29 weeks and counting...

I think my little Thumper must sense that he’s graduated to his final trimester. I can’t believe how much movement I have been feeling the last two weeks, starting at 27 weeks, and how much different and stronger it is. All of a sudden it’s not just big thumps, not just in the middle, and not just down low. Now it feels like an entire baby moving around and I feel him up higher and also on my sides. If I watch my stomach as I’m sitting down, it will shake and pop up when he moves like there’s a small earthquake occurring in there. I think space is starting to get tight and he’s realizing he should have moved around more when he was smaller! I know he is only going to get stronger. Right now he weighs somewhere between 2.5 and 3 lbs. and he’ll more than double his weight before delivery!
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The other weekend I went to the mall, which I had been avoiding, on a mission to get a couple nursing bras and a pair of nice flats that I can wear instead of sneakers because heels aren’t so doable anymore. I know I don’t need nursing bras yet, but my normal ones just weren’t cutting it anymore (for the second time, I had already gotten new ones when I was 3 months pregnant). I ended up with 2, and even if they don’t work well when it’s time, they work great now. I also got a few more maternity pieces – a nightgown with a robe I can wear in the hospital, a cozy sweater in lieu of a winter jacket, and a very lightweight, champagne-colored sweater with subtle sparkles that will be perfect to wear for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thankfully, one less outfit to think about. At Macy’s (which, excitingly, is already decked out for Christmas) I got a nice pair of flats that I can wear with casual and nicer clothes alike. I don’t want to wear sneakers everywhere and having to bend over to put them on and tie them is not conducive to my current state.

I don’t know if it was hormones or if every store in the mall really was 200 degrees (Todd is no indicator because he’s always hot), but it was a little rough getting through the shopping trip. I’m noticing it’s starting to get harder just being out and about and doing some things I had no problem doing before. I’m considering moving to a place with no stairs for the next two and a half months. In most ways I still feel great; I’m not sick and I’ve usually got plenty of energy, it’s just physically on the outside that I get worn out after awhile or I notice that normal things like getting up off the couch take a little more effort. A couple weeks ago I was having some mild sciatica pain that during the night one night decided to turn into agonizing, immobilizing pain. I woke up feelings like I was being stabbed and every time I tried to move it would happen and it took a lot of self control to not scream. It was literally close to the worst pain I have ever been in. That morning it took me 5 minutes to sit up and get out of the bed, another few minutes to get to the bathroom (which is right in our room) as I could barely even walk, and I almost gave up on sitting down to pee because the pain was so severe. Thankfully it loosened up during that day and then went away. I seriously hope I never get that again, it was pure agony.
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I was 29 weeks on Thursday and my monthly appointments are now every 2 weeks instead of 4. I wish I could say I enjoy going to these but I honestly don’t, unless there’s an ultrasound which there hasn’t been for awhile and won’t be again unless there is a problem. I know it’s important for them to check your stats every month but usually I feel like it’s a waste of time. I usually have to wait ½ hour whether there’s any other patients there or not, then get weighed, have my blood pressure checked and then wait another 20 minutes for an OB (any random OB, not mine since week 9) to come in, ask if I’m having any problems (“no”), and then say “ok, see you in x weeks”. To be honest, I haven’t been all that impressed with the practice since going there. I see a different OB every time. At my first appointment, my actual OB told me that there were a few others and that they would rotate for the next few appointments so that I would get to know them all. I thought that was fine, but at this point I don’t know if I’ll ever see my OB again (she isn’t one that delivers) and she probably wouldn’t remember me anyway. They can rotate all they want but you don’t get familiar with any of them by seeing each of them for 2 seconds. My OB is the only one who I thought was pretty personable, the others are far from it. If I had a big issue, of course I would talk to whoever I was seeing about it, but I don’t feel that comfortable talking to any of them. I guess I should just be thankful I haven’t needed to. The office staff really irritates me, too. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a time they were actually working and not messing around, or worse, gossiping about the patients. “So and so has a 5 month old and is knocked up again!” and even talking about a patient’s husband having an affair. Seriously, if you’re going to do that, at least try to be quiet. I shouldn’t be able to hear this so clearly from the waiting room.

I actually never expected to have a really close relationship with an OB, but it seems like most women do during their pregnancies so I thought it might turn out that way, but with everything I mentioned above, it’s really not. I also never completely grasped the OBs role when it comes to delivery. It seems like the norm is that, barring any extenuating circumstances that would stop them from it, your actual OB is the one who is supposed to deliver your baby. Even if I did have a good relationship with any of the OBs at my practice, I honestly don’t feel I’d care if it was them or not. Maybe that sounds terrible, but really, as long as I’m surrounded by a medical team that is trained to deliver babies and does it every day, I’m fine. I trust them just as much as these OBs that I see for 3 minutes every few weeks.

To add to my complaints about the practice, since writing all of the above I had another appointment scheduled for yesterday, Saturday. I was told it was the last appointment of the day, at 11:00am, for a blood pressure check (apparently, 3 appointments ago when my blood pressure was only slightly elevated, someone decided to write it in my chart that I should have it checked every darn week, despite the fact that it has been fine and dandy every time since). We get there at 10:54am and the doors are locked, everyone is gone. Nice. They will definitely be getting a phone call tomorrow morning.
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On Saturday we had our 3D/4D ultrasound. Remember I had said I was worried he’d be head down/face down and we wouldn’t be able to see him? I was right! I am glad I had my expectations set low for that reason. The lady was great and before she started the ultrasound she mentioned if he was in that position we would have a problem – I knew that was going to be my child. This is what we could see at first; not only is he turned away from the camera but he has his arm hiding his face (and I wonder if we’re also seeing hair on his head??):
















Then she says “we just need to get him to flip” and I am thinking “easier said than done, my child doesn’t do ‘flip’.” Well, we tried everything – drinking orange juice, pushing him around, tapping his little tushy that was against the top of my stomach, bouncing up and down a flight of stairs, but he would not budge. In a way, I am glad he didn’t. He’s in the perfect position for birth, and while I don’t know why he thought it necessary to get into and stay in that position since my third month, it’s still a good position to be in. Knowing him, if he flipped now, he wouldn’t flip back in time. Just as we were about to give up, he turned his head just enough that we could see half of his little face and get a few pictures! They aren’t perfectly clear but they’re a lot better than many I’ve seen. At one point he even smiled for us, she flipped back and forth between a picture where his mouth was normal and the one where he smiled and it made it really obvious he was smiling! He also puckered his lips at one point. I might be biased but I think he’s really cute, I’ve seen some scary 3D ultrasound pictures but my little guy looks so peaceful and perfectly shaped!





























































Also, I adore this picture of his legs and feet. I don’t know why, but I have always wanted to see his feet in an ultrasound. We had just never seen them before and I thought it would be adorable to see them and I was right, this picture made me so happy:
















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I decided this weekend that I wanted to get a bedding set after all, only because I fell in love with a nautical one and thought it would add to the nursery décor (I realized I didn’t have quite as much planned in my head as I thought). I went online and found out it was being discontinued and was not even available to order online and have shipped, so we went to the store after my botched doctor’s appointment and bought the last one, along with some matching accessories. I’m not going to leave the bumpers in the crib once he’s in there, we’re using breathable ones instead, but I put them in there for now. I think it’s adorable! I also got the wallpaper border which my mom will help us put up this coming weekend.





















And last but not least, a 29 week (+ 2 day) belly picture: