38 weeks – false labour or the real deal?

I’m 38 weeks today and feeling pretty good.  Well, at least I’m feeling good at the moment.  On Monday night, I was pretty sure it was “go time” and that we’d be welcoming our new little boy.

But nope.  False alarm.  I’ve had a couple of incidents of contractions during this pregnancy, but Monday night was different.  Around 10:00 p.m. I started getting some crampy pains.  By 10:30, I could tell they were coming in waves so I started timing them.  I was pretty uncomfortable and kept having to get out of bed.  They were around 7 minutes apart for quite a while, sometimes dipping closer to 5-6 minutes.  As the time got later, we contemplated whether we should call my parents to come over and watch Littleman.

At my OB appointment this week, Dr. P had said I should go in and get checked if the contractions were 6-7 minutes apart for an hour.  Although I certainly met that criteria, I just didn’t really feel like it was time yet.  So we decided to wait it out a bit longer.  By after midnight, I was getting pretty miserable.  We decided we’d both shower and then see how I felt.  Again, I just couldn’t decide.  I dried my hair (stopping a couple of times to get through the cramps) and then we lay down on the bed for a bit.  I figured I’d be more comfortable progressing a bit further at home, rather than dragging myself to the hospital in the middle of the night, only to be possibly sent back home.

Finally, around 3:30 a.m., I must have dozed off between contractions because when the next one hit, I realized I’d never stopped my timer from the previous contraction and it had been counting for 17 minutes.  Obviously, they were tapering off.  At that point, I put away my phone, stopped timing and finally, finally, got a bit of sleep.

As you can imagine, I felt like crap yesterday after getting very little sleep.  I was kind of expecting things to start up again once I started moving, but for the last 36 hours or so, I’ve felt fine.

I’ve read that false labour can help prepare your body for the real thing, making actual labour can be quicker/easier.  I sure hope that’s true.  Because, if so, I’m super prepared!

Other than that, not much has changed this week in terms of pregnancy symptoms…

Sleep: Awkward and uncomfortable, with pretty consistent insomnia between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m.

Symptoms: The acid reflux is still horrible.  I’m snoring like a mo-fo (although I’ve bought some nasal strips which I think are helping a bit).  I’m feeling a ton of pressure down below and my bladder feels like it is constantly full.

Other: It’s a really good thing that I’m on maternity leave now because I would be having a really hard time if I had to continue to get dressed for work.  Most of my tops are too short now and I struggle to keep the bottom of my belly covered.  I don’t feel like I’m all that huge, but I guess the baby’s dropped just enough to make clothing awkward.

28 weeks

I can’t really believe that I’ve officially reached the third trimester.  Only 12 weeks to go!  I’d put money on this little man arriving a bit sooner than that, although now that I’ve said that out loud, he’ll probably decide to hang in there longer just to bug me!

I continue to struggle with getting into my winter wardrobe.  As catwoman73  pointed out to me, she was lucky enough to be at this stage of pregnancy during the spring.  I’m a bit jealous.   Not having to wear boots (or even socks!) would be pretty dreamy right now!

I am, however, pleased to report that my Black Friday purchases have been a success.  There’s nothing better than some new tops that were 50% off.  It felt good to be able to give my boring wardrobe a bit of a lift.

Here’s what’s been going on this week…

Symptoms:  I’m thinking it may be time to start doing some kiegels.  Anyone have any experience/luck with these?  I’ve had a couple of pretty close calls recently when it comes to sneezing and peeing my pants.  It appears that my control “down there” is less than stellar these days.  Perhaps I’m too late.  Probably should have thought of that during my first pregnancy…

Fetal movement:  I think I can probably drop this category now, since the movement is pretty strong and regular.  In fact, a number of my colleagues have noticed my belly hopping around while we’re in meetings or chatting.  Sometimes it blows my mind how strong this little guy is already!

Other: Sleeping is getting a bit less comfortable these days.  Rolling over with my pregnancy pillow is pretty awkward.  I’ve incorporated the wedge pillow into my sleeping routine this week, which is helping a bit. 

 

Funny fashion

Have you ever seen a beached whale try to squeeze itself into a wetsuit?  Well, that’s kind of what a pregnant lady looks like when she’s trying to put on a pair of tights.

I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror this morning as I grunted, groaned and sweated my way into my maternity tights.  Oh boy, what a sight to behold!  A round, white belly and some (ever so slightly) pudgy thighs contrasted against black, opaque spandex.  It was borderline obscene. 

At least it gave me a good laugh, which is hard to do at way-too-early-o’clock.  Someone should record this shit and put it on YouTube. 

