Ninth Month Update
Since my last post I have gone to both my last(!) doctor's appointment and my last(!) hospital appointment. And by last(!) I mean: before giving birth.
3 1/2 weeks really doesn't sound like much, does it? Especially considering that it might not even be 3 1/2 weeks anymore, cause really, the estimated due date is just that: estimated.
And as if to really drive the point home: during my first acupuncture session I saw one of the girls from my gym class in the hospital, wheeling around her baby daughter - water broke 2 weeks early. And yesterday I saw a girl from acupuncture doing just the same - and she also had at least a couple of weeks to go.
Not that anything is pointing towards early labor with my Booger, though. Both my doctor and the doctor in the hospital confirmed that the head is still down, and everything looks very good so far. They both did a Doppler to listen to the heartbeat and to measure the blood flow through the umbilical cord, since my placenta has already started to "fossilize", as is normal at this stage of pregnancy. My cervix is still closed, and the head hasn't fully rotated into my pelvis yet, so I guess my fears of early labor are unfounded - so far. Unfortunately, in both instances I have forgotten to ask about the weight of my child, but i am estimating it at a good 3 kilos already. From my second-to-last appointment to my last I have only gained one kilo, and I simply assume that it's all baby weight, not my own. As it stands, I have gained 13 kilos total, which really isn't bad at all, I am proud of myself. :)
I haven't gotten any new pictures of the baby ever since the 3d-ultrasound, since by now Booger is so big that the regular ultrasound pictures really don't show much anymore, but I am not upset by this. Soon I will get to see him/her anyway. :)
What does upset me though is how some people around us refer to Booger as a boy already - as a definite thing. No "predictions" based on old wives' tales, or good-natured betting - but set-in-stone "knowledge". My FIL always asks about his "grandson", Tio#E refers to the baby as his "nephew"... and a few other people do the same thing. It's like the option of this baby possibly being a girl isn't even up for discussion. It's not even a remote possibility. They all know that it's a boy. Cause it just can't be any other way.
I mean, it's not like I don't want a boy... but by now I am so resentful towards this "knowledge" of my baby being one, that I want a girl - just to spite them and their "precognitions". Just so that they can't nod knowingly and self-reassuredly and say "See, I told you so."
I know the alternative would have been to just ask for the sex during a doctor's appointment and let everybody in on it, so this issue would never even come up - but we did not want that - and now I have to pay for us wanting to be surprised by dealing with such "sixth sense" people and their opinions.
After all - full of shit or not - predicting a baby's sex always gives one a 50:50 chance of being right, imagine such odds for the lotto! And to feel reaffirmed in one's "abilities" based on 50:50 odds just is a "satisfaction" I don't want to give anyone at all - yet the odds are 50:50 that this is just what will happen.
At any rate... besides these annoyances, I am feeling extremely well. I am still waiting for it to happen, what I was told would happen by everybody who has had children before: that I will feel like SHIT during the last weeks, and that being pregnant will turn into such a nuisance, and that I will just want for it to be over. I told this to my doctor too when he asked how I was feeling, and he just laughed. Really, my pregnancy has been a breeze so far. I don't know how much "worse" it can get from now on until delivery, but looking back, there really were a couple of troublesome issues:
Extreme tiredness for 3 whole months. I was afraid I would sleep through birth. This vanished as soon as I hit the fourth month though, like magic.
Constipation and extreme gassiness, which didn't pass the normal way unless with medication. At times it was so bad that I couldn't sit, or stand, or lay, and the pain was literally driving tears to my eyes. This also vanished during the second trimester.
Back pains. Oh, the back pains. This is my one true problem, but even so: ever since I sleep in our new bed on my new mattress it has really taken a turn for the better.
No pukiness, no hemorrhoids, no edemas, no skin problems... none of anything else, really. I didn't gain too much weight, my skin (so far) didn't rip and I have no stretch marks on my belly (yet). Heck, I am in my ninth month of pregnancy, and I don't even waddle around like other pregnoids do, with my hand supporting my back, bent back as far as gravity would allow me to. I walk normally and upright. I can get out of bed by myself unless my back has a really bad day, and I could have helped out during the move a lot more, would anybody have let me.
Sure, some kicks really do hurt now, cervical pressure is anything but pleasurable, perineal massage is a true bitch, and I do tire out rather easily. I sleep a lot. So what. I am 36 and a half weeks pregnant. Overall? I love being pregnant, and I will miss it. I will miss feeling my baby so privately, being so close to it, and getting all the attention and the consideration from other people. It's just great. I am not annoyed by it to the point that I am longing for birth to be rid of my baby-belly already.
Which isn't to say that I am not looking forward to the birth experience. Sure, I am nervous and a bit worried about what's ahead of me, but I am not scared at all. Just yesterday my best friend Auntie#K mentioned how calm I was about everything. I just think that if I am afraid and scared and freaking out I will just make things harder on myself and the baby. I will truly try to make this birth experience as positive and calm as possible, for I am sure it will be good for my baby too, and its first moments in this world.
Heck, I am so relaxed and chill that I haven't even started to pack my hospital bag yet! And that even though theoretically the baby could come any day, literally!
Still so much to do, though! On Thursday we have scheduled an appointment with a photographer. We want some artistic nudes of ourselves and my belly, and I am really excited about that. We also still want to make a cast of my belly, and do some body painting. Somehow the move really messed with our belly-plans, and now I feel I have to cram everything in before the big day. o_O
Ha! And we need to pick up the crib from my friend, too!
So little time now...! :)
3 1/2 weeks really doesn't sound like much, does it? Especially considering that it might not even be 3 1/2 weeks anymore, cause really, the estimated due date is just that: estimated.
And as if to really drive the point home: during my first acupuncture session I saw one of the girls from my gym class in the hospital, wheeling around her baby daughter - water broke 2 weeks early. And yesterday I saw a girl from acupuncture doing just the same - and she also had at least a couple of weeks to go.
Not that anything is pointing towards early labor with my Booger, though. Both my doctor and the doctor in the hospital confirmed that the head is still down, and everything looks very good so far. They both did a Doppler to listen to the heartbeat and to measure the blood flow through the umbilical cord, since my placenta has already started to "fossilize", as is normal at this stage of pregnancy. My cervix is still closed, and the head hasn't fully rotated into my pelvis yet, so I guess my fears of early labor are unfounded - so far. Unfortunately, in both instances I have forgotten to ask about the weight of my child, but i am estimating it at a good 3 kilos already. From my second-to-last appointment to my last I have only gained one kilo, and I simply assume that it's all baby weight, not my own. As it stands, I have gained 13 kilos total, which really isn't bad at all, I am proud of myself. :)
I haven't gotten any new pictures of the baby ever since the 3d-ultrasound, since by now Booger is so big that the regular ultrasound pictures really don't show much anymore, but I am not upset by this. Soon I will get to see him/her anyway. :)
What does upset me though is how some people around us refer to Booger as a boy already - as a definite thing. No "predictions" based on old wives' tales, or good-natured betting - but set-in-stone "knowledge". My FIL always asks about his "grandson", Tio#E refers to the baby as his "nephew"... and a few other people do the same thing. It's like the option of this baby possibly being a girl isn't even up for discussion. It's not even a remote possibility. They all know that it's a boy. Cause it just can't be any other way.
I mean, it's not like I don't want a boy... but by now I am so resentful towards this "knowledge" of my baby being one, that I want a girl - just to spite them and their "precognitions". Just so that they can't nod knowingly and self-reassuredly and say "See, I told you so."
I know the alternative would have been to just ask for the sex during a doctor's appointment and let everybody in on it, so this issue would never even come up - but we did not want that - and now I have to pay for us wanting to be surprised by dealing with such "sixth sense" people and their opinions.
After all - full of shit or not - predicting a baby's sex always gives one a 50:50 chance of being right, imagine such odds for the lotto! And to feel reaffirmed in one's "abilities" based on 50:50 odds just is a "satisfaction" I don't want to give anyone at all - yet the odds are 50:50 that this is just what will happen.
At any rate... besides these annoyances, I am feeling extremely well. I am still waiting for it to happen, what I was told would happen by everybody who has had children before: that I will feel like SHIT during the last weeks, and that being pregnant will turn into such a nuisance, and that I will just want for it to be over. I told this to my doctor too when he asked how I was feeling, and he just laughed. Really, my pregnancy has been a breeze so far. I don't know how much "worse" it can get from now on until delivery, but looking back, there really were a couple of troublesome issues:
Extreme tiredness for 3 whole months. I was afraid I would sleep through birth. This vanished as soon as I hit the fourth month though, like magic.
Constipation and extreme gassiness, which didn't pass the normal way unless with medication. At times it was so bad that I couldn't sit, or stand, or lay, and the pain was literally driving tears to my eyes. This also vanished during the second trimester.
Back pains. Oh, the back pains. This is my one true problem, but even so: ever since I sleep in our new bed on my new mattress it has really taken a turn for the better.
No pukiness, no hemorrhoids, no edemas, no skin problems... none of anything else, really. I didn't gain too much weight, my skin (so far) didn't rip and I have no stretch marks on my belly (yet). Heck, I am in my ninth month of pregnancy, and I don't even waddle around like other pregnoids do, with my hand supporting my back, bent back as far as gravity would allow me to. I walk normally and upright. I can get out of bed by myself unless my back has a really bad day, and I could have helped out during the move a lot more, would anybody have let me.
Sure, some kicks really do hurt now, cervical pressure is anything but pleasurable, perineal massage is a true bitch, and I do tire out rather easily. I sleep a lot. So what. I am 36 and a half weeks pregnant. Overall? I love being pregnant, and I will miss it. I will miss feeling my baby so privately, being so close to it, and getting all the attention and the consideration from other people. It's just great. I am not annoyed by it to the point that I am longing for birth to be rid of my baby-belly already.
Which isn't to say that I am not looking forward to the birth experience. Sure, I am nervous and a bit worried about what's ahead of me, but I am not scared at all. Just yesterday my best friend Auntie#K mentioned how calm I was about everything. I just think that if I am afraid and scared and freaking out I will just make things harder on myself and the baby. I will truly try to make this birth experience as positive and calm as possible, for I am sure it will be good for my baby too, and its first moments in this world.
Heck, I am so relaxed and chill that I haven't even started to pack my hospital bag yet! And that even though theoretically the baby could come any day, literally!
Still so much to do, though! On Thursday we have scheduled an appointment with a photographer. We want some artistic nudes of ourselves and my belly, and I am really excited about that. We also still want to make a cast of my belly, and do some body painting. Somehow the move really messed with our belly-plans, and now I feel I have to cram everything in before the big day. o_O
Ha! And we need to pick up the crib from my friend, too!
So little time now...! :)
posted by spreadyourwings at 9:02 AM
1 Comments:
Exactly! I feel the same way - part of me just WANTs our Lentil to be a girl ... because everyone just KNOWs that we're having a boy ... LOL .. so irritating.
And again with the - 8 months pregnant ... oh you'll feel like crap now! please .. seriously what's going to magically happen in the next 3.5 weeks to make you feel like crap!
I'm with ya! Maybe we can buck the trend and prove them all wrong ... poking fun at the world one pregnant woman at a time!
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