33 Weeks

As I write this, about 9PM, BabyMort is waking up.  She moves a little throughout the day, but right about the time I want to go to sleep, she wakes up – and boy does she wake up!!  My whole stomach bounces around.  I still can’t tell exactly what she’s moving, but I’m told that day will come soon.  When she is awake, she now has her eyes open and she keeps ’em closed while sleeping.  She’s figuring it all out!!

 

I got an email from the What to Expect when You’re Expecting website that said: “A combination of hormones and a number of unhelpful conditions, such as frequent urination, persistent heartburn, leg cramps, and pre-birth anxiety can cause insomnia.”  My first though was, “EXACTLY!!”  Sleep is harder and harder for me to come by.  I took naps both days this past weekend to make up for not being able to sleep in and I’m surviving – and not even too crabby (at least I don’t think so…)

33 Week Belly Shot

For about a week, I had some crazy belly pain going on.  Out of nowhere, the area around my belly button would just start burning.  If I scrunched over and tried not to move, it wouldn’t hurt quite as bad.  The pain started the day before a doctor’s appointment, so I checked with him.  He told me it was nothing to worry about, just a ligament stretching.  Specifically, a ligament formed by the remainder of my umbilical cord that now connects to my liver.  Fortunately, I think it’s done stretching now, because it hasn’t hurt in a day or two – fingers crossed!!   And speaking of stretching – I discovered my first official stretch mark on my tummy.  I knew the day would come, but it was still a little sad.

I should get off to bed, so BabyMort can really start her gymnastics.  She likes it best when I’m laying down 🙂

Absolutely Exhausted

I am absolutely exhausted.  Dead tired.  Thoroughly beat.  Downright tuckered out. 

I thought I was tired the day after Prom in high school when I was basically up for 24 hours straight.  I thought I was exhausted after working 31 our of 37 consecutive hours at the hotel one weekend.  Even in my first trimester, I thought I was just plum tuckered out.  I realize now that was nothing compared to how I’ve been feeling the last few days.

Unfortunately for those around me, that means I’m also crabby, testy, irritable or “sensitive” if you’re being nice.

My amazing husband (he really is) has the bewildered look down pat.  I don’t blame him for looking at me like I’m crazy, because I feel a bit like that sometimes when I’m upset for no particular reason.  He does what he can – rubs my back when I’m trying to get to sleep and preemptively brings me cookies or candy sometimes, assuming that I’m cranky.  And for the record, bringing me baked goods or candy will cheer me up for a bit at least.  My mom knows me well enough to count on this and brought chocolate cake when they came over the other night.

I blame my tiredness on the obvious – I am growing a baby!! – and the related, but less obvious.  I have trouble falling asleep, because I have too much running through my mind – What do we still need to do to get the nursery done?  Will I have a job after BabyMort arrives?  What will we do about our finances if I don’t?  Did I change the dog’s vet appointment?  The list goes on and on…  Once I’m lucky enough to fall asleep, I wake up because of heartburn, achey hips and/or back, because I have to pee, because I’m thirsty or because one of my extremities is asleep.  Usually, once I wake up, I start thinking about all the things that kept me up in the first place and the fun starts all over again.

I have a plan to (hopefully) get at least a few nights good sleep though.  I have yoga tonight and I usually sleep pretty well after that.  Then I made a chiropractor’s appointment for first thing tomorrow morning, hoping that after stretching at yoga, he’ll actually be able to adjust me and relieve some of my back and hip pain (something he hasn’t been able to do since for 20 weeks now…)  And the (chocolate buttercream) icing on the (chocolate) cake – I’m getting a massage on Saturday!!  We’ll put blankets over the windows in the bedroom Saturday night so the rising sun doesn’t interrupt my slumber on Sunday morning and I’d be perfectly happy sleeping until Monday morning if possible 😀

Hopefully I’ll look something like this:

10 down, 30 to go!!

According to BabyCenter, BabyMort has officially entered the fetal period!!  BabyMort is about the size of a kumquat (see picture below), fingernails and toenails are starting to develop and limbs can bend.

I really enjoy reading the little updates on what’s new with BabyMort this week.  At this stage in the game, it’s really nice to get a little extra motivation/reminder of why I’m feeling so crappy.  I’ve been struggling a lot with constant nausea, constipation, fatigue and trouble sleeping – not a good combination!!  In the 11 hours I spent in bed last night (I ended up going in to work late this morning, because I just felt too bad for a Monday morning) I had to get up 5 different times to use the restroom.  Come on!!

However…then today I read that BabyMort has peach fuzz growing on its tiny little body, and fingernails and has its little arms crossed over its body, meeting at its heart.  That’s just the little boost I need to say, “So what if I’ve become a human peeing machine?!?  And so what if half the foods I used to love sound repulsive to me and my sense of smell is so heightened that I can’t escape our gassy dogs?!?  We’re lucky enough to get an amazing little baby out of all this.  I can deal – especially since I’m 25% of the way through the pregnancy!!”

Like a Racehorse, I tell ya!!

I was totally prepared for having to go to the bathroom a lot later in pregnancy, when babymort’s putting all kinds of pressure on my bladder.  I had accepted that I had to go a lot during the day now, chalking it up to me drinking more water.  I was not ready, however, for having to get up in the middle of the night to pee right now, at not even 7 weeks!!

Earlier this week, I had to get up at like 3am to use the restroom.  I thought it was a fluke – I must have drank a lot of water late in the evening.  Then this morning, I woke up about 10 minutes before my first alarm was set to go off, practically paralyzed because I had to go so bad!!  So I got up and went…and went…and went…and you get the idea.  As I crawled back into bed, hoping to take advantage of a snooze, even though I was pretty much awake, my husband said to me, “Seriously?!?  Was that all you??  It sounded like a pot of coffee brewing!!”  I grumbled something about my bladder and snuggled in for about 20 minutes of snoozing. 

After my snooze, I used the restroom out of habit before jumping in the shower.  Much to my surprise, it was like I hadn’t even gone 20 minutes prior!!  *sigh*  Hopefully this isn’t an every night thing.  I don’t know if I can go to bed much earlier to make up for the lost sleep…

Update: Apparently this will be an every night thing.  I’ve seen 5am the last couple nights/mornings.  I put a nightlight in the bathroom last night, so that made the process a little easier.  And now my husband is “sympathy-peeing.”  On the upside, my little tadpole displays a whole body reflex in response to touch,  is about the size of half a dime and has two distinct cerebral hemispheres, so I suppose I can deal with getting up to pee…