Flip, Curse You!

Well we’re now into OB visits every other week. As of Friday I was exactly 32 weeks pregnant (224 days, or 13,440 hours, or 806, 400 minutes, or 48,384,000 seconds). Yesterday I drove up to The Big Hospital, stopping nearly halfway between home and there, to empty my already empty stomach. Tempest has been giving me a hard time about overeating; eating oily or greasy foods (apparently even just root vegetables with a little bit of olive oil sprinkled on them to prevent them from burning when I roast them); or, well… Just eating food in general. One bite too many and suddenly I’m fighting to keep it down. Mind you, his sister did the same thing, but she was far gentler about it. She preferred that I just empty that one extra bite, please, she just needed a teensy bit more room. Not Tempest! Little stormling feels that if I’ve impeded on his space at all, EVERYTHING MUST BE PURGED! Bless ‘im.

My favorite nurse weighed me at two pounds lighter than last visit, which of course caused me to assume I was going to get scolded again. Au contraire, mes amis! Dr. Goggles told me he was glad to see it. The new standard, apparently, is for a preggosaurus to gain between 10-20 pounds during pregnancy. My net gain thus far is only eleven! WOOT! I got a shot for the nausea, which helped a bit; and a tetanus/pertussis (whooping cough) booster, to make sure that some of the antibodies from the pertussis vaccination eeks through the placenta and transfers to Tempest. The nurse gives great needle, but inevitably I wind up with a killer headache and a sore arm for several days afterward. Oh well; it’s for the little one. I can take it.

Dr. Goggles measured my fundal growth, and declared Tempest to be about two weeks ahead of the curve, but not to worry – at this stage, every baby grows differently. The ultrasound basically confirmed this. While “What To Expect While You’re Expecting” suggests that babies at this stage of development are usually around four-ish pounds, Tempest weighs a solid five. His head and belly are up around the 90^th percentile for size, which puts him in the 70^th overall. In other words; he’s a big baby. He’s still in frank breech position, but nobody’s worried about that right now. He’s still got two months to turn. Both Pooka (and reportedly Lord Bear as well) turned about a week before their due dates; dramatically so, even. They were also both large babies. Pooka weighed 8lbs, 10oz. Lord Bear was closing in on 10lbs, if I remember my mother’s recounting correctly.

The only concern I have about Tempest remaining breech is that I REALLY, REALLY don’t want to have a cesarean section. One: I don’t like surgery. Two: Epidurals don’t work on my right side, and while many have reassured me that spinal blocks are totally different, I’m still wary. I do NOT want to feel myself being cut open. And three: If I have a C-section, it will throw off mine and Hubs’ timeline for trying for a little monkey of our own. So if any of you lovely readers could send some thoughts along to encourage Tempest to get into the proper, head-down, rear-facing position by 36 weeks, I’d REALLY appreciate it.

Symphysis, Not Syphilis!

Friday was a fairly productive day. I got to sleep in till 7:30 which, for the record, is when I typically start my day at work. Got Pooka up and headed for school, showered and was on my way to The Big Hospital by 8:40.

One of the things I love most about Dr. Badass is that she’s completely frank with me. Not to mention quick-witted and charismatic. Anyway, she walked into the exam room, dropped my chart on the little desk, flopped in the chair and declared that she was so excited to see my chart come up on her pile today, because she trusted that she could just relax and be aware that if there was anything wrong, I’d already know it, declare it and probably already have a handle on it. Admittedly, I puffed up over this. Most doctors treat their patients like they know nothing and don’t pay attention to their bodies at all.

As it happened, I did tell her that Tempest was putting a lot of pressure on my pelvis, and that I could feel the bones moving. I told her I knew it was normal; it’s just more noticeable this pregnancy. She told me it’s called symphisis pubis separation. SYMPHYSIS, not SYPHILIS! Stupid spell-check. I also told her that I had started to have swelling in my right ankle and foot. In light of my blood pressure (128/78) that morning, I doubted it was anything about which I needed to be overly concerned, but that I was going to try to watch my sodium intake; read labels, etc. and see if that helped. She agreed that it’s not a big deal, especially since no other parts of my body are swollen, but that if I wanted to try to slow up on sodium, it couldn't hurt. (At this point in the pregnancy with Wiggle-Worm, I was already wearing my wedding and engagement ring on a cord around my neck. They’re still fitting loosely right now.) My uterus was measured and declared perfect (See? They always use that word with me), as was Tempest’s heartbeat, and the visit was basically over.

Some other personal things came up which required a bit of legwork in and around the Queen City, and after that I sneaked over to the big mall to check out the maternity clothing store (CatButt accidentally tore my favorite preggo yoga pants) and walked out with a SUPER soft, comfy pair of preggo leggings and four cute, girly preggo shirts. Damn that store. The clothes are a little pricey but everything I try on makes me feel adorable, so I always spend more than I mean to. I picked up a new strapless bra from VS so I can wear a couple other tops that really aren't made to wear with a regular bra, and then grabbed a pretzel from Auntie Anne’s (so much for sodium watching on Friday!)

Home again to get some more chores done and help Pooka get ready for a school dance, and then I was free to nap until she got home. Did I mention that Hubs was off visiting his parents in the Mid-West all week? Normally I get mopey and whiny when he’s gone, but this time I was able to just settle comfortably into some “me” time with Pooka and wait patiently for him to come home just in time for Mother’s Day.

I also got to see Wifey in “The Good Doctor” on Saturday night, which was hilarious and fantastic. She played “The Mistress” in act one, and did such a magnificent job in the role that I honestly hated her during that scene. In act two, she was the “Defenseless Creature.” I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. She’s got a real knack for physical comedy – and subtlety too; don’t get me wrong – it’s just that when she hams it up onstage, it’s really hard not to crack up.

Overall, a pretty decent week, I’d say.

Addendum as of noon today: One of my former coworkers left a balance-ball chair in her space when she left. I emailed her boss to ask if I could borrow it for the duration of the pregnancy. He just brought it in. TALK ABOUT INSTANT RELIEF! My coccyx and back feel so much better already!