Friday, April 02, 2010

Time keeps on ticking...

Today is 35w 6d. Might as well say 36 weeks, right? This baby feels like he is right under the surface of my stomach. The movements I feel with him are so much more detailed feeling, if that makes any sense, than with the other two pregnancies. I feel lots of little squirms, in addition to the big movements that are so common in late pregnancy. He spends a lot of time with his bum in my right rib, although recently he seems to have shifted a bit so that there's a knee or something else smaller than a bum in that rib instead. I predict that he'll be bigger than Little and Littler were, but we'll see. I guess it depends when he's born, too! As far as movement is concerned, he's also been dealing me some painful blows in my lower abdomen, and kicking things off my stomach a lot. Typical, but it never gets old!


In the last few weeks, I've gone from the status quo of middle pregnancy to feeling uncomfortable enough that I have to remind myself I don't actually want to go into labor before 37 weeks! I think the transition mostly happened 2 1/2 weeks ago when I sprained my ankle running. I was only able to exercise a couple times that week and had to spend so much time just sitting around. AND the ankle sprain put strains on other parts of my body, making the sciatica WAY worse. Anyway, once I started running again, it was much less enjoyable. For the past few months my right leg has been burning in a few spots while I run, which is reeeeeeally uncomfortable, but once I started running again (after barely more than a week break), it was so bad I could barely convince myself to keep running (and I actually did have to stop a few times momentarily to let it get some oxygen and stretch it a bit). With today's run though (the third entirely normal run I've done since the sprain), it's finally starting to fade a bit more into the background again. And don't worry--if it was affecting the way I feel the rest of the day, or hurting anytime but when I run, I would stop. But it's not. So I keep running. After I run, I feel so GOOD. And if I don't get in those three runs a week, I feel so blah. The stationary bike at the gym feels really good at this point though--it seems like a really good late pregnancy exercise, like swimming. As much as I would really love to, I have NOT returned to my dance class post-sprain because i don't think my ankle is ready for that sort of movement yet. It can handle walking and running, but the things that require more side to side strength or flexibility aren't really possible yet. It's still a little swollen, too.

Beyond all of that, we feel pretty ready for this baby now. We've got his bed set up right next to ours, his car seat ready in the car, his dresser set up waiting for whatever we get at our baby shower next week (isn't that so awesome that I get a shower??!), and the diaper bag stocked. I have yet to prepare anything for the actual birth, like a birth plan or packing my birth bag or getting food/drink for the labor and birth ready. I guess I have about a week to get on top of that (although, most likely a lot longer than that!). We'll see what the next 1-6 weeks bring us!

4 comments:

brittney said...

wahoo!! its so close!! He really better come before or after my trip.

Martie said...

It's great to hear all of your news! I'm sorry about your ankle. I hope it heals quickly.

I can't wait to meet your little guy! Reading all of this just made me all the more excited.

I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes by without a hitch!

Peg Lewis said...

10% more to go! Wow! (The difference between an A- and an A+?)

That means its 5% more for us!!!

See you on your due date...

Katie Richins said...

Sooo exciting! I really can't wait to see your adorable, smart, outdoorsy little guy. I just feel like I know who he is! I hope he and James get to hang out a lot, and be great friends!