Bugabug: 38 Weeks

First of all, today is my two year blogiversary! I really really love blogging in this space. I enjoy sharing my journey with all of you readers, and I am very grateful for all of you. I am such a different person since I started this blog, and it has been so much fun to document this journey, to grow as a person, as a mom, and as a citizen of the planet. Thanks for reading!

Weeks pregnant: 38
Baby size: Leek
Total weight gain: +30lb
Total waist gain: + 12"

Prenatal/Birth stuff: I've been for two appointments since my last pregnancy update. I was "checked" at the end of my bed rest period, and I was 5.5cm dilated, 80% effaced, and station 0 (read here for an explanation of these terms). The bed rest worked to stop labor, and once I went off of bed rest, it did not start up again. My instincts tell me I will carry until 40 weeks. At my appointment this week, I wasn't checked again, but baby is definitely no longer at station 0. She has worked her way back up higher in my uterus (i.e. less close to being born). I can tell just by the pressure I was feeling on my cervix when she was so low versus not feeling that now. Also, the midwife felt my abdomen and could feel the baby's head, which is much higher now than it was last week. I think baby was forced down by the contractions that resulted from the stomach flu before she was ready. Now that things have calmed down, she scooted back up, and we just have to wait until she is ready.

Physical stuff: Since baby is no longer halfway through my pelvis, I'm a little more comfortable in that regard. I don't have the pelvic/cervical soreness of a super low baby. However, my SI joint is still very uncomfortable. The bed rest was really good for it–since I wasn't walking much, it was able to rest, and even a few days after bed rest was over, it felt good. But then we went to the zoo to see holiday lights, which required a ton of walking, and it's been really sore since. It's a little better in the mornings but then gradually gets worse as the day goes on. Basically walking, standing, climbing stairs, or anything that puts weight on my right leg causes sharp pain in the back of my hip/top of my right leg in one isolated spot. I've tried chiropractic, massage, PT, two different pregnancy belts. Nothing has really helped. At this point, I'm just really hoping that delivering the baby solves the problem. I'm sure I can survive another two weeks. Otherwise, I actually feel fantastic. I am not feeling super huge. My energy is good. I am getting around okay. I've had some minor pregnancy insomnia, but nothing too crazy. If I wake up at night, I can usually get back to sleep by doing some relaxation exercises, listening to my Circle + Bloom Healthy Birth Program, or reading for a few minutes. I only even need those strategies every few nights–most nights, I am still sleeping pretty well. I am feeling lucky for being this far along in a second pregnancy and still feeling decent. I feel better now than I did two months ago!

Emotional Stuff: I am so relieved that baby isn't coming too early. I am grateful to have gotten through Christmas. I'm happy to be cleared for my home birth instead of going to the hospital. I am just hoping we can get through Penny's birthday and party next week, which I think we will. And then, I'll feel totally ready for baby to arrive. It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions when I didn't know if baby would come early, where I'd be delivering, etc. Part of me was excited to meet her, but I was also really hoping she would be ready for birth. I definitely do NOT need any additional breastfeeding challenges. So overall, I think it is a very good thing that she's decided to wait.

Before Baby to-do list (items in italics have been started but not finished):

• Make a few frozen oven-ready meals found this website, which I may just use instead :)
• Stock the freezer/pantry with filling snacks (muffins, lactation cookies, bagels)
• Make more cloth diaper inserts- decided I have enough
• Catalog/archive/organize digital photographs
• Unpack newborn stuff (slings, blankets, nursing pillow, swaddles, etc) from storage and organize for baby
• Get Penny's preschool applications ready
• Get some flushable diaper liners to use during the meconium poop stage.
• Inflate birth tub
• Get fittings/hose to fill birth tub and test to ensure that they work.

There's nothing like early labor to get the nesting instincts in full gear. My mom and Josh helped with some of these things while I was on bed rest, and I finished the rest as soon as I was able to move around again. I still have a few things on my personal to-do list, but we are in very good shape.

Here I was 38 weeks pregnant with Penny two years ago: