37th Week of Pregnancy

Development at 37 Weeks

I have found myself slowing down quite a bit this week. Though I have been making sure to keep up with exercising (we went swimming at the beach twice, I had water aerobics, yoga, and went for several walks) I definitely haven't be moving around at as vigorous a pace. I find that I have a lot of pressure in my pelvis after I walk for a bit, I get tired more easily, and I still get out of breath quickly even though the baby has dropped down. It's definitely a good thing I stopped working when I did, I can't imagine having to walk multiple dogs in the state I was in this week, never mind the heat. So far I have been tolerating the heat fairly well. Before being pregnant, I really loved being warm and would keep a blanket on me at night even on the hottest nights. Now I haven't been sleeping with any blankets, and I have been needing to use air conditioning in the car (which is something I would never do before). I still go out and walk when its hot out and feel fine, but I definetly am more effected by heat than I used to be.

As far as other symptoms during this last stretch of pregnancy, I have been having a bit of nausea again to the point where I've even thrown up a couple of times. It's different than the morning sickness I had my first (and pert of second) trimester in that it doesn't last as long and kind of just comes on quickly before or after I eat breakfast. The midwife said it's okay for me to feel like this, and it is normal as long as it doesn't happen all the time (which so far it doesn't). Also, I have been sleeping even less at night now (I wasn't sure that was possible). I find that my bladder must be the size of a pea and I literally have to get up every 1-2 hours. This might be prevented by not drinking so much water, but if I don't continue to drink through the night I wake up with a headache and a dry throat (even with the humidifier on). But I usually feel pretty awake during my night walks, and find myself looking at the clock and calculating how many more hours I need to try to sleep until it is a more acceptable time to wake up. I would never do that before I was pregnant...I love sleeping and would always be sad as I saw it was getting closer and closer to morning. I guess I really am on a mommy schedule now, which is for the best I suppose. Finally, I have been experiencing a bit more swelling in my hands and feet. Mostly it comes in the form of stiffness and usually only when I'm hot. But I've noticed the my arches are less flexible than they used to be, which is an interesting thing to adjust for. Also, I am glad I took off my wedding ring and wear it around my neck instead, it would certainly be very tight these days!

Mattimeo seems to be doing well. In all the pregnancy books I read, they say that the baby should start slowing down and not moving as much in the 9th month of pregnancy. But not our Meo; I think he has been even more active than before. He loves to stretch out and make himself as big as possible which forces me to move into poses to make my tummy as roomy as possible (otherwise I can't breath). He also rolls, kicks and punches a lot. Sometimes I can feel both of his little heels jutting out just under my ribs. And when he rolls, my head feels flooded and I get a wave of slight dizziness, which a very interesting feeling. He is most active during and after meal times, though he also moves a lot now when I am in the pool or even when I am trying to walk around. I think he is going to have strong muscles when he comes out of me.

This week was a great week. Robbie had Monday and Tuesday off because of the fourth of July, and we went to the beach both days. On Monday, we went to Bay View in Saco. It was pretty packed, but it was a really nice day to beach anyways. I went swimming in the ocean for the first time this season, which was really cold at first but eventually wonderfully refreshing. The only bummer about going to the beach pregnant is not being able to lay on your back to dry off in the sun. Robbie dug me a big hole to see if I could lay on my belly in the cool sand. That ended up not being very comfortable either, and I just got more uncomfortable being covered in sand. The second day we went the Ferry Beach State Park with my mom. There weren't as many people on the beach that day, and we had fun swimming for a long time again. Robbie decided to use the bucket we got at our baby shower to build a sand block fort around me; I felt very safe and secure.

Robbie at Ferry Beach

Robbie at Ferry Beach

I think Robbie is going to be a great dad :)

Robbie at Ferry Beach

Minecraft in real life

Monday night we celebrated the Fourth of July with friends. We met up at someones house for some homemade lemonade, then headed down to the eastern prom to lounge on blankets with drinks and french fries to listen to the symphony and watch the fireworks. I was a little bit nervous about going to see fireworks so late into my pregnancy, but I covered my belly with blankets to dampen the sound. Meo definitely started wiggling around a bit more when the fireworks started, but I rubbed my belly the whole time and that seemed to sooth him the rest of the time. I'm glad we ended up going; it was fun being with all of our friends and I had never been to the fireworks with an orchestra playing at the same time.. I enjoyed that a lot. Plus, I thought the fireworks were good this year.

