It's a rainy Friday morning, so I decided that a relaxing bath was in order. I turned on the TV to babysit the girls so that I could bathe uninterrupted. Post bath I decided that my feet needed some attention. I was miraculously able to shave dead skin, trim my toenails, and buff my skin to a healthy, new softness at 37 weeks pregnant. I have no idea how I was able to accomplish this (other than a little breath-holding) but my feet feel great and I am ready to start the day.
Onto some not-so-deep thoughts... I was thinking about this pregnancy and noting the differences between this time and Violet. When I was pregnant with Violet I had two tiny pink stretch marks that came my last week of pregnancy; I just counted nine this morning. My belly button flattened but never stuck out; right now it looks like a pop-out turkey timer. I had severe nausea and tons of vomiting but it only lasted 14 weeks.; today marks 32 weeks of less severe nausea without much vomiting. I don't remember having terrible reflux; this time I am acutely aware if I forget Protonix for one day. Violet moved and kicked; this baby moves, kicks, and feels like it's trying to carve his/her way out of the womb through my ribs. I felt great after 21 weeks and then got pretty uncomfortable towards the end; I feel great right now and would rather have this end of pregnancy level of discomfort my whole way through. I was in a hurry to deliver Violet and couldn't wait to meet whoever had been living inside me; I am more patient and rarely feel desperate to figure out who this person is. We knew if Violet was a girl her name was for sure, Violet, but we didn't have a boys name until we were in the hospital laboring; this time I think we are pretty sure of both boy and girl names although I really have no feeling about the sex of this baby. I was absolutely determined to have Violet without pain intervention (we had taken Bradley classes and had a beautiful birthplan) - I ended up water broken, not contracting, with pitocin and an epidural. This time I feel indifferent as to how I want the labor to go. My OB thinks this baby is ginormous and would love to induce me a week early. She almost has me talked into it and I am wondering if it is too early to order my epidural. Last time I had very romantic notions about the post-partem time and ended up struggling a little with emotions and hormones and having a very difficult time getting started nursing. This time I am terrified of post-partem hormones and emotions and only slightly concerned about nursing difficulties (hopefully I figured all those out last time).
Well those are the differences I noted this morning. It's amazing how each pregnancy can be so remarkably individual. We could have only 2 more weeks if we let Dr. G. induce a week early or we could have 4 more weeks if we leave it up to the baby. I am excited to find out boy or girl and hopefully our names will stick. At different times Nate or I have had cold feet about the recently decided names but I guess that's okay since nothing is carved in stone. I have an ultrasound next Wed. to get a size estimate. I guess that may help us determine how to finish out the pregnancy. I really don't feel strongly either way. The phone just rang to say my OB started her maternity leave a little early so I guess we will be discussing this with a different MD - oh well.
On a different subject... The girls and I have had a bit of a rough week. I don't know whether it's me stressing them out or a transition back from time with Grandma. We set a spank record on Monday and have had several days of multiple spanks, time-outs, and crying. I would really like to see things calm down and have a little better training before the baby gets here. I am trying to toughen up with being more consistent so that we can nip some of the behaviors. One real struggle is mealtