Laughing with Sarah

This morning was the first of our every-week appointments. It was packed with lots of stuff. First, weight. Five more pounds up over two weeks ago. All water, really. Nobody is concerned, which is heartening. My blood pressure was similar to last time - 122/80 - so nobody is worrying about the swelling in my feet and legs. My doctor just feels bad for me. :) It took forever to track down hedgehog's heartbeat today; probably because, at this point, the baby in my belly is, well, a pretty fully-formed baby, and so there are limbs and backs and bones and fat, and you have to monkey around to find a chest shot with the doppler. But heartbeat/belly measurements were nothing out of the ordinary. Baby is still head-down, though not at all engaged. Still floating. Dr. Locke did some feeling around on my belly and suspects that "we aren't winning any size awards" with this baby, meaning that he suspects a small-to-average baby. I'm TOTALLY fine with that. But we shall ...

We are now in week thirty-six. Crazy. Physically, I feel better than I did for most of last week - sometime overnight, late in the week, I think hedgehog shifted position, so my stomach removed itself from my throat, which made both my heartburn and queasiness feel a lot better, and meant that I've had a few nights now of better sleep. Not great sleep...but the getting up twice to use the bathroom sort of wakefulness, not the waking up every hour because my heartburn and tummy felt so awful. That being said, I have pretty much slowed to a screeching halt. I am tired all the time. Not sleepy, necessarily, but my body is slow and cranky. I don't really bend anymore, and I go through stretches when my belly just feels sore from doing routine things, like rolling over in bed. I'm super-slow, and having a harder and harder time doing any physical sort of stuff, which is frustrating, because lots of my routine house chores are far more physical than I ever gave them credit...

The kitchen is a disaster area. Soup bowls in the sink and crumbs on the counter And a pile of recycling that needs to be taken out. Two cats make the wood floors dusty. The stairs need sweeping, The living room floor needs dusting, And a good mopping would go a long way. On the couch in the living room, a bedroom pillow And two fleece blankets. Every time I put them away, it's another sleepless night, When I pull them back out and watch sitcoms on TV While trying to doze off After one o'clock. Don't get me started on laundry. Or on bathrooms, Especially the glass shower doors That need more scrubbing than I can muster. And have I mentioned that I can't bend over? Or roll over. Or twist. Or gracefully sit on the floor...or gracefully get up, for that matter. I wish... I wish I could go running, And drink a big cup of coffee, Or maybe some wine. I wish I could go clothes-shopping Or wear whatever shoes I want. And spicy food. How I wish ...

Thirty-five weeks over here. Actually, halfway between thirty-five and thirty-six weeks today. It's been a...rough...few days. We're getting so close to the end, and I was telling Matt last night that I had fooled myself into thinking that I had not complained much during this pregnancy because I was dealing so well with it. But the truth is that for most of the pregnancy, there was nothing really to complain about. I don't say that to gloat. I say that because I know how many women deal with so much discomfort and pain and illness during pregnancy. But last night, I hit a wall. Just flat-out broke down in tears for a few minutes. For starters, this whole heartburn thing is not just old or uncomfortable at this point, it really drives you a little insane. Having to be strategic about what I eat and when I eat it, about how many pillows I sleep on and which side I sleep on, and managing how many Tums I feel safe eating when things feel really bad. And everything - ...

Over the weekend, all of the late pregnancy symptoms that I'd avoided seemed to hit all at once. Persistent heartburn (ok, nothing new there, but bummed that it's still so prevalent), swollen fingers and ankles and feet, extreme difficulty sleeping at night, general soreness under my belly and into my hips. Monday night especially, my ankles totally disappeared. It kind of freaked me out. So I've been drinking tons of water, and trying to keep my feet up the best I can, and I'm trying to do more walking, because that's also supposed to help. Today was my next regular doctor's appointment. Nothing terribly remarkable. Dr. Locke only mentioned my falling down the stairs/L&D stint in passing, just to assure me that I did the right thing; glad we didn't have to rehash my embarrassment over that silly night. I gained five pounds in two weeks, which Dr. Locke said is pretty impossible to do from just eating, so it is probably swelling/water weight. He c...

This past weekend, Matt and I packed ourselves up for a few days in Chicagoland with a blissful agenda: family birthday and anniversary celebrations, and a family/friends baby shower. Thursday morning was spent relaxing and hanging out with my parents. Then delicious delicious lunch at Mago with my sister, some crazy amounts of IKEA shopping, and a bit of shopping for a cute outfit for me to wear at the baby shower. Thursday night was a big family birthday celebration over copious amounts of BBQ ribs. Yum. Friday was a whirlwind for everybody besides Matt and me. My mom joined forces with my two local sisters and my best friend from high school to prepare my sister's house for that evening's shower. I got a haircut, Matt and I ate ice cream (his first Oberweis experience!), we bought bagels, and did a little shopping. Then we headed up to my sister's house for a hedgehog party! My youngest sister few in from Minneapolis to be there, and there was a great group of friend...

Sunday morning, after church, more than one person asked me what the countdown was. Up until this point, people had been asking me how many weeks along I was, but we've now shifted. People are starting to ask how many weeks I have LEFT. We are barreling toward the end. Worry comes in weird waves these days. Things that I am worried about: Health and hedgehog's health. There's no reason for me to believe that everything isn't just normal and fine. But we're at this point where we're SO CLOSE to this baby, and this milestone that has been unreachable for five years now. I have no reason to believe things are going to go wrong. But I'm getting overly anxious about it in these last weeks, sort of like I felt at the beginning of the pregnancy. Especially because, at this point, we could deliver at any time if absolutely necessary. So I don't want to take any chances or miss any signals. Hence my freaking out about falling down the stairs, and my big anx...

Most people make plans on Saturday evenings. Dinners out, get-togethers with friends, pizza and Netflix date night, you get the picture. Saturday nights are prime weekend real estate. I'm not sure what you did with your Saturday night this weekend, but unless things took a turn for the worse at a pretty wild party, I'm going to guess that you didn't spend two hours on Saturday evening in the hospital. Ahem. It was shortly after 4pm on Saturday afternoon. I had just arrived at church in advance of our weekly 5pm worship service. I needed to set up for communion, unlock outside doors around church, and do any last-minute tweaks to my sermon. I always start by unlocking doors. I have a pattern. Start with the door across from my office, and make a big loop to catch the main office entrance, the kitchen entrance, both handicap-accessible entrances, and then the courtyard entrance. I've done this many times. Well this time, I was walking down a half-flight of stairs...

I just came from the world's quickest and most boring OB appointment. In a good way. Antibiotics are magic, and so I feel 100% better than last week's unplanned sick appointment. Weight was good, blood pressure is still good and low, no swelling or pain or other alarming symptoms. Hedgehog is still head-down, but was hiding out a little bit which meant that picking up a heartbeat took a little bit of searching, which meant about ten seconds of panic on my part. But heartbeat, once found, was a solid 144. And as I sit here and write, I'm getting thumped pretty good, so keep reminding myself that there's no reason to be worried. My doctor blew in and out of the clinic for my appointment in scrubs, because he was tending to somebody in labor and delivery! Crazy crazy crazy to think that in a few weeks, that's going to be ME. Really, at this point, we are all just counting weeks. I hope that these appointments continue to be boring, and routine, and simply things ...