Tiny's almost here!!!
I've been feeling pretty great this entire pregnancy, but now I'm so close to the end that I can hardly wait any longer to meet my little one. That and I'm starting to become less and less comfortable as the days go on. Sleeping? I forget what that word means. I almost feel abnormal if I go an hour without sciatic nerve pain! Not to mention, simple things like tying my shoes or even standing up after a long period of sitting still is ridiculously hard. I don't know why I always think I'm an exception to the rule, but I thought a while back... Eh, I've felt great so far. I won't feel all the aches and pains near the end. Silly me. As for exercising these days... yeah right. I've tried, and I can pat myself on the back for sticking with it during my entire second trimester and part of the third. However, the last time I tried to do my workout (last week I think) I about fell over a million times because I have no balance, and I ended up sitting on my couch halfway through feeling not only fatigued, but also having contractions that took a while to go away. Maybe I'll pick it back up if I want to pop the baby out sooner. ;) Seriously, though, I think I'll save the workouts until after the baby is born. Then I can get back to my Pilates and lose some of these chins! And to anyone that says to me, "Oh, you won't feel like exercising after the baby comes! You'll be too tired..." or something along those lines, then you don't know me as good as I'd like you to. The fact that I had to drop the Pilates workouts 10 months ago is about the only thing I would like to change about pregnancy. And maybe always feeling like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Or the fact that I have no control over the chin growth. :) I can blame my husband for the recent weight gain, though. He's the one that bought me a 44 ounce bag of Reese's Eggs off of amazon.com since stores haven't started selling them yet. Good guy.
I had my final sonogram last Friday, too. It was great! It was so different from my 20 week one because baby has grown so large. They checked the kidney situation, and as expected one of them never grew at all, but the wonderful news is that the fluid levels are completely normal, so it was confirmed that the one kidney that is there is doing an awesome job! Baby will be just fine! :) For the first time I saw the 3D image of our little one, and it turns out "Tiny" ironically not very tiny. Its sweet little cheeks are so chubby! I saw the picture and was overwhelmed by how beautiful the little one is, but I couldn't help but to laugh at those cute, super squeezable cheeks! How wonderful it's going to be when Daddy and I get to kiss them! I was told that baby is in the 54th percentile in size, and is (or at least was last Friday) 5.4 pounds. Certainly even more now! The little one slept through the entire appointment, and as always was being stubborn when we tried to get a good look at its face. Maybe it didn't want us to see before the actual birth so the face could be a surprise, but rest assured, Tiny one... We still don't know if you're a boy or girl! There will be many wonderful surprises the day we welcome you! :) It took a lot of persuasion and changing positions for us to catch a small glimpse of him or her, but I'm happy we did. It was incredible to see my baby sleeping with its head on its hands. So sweet.
Finally, I had a doctor's appointment at my regular office on Monday. It was my first internal exam, so I was pretty nervous. This appointment was a lot different than all of my others. Because of the baby's renal agenesis, they had me strapped to a fetal monitor to A. Check and see if I'm having contractions, B. Record the heart rate, and C. Determine how often I can feel movement. They had me lay down on the table for 20 minutes while I listened to the little heart beating, and every time I felt the baby move I had to push a button. They said everything was good. Actually, their exact words were, "What a good baby you have!!" :) I was surprised to see the heart rate jump anywhere from 120 bpm all the way to 170! It must've been higher when it was excited.
The actual internal exam didn't hurt at all as I expected it to. However one thing was determined that surprised me... I'm already 2 cm dilated! Dr. Mellinger told me it doesn't necessarily mean I'll go early, but it just means I have a "head start" when labor actually does come on. Good news for me!
And in the world of the Navy, Daddy finally has his orders and will be home... like in a couple days! How exciting for us!!!!!!!!!! Finally our little family will be all together... Next up, moving to Virginia! My life is one big adventure after the next. I wouldn't have it any other way!
26 days and counting...
