Pregnancy update - 30 weeks
I hadn't realised how different Gil's movements would feel as my pregnancy continued to develop. From the tiny little flutters at the start, to the sharper more insistent poke-pokes, the poke-drag, the octopus-playing-the-drums, the foot-on-bone-hey-stop-slumping-mummy feeling of a kick in the ribs, the whoops-looks-like-I-can't-bend-in-that-direction-at-the-moment and more recently...
Well, I can only describe it as seething. As there gets to be less and less room, and Gil gets bigger and bigger, I'm managing to distinguish between body parts. Now I can usually feel (or often even just look at) my stomach and identify the position of his bottom (or head, depending on which way up he is), because of the way his position distorts my entire abdomen. I can still feel more pinpoint motions from his feet and hands, but they're blunter and stronger and I can feel them all the way from the beginning of the motion to the end, even if it's moving perpendicularly to my skin - and usually associated with some sort of equal and opposite motion. Now, when he's active, I'll feel and see his whole body moving at once - if he tries to stretch his legs a bit he'll also be headbutting my cervix, arching his back all along my skin, and scrabbling with all his limbs for purchase, and resettling himself once he's actually moved. Sometimes it looks and feels a bit like two snakes fighting in a sack.
It's getting no less weird to look down at my expanding tummy and just find myself thinking... who thought this crazy shit up, and what were they smoking? I mean, seriously. Embedding something of roughly 6.5kg (including baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, and engorgment of uterine tissue) inside one's abdomen, pushing aside all one's other organs which were doing perfectly fine right where they were thank you very much, not to mention another 7kg of extra breast tissue, blood and general fluid volume to lug around, all on top of joints that are severely loose in preparation for the craziest bit of all - not to mention that part of the thing embedded in your abdomen? It's got a mind of its own. Literally.
Other than my general issues of continuing to be weirded out by the whole thing (which is less of an issue and more of an awe that I hope never fades), pregnancy's going pretty well for me.
Well, I can only describe it as seething. As there gets to be less and less room, and Gil gets bigger and bigger, I'm managing to distinguish between body parts. Now I can usually feel (or often even just look at) my stomach and identify the position of his bottom (or head, depending on which way up he is), because of the way his position distorts my entire abdomen. I can still feel more pinpoint motions from his feet and hands, but they're blunter and stronger and I can feel them all the way from the beginning of the motion to the end, even if it's moving perpendicularly to my skin - and usually associated with some sort of equal and opposite motion. Now, when he's active, I'll feel and see his whole body moving at once - if he tries to stretch his legs a bit he'll also be headbutting my cervix, arching his back all along my skin, and scrabbling with all his limbs for purchase, and resettling himself once he's actually moved. Sometimes it looks and feels a bit like two snakes fighting in a sack.
It's getting no less weird to look down at my expanding tummy and just find myself thinking... who thought this crazy shit up, and what were they smoking? I mean, seriously. Embedding something of roughly 6.5kg (including baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, and engorgment of uterine tissue) inside one's abdomen, pushing aside all one's other organs which were doing perfectly fine right where they were thank you very much, not to mention another 7kg of extra breast tissue, blood and general fluid volume to lug around, all on top of joints that are severely loose in preparation for the craziest bit of all - not to mention that part of the thing embedded in your abdomen? It's got a mind of its own. Literally.
Other than my general issues of continuing to be weirded out by the whole thing (which is less of an issue and more of an awe that I hope never fades), pregnancy's going pretty well for me.
- The medication my obstetrician gave me has worked wonders for the reflux I was experiencing earlier - fingers crossed that'll continue to be the case as my stomach gets more and more compressed.
- I've had to go onto iron supplementation (on top of my multivitamin) as my reserves were very low, which is only to be expected even if I wasn't vegetarian, which has certainly helped if not eliminated the third-trimester tiredness I've been feeling the last few weeks.
- I've been getting some increasingly bad upper back pain, which the obstetrician tells me since the location means it's definitely a muscular pain, may be helped by physio and/or correction of how I sit at work. I have high hopes.
- I'm also planning to speak to the physio about my hip, which has been getting increasingly painful in various bouts. Pain in the pelvic area is very common during pregnancy due to the loosening of ligaments and increasing/shifting of weight bearing requirements, but last night it reached the stage where I think if it gets any worse I might need to start walking with a cane. Hopefully the physio can help with that, too.
- My breasts are already producing some colostrum, which I'm finding very cool.
- In the last week, spring has arrived and my thermostat has started going nuts - I thought I might actually have a fever on Wednesday when I'd stripped down to a singlet and was sponging myself off with cold water in an attempt to remain cool, while another person in the office was still wearing his tracksuit jacket.
- I've been attending an aqua aerobics class aimed at pregnant mums twice a week for the last few months, which is extremely good, if rather tiring.
- My sister-in-law is also pregnant, which means Gil will have a cousin just four months younger! And yes, it's a honeymoon baby. :)
- Earlier on I was worried that, with reflux and associated lack of desire to eat likely to get worse as my stomach gets more compressed and my usual trouble gaining weight, I might have trouble putting on weight during pregnancy. With the help of a truly prodigious amount of dairy products, I've been gaining just below the lower end of 'just right' according to my internet research, but the obstetrician's says that's perfect and Gil's growing on schedule. The last week or so, though, I've been really hungry. Like raid the cupboard every half hour; surely I can't want food again; are you going to finish that, Hubby? sort of hungry. Hmmm... Come to think of it, I could do some scrambled eggs right now.
- Prune juice is a magical and glorious substance of which just half a glass a day completely eliminates that other pregnancy complaint, even though the doctor warned me I might need to take drastic measures once the iron tablets were added into the mix. I don't think taking my tablets with half a glass of juice really counts as that drastic - and it actually tastes pretty good.
- Speaking of which, I'm up to six tablets per day: one reflux, one iron, one vitamin c (to help the iron absorb), one multivitamin, two fish oil. If this keeps on, half a glass of juice may not be enough to swallow them all.
- I've ordered in and am awaiting the arrival of a new camera, my existing camera having been broken for... well, really since the end of my Europe trip 18 months ago. I can make it limp at the moment, but it's really too much effort to be bothered with very often. With Gil's arrival becoming increasingly imminent, a camera that's too much trouble to pull out is not really an acceptable situation. When it arrives - hopefully within a week - expect some photos of the Ever Expanding Waistline.
- I've certainly been nesting - mainly organising all the jobs I'd been putting off because if they don't get done before the baby comes we'll never get around to them - but I've also been doing some woodwork. Doesn't every young man need a set of Tetris bookshelves in his room? Expect some upcoming photos of them, too.
- As for finishing Futureproof before Gil arrives... well, I'm still hopeful. But I have to admit it's not, at least so far, based on any particular factual basis. Then again, I'm trying to finish the more manual jobs around the house (and the woodworking) before I get too big and unweildy to bend at all, rather than simply having trouble with it.