can see him in my mind as clearly as if he were out in front of me. And soon... he will be!

Yay for Weekends!

It's been a doozy of a week. I ended up staying home to rest on Tuesday as well, apart from a trip out to my general practitioner for a possible double ear infection. Turns out my eustacian tubes were inflamed. Just another random side-effect of pregnancy. She gave me a prescription for a nasal spray that seems to be helping. We'll see.

Wednesday it was back to work and back to the chaos, since there was a LOT of stuff waiting for me. The rest of the week was a blur.

So what am I doing this weekend? Absolutely nothing, if I can help it. I spent too much time reved up last weekend, and it spelled bad news for me. So this weekend I'm determined to stay calm, rest a lot, and not look for "projects" to do. I'm going to concentrate on staying rested and staying hydrated. Everything else can take care of itself for now!

Will I manage to stick to my non-plans? We'll see...

33.5 Week Appointment, and Lots of Parenthesis.

I had an OB appointment this morning, and things are still looking very good. My growth is right on track at 34 cm (that's height of fundus, not his length!) and Griffin's heart rate was 153 bpm. I have an appointment next week to have a follow-up ultrasound to see if the choroid plexus cysts are still there, so it looks like we'll have one more look at the kid before he arrives after all. Hopefully the scan will show a very healthy (if slightly constricted) little boy.

They also had me go over to the hospital (across the parking lot) to have blood drawn to check my thyroid levels again. I'd been slightly hypo at one point during TTC, and it was never re-checked after I stopped the meds. It was such a fiasco. There was some sort of major language barrier issue going on with someone who was trying to register for a procedure that they couldn't pay for and didn't need immediately, and there was only one person doing outpatient registration. So it took about an hour to get registered. Then I had to sit for another half an hour before the two (!) women who were doing all the blood draws for the entire hospital showed up at the outpatient lab. After an hour and a half of waiting, the draw took about two minutes. At least I also got to pre-register for L&D at the same time.

Anyway, by the time I was leaving there I was overheated and hungry and my back was killing me from their waiting room chairs, and on top of being hormonal and tired from not sleeping well last night, I was a mess. Something about me standing there crying convinced my co-workers and my boss that I wasn't having a good day. I made it almost exactly an hour at work before they sent me home. So now it's 2:00PM, I've just had lunch, I'm in my sweats, and I'm heading to bed. Thank goodness for sympathetic friends at work! Next time I need to just listen to Mombi in the first place when she tells me I shouldn't go to work. She totally called it this morning, but I resisted because I had stuff to do. Some day I'll learn.

Having fun!

What a busy weekend. Well, not for me, I didn't do much other than sort out the junk boxes that have been collecting random stuff under the bathroom sinks for a few years. No, it wasn't nesting. Not yet. My mom came over this weekend to work on Griffin's room with Mombi, and she brought along a book on organizating techniques for ADD people. I read it cover to cover over two days, and thought of a lot of things I could do around the house to make it easier to keep up with the clutter, and decided that the bathrooms were as good a place as any to start.

Also, the "Fabulous Christmas Gift" from my parents that I alluded to so long ago is finally complete. I haven't taken pictures to post yet, but as I type this, I can hear the new WASHER AND DRYER doing their thing. Woo hoo! Mom & Dad brought the washer over a couple weekends ago, but we had only run it once since we didn't have a dryer yet. They came over yesterday to install the dryer. THANK YOU MOM & DAD!!!

This is huge. Our apartment complex has several laundry rooms, and the nearest one is only 30 yards or so down the sidewalk, but that's an insurmountable distance when you're pregnant or have back issues, so we've been really struggling to get laundry done for several months now. That's compounded by the fact that vandals have been messing with the machines lately, so half the time they're not available anyway.

Without the new machines from Mom & Dad, we definitely would have had to re-think the cloth diapering plans, at least for the first few months. Instead, we can now enjoy a fabulous high-capacity front-loader and a huge dryer. They aren't top of the line or anything, and the dryer is used, but they're absolute heaven to us. We had a stackable in our last apartment (provided by the complex) and we got spoiled by it, but these are in a whole new class. And let me tell you, the state of our bedroom floor is much improved already!

Griffin has been very active this weekend, and has been creating some very impressive belly contortions as he stretches and rolls. I'm starting to really feel like I have a big pregnancy belly. I've had a little one for a long time, but over the past few weeks I think I've crossed the divide from "you definitely look pregnant now" to "so how many weeks left?"

My abs have given up.

Ouch. My body is definitely starting to strain outward to find extra space. I've got a constant burn just below my ribs. It feels hot and tingly, like I have a pulled muscle. The entire area below my belly button just plain aches. My pelvic floor feels like I accidentally did the splits. And my pelvis is getting loose, so my hips are sore, too. It takes me at least twice as long to walk anywhere, which really slows me down around the office.

Moving in general has become more of a challenge in the past week. I counted last night, and it takes me 8-10 separate motions to roll from my right side to my left (or the other direction) not counting the rearrangement of various pillows and supports. Even getting in and out of the car is a challenge. And I'm only at 33 weeks!

Being pregnant is lots of fun, and I'm totally enjoying the experience, but it sure isn't comfortable. Thankfully, I have my amazing partner to support me. She encourages me to do what I can, keeps me from doing what I don't need to do, and supports me when I get physically and mentally exhausted from trying to do too much. She really is amazing. I feel bad sometimes when I let it show that I've become upset or irritated by some little thing, like dishes on the counter or whatever, when I know that she's doing so much for me and for us already.

I try to tell her often just how much I appreciate everything, but I can't imagine how hard it must be for her to stay positive when hormones and fatigue get the better of me, and there's nothing she can do to help but bring me treats and encourage me to sleep. Still, what she does do means the world to me. She knows what I need before I do. She knows exactly where I need to be massaged, she knows when I need to eat something, she knows when to prompt me to sleep. She's absolutely the best.