Red, white and blue Fourth of July breakfast (strawberry and blueberry whole wheat pancakes)

Tuesday night we had a few freinds over to play a game of Mansions of Madness. Its a really fun cooperative game where you have to try to find clues and solve a mystery before something bad happens to everyone (there are lots of different scenarios). Pi was excited; he loves watching us play board games. He always sits in the empty box (I tell him to stay in there so he doesn't walk on the board and knock down pieces) and watches us play.

Playing Mansions of Madness with Pi watching

Pi loves his monkeys and also loves sitting in boxes

Wednesday I had prenatal water aerobics and Robbie played racquetball with Gib. Thursday I had prenatal yoga and Robbie played squash with Gib. Friday I took a delightful walk with my Mom and sister, Sam. In the evening Robbie and I went to play board games with a whole bunch of friends. We used to have a weekly game night but it had stopped for a while. Now it has been reinstated (except it will be every other week) and I am pretty excited about that. It's really nice to have that time to all be together and have fun. On Saturday, Robbie and I took a 1.5 hour walk/hike in the Falmouth Nature Preserve. It was hot out, but we were in the shade of the forest and it was a beautiful day for a walk. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing our suitcase for the hospital (since I could go into labor at any time now!). Today (Sunday) was my other mom (Sue's) birthday and my Dad planned a fun cookout birthday party for her. We sat out on the deck and ate corn on the cob and kabobs, had some birthday cake, and chatted. Robbie and I got her some flowers (some tall rudbeckias) and Robbie planted them while Sam sprayed Harley with the hose. It was a great day, and a great end to my 37th week.

Dad cooking kabobs

The birthday girl :)

32nd Week Update

Development at 32 Weeks

The weeks are going by much too fast as usual, now I'm already in my 8th month! I have gotten to the point where I am having appointments with the midwives every two weeks now. I had an appointment this past Thursday with the infamous Ellie. Whenever I talk to people who have had babies with Back Cove Midwives, they always talk about how great Ellie is, but I hadn't been able to have an appointment with her until now. She has been in the practice the longest, and is extremely knowledgeable and kind. It was great talking to her.

Everything is still going really well with me and the baby. My blood pressure is excellent (92/60) and my fundus measurements are right where Ellie wants them to be...slightly under 32 inches. She said that it's good if it's slightly under for me at this point since I am so petite. Mattimeo's heart rate was a steady 130 bpm, and this time she was able to figure out his exact permission in my womb. He is now head down (Yay! This means I don't need to worry about him being breached). At that moment he was laying with his spine against my spine, but he is still turning around in circles quite frequently. His bum is up just under my right rib cage.

When he moves now its really cool because I can feel the big bump which is his butt, and sometimes I can feel the curve of his spine at the same time towards the middle of my stomach. He has also been doing some pretty crazy frog kicking where he kicks out his legs simultaneously and I can feel him on both sides of my tummy, or sometimes, of my ribcage. He seems to be most active right after I eat something. More recently he has started to be wiggly while I am walking, which makes walking dogs even more interesting/challenging.

I have still been feeling top notch. Perhaps the only minor annoyance is sleeping at night. Now I have to get up frequently to go pee, and I have to have a snack at least once during the night or I will feel too nauseous to fall asleep. I also wake up at least every hour to switch sides. Since I can only lay on my side now (being on my back for more than a few seconds really makes me sick), my hips start aching if I don't switch sides regularly. Since I have to stuff pillows in between my legs to keep my hips from crashing into each other, I have to hug pillows against my chest so I don't wake up with intense chest muscle aches, and I have a much harder time of gaining enough momentum to move, rolling to the other side is quite the task. I have to move all the pillows and myself and quickly get comfortable and relax so I can get in some sleep before I have to either switch sides again, eat, drink, or get up to pee. Lastly, I've been finding that I get dehydrated really quickly at night now and will get headaches if I don't drink continuously through the night. This means even more peeing and waking up! On the bright side, my body seems to have adjusted to my weird sleep schedule and I still feel like I have a good amount of energy throughout the day.

So far I have only experienced swelling in my feet once (thank goodness!). At Jessica's (Robbie's sister) graduation from MassArt a couple weekends ago the temperature went from quite cool to really hot very quickly. Before the ceremony, Robbie and I took a nice long walk around a park in anticipation of having to sit for a long period of time. But I still ended up sitting for about 3 hours straight, and I think that in combination with the extreme temperature fluctuation was a bit much for my pregnant body and my feet swelled up substantially. I was pretty grossed out because my normally lean toes looked like sausages, and the sides of my feet were squeezing out my sandal straps. Thankfully they went back to normal after graduation. I really hope that doesn't become a normal occurrence for me!

