36, 37, 40, HIKE!

I am, going by the early due date, at 36 weeks today. This means, as I explained to my boss yesterday, that I am full term next week. Poor Boss Man. both of his children were premature, the latest one coming at 32 weeks. He has no idea how long a pregnancy is supposed to last or really what goes on at the end. I explained that full term is 37 weeks, as in before then they will usually try to stop labor if it comes, but after that the baby can come at any time. The due date is at 40 weeks and between 37 and 40 there is usually still some more growth, but everything is already fully formed and there is generally no need for any intervention or intensive care for a birth during those three weeks. But now that he knows I'm s close he wishes that I had scheduled my leave sooner (the sooner I take it though the sooner I have to come back at the end) and he's paranoid that I'm going to go into some horrible active labor and give birth walking to the office from the T in the morning. On the plus side, he's at least taking my annoyance at having to do so much work to heart now!

So, work. Yeah. I'm ready to go. Boss Man has had a lot of issues at home himself and has had to be out a lot, including all of last week and this week. I'm only just getting my student workers up to speed and the replacement position that was supposed to be filled September 15th is still in the hiring phase. I've been waddling along trying to do AV jobs (and I don't know how women with toddlers or childcare workers cope with being pregnant while running after little ones) and getting more and more irritated which has not been doing me any favours. Sprog is actively upset when I am stressed and I found that if I am too active then I start having Braxton Hicks contractions. Fun! This led to some arguing with Boss Man a couple weeks ago as well. But this week I got a bit of a reprieve with a temp coming in and HR helping with interviews for the interim position. Yay!

34 weeks, 2 days. Just proving
I sometimes get dressed

On the homefront, I've been trying my best to nest, but it's really just not coming. The closest was the need last week to season all the cast iron pans in the house. I have, however, managed to get some cooking done for the freezer. I made two huge pots of chili this weekend so we have four big meals of chili available. The week before I did a big batch of garlic "meat"balls that are in bags in there too. We have a good amount of sausages, plus lots of rice and dried beans. I think stocking up on tinned tomatoes and Heinz beans will be a help, plus I plan on making a vindaloo base to have in there - just add meat, veg, paneer there's a very large block of paneer already there.) If we can manage to get some things that will keep like root vegetables and some frozen veg (although we still have 2 large bags of green beans in the freezer) then I think we'll be able to throw things together fairly easily once Sprog arrives and we're too tired to cook. ow, if only I could get it together to make those crib sheets.

In medical news, we went for another ultrasound today. It's at the point of weekly OB appointments and alternating weeks of non-stress tests or ultrasounds. Sprog is measuring small again, about 5lb 5oz, but the margin of error is 14oz so it's not the most accurate. The OB appointment is tomorrow and I get the group B strep swab then.

Yesterday we had an initial consult at the pediatrics office. I was fairly impressed and liked how they were straight-forward, even when I asked about the justification for a hep B vaccine at birth when mother is negative and has been vaccinated (she said it's because newborns are a good target but there's no medical reason.) I assured her we weren't anti-vaccine or medicine, we just anted to really only have things that were necessary. On that front we also asked about antibiotics and how often they're prescribed (we do not want them unless actually warranted, as in don't give them for a virus!) and treatment of and possible avoidance of allergies since I have one drug allergy and Spouse has some food allergies. All went well and I'm glad we were both able to be there, even if we were both lacking sleep.

So, that's all the news for now. Rather a large update but it has been a while since I posted. With things coming up so fast I do hope to get a couple more posts in before the birth, but who knows. Let's try for some short ones, shall we?

Week 27, Day 4

Picture heavy post today.
I'd like to say this was a great week, but it certainly didn't start out that way! On Monday I had an end of day meeting at work in a warm room that just got warmer as the meeting went on. The day was actually quite clement so I though just having the window open would be fine, but no. I ended up turning on the AC and standing over the vent for the last half hour. After the meeting I ran off to my chiropractor appointment which involved a wait for the B line in unairconditioned, packed Park Street station. By the time I crammed into the train I was ready to faint, not that the two seated men I was standing (swaying) in front of noticed. Fortunately, a woman a little further down the train did notice and as soon as it emptied out enough for either of us to move she gave me her seat (thank you random stranger!)

