Pregnancy: 38 Weeks

 38 Weeks

*That point in pregnancy when you feel like you have a lot to do but you don't want to start anything too consuming because you could go into labor at any moment. Every time the house is perfectly picked up, all the dishes done, all the laundry done... I think it'd be the perfect time for baby to arrive. 

*Lots of little knees jutting out on my left side! Not painful, but definitely pointy. It hurts if I bonk into something while his knee is sticking out.

*contractions haven't been as frequent this past week, which makes me hopeful that maybe they'll stay calm until the real deal so I know for sure for sure we're in labor. Did have one today (7/21) that I automatically started breathing through.

*I am getting crabby. I snap at the boys more often and I hate that. They have such forgiving little spirits though, and for that I am grateful. It is so hard to say no to Daniel when he keeps asking to "bounce" with big tears in his eyes and his pouty lip when I'm on my medicine ball. I usually end up giving in and sitting him on my lap while I bounce. It is uncomfortable and hurts my hip, but he is happy and I want to be sure he and Jackson know how much I love them and that no new baby will change that. 

*I eat all the time! I'll eat and feel full and like half an hour later I'll want a snack. Not sure if baby is going to have a big growth spurt or if my body is storing nutrients for birth. Hopefully I don't pack on the last 10 lbs I was expecting in the next couple weeks! That would be disappointing.

*typically when I have contractions they come every 15 minutes-ish and last for multiple hours at a time. At least 3 hours at a time, sometimes more. They feel stronger but have yet to get closer together or feel overwhelming yet.

*7/23 started paying attention to contractions around 7 pm. Pretty sure I had contractions nonstop through to the next day when I began timing contractions on my app. The whole time they were between 5-10 min apart and growing slowly in intensity. Lost my mucus plug around dinnertime 7/24. 

*7/26 Dr Appt: a solid 3 cm dilated, which was discouraging since I thought I would be further along. But the Dr said it could be hours or days before the baby was ready. So to be prepared to come back in if contractions increase in intensity. He scheduled another appt for Thursday and said if I was at 4 cm they would admit me. I am ready to have this baby so I am coming around to the idea of using minimal pitocin to get things moving if sweeping my membranes doesn't work. 

*7/26 bloody show throughout the day.

*I feel like at this point my excited anticipation has turned to anxious waiting. I am very ready to meet my little boy, of course, but I feel like I'm more so ready to be done with labor and pregnancy. I never really got to this point with the other pregnancies and it makes me sad that I'm in such a negative place right now. I'm tired from contractions and I am thinking my birth will go much differently than I expected. My head and neck hurt horribly from difficulty sleeping and finding good sleep positions. I have more heartburn at night and am having more food aversions. This has just been a miserable end to pregnancy and I am very ready for it to be over.

It was a tough last week of pregnancy. I was discouraged and we were house bound most of the time because I was too tired to chase the boys around. The last week seems to have made up for such a messy pregnancy before that. But one week is definitely better than 38 full weeks of difficulty. I am so very thankful for easy pregnancies overall.