I’ve always been amazed at the lengths we women will go to for fashion: putting up with unbearable pain for a cute pair of heels or freezing our arses off in a great dress.  But being pregnant and trying to look decent takes it to a whole new level.  It’s possible that I hit rock bottom this morning when I asked my toddler to zip up my knee-high boots.   At least he thought it was fun.

Canadian Black Friday

Although us Canadians didn’t get to enjoy a turkey dinner yesterday (and despite today being a regular workday!) we still manage to enjoy the benefits of Black Friday.

Since my office building is attached to a major shopping centre, I had to take advantage of today’s deals. I managed to squeeze in two hours of shopping before work even started!

I was in the mall before 7:00 a.m. and am very pleased with my purchases. I mostly got Christmas gifts, but I also snuck in a few maternity tops for myself (I had to – 50% off!!)

By the time I was done, my feet were sore and I was starving. Luckily I found a place where breakfast sandwiches were “buy one get one 1/2 price” so I scarfed those down in record time. All in all, a successful morning!

Winter blues

I know it’s not even officially “winter” yet, but I hate winter already.  I hate being cold.  I hate bundling up in too many clothes but still not being able to feel my fingers, my toes or my nose.  I hate snow, wind and slush.  I spent a year in Australia when I was in my early twenties and that just confirmed for me that I was born in the wrong part of the world!

Sure, snow can be pretty.  It’s lovely to look outside at some clean, freshly fallen snow when you’re all warm in your house.  But that’s pretty rare.  Usually I’m looking at ugly slushy grey snow piled up on the side of the road as I trudge to the bus stop. 

Anyway, this rant comes because we’re heading into the snowy time of year so I had to go out and purchase some new winter boots yesterday.  They are big, puffy and ugly.  (Sounds vaguely familiar?  Yes, they look kind of like my maternity winter coat!)  The main reason for the purchase (and the ugliness) is that I needed boots that I could pretty much just step into.  No laces.  No zippers.  I’ve hit the point in my pregnancy where bending at the waist has become quite a challenge.  My attempts to zip up boots lead to grunting and groaning that no one wants to hear.  So, I wandered through the shoe section of a large downtown department store yesterday looking for a pair of boots that I could get myself into.  There were tons of super cute winter boots to choose from if I could tolerate zipping or tying, but I knew that would be a bad idea.  I guess retailers don’t think maternity footwear is a necessary invention, but they clearly aren’t thinking about winter wear! 

I managed to find a suitable pair that will do the trick, although they will require me to throw all fashion sense out the window.  I suppose it’s safer to choose function over fashion for the next few months but, believe me, I will be buying a cuter pair as soon as I can bend again!

Is it almost spring?

26 weeks

The past week was challenging but Littleman seems to have recovered from his illness and, miraculously, I have managed to avoid catching it.  After a couple of solid nights of sleep, we were all in better moods by the time Monday morning rolled around.

And then Monday morning brought with it a whole new set of challenges: building Ikea furniture!  D and I dropped Littleman and daycare and set to work on clearing out our spare bedroom (aka storage room), which will soon become Littleman’s big boy room.  I will write a separate update about our progress, but let me just say that my poor body is actually happy to be back at the office today.  Crawling around on my hands and knees to assemble furniture while pregnant is a lot harder than I anticipated.  I was in a good amount of pain by the end of the two days!

Other than that, here’s what’s been going on this week…

Symptoms:  Should I even bother saying how tired I am?  Nothing new there.  I’ve also started noticing that I’m getting more frequent Braxton Hicks contractions.  I don’t really remember this from my first pregnancy, although I probably wasn’t as aware of what was going on with my body that time around.  They certainly aren’t painful but the tightening of my belly is definitely noticeable. 

Fetal movement:  This kid is definitely getting stronger by the day.  My app says he’s the size of a cucumber, but he sure can kick (or punch?)  Sometimes it actually feels a bit uncomfortable, but I love it anyway.  I love the reminder that the little guy is getting big and strong in there!

Other: I cracked out my maternity winter coat today.  I squeezed myself into my regular winter coat last week, but it was pretty uncomfortable, so I decided it was time for the Big Ugly.  That’s really the only way to describe my new coat.  It’s big, black and puffy.  But it was cheap and, for three months of use, that’s all I really care about.

22 weeks

I missed my last weekly update due to a horrible headache, which seems to be the theme of my second trimester so far.  The headaches are ridiculous!  It’s so frustrating when there’s nothing I can do about it.