So suffice it to say I don't do well in heat.

After the chiro I went to buy some veggie hot dogs. Sprog is craving trashy food again and I really wanted chili-cheese dogs even though I was still feeling a bit ill. There was half a tube of Gimme Lean "beef" still in the refrigerator at home with which I could make chili too. Bad idea. It had been in there a little long I'd say. So on top of feeling faint and nauseous from heat, I ended up giving myself a bit of food poisoning to boot!

The following day I had an appointment at the hospital with the endocrinologist and decided to just go home after that to sleep more and recover rather than try to go to work. Things went well at the hospital and they want me to follow up in three weeks. I told her I'd make an appointment after seeing my OB. I'm still checking my blood sugar, but given there are no other indicators of GD, I'm still skeptical of their diagnosis.

The rest of the week was rather uneventful. I'm gearing up for making a short movie with a friend in August. Next week we'll be running through the fight scene (yes, fight scene!) and we need to schedule read throughs of other scenes as well.

And speaking of performance, Spouse and I had the pleasure of joining our friends Walter Sicker and the Army of Broken Toys last night at The Middle East Downstairs. In addition to music, Walter is also a wonderful visual artist and I insisted that he decorate my belly for the show. He did a lovely portrait of us for his Inkdrip series last year as well that I bought Spouse for our last anniversary. While this is not the first time he's worked on skin, it's the first pregnant belly he's done and I think it turned out lovely.

I only wish I had a picture of the full outfit as I felt rather lovely myself. Unfortunately I can't seem to work the camera on my phone very well at 1:00am so I'll have to wait for Spouse to go through his and ask him to upload one. He looked quite dapper himself in bespoke suit and Christies bowler. With luck we'll see some nice pictures of us from the actual show as well.

That's all for now. Do enjoy your weekend! I'll leave you with this photo taken from the audience last night by our friend Randy.

Makeup post

While I did take my picture last week (left,) I never did get around to posting it. The week was somewhat tough for me as I've been rather angry about some medical issues. I was diagnosed wit gestational diabetes and sent to see a nurse, dietitian and endocrinologist at the hospital. The nurse was okay, the dietitian good but I really didn't like the endocrinologist.

In my research I have found that different doctors use different parts of the scale to set our maximum blood sugar. Many, see 100 as a max fasting number, but mine says 90. 91-93 is FAR too high for her. This is not the only problem I have with her (much more is based on manner, such as grabbing and poking at my hands and feet without asking or saying what she was doing,) and after my next appointment on Tuesday I don't know if I'll see her again. Their office is only open Tuesdays 8:30-12 and the following week I have a morning OB appointment across town. I will talk instead with my OB, who I like and trust (not patronizing for one) and see if we can come to a good plan.

So other than changing my diet to low carb other things we've done is go in for an anatomy ultrasound. All organs present and correct! Sprog is on the small side though (the exact opposite of what's expected with GD) but still within normal range. We got some great views of the face, which took a bit as there was a lot of squirming going on in there. A very cute yawn and lip smacking happened though, which made us both melt.

In spite of the small size, sprog has moved up. Mobility is a bit of an issue for things such as getting out of taxis, or even off the couch. There has been a great deal of kicking going on this week too. Nothing hurts or is weird places like my ribs but there sure is a lot of activity! That and how wonderfully pregnant I look now is just thrilling. Every time I catch my reflection I just smile. We're going to have a baby!

Whoops!

I forgot to post my Saturday picture! Actually, I forgot to take the Saturday picture, so here is Sunday, before the pin curls came out.

Yesterday we had the second of our natural childbirth classes at Isis Parenting in Boston. I have to say, the class was better than expected. I felt like we learned a lot of strategies for getting through labour and that we both really have a plan now. JaLynn, the doula teaching the class was knowledgeable, funny and really personable. I highly recommend classes there if she's the standard of in instructor they get. If she did her doula work in this area, I'd hire her for that too in a heartbeat!

