35 weeks

Well. It’s been quite an eventful few days.

On Tuesday, I had my first appointment with my midwife. I knew I was measuring big, but I was shocked when she said that my fundal height was 41 cm — and average for Biskit’s gestational age was 33 cm. The centimeter measurement of fundal height is roughly supposed to correspond to the week of your pregnancy. In other words, I was measuring at 41 weeks pregnant – a full six weeks, two days ahead.

Gulp.

The midwife said that she wanted me to get another growth ultrasound done asap. I readily concurred, and was able to get an appointment at 4 p.m. yesterday.

I will just cut and paste from an email I sent yesterday:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Biskit has shot through the roof in terms of growth in the last three weeks. At 32 weeks, she measured 4lb 2 oz – at 34w6d (today), she measures 7 lb, 3 oz. Given her extremely sudden growth spurt and some other factors, the doc is concerned that I’ve developed gestational diabetes, even though I passed my GD screen at the 26 week mark. So I will need to be screened again sometime in the next few days, and depending on how that turns out, might need more monitoring.

In any event, the docs want to follow me very closely the rest of this pregnancy, which means weekly ultrasound checks and biofeedback tests, in addition to my weekly appointments with my midwife. At this point, this pregnancy stands almost NO chance of lasting another 5 weeks, because at the rate she’s growing, she’d weigh over 12 pounds at term. It’s quite possible I’ll be having her sometime in the next two weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So. Yeah. She’s HUGE.

I couldn’t fall asleep last night, thinking about what I must have done wrong. Sure, my family has big babies (I was near 9 pounds, myself), but 12 pounds (assuming she makes it to term)???? That’s some freaking Ripley’s Believe it or Not ish, and it’s my fault. I haven’t exactly stuck to that low-fat diet that my OB prescribed back in week 20-something; in fact, I’ve blown past the recommended weight gain for women who were UNDERweight before pregnancy, and I started off overweight to begin with. As Christian Bale would say, OHHHHHHHHHHH, GOOD FOR YOU.

Frankly, I feel horrible. My very first requirement as a mother was to do everything right to help my baby grow appropriately, and I feel like I fucked it up. I’ve grown a far-too-big baby, and I’ve let Biskit down. If it turns out that I do have GD after all, I will feel even worse — because the last thing I ever would have wanted for my sweet little girl was for her first few hours to be spent having her bloodsugar crash, and getting stuck with needles constantly. Babies whose mothers have GD are at a greater risk themselves for developing diabetes type I or II later in life, and are often obese. Just lovely, Lucy — way to go. Way to give your daughter the best kick off in life possible.

I’m sorry, sweetheart.

MAMA

34.5 weeks and miscellaney

1. Every shirt is now a belly shirt. Basically, take this guy:

Switch out the beer for a glass of ice water, subtract the chest hairs and hike the shirt about four inches further up his chest, and you have a pretty good picture of what I look like most of the time.

2. Note to random strangers: the appropriate response to “I’m having a girl” is never, ever “Man, I’m SO GLAD I never had a girl.” Particularly when I was minding my own business, and YOU just HAD to talk to me about my pregnancy. I didn’t ask for your thoughts, thanks.

Oh — and I’m really glad you never had a girl either. Ass.

3. All actions require grunting. Standing up, sitting down, turning over in bed — all gruntworthy.

4. My stomach has officially developed sharp corners. I cannot fathom six more weeks of her growing at this rate – she’s gotta be close to 6 pounds by now. There is NO MORE ROOM.

5. Also – I cannot count the times lately when I have sat down to pee, thought I was done, stood up, and IMMEDIATELY had to sit back down again to pee some more. Even then, I will inevitably feel like I have to pee within five minutes anyway. Baby’s (VERY. VERY. BIG.) head on your bladder = constant urgency.

That is all.
MAMA!

34 Weeks

Remember this shirt?

27 weeks

Well.

It’s getting a little more of a workout these days.

Quick bullet points below because pregnant ladies do not have the concentration for – you know. Coherent thoughts and such. Attention span … lacking.

1. Everything in the world should be located hip-height or above. Bending over is for suckers.

2. Related to #1 — if I drop something on the floor these days, fuggedaboutit. It is dead to me.

3. My beautiful, svelte ankles and feet are gone, gone gone. Sigh. I remember when I had ankles like this. Now I have the fat, pudgy feet of an elephant, and they hurt like the dickens. They are almost too fat for my danskos. THAT’S fat.