Other than that, the last couple of weeks have been relatively uneventful.  I’m definitely growing faster now, though, with my belly expanding very rapidly.  I feel like I’m looking wider too, although my friends assure me that I don’t look pregnant from the back.  It’s possible they’re just being polite.

I’ve also been suffering from a bad case of raging bitchiness lately.  It’s mostly been directed at a relatively new colleague of mine (behind his back, of course) but I’m happy to report that he didn’t last and left the company yesterday.  Hopefully my hormones won’t decide to turn on someone else in his place…

Symptoms:  I’m starting to feel like I don’t have enough skin to cover my expanding belly.  Logically, I know that it will stretch, but sometimes it feels like I will actually burst open.  It doesn’t help that the colder weather means the furnace is turned on and the air is drier.  I was so itchy the other day that I scratched the crap out of my stomach to the point that I looked like I’d been mauled by a werewolf.

Clothing: I was finally successful in finding a pair of skinny jeans.  Yay!  Aside from the jeans and a new winter coat, I haven’t bought much else.  At this point, I think I’ll just have to make do with what I have. 

In other clothing news, the other day, I had an unpleasant reminder of how much bigger I’m going to get.  I pulled out a couple of pairs of pajamas that I wore throughout my last pregnancy.  They aren’t maternity jammies, just loose, stretchy pants and long-sleeved tees.  Anyway, rather than squeeze into my current pajamas, I tried on the old ones.  The pants literally dropped to the floor.  Yikes.  As big as I feel right now, I guess I still have a lot of growing to do!

Fetal movement:  Baby Bo is still pretty low-key during the day.  His most active time is right before I get out of bed in the morning.  He gives me the odd punch or kick if I’ve been sitting still at my desk for a while and sometimes I’ll feel what seems like he’s doing a somersault (kind of feels like my insides are flipping over).  I’m still waiting for some nice strong jabs that can be felt on the outside.

Seven months (and 100 posts!)

It’s been seven months since we found out that we lost our baby, Puppet.  Sometimes, when I think about it, it’s hard to believe that actually happened.  I recently went back and read some of my early blog posts, written when everything was still so raw.   I’ve come a long way since then, but reading those words still brings back a lot of the pain from that time.

So, here I am 100 posts later.  Instead of having a one-month-old baby at home, I’m five months pregnant.  Instead of being a blissful (and sleep-deprived) parent of two, I’m a miscarriage survivor, who constantly worries that something will go wrong again.  I wouldn’t wish that situation on anyone, but I feel that it has made me stronger in some ways.  I realize how precious life is and how easily bad things can happen.  I also realize how lucky I am to have my Littleman and to be having a (so far) successful pregnancy.

I feel like I have a lot of things that I want to write about and I just can’t find the time.  Here’s a quick snippet of what’s going on these days: 

• I missed my 21 week update on Wednesday because I was home with a brutal headache.  My Tylenol and coffee trick didn’t work so I spent most of the day in bed, nauseous and miserable.
• There’s a man on the loose in our neighbourhood who is wanted by police for threats to elementary school children, among other things.  It turns out that he is a dad of a child in our daycare.  The daycare (and all the schools/daycares in the area) are taking many precautions but it is still really scary.
• I bought a maternity winter coat the other day.  It’s big, black and puffy.  I bought the cheapest one I could find (thank you, Old Navy) and apparently the ugliest too.  When I put it on for him, Littleman said, “that’s not pretty!”
• Speaking of Littleman, he got invited to a birthday party this weekend.  He’s been to birthday parties for family and family friends, but this is the first invitation he’s received for a kid that we (i.e. mom and dad) don’t know.  It’s a little boy from his daycare class.  He’s so excited to go, but I can’t help feeling like he’s growing up too fast!

Hopefully I’ll have some time in the next little while to write about some of the things that have been on my mind lately:  exercise, breastfeeding, support from family, etc.  Until then, thanks to all of you who’ve been around for my journey these past several months.

20 weeks

Well, here we are at the halfway point of my pregnancy.  It’s kind of hard to believe, although in some ways it feels like I’ve been pregnant forever.  (Perhaps that’s because I have been pregnant for 8 months already in 2013!)

My pregnancy app finally tells me that Bo is no longer the size of a mango, but has moved on to a banana.  I find these fruit comparisons a little odd, but for some reason I still look forward to seeing what comes next.