We also got a chance both weeks to browse around the Isis shop as well. We both loved the exercise balls in the class so much that we bought two for home. They're great as a computer chair or leg rest! One nice thing I've found as well is that sitting on one and hulaing my hips helps when I have RLS at night too. One thing we looked at but didn't buy was a baby carrier. Instead I decided to try and make a sling myself. I've actually blogged that separately over at my main blog urban earth mother.

This week I am determined to do something about my hand numbness. JaLynn said it was carpel tunnel so I'm going to call Harvard Square Shiatsu and see if they can get me in this week to work on it. In the mean time I have splints for both wrists that I'm trying to wear as much as possible.

I feel a bit like Robo-Girl with them on, but they are helping make typing less uncomfortable. Now if only they came in fashion colors...

And on a final note, speaking of fashion Fleur De Guerre's post on Maximum Glamour really hit home for me. I've been using the excuse of being uncomfortable pregnant in the summer to look rather frumpy lately. While I do wear lippy every day (and yes, I fully intent to give birth in red lipstick), my hair has been either in braids or a bun for far too long. Sunday some solid Victory Rolls made their return appearance to my head (with an encore at work today) and I really noticed a difference in how I felt. So while I am clearly a hippy at heart in terms of many of the parenting decisions we're making (co-sleeper, cloth nappies, breast milk for at least a year (hopefully longer), baby wearing) that little extra bit of glamour makes all the difference in how I feel about me. Shallow? Perhaps a bit, but you try being a bloated whale in July and you'll look for a little boost where you can.

Week 22, Day 4

Week in review

On Monday I returned to the doctor's office to see to the annoying allergic rash from hell. They had no idea what it might be but did prescribe me a stronger steroid cream which seems to be finally working.

Spouse, aka Minister of Output, said he wants to cloth diaper. He's even willing to make the nappies himself if I can find a pattern.

My chiropractor no longer thinks it's a pinched nerve. I'm getting all nice and loose in the shoulders but still have numb fingers. My next step is to try shiatsu.

I broke down and had a new bra fitting at Intimacy. Having the fitting really helped as all three bras I bought were different sizes. She put me in ones that were a little large so there's room to grow and I can wear them for the rest of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, ready-made nursing bras seem like they're out of the question. She recommends coming in a month before I'm due for a fitting and then sending out a bra for a free alteration to a nursing bra. Yes, Virginia, you can get pretty nursing bras in jumbo sizes!

I've started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory out loud. I cant tell if Sprog is enjoying it, but Spouse seems to.

"Fun" with pregnancy

For a while now I've had circulation problems in my hands and arms, generally when I'm in bed. Last week I had a massage hoping to deal with the now permanent numbness in my right middle finger, but that didn't help. I was very tight in my neck and she suggested cold packs. Well, I decided to try my old chiropractor instead.

Meanwhile, I developed a rash on my feet that has since spread to my hands as well. I went in to urgent care for that yesterday and was prescribed a hydrocortizone cream and advised to take Claritin, which is apparently safe during pregnancy. The rash looks a lot like an allergic reaction, but I couldn't think to what.

This evening I had my chiropractor appointment and we may have nailed down the rash as well as the ultimate cause of the numbness (go, Dr. Gurvitz!) She got a similar rash with her last pregnancy and it turns out she was allergic to her over-the-counter prenatal vitamin. I had been taking the same prenatal vitamin for over a year but recently bought a different brand when I ran out. I'm going to stop taking vitamins for a week while using the steroid cream and antihistamine and see how that goes. After tat I will go back on my OLD, tried and true Harvest Co-op brand vitamins and toss the poncy things I bought at Whole Paycheck.

As for the numbness she does think its a pinched nerve and possibly caused by fluid retention. She did a small adjustment today and a lot of muscle work and I'm going to have a few follow-ups just to loosen things. As for what to do about the fluid retention, I have no idea. I know it comes with the territory when pregnant, but all I expected was to have tight shoes! Who knew I cold pinch a nerve too?