Bumpdate: 32 weeks!

Woohoo! We made it to 32 weeks! I’m actually 32 weeks 2 days now, but I wanted to wait and do this update after my doctor’s appointment last night. I couldn’t find my usual “bumpdate shirt” and I had to take the photo with the self-timer because hubby was stuck late at work.

Basically, she said that my test and exam results from the hospital are “too concerning” at this point in my pregnancy to allow me to go back to work. She said unless I could guarantee that I would be sitting down the entire time, except for bathroom breaks, it’s a no-go. I can’t guarantee that, so she told me she recommends that I just take it easy at home and rest. She did agree to let me work a couple of hours each day from home, on the condition that I take it day-by-day and I stop at the first sign of a problem. I emailed my boss to see if that is a possibility – it would be nice to have something to do to break up my days, and I wouldn’t mind even a partial paycheck. It would definitely help with all of the baby stuff we’ve been ordering to try and prepare ourselves for the munchkin’s arrival!

She did mention that I am measuring a little small – 30 weeks instead of 32 – but that my most recent ultrasound shows that baby is right on track. They’ll check again next week, but she thinks it’s just how baby is positioned or my body type. I wanted to tell her I feel humongous and maybe she should double-check her measurements, LOL!

I’ve been passing the time by watching countless home improvement shows on HGTV and the DIY network, which has done nothing but made me antsy to get working on our own house and yard! Unfortunately most of that is going to have to wait until the spring when I’m able to actually get off the couch and do stuff. Other than that, I’ve been online shopping, texting my mommy friends in a panic about labor and delivery, reading natural birth stories and freaking myself out, napping, and drinking approximately 87 glasses of water a day because everyone wants me to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (this results in constant trips to the bathroom).

I feel pretty good overall – the reflux is still an issue, and I still have that full feeling most of the time, but I know I’m in the home stretch and all of that is going to be a distant memory soon. I did wake up at 1am on Monday night choking on my own stomach bile. The acid was all the way up into my ears and I thought they were seriously going to burn right off. I took a bunch of Tums, which did nothing, so I broke down and drank a glass of milk (so gross), but that was also useless. I tried eating some yogurt, walking around, sitting up, standing up, drinking water, etc. Nothing helped. I consulted Dr. Google on the verge of tears and discovered that a lot of pregnant women swear by pickle juice. This seemed so counterintuitive to me since pickle juice is acidic and vinegar-y, but I figured it couldn’t get much worse at that point. Luckily, I had picked up a jar of pickles over the weekend – I never have them in the house, but I had a craving. I ate one, and by the time I was done with it, the fire had receded from my ears and throat. I could still feel it in my chest, so I drank a spoonful of the juice (ew) and that did the trick. I probably should have had one more to really squash it, but I was scared I was going to overdo it. So if you’re pregnant and suffering from horrific acid reflux, try some pickles! I ate some on Tuesday and Wednesday and felt fine. I didn’t have any yesterday and the reflux was back, so I’m convinced they really work!

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Bumpdate: 31 Weeks!

Life on “limited bed rest” is, well, pretty boring. I spend most of the day on the couch watching trashy TV and old reruns, reading, playing Candy Crush, and drinking what feels like gallons of water (then peeing approximately 4582 times). Monday was spent ordering large amounts of baby supplies in an OMG-we’re-not-prepared-at-all-panic. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent researching cars, and today I’m supposed to be calling pediatricians to set up some kind of meetings so we can ask them questions and decide who we want to be our baby’s doctor. Note to self: Google a list of questions for pediatricians.

I had my first weekly follow-up appointment with the doctor yesterday and she seemed confident that everything is fine so far. Although I am still having sporadic contractions, she assured me that they are not “real” and I will definitely know when they are. She wants me to keep taking it easy until the end of next week and try to keep my stress level down. Apparently the medicine I am taking (Procardia) has no proven effect on preterm labor – if the baby wants out early, it’s going to happen regardless of the medication. She told me that it is mostly used for a patient’s peace of mind – it relaxes the cardiac muscles as well as other muscles, therefore reducing the number of contractions felt, and finally making the patient calmer because she is not experiencing as many contractions. So it’s a head game, mostly. What with my history of anxiety, she thinks it is in my benefit to continue taking it, so that’s what I’m doing.

Aside from the contractions, I’m also experiencing bouts of hot flashes and really glamorous night sweats. While I think these are related to the medicine, the doctor says it’s not possible (Dr. Google says differently…) and it’s typical of the third trimester. All I know is I usually wake up drenched and have to take multiple showers per day. Maybe this is the “pregnant lady glow” everyone refers to? Also, I’m finding that eating even the smallest amount of food makes me feel absolutely stuffed for hours. I ate a yogurt for breakfast yesterday morning and you would think I ate an entire Thanksgiving dinner single-handedly.

Baby is kicking up a storm – and not those cute and gentle little flutters like before. These are purposeful, it’s-getting-crowded-in-here punches and shoves as s/he tries to shove my organs out of the way to get more comfortable.

Book wise, I’ve been reading lots of Sarah Dessen books. I would love to review them here, because I’ve loved all but one of them, but honestly… they’re all pretty much the same. She follows the same formula for every single book, it seems: teenage girl with a chip on her shoulder meets a quirky boy with an unusual name. Girl falls for boy against her better judgment. Girls does something on purpose to ruin the relationship because she can’t stand to feel happiness. Girl apologizes, boy forgives her, and everyone lives happily ever after. Despite this, I keep devouring each and every novel of hers I can get my hands on. Maybe it’s the predictability that I’m enjoying right now. I know going into it that I’m going to have a good reading experience, and sometimes I need that rather thank risking time on a book that ends up being disappointing.

I’m currently reading Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You and plan to get back to reviews once I finish it. I’m only 50 pages in, but I like it already and am excited to see where it goes.