Obviously, this week’s big news was our anatomy scan and finding out that Bo is a baby boy!   My sister had her scan as well and found out that she’s having a girl.  This may come out sounding all wrong, but telling people I’m having another boy has been hard.  It’s almost like everyone is a bit disappointed.  Like they assume that the perfect scenario is to have one of each, and that having two boys isn’t as ideal.  I know that I’m probably reading into things, but I can’t help feel weird about people’s reactions.  They say things like, “well, at least you won’t have to buy as much stuff” or “you already know what it’s like to have a boy” or even “you’ll have to try for another!”   I think this blog is the only place where people have truly seemed happy for me that it’s a boy.

Perhaps part of it is my own ever-so-slight sadness that I’ll never have a daughter.  I would have loved to have a girl.  But I’m thrilled to have two little boys.  Having a son has been so much more rewarding than I ever imagined and knowing I’m having another son makes my heart burst.   Regardless of all of this, it’s great to finally know that Bo is a boy.

At my OB appointment, Dr. P gave me the results from my IPS (Integrated Prenatal Screening) testing.  The results looked very good, with my odds of the baby having Down syndrome put at 1/2,200.    

Other than that, things continue to chug along.  Here’s a roundup of the usual stuff…

Symptoms:  I’m getting pretty frequent headaches these days.  Doc says to take Tylenol with some caffeine, and that‘s about all I can do.  Still tired all the time and still breaking out.  Had my first bout of heartburn last night after dinner, which was terribly uncomfortable.  Must remember not to eat so much… 

Clothing: I’m starting to get bored of my wardrobe already, which doesn’t bode well for the next few months.  I had a successful attempt at wearing maternity tights with a skirt yesterday (using my cami trick to hold them up).   The pants that seem to fit the best these days are the ones that go under my belly.  Unfortunately, they also make me look like I have a bad case of muffin top because my bump is still pretty soft (especially in the morning).  I hate feeling like I just look flabby, but the full panel pants (which I generally love) are still a bit too big for me these days.  Spending the day hiking the panel up to my boobs looks even more awkward than the muffin top!

Fetal movement:  Movement is still pretty limited, although at least I feel something every day.  Dr. P told me that, at this stage, I’ll only be feeling about 10% of Bo’s movements.  When he listened to the heartbeat with the Doppler, we could hear a bunch of wooshing and other sounds.  He told me that was movement, although I couldn’t feel a thing.  I’m still waiting for the moment that it gets strong enough for D to feel it on the outside.

 

19 weeks

Sometimes it blows my mind that people can be so completely socially inept, yet still function in a regular workplace.  For example, yesterday I rode the elevator (a very, very full elevator) with our company’s receptionist.  Here’s how our conversation went:

Her: I didn’t know you were expecting!

Me: Yep.

Her: That’s soon!

Me: Excuse me?

Her: Isn’t your son only,  like, 2 or something?

Me: Yes.  He’ll be 3 when the baby is born.

Her (with raised eyebrows):  Oh.  Hmm.

What the eff was that?  To top it all off, my company’s CEO as well as my VP were among the crowd in the elevator.  First of all, I don’t think 3 years apart is terribly close together.  In fact, if things had gone as planned, my children would have been much closer together in age.  Second, the age gap of my children is none of her business (nor is it the business of the rest of people crammed into the stupid elevator).  Perhaps my pregnancy hormones, but I wanted to slap her silly!

In happier news, I just had the most delicious lunch.  It was a yummy caprese grilled cheese Panini (white bread, of course), with a jumbo organic pickle on the side.  Amazing!

A pregnant lady’s dream lunch!

Symptoms:  At 19 weeks, the random bouts of nausea have almost completely subsided.  I am getting way too many headaches these days, but I do recall that happening a lot in the second trimester of Littleman’s pregnancy.  My mom and I heading off for a mini-vacation tomorrow.  We’re going on an overnight trip to a spa, so I’m hoping a prenatal massage and some relaxation will help a bit.

Clothing: I tried another brand of leggings.  These ones were less shiny (that’s the only way I can think of to describe the difference without knowing the type of material) than the first pair I tried.  They definitely stayed up better, but I found that they stretched out more throughout the day.  By the end of the day, the knees were pretty droopy.  Ugh.

I hit up Old Navy yesterday and managed to get a couple of decently priced cute tops and an inexpensive pair of dress pants, which will hopefully get me through the next little while.

Fetal movement:  Things are picking up on the movement front.  I finally started feeling some movement during the day – not just in the middle of the night.  It’s still super faint, but at least it’s recognizable as something more than just gas.  It brings me so much comfort to feel something actually going on in there.

Other: My next ultrasound is coming up on Monday.  Woohoo!!  This is our anatomy scan and the one where we can potentially find out the sex of the baby.  I plan to write more about my feelings about finding out if it’s a boy or a girl soon.