4. Note to self: even if skin on stomach is flaking, do NOT, under any circumstances, use a loofah in a misguided attempt to exfoliate that tender, tender, stretched out area. You will end up feeling like you took a blowtorch to your skin.

5. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Like for reals.

6. Biskit seems to have decided that my right side is where it’s at. She hasn’t moved for several weeks now – bum on my right ribs, knees in my middle, head in my pelvis. The kind of nifty thing is that I can tell exactly how much she’s growing because her various bony appendages are in the same locations — only protruding more and more every. single. day. Despite the way it may look in the picture above, I no longer have a nicely rounded tum — I am lopsided and lumpy with baby.

7. A very cool/freaky thing happened yesterday morning. Biskit tends to slide upward overnight, such that when I wake up, her butt is actually on TOP of my ribs. It is WEIRD. But anyway, yesterday morning she was perched so prominently on my ribcage that her entire body jutted out of my side — a veritable mountain ridge of baby – and I could trace the line of her butt and back all the way down the side of my stomach down to where her head disappeared in my pelvis. Holycrapsofuckingcool! (And oh my lands, this child is BIG.)

8. I measured my stomach last night. I am 51″ in diameter. I have grown three entire inches in three weeks, and that is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall baby. Jaysus.

Ta for now!
MAMA!

33 weeks – and contractions

I awoke around 2 a.m. this morning with what I can only call a REAL contraction. It started slowly – a seizing up in my lower abdomen, building up to a strong, crunching cramp that had me biting my fist and trying furiously to remember my breathing exercises. Finally, I shot up in bed, and sitting seemed to ease the pain somewhat. Finally, after what seemed an eternity (but was probably around 90 seconds) the cramping eased away, and I collapsed back into bed.

And then, I woke up again, about fifteen minutes later. Cramp cramp cramp building, burning….. I grabbed Matt’s shoulder to try to ground myself (thankfully, he didn’t wake up – I probably would have freaked him the hell out). Back arched, trying not to holler, but fucking OWWWWWWW OWWW OWW OWW OWW.

(Biskit chose this moment to express her enthusiasm by kicking my side furiously.)

And then, total, complete relief. Back to sleep.

On it went, every 12 or 15 minutes, for another hour and a half. In between contractions, I ran to the bathroom to refill my water glass, downing 32 ounces at a time to try to stop the pains. No such luck! Finally, I fell asleep after a contraction around 3:30 a.m. and didn’t wake up again until 7 a.m. They had stopped on their own.

Baby girl, I am as eager as anybody in the world to meet you, but PLEASE, for the love of God, stay put for a few weeks longer. You still need to bake — mature those lungs, and fatten those little legs and arms — and once you’ve done that, then we can talk about setting up our first face-to-face meeting.

Mama!

32 and a half weeks

I’m rather suddenly and unexpectedly finding pregnancy to be a joy (a welcome change!).

For sure, I’m still plenty uncomfortable with my various pregnancy-related afflictions, but something about reaching the latter stages of this pregnancy has given me a new perspective. Matt and I are down to the last few weeks as being a family of two, and this time is golden. We will never be “just the two of us” ever again – even after Biskit grows up and leaves the nest. I want to savor every moment that we have left before we are hit with Hurricane Baby, and our world changes forever.

Biskit’s 32 week scan. I can’t wait to NOM on that little chubby neck!

I have always loved feeling her move, but her wiggles and bumps put me in a downright blissful state these days. The ultrasound tech confirmed for me last week that Biskit is lying exactly as I thought she was – head down, back facing my right side – bum on the right side of my ribcage, knees to the middle of my chest, and feets tickling my sternum. I love to lay on my back and cup her bum with one hand and her knees with the other and give her a little cuddle (or, if I’m listening to music, to drum out the rhythm on her little butt). I could pass hours every day doing nothing but lying in bed, feeling her knees and legs and elbows slide around inside of me.

I love this picture – she looks like she’s making a “fart face,” all pursed lips and crinkled nose!

Yesterday, Matt painted her room a sunny yellow, shampooed the carpet, and organized all of her things. All of a sudden, the room is REALLY hers, and it is a peaceful, warm and welcoming place.

