40 WEEK pregnancy update!!
We are SO ready to meet you! And, well, because we've never done this before, we're actually ready to find out if we're ready. :P So much preparation and apprehension and worry can go into having a baby for the first time, we have been doing a mix of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best... and now we're really anxious to see how hard it actually will be.
And, as I have shared in all my pregnancy updates but now more than ever, I am so proud of my body and grateful that I've had a textbook experience so far and everything is going as it should.
But, I am getting a little uncomfortable and having some weird side effects... figured I should document them here!
I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for 4+ weeks now and they are not comfortable, but not painful. Just feels like my belly now has an oversized bowling ball in it and I can't slouch, pick up something from the ground, move much at all. I understand real contractions will also feel like that, but with intense pain-like sensations too. Oh, boy.
My newest uncomfortable symptom is tingling and pain in my hands. I've had swollen feet/ankles since week 20-something but have been wearing compression socks a lot of the time, but now my hands are also swelling. It feels like when you fall asleep on your hand and then have sort-of "pins and needles" tingly pain. It's worst when I grab something (hairbrush, pen, knife, you know, normal things).
Oh, also, now my bladder is so tiny I have to use the bathroom all the time and even then, often my bladder is pinched and hurts. I've been waking up 2-3x/night recently to use the bathroom but thankfully can go right back to sleep after. Baby practice, they say!
Another recent change I've noticed I'll also attribute to the pregnancy, though who knows. I would say I have reduced decision-making capacity. I've had some free, unstructured days off and long weekends recently and it has been utterly overwhelming for me to schedule them. Like, I have a to-do list and some times blocked off on my calendar, but when we try to change things or add more, I get flustered and tell Jason I just can't handle it. Pretty much the same feeling about what we should have for dinner or watch on TV. I've had to say, this is too much for me, you decide!
Mainly, we are feeling SO excited to meet our baby and a little anxious--why doesn't my body understand it's okay, it's time to get the baby out now?!!? I know first-time moms often go past 40 weeks and here I am doing that now. But I swear this baby is fully cooked and my body and mind are basically as ready as we're going to get. I was hoping for a 39-week baby!
However... I realized the other day, my body still being pregnant and relatively comfortable (except my hands and bladder) is just another thing to be grateful for. Another thing my body and baby are doing right, healthy, textbook. I will be grateful for that!
To close... THIS is my "OMG, we're going to be parents like, really soon" face.
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