So far this pregnancy the really only things I've disliked were horrible exhaustion in the first trimester and nauseau. I never had vomiting and even things like my scent aversions could, for the most part, be avoided. Aside from the stress of our crappy situation in Alaska and moving I've had a blessed pregnancy. And I'm not discounting that at all, but I'm so thankful there is an end coming!
Last week I wrote a little about the Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction pain I was having (SPD). Near birth the body produces a hormone called relaxin which actually loosens the ligaments which hold the pelvic frame in preparation for the baby's exit. Some women, lucky me, produce it much earlier and the result is a loose pelvis with no support for the baby and weight or even normal movement. Many women don't start to produce the hormone until they are in labor, it's not exactly something that's intended to start 13 weeks out and you be comfortable and walking around the whole time.
Today I kind of had a melt down thinking about the fact that I'm going to be in this type of pain or worse every time I try to move until the baby comes. It doesn't help that Doug twisted his knee playing on his Dad's softball team Monday night and thinks the pain is the same because it hurts when he moves. No, it's not the same. His will go away, and he was stupid to play to start with. He had helped his dad at work earlier that day, then helped at the church clean up early that evening and just did too much physical activity in too short of a span on a body that's not used to it. The week before he went and pulled a muscle in his chest while swinging. Thankfully, they lost and so it's the end of the season. If he wants to play next year he's got to get in shape. I'm not taking care of a baby and an injured husband who still thinks he's 16. I know it sounds like it wouldn't be a big difference, but 9 years is a lot. I remember when I was about 8 my mom was seduced by the neighborhood children to try to do a cartwheel. She was 28 and sprained her ankle and was in bed for 3 days. We were practically helpless. Unlike most people, even as a child I didn't consider that old and still don't, but now I understand that even at that young age your body can't keep up. Even for those that work out it's a seldom few that can maintain it at the rate they did in high school. Reality call to Doug, slow down and/or prepare yourself for that.
Anyway, back to me (yeah one of those whiney days, well should still be night for me). So the SPD hurts if I'm doing anything but laying or sitting. Sitting is decieving because it won't hurt while I'm doing it, but once I take a break it hurts for hours. After sitting for a while, say 2 hours, that hurts worse than walking for 30 minutes, even though there's no movement at all. At this point, if I do something early in the day I need to rest in the afternoon and then can do some more in the evening and then need to rest. It still hurts way worse in the evening if I've been active earlier in the day, but I can kind of muscle through it. Preparing for the natural childbirth is how I felt about it for the last week. But childbirth is not a 13 week event and the pain is only going to get worse as he gets bigger and engages later. I'm most annoyed because I can't clean the house, or even one room, without pain and needing to stop. I can't go grocery shopping (which includes going to several stores as I shop the sales) all at once. I was in Target yesterday to pick up a few things and it felt like I was going to be ripped apart. I just got some things we needed and wanted to browse the home decor aisles and baby aisles and actually even needed to add a few things to the registry, but I just couldn't do it.
And all of this is why I was freaking out before hand about moving and not being able to get anything done before now. It was going to be a push if I was able to fully move and function the way most pregnant women are. But now I can't. And Doug just doesn't get it. Once he starts a job he'll be working 50+ hours a week and won't be able to help much. I swear I am the only person who knows a broom works in this house. He's not usually so bad but his Dad has him doing things and in general he's just trying to enjoy his time off. Not that he put off finding a job, but he's never had a vacation. He had time saved up from Sheetz and used it last year to fly to Alaska and find a job there. This year we were driving while he got paid for his time off, but definitely not a vacation. So right now, he doesn't understand the idea of having a routine since it's not needed. It's not that his whole life revolves around work, but he needs that steady thing that takes up most of the day to plan other things around. Whereas I can keep myself busy with a to-do list. Mom is not only busy, but kind of annoying me, as happens from time to time in our relationship. So I don't want to have to depend on her to come help me daily to get things done. If that needs to happen I'd rather wait until after the baby is here!
Well, on the upside at least I don't have these symptoms: nauseau, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, hemerroids, spotting, itchy stretch marks (though I do have them!), horrible back ache, excess gas, excess forgetfulness (got some though), headaches, consistent swelling of ankles (mine comes and goes depending on activity), daily leg cramps (just the occasional), restless leg syndrome (especially since it hurts so much to move them now!), carpal tunnel or varicose veins. So besides all my complaining, I guess I can deal with the SPD.
Also, it turns out the best birth for SPD is a non-medicated one, ideally in a birth pool. Turns out I knew what my body needed all along, so maybe now my sister-in-law (and others) can quit thinking I'm crazy when they've never researched anything about it to start with, and now it's practically medically necessary.
Another good side: after much begging and procrastination we've finally started working on the nursery. By we I mean Doug and his friends, because I could barely stand to go upstairs to pee the other night, let alone hammer pannel board into the ceiling rafters (and I shouldn't be on a ladder anyway). Next comes priming and painting. I hope he can get them done before he starts work. We also intend to put carpet down since it's just concrete right now. Not my favorite choice, since every where recommends not using wall to wall carpet if you can, but I'm sure it will be fine and it's more economical than even peel and stick tile since we'd still need a good size rug. But that's going to have to wait until after Doug get's a paycheck. I'm going to try to resist the urge to get all the things Mom has for Teddy and put them in there until then, because it would require moving a lot of things back out. But we'll see how that goes. Well, thanks to SPD, I have a legitimate reason to not have to lift a finger to help. Though that annoys me more than it makes me happy.
Oh, and my appointment was yesterday. We mostly just went over the paperwork, recommended some pediatricians/family practice physicians and she looked at my file and agreed to the due date of 11/18. So Teddy will probably be here by 12/2 at the latest (right now I'm hoping 2 weeks early actually but that's unlikely)! So I'm going back next week to do the more routine visit (blood pressure, fundus height, fetal heartbeat, weight), and also to do the glucose tolerance test and get my rhogam shot, or reference to a lab at least. After that it should be appointments every 2 weeks. Oh, and we paid the deposit on the birth. Feels like that makes it so much more real!
I think I need to start blogging more than once a week since I drone on and on.
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