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| A manageable haircut |
Oy! This week has been long! :)
As I mentioned in the last post, last week and the beginning of this week (Saturday) made up my Spa/Treat Yo'self Week. After my pedicure last week, I was told I needed to take it easy because baby looked like he was going to come soon. After my haircut on Saturday, I had a series of contractions that wouldn't let up and my midwife told me I basically needed to be on bed rest. I wrote about that here.
I am actually adherent this time!
I've been in bed ever since early Sunday morning when we came home from the hospital. Even though I had to miss out on a number of exciting events (church pot luck, a surprise baby shower thrown for me by my thoughtful classmates, etc.), I am thankful that my professor let me take the in-class final exam at home, I'm surrounded by helpful family members like my sister GT & Chin's mom, and I have an amazing husband who will even indulge in some of my crazy Pinterest endeavors!
- Chestnut is the heft of a honeydew melon - ~18.19 inches and 5.25 pounds.
- The body of your baby is growing round due to developing fat layers. Most babies gain about half pound per week in the last month of pregnancy. Fat stores accumulate in the legs and arms. These layers of fat will help them regulate his body temperature. Baby still doesn't have enough fat deposits beneath his skin to keep warm outside your womb.
- Lungs are almost fully developed. Baby's reflexes are coordinated, he turns his head, grasp firmly, and respond to sounds, light and touch. You should still feel movement every day. He is about 5 and a half pounds and growing fast, it is getting short of space in the womb.
- Your uterus has become more cramped, your baby's kicks and other movements less forceful. You may want to check on your baby's movements from time to time and do a kick count.
- Baby may push up against your ribs and make you a little breathless. Soon your baby's position changes to prepare itself for labor and delivery. The baby drops down in your pelvis ("lightening") and you will be able to breathe easily again. (Ha! This has definitely already happened a couple of weeks back. I can't say I'm breathing any easier, though.)
Physical:
- Weight: 143 lb (+30) ... I lost 3 pounds since last week
- Belly circumference: 41.75 in (+13.25)
- Fundal height: 34 cm
- Dilation: 2 (from Sunday morning)
- Effacement: 70% (from Sunday morning)
- Station: +1 (from Sunday morning)
- Judy's estimate of baby's weight: over 6.5 pounds! (from Wednesday afternoon)
- Baby's position: LOP...sunny side up. Read more about this position here.
- I know some of you must be curious about why I tend to have threatened preterm labor. No, it's not because of racism. The explanation that I have been given is that because I was induced to give birth to Penelope at 22 weeks (with misoprostol and laminaria sticks), my body somehow remembers that experience and starts to go into labor before term. I don't know if that's what it is, but I seem to be baking these children mightily quick!
- I discovered just last night that my pelvic pain has improved quite a bit, surprisingly! I would normally be in exquisite pain for the first few steps out of bed in the morning, but I'm not experiencing that piercing pain so much anymore. I find that I can do some of my PT exercises much more comfortably now. Baby must have just moved into a different position.
- I have been having trouble sleeping, though. No problem going to sleep. I would just wake up at insane hours (like 1:30am or 5am) and am unable to go back to sleep. And if you say, "Aww, you're just getting practice for when baby comes!" I'd better not hear you say that because I...will...RAGE!
- Stretch marks. Probably the least of my concerns right now. But they're there. They're new. They're angry-looking.
- I finished my supposed-to-be-in-class final at home on Monday. I had two online finals that were due on Thursday and Friday...but I really wanted to get them out of the way in case Marcus decided to come early. So I did them both on Tuesday. They took nearly 5.5 hours to complete. My brain was fried! But by midnight early Wednesday morning, I celebrated that I was completely finished with all academic obligations! Felt very good!
- Now what? I'm just chilling in bed most of the time, staring at our utterly messy bedroom. My mind running wild with things on the to-do list. Hoping that if I could keep my mind preoccupied with something, Marcus would think, "Maybe it's not time to come out yet." That's my hope :)
- I'm bored. And sometimes, I just want to go to my happy place. My happy places right now are: Goodwill (the Seattle one, Bellevue one sucks), Daiso, and Samurai Noodle. Or my parents' living room...because it's next to the kitchen where my mom can always be found, cooking up something amazing!
- Counseling update: I've gone to the counselor three times now and it has been very good. At first, I thought the therapist was a bit distant and cold. But I have come to appreciate her communication style. She has warmed up quite a bit. The first session with her was a bit chaotic since I had Camille with me. She was well-behaved, but I was distracted with her in the room...and I wanted to maintain composed for her (Camille). I was tearful for many parts of that first meeting, and the counselor didn't hand me a tissue box or anything. That's weird, right? Anyway, I thought that there was some emotional disconnect there. She's a bit more logical and less "listeny" for my taste. But I went back for the second and third time to see if it was any different. And it was! She was more of an attentive listener the second time around. She offered less advice and just listened. She seemed warmer in general, too. I didn't cry at all during the second or third sessions. I am in a better state of emotional health. I think most of that was due to the fact that I've been getting non-stop childcare from Chin's mom & my sister GT!
- Normally, I find myself reading Camille's birth story about once a month. Lately, I've been reading it every other day :P I love it!
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