Ohhhh, my little Biskit. We are almost ready for you!

32 weeks

This morning, I saw a man waiting at a bus stop with his little boy. The man had such a hopeful, excited look on his face, and he was holding his little boy’s hand so tight. The little boy was beaming at his dad. I had a feeling that they don’t normally ride the bus – that this was going to be an adventure for the little boy – and something about that scene just brought me to the verge of tears.

I can’t wait to have adventures with my little girl.

Today we have our 32 week ultrasound, and I am SO excited to see Biskit’s little face again! She is sheer magic to me.

Even though I am barely getting any sleep these days, I cannot help but stay awake when my little daughter begins her nightly dance. I put my hands on my tum, and feel her legs, knees, arms slide around under my skin – just the two of us cuddled in the dark – her dancing, stretching, doing the moonwalk – me marveling at the miracle that Matt and I have created. Those are moments of sheer, absolute joy for me — the closest thing to heaven on earth that exists. My sweetest, precious, most loved baby — you are already the apple of my eye. I love you so much.

Your
MAMA

I love my husband.

For so many reasons, of which these are just a few:

1. I am currently very sick with a horridnastyoogie chest cold. He has yet to murder me in my sleep when I wake him up 8,483 times a night with an ear-shattering cough.

2. He had a rotten day at work on Monday, and wanted nothing more than to veg out – but instead, he made me HOMEMADE chicken noodle soup AND lemon meringue pie.

3. And then, he gave me a wicked awesome massage.

4. And cleaned my car.

I am one lucky, lucky lady.

31 weeks

I’m pretty sure Biskit is going through a growth spurt. Not only has eating become almost full time job for me (you know it’s bad when you’re actually SICK OF EATING SO MUCH, GOD), but — yeah. Remember when I said that my tum seemed to have stopped growing? NEVERMIND, for lo, I was full of crap.

Shirts that were loose just a few weeks ago are now stretched tightly across my tum. I’m glad I bought some dresses to wear over pants, because they are about the only things guaranteed to be long enough to cover my entire stomach at this point. I may have to resort to wearing galabeyas eventually!

So, it’s been a bit of a stressful week here at Biskit Headquarters. My favorite OB told me last week that he’s leaving the practice on May 1 — i.e., a full month before my due date. This piece of news set off a panicked search for a new OB (or midwife) who would be willing to take me on at 31 weeks along. We are meeting with one OB practice next week, and going to an open house at a midwifery practice the same evening. One bonus — the new OB practice does 32-week ultrasounds, so Matt and I will have a chance to see Biskit again before she’s born. My current OB did one at 20 weeks, but nothing after that. I can’t wait to see Biskit’s little face again.

According to the pregnancy books, she is probably about 16″ long from head to heel at this point, and weighs around 3 and a half pounds. Personally, I think she’s probably around 4 (or even more) – I feel like I am carrying one HUGE child. I am now getting the “You’re having twins, right?” question at LEAST once a day.

This weekend is our baby shower. I am SO excited! Hopefully we’ll be able to deck the nursery out afterward — we’ve held off on buying much of anything because we figured that people would end up giving us a lot of stuff and there was no point in ending up with duplicates. I will be SUPER thrilled to have her room ready for her arrival — right now, it’s still mostly empty (except for the mountains of diapers and wipes, which keeps growing thanks to the fact that I am AWESOME with coupons – I’ve been scoring BIG tubs of Huggies wipes for anywhere between $.49 and $.99 each lately. Go me!).

OH! And on the topic of self-congratulation, I am thrilled at how well Matt and I are doing in preparing financially for Le Biskit. When we started buckling down on money in a serious way back in November, we basically had nothing in our savings account. (It was so easy to be lazy about socking money away when we had no real savings goal in mind — I weep for our lost opportunities, but oh well.) This week, we hit the $12,250 mark. That’s $12,250 saved up in five months! We’re now living entirely on Matt’s salary, and although it’s definitely been tight at times, I think we are both getting a kick out of seeing just how far our money can stretch. We should be able to hit $15,000 by the time Biskit arrives, assuming that I work until at least the 35 week mark. It will be much harder to amass savings so quickly when my salary stops coming in, but I hope to save up enough money to cover six months’ worth of expenses before too terribly long.

Cheers!
MAMA