One final pregnancy symptom to note is that I felt my first Braxton-Hicks contraction the night after we went hiking. These are just "practice" contractions that are completely normal and healthy that help prepare your body to know what to do when its time for labor. During these contractions my uterus (aka my whole belly) tightened up substantially and moved upwards a bit. I actually thought it felt pretty cool and gave me a little bit of a head rush. It happened twice in a row that night, but I haven't really noticed any since then.

I hope everyone is enjoying this fabulous weather! At least in Maine, the nonstop raining has ceased, and its really starting to feel like summer. This means there are more delicious fruits and vegetables available for us to eat, dog walking is a lot more enjoyable, and now I am able to eat breakfast outside with my 2 cats surrounded by the beautiful flowers on our balcony. Life is good!

P.S. I had a maternity photo shoot yesterday, but I am going to wait until I have the pictures to tell you about that

Dogs I walk enjoying the nice weather: Casco and Cooper

Me walking some of the east end dogs

Dogs I walk enjoying the nice weather: Cooper

Dogs I walk enjoying the nice weather: Gander

Me, Jess and Robbie at Jess's graduation from MassArt

Delicious summery meal: Quinoa, fresh mozzarella cheese, Maine tomatoes and fresh basil

Going to the movies

Pregnancy is great and all so far, but it does have its downsides. One of which is that I can't sit through an entire movie without having to get up to use the bathroom. This is especially annoying when I go to a movie theater because I either have to sit on the edge, where the view isn't as good, or sit in the middle and climb over people. Well yesterday Robbie and I went to see Tron at the IMAX theater in 3D with a bunch of friends. We have been looking forward to this for months! We got there an hour and 15 minutes early so we could get good seats (If you haven't been to a 3D IMAX movie, there is nothing like sitting right in the middle of the theater). We ended up getting the best seats you can possibly get, and the movie was awesome (TRON wesite and trailer)! The visuals were really great! But despite having gone pee 10 minutes before the movie started, 45 minutes in I had to go again. And of course, I had to climb over about 30 people to get to the aisle because I wanted a good seat, which especially annoying to people who have 3D glasses on and feel like they are in the movie. They had to deal with a momentary glimpse into reality. So sorry people. Luckily I only had to go once this time, and managed to not miss anything especially important. It was a great film, and if you are going to see it, your really need to see it in IMAX 3D!

Pregnancy Symptoms

So far since I've been pregnant I've been feeling pretty good. But I have been having many symptoms that I am going to share now in case anyone is interested:

Frequent Urination: Especially at night, I've been having to pee a lot. I think I usually get up about 3-5 times in the night. This is annoying to me because I usually am having a great dream that is interrupted by my dream-self having to pee. But my kitty Pi loves it, he races into the bathroom with me and perches on the sink waiting for me to turn on the faucet for him so he can get a quick drink of water.

Morning Sickness: I have been feeling nauseous everyday nearly all day long. It is usually strongest in the morning because I'm hungry (I might start putting snacks next to my bed so its not so bad) and is mild the rest of the day. It almost feels like I am slightly carsick constantly. But its so mild that most of the time I don't even notice it. I have been lucky because until this morning, I hadn't even thrown up. There has been instances where I was nearly going to but I have been able to walk it off, take deep breaths and convince myself that I am fine and have no reason to throw up. This morning I made the mistake of doing yoga on an empty stomach (you aren't supposed to eat before yoga) and was really hungry after. I decided to drink some juice while I was making porridge, but I guess that was a mistake and I threw up the juice (and probably my vitamin). I felt surprisingly refreshed after though, which was nice. Hopefully that was the first and last vomit session I have. I will have tea or something before yoga next time.

Drowsiness: These days, I am all about taking naps. Especially after dog walking. This was actually one of the reasons I thought I might be pregnant a long time ago. I was starting to get tired really easily. This was weird because about 4 or 5 months ago I started taking vitamins (New Chapter Organics) and they helped me feel energized all day. I had been sleepy a lot, probably because I was missing something in my diet, and the vitamins made a huge difference. So I was surprised when one week I started getting sleepy again. But it hasn't been so bad. Usually I still have lots of energy, its just after I do a lot of walking that I feel like a nap. Tuesdays are the worst because I have adventure from 7:30-11:30 in the morning (non stop walking/hiking), then I have a quick bite to eat and walk 4 dogs which takes about 2 hours. By 2:00 I am ready for a nap and the last two weeks have managed to fall asleep until Robbie gets home from work. Luckily Mom has been helping me with the dogs, especially on Tuesdays. She keeps me company and walks a couple of them so I don't have to hold all four at once...a couple of them are a bit rowdy.

Eye Pain: This is by far the worst thing I've had to deal with. A couple of weeks before I took a pregnancy test, my eyes really started to bother me. They were burning and watering, and really sensitive to sunlight to the point where I was driving with one eye even with sunglasses. It was pretty bad. I stopped wearing contacts for a couple of days and it seemed to be getting better, so I put in a new pair, but the symptoms came back so I went to the eye doctor. She saw no signs of infection or anything and assumed I must have contaminated my contacts somehow, and since I hadn't changed the case when I switched lenses, I probably contaminated the new lenses too. So I changed lenses again, this time using a new case and a fresh bottle of solution. But last week the symptoms came back. Friday was really bad, my eyes were burning and it was awful to even look up in a lit room. I noticed the pain was dulled when I turned off the heat and opened a window. And when I was driving, I kept the heat off and rolled down the windows too. I did some research to see if other pregnant women have had these symptoms and it looks like they have. Apparently because of the hormonal changes your body goes through while pregnant, some people aren't able to produce natural tears as easily which lead to dry eyes. This causes grittiness, burning and sensitivity to light...exactly what I have been experiencing. That would explain why my eye didn't hurt so much when I was outside in the moist, cool air. My research suggested that I contact my eye doctor and have her recommend eye drops to use. So last Friday I called the doctor, spoke to the receptionist and described my symptoms, also telling her that I was pregnant now and thought it was a side effect of pregnancy. She told me to continue using GenTeal Eye drops several times a day and that she would write me a prescription. No one had the prescription available that day, so I didn't get it until Saturday. So in the meantime, Robbie and I decided to get a humidifier (one that boils water and produces steam) to put in our bedroom. I also bought a new bottle of GenTeal Eye drops because I realized my other ones had expired a year ago (whoops). The combination of humidifier and eye drops have done wonders for my eyes!

On Saturday I got my prescription and was surprised to see it was Bacitracin Ointment, which is a topical antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections. Even though it is topical, the anitbiotics can still get into my system and have a bad reaction with the fetus. It is also especially risky for women who plan to breastfeed (which I do). So I was not very excited about using the medication, and, since my eyes were feeling 100% better with the humidifier and eye drops, I have decided to forgo using it at all. I didn't have an infection three weeks ago when I came in with identical symptoms, I don't see why she thinks I have one now. I feel like the receptionist wasn't really listening me as she systematically ran through her checklist of symptoms. Maybe because I said my eye was red that day (from pouring water on it and non-stop fussing because I was in serious pain) and it was sticky in the mornings (from being so dry) they misinterpreted my symptoms as an infection or something. Anyways, I am not impressed and don't intend to use the antibiotics unless it's a last resort. My eyes have been great ever since, except for yesterday. But I think that's because I accidentally poked myself in the eye when I was putting drops in them in the morning. The irritated my left eye a bunch. Then during adventure, at three different points, the dogs jumped up and poked me in the same eye with their snouts. And two other times I got licked in THE SAME EYE. Unbelievable really. But it was no surprise that my eye was killing me when I got home. Today it is perfectly fine though. White and happy. Seems like the humidifier and eye drops will work out just fine. Here are a couple of articles about the dry eye symptoms:

Eye Problems During Pregnancy
Pregnancy and Dry Eyes

Lack of Appetite: Since I've been pregnant, I've been surprised that I haven't had any particular food cravings yet. I suspected this might be because I have been doing a good job of eating balanced meals, and my body hasn't been craving to fill in the voids. But about a week ago, I found that instead of cravings, I now can't seem to find food appetizing at all. Nothing looks good to me anymore. I have still been eating, because I know how important it is. Especially since I am vegetarian, I have to make sure I get several servings a protein each day. I just don't particularly enjoy food right now. And of course, I am nauseous all the time, so my body is telling me to eat, but then most food makes me sick just thinking about it. It's all very interesting and kind of annoying. The worst was when I ate tofurkey leftovers. I loved the tofurkey we had for Thanksgiving, and was so excited for the leftovers. I even was hoarding them from Robbie telling him I needed the protein. But after a couple of bites of leftovers (which tasted good) I was oddly repulsed by it. I couldn't even open the fridge and told Robbie he had to eat it the next day because just thinking about it made me want to vomit. I guess that's when it all started. The only thing I have craved was a couple of nights ago I really wanted Annie's cheese ravioli. But that's it so far, and that was only a one night thing. Ravioli DOES NOT sound good to me right now.