Total weight gain: 21-22 pounds
How big is baby?: About the size of a squash or large jicama (approx. 3.5 pounds & 16.7 inches)
Maternity clothes?: Yes, anything to increase my comfort level at this point is welcomed. :)
Stretch marks?: No new ones, but the old ones are stretching a tiny bit.
Sleep?: Horrendous. I'm so uncomfortable, I'm peeing all the time, and having contractions strong enough to wake me up and keep me up. :(
Best moment this week? Having the whole family at Owen's checkup appointment. Hubby came... that's a first (or second this pregnancy actually...)
Movement?: Depends on the day. Sometimes he's really quiet and other times he's all over the place.
Food cravings?: Not really cravings. I only eat when I'm hungry and pretty much stick to the same foods every day.
Labor signs?: Yes and no. I have had a lot of contractions starting this week and they are strong enough to me that they don't feel like Braxton Hicks. They did a fetal fibronectin test on me yesterday to make sure I'm not at risk to go into labor within the next 2 weeks. Hoping no news is good news.
Belly button in or out?: Mostly in, but part of it is starting to puff out a little.
What I miss: Sleep... and unswollen feet.
What I'm looking forward to: Preparing for Owen and getting our ducks in a row before he gets here (yes, I'm nesting...). In addition to the obvious of giving birth and meeting him...
Weekly Wisdom: Do kick counts and keep an eye on contractions. If you have more than you think you should, try drinking more water & emptying your bladder first. Or go for a walk. If none of those work and you are still concerned, call your doctor.
Milestone: See more in the details of my midwife appointment below. BBC says that I'll be gaining about a pound a week and around half of that will be going straight to the baby. The baby will gain about half it's body weight over the next 7 weeks. Fingernails, toenails, and hair are present. In addition, I started lactating this week... yeah, really??
I had my visit with my midwife yesterday for this 2 week period. Everything looks good as far as Owen is concerned. He's growing right on track, I'm measuring at about 29-30 weeks right now according to her measurements, and his heartrate was a steady 150-ish BPM. I also had my first cervical check this week. Normally they are not performed this early, but I've had a lot of strong contractions with a mild pattern in addition to lots of discharge and all around tightness & discomfort in my belly over the last week. It was enough to slightly alarm them though not out of the normal realm, but with the fact that I'm still 5 weeks from being considered "full term", they felt that for my peace of mind and theirs that it was a warranted check. I'm luckily not dilated and my cervix is still relatively high, but I am thinning out. She said I have about 1cm of thickness left. They also performed a fetal fibronectin (FFN) test on me to check if I'm at an elevated risk for pre-term labor within the next 2 weeks. I'm assuming that no news is good news and I've not heard anything back yet. Despite not being terribly concerned at this point, I do need to keep an eye on my contractions (I'm getting them every day/night) and continue to report to them. In addition, they are putting me on 1000mg of calcium magnesium daily to help keep the contractions at a minimum and have also told me that I need to take it easy and rest more. Obviously it will be hard with two kids so we all need my hubby and others to step up and help as much as possible. Bedrest isn't in the equation yet, but we all know how unpredictable things can be so you never know what it could be like next week. Other than that, everything is going along well and we are counting down the days until I'm full-term on January 17th. Obviously we would like him to cook longer than that, but at least at that point if he does come it will be a lot safer.
In addition to the contractions, or maybe it's just in conjunction with them, I started lactating this week. Weird, right? It may be completely normal for some, but for me it's just not. I never had that issue with either of my previous pregnancies despite my attempts with Jayden at natural methods to bring on labor after 38 weeks, one of which being nipple stimulation. Even then I couldn't get anything out of my boobs. Now? I have a contraction and they are like leaky faucets! WTF?? This has been going on for at least the last week... I woke up due to a really strong contraction and had this tingly feeling in my breasts like my milk was letting down, so I got up and went into the bathroom and, sure enough, I'm leaking from both sides! I know that it could still be many weeks before Owen comes, but all these weird symptoms are making me second guess things and make me nervous about him coming before he's truly ready. I just pray he keeps baking!!
I get that boob tingle too! no actual wetness coming out tho... I do have white spots on my nipples like it's thinking about it! LOL I pray Owen stays in a bit longer!
ReplyDelete