Still In One Piece

So it's another month and I'm still in one piece. Wow, 37 weeks, I never thought I'd get here! Very happily married for almost a whole month now and things are going great between The Man Thing and I.

Mr Squigglebum is still squiggling around in there quite happily though I think his living quarters are starting to get a bit cramped. Now some of the movements that he tries to do really hurt! Especially when I get an entire limb feel like it's trying to escape out through my side!

Still getting lots and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions which are a pain in the butt. They haven't managed to keep me awake at night in a little while but according to The Man Thing I'm now whimpering and making funny pain noises in the middle of the night, loud enough and frequently enough to wake him from a dead sleep!

Last week I had my cervix checked out visually to see if there was any remnants of the cerclage still hanging around and remove them if needed but the Obstetrician (not my usual one) couldn't see anything which is awesome. Hopefully that means that when this ship is ready she'll take off *Wink*

I also have 2 lovely med students following my pregnancy now and how everything is going to turn out. After last time where things didn't quite go to plan I'm quite happy that this time everything -should- work out, fingers crossed!
I also had another med student in on the last appointment with the OB, checking my cervix. She was lovely and I'm quite happy that I gave her the opportunity to learn *Smile* Gosh I just love being a guinea pig don't I!!
I've asked my two med students if they would like to sit in on the birth and they both said that they would love to. I don't mind having a couple of quiet spectators or even a couple more hands if required lol, and I'm hoping to get one of them to video or at least take pictures of the birth so really they would be doing ME a favour!

I've also been writing out the draft for my final birth plan, the one that is going to go with me to the hospital. It will be short and sweet and basically say "I know what pain relief is available to me, please do not offer me pain relief, if I require it I will ask for it" and "If a cesarean under a general anaesthetic should be required I would like my husband, The Man Thing, to have skin to skin time as soon as physically possible, if he wishes" and that's something I'm going to talk to him about too.

I have a new midwife. My last one has left the hospital to return to her home country and now I have a lovely lady who I feel just as comfortable with. I guess from spending a lot of time in the hospital as a child I got quite accustomed to new faces in my health care.

My back pain has been coming and going. It's usually a lot better after The Man Thing gives me a back massage, something I've been asking for a lot lately. Pity he isn't home tonight to give me one because I can feel my back starting to tighten up already.

I've started drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea to get my uterus in tip top condition. I'm wondering if it's going to make my Braxton Hicks contractions worse or if they will just stay the same. I've slowly increased my consumption from one cup of RLT a day to three as of today. I'm also going to get some Evening Primrose Oil capsules. Even if they don't do anything, well the tea tastes quite nice and the EPO caps make my skin look amazing. I know, I used to use them every day to help lessen PMS symptoms and ease the skin conditions I've been troubled with for years.

Anyway, I think that's enough from me for now. I'd better see what's for dinner and so on.

Worries and Wonders

So today I was pretty worried about Mr Squigglebum here because he was quiet. Too quiet... I jiggled and poked, prodded and drank ice cold water and all I got was brain freeze and a couple of little hiccups. That certainly made for a worried mama!! So I told myself if he hadn't given me a few more wiggles and boots before 12 then I was going to go get him checked out.
Well, needless to say he then started booting me didn't he. This kid is giving me grey hairs and he's not even born yet!!!

He HAS been a bit on the quiet side all day, though I get kicks and wiggles so I know he's ok.

Oh and also I think he's turned head down. I'm not entirely sure since I'm no pro at baby groping lol but I'm as sure as I can be. Believe me, it's one hell of a relief!
I'm not enjoying the sensation of my bladder being squished into my pubic bone though. It STINGS!!

The man thing and I may possibly, maybe, could have finally decided on a name for this little wriggler!
I like it.
He likes it.
My mum and nana like it!!!

Now the hard part is finding a middle name that goes well with it!!

Progress and Passing out

I'm now officially 29 weeks. Woot!! Things seem to be getting a little rumbly in the cervix area though. Have had some interesting discharges but nothing that suggests an infection or thrush to me (thank goodness!)
Have been having what I can only describe as FULL feelings, which makes me think that my cervix has been taking a hammering.

I was really paranoid when I woke up this morning that bubs hadn't been moving. I poked and prodded a little bit and woke him up (sorry baby!) but it certainly reassured me. Guess he'd been quiet overnight and my brain kept track. He certainly let me know he was there over the course of the day though, booting away. While I was awake anyway.

For some really weird reason I slept all day today. Like seriously, all day. I woke up, had breakfast and an hour later I was exhausted and back in bed. Stupid thing is I was tossing and turning and not able to get to sleep for ages. Then I finally woke up again at 2.30.
Roll on 5pm and it was like I'd been hit over the head with a stick, I was dizzy and tired and really needed to lie down. So I did. And then woke up again at 8pm. So so weird...

Paranoia. Again.

So I've just got home from another trip up to the hospital to get things checked out in my downstairs department because things seemed a little... wrong.
This time it's because I've been feeling these random sharp stabby type pains in my cervix. If you google it (I did) it's not the most reassuring picture, but I'm glad I can read stuff like that and keep a level head.
I rang my mum and talked things over with her and she recommended that I give the delivery suite at the hospital a call and see what they say, so I did. I explained everything and was told it would probably be a good idea to go in there to get it all checked out.

Well now, what an interesting experience that was! I had my temperature and blood pressure taken and my temp was a little high, blood pressure was normal.
So then it came to checking on bubs to make sure he was ok. Turns out he's turned transverse sometime in the last couple of weeks so it was a little trickier to find his heartbeat than it usually is. Then he decided to play hide and seek with the CTG so we couldn't get a reading of his heart rate with that so the midwife brought in the handheld Doppler which bubs decided to play hide and seek with too!! We eventually pinned him down (I don't think he liked being woken up by the prodding hands lol) and got a reading on his heart rate and it was perfectly fine.

Then came the waiting for the doc to come check me. My OB poked her head in and said hi. She'd just come from theatre so she let one of her colleagues check on me. The doc had a look at my cervix and said it looked closed, and she took a swab to check for any infections that may be brewing and possibly causing the slight rise in temperature.

So while all this is going on I'm chatting away with one of the midwives about a book lol, the one by Jodi Picoult about a girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Handle with Care. I haven't read it but this midwife had and she was telling me about it. It does sound like an interesting book, I've just never been all that interested in getting it out of the library. Maybe now I will.

So anyway, the doc says she cant see anything physically wrong that may cause the stabbing pains I've been experiencing so they take my temperature again to see if I need overnight observation and my temp has come down to normal levels so I'm deemed fit to go home but if I have any concerns or if the pains get worse then I'm quite welcome to go back to get checked out again.

I think that the slight elevation in temperature was because about half an hour before going into the hospital I had a warm shower which could have raised my temp just that little bit.

So yeah, I'm home now and still experiencing the odd stabby pain still. I'm going to take a paracetamol and head to bed, try to get some sleep. The man thing is out trialling at a bar to see if he can get a job there so I've got the bed to myself until he manages to come home lol.

Appointments

Well I'm still in one piece. Saw the obstetrician today and had a scan done (internal, first one ever, have many more to look forward to) which shows my cervix is still funnelling but my cervix is 27mm long so that's a pretty decent length. OB said everything else looks good, measurements and fetal heart beat are all normal. Now it really is just a case of wait and see.

I have another appointment in 3 weeks time (just after Christmas) where I'll be getting another internal scan (oh goodie...) just to check up on things. There was some talk of steroids after the next appointment as a precaution but we will have to wait and see about that. Fingers crossed I make it to the next appointment with no issues at all.

During the scan I confirmed that what I keep feeling poking and prodding my cervix is definitely a hand. Little bugger had his hand riiight in there lol having a good grope around. No wonder I feel uncomfortable at times.

Dramas!

Well this morning I had a bit of a scare. I thought I had sprung a leak.
The man thing was out and I was alone to over think things.
The good news is I was poked, prodded, swabbed, sampled, measured, listened to, scanned and deemed perfectly ok. It's thought that I either peed myself without noticing, or the regular discharges down there had a flooding good time.
I rang the man thing before I headed off to the hospital and he came zooming into town and met me there. I hadn't told him what was up over the phone so he was worried as hell, wondering what was going on. In hindsight I really should have told him what was happening...

Well since we've been home (several hours now) I've hit the slump after all the adrenaline. All I want to do now is crash out and sleep for a while! If I didnt have a bouncy little jumping bean using my bladder as a trampoline then I might be able to get some sleep lol. I love feeling the movements, really, they're just so strong already!

Sweet Emotion

Or not so sweet as the case may be. The man thing is lucky to be in one piece at the moment *wince* seeing as I've been one hell of a moody cow at the moment. Dreaming of your fiance cheating on you with any female that opens her legs is also likely to put one in a bad mood...

So yeah, today I've been happy, sad, frustrated, angry. In general, pregnant!

Bubby boy has been jiggling round in there quite happily today. I think I had a knee or a foot massaging my right flank while I was watering the plants. Felt rather interesting, let me tell you!

The bumpage is getting bumpier by the day. I'll take a photo tomorrow and show y'all.

My belly button cant make up its mind whether to be an innie or a flattie at the moment, it hasn't quite progressed to being an outie yet. Close, but not quite.

It's a...

Whoop.. hold it.

So, I suck at keeping up this blog, obviously. I've abandoned you lovely people for 9 whole days!!! *gasp* It's horrible, how can I do such a thing.

Thus, here is an update of everything that has been going on lately.
The man thing felt the sprog squiggle the other day. He was really happy about that. He's had plenty of opportunity since then but hasn't taken advantage of it.

Umm, what else. Oh yeah, went for the Anatomy scan (also known as the 20 week scan) and everything there looked great. We came home with an abundance of pictures, some alien like and others not so. We also found out what flavour bubba is most likely to be. General consensus is: BOY!!

Flutterbys

Not of the winged variety, but more of the uterine kind. I've been feeling little flutters and maybe wobbles since about 13 and a half weeks but now at 17+6 I'm definately feeling little kicks and nudges.

Nothing feels more random than a complete somersault, though I guess there are more to come in the coming months.

Seems to be that either baby REALLY doesn't like the laptop (or possible the wireless modem in the laptop that I cant seem to turn off) or I just have a bit more body awareness when I'm using the laptop. Weird, as you would think I would be more distracted by what I'm reading...

Anyway, it's late (or early) and I really should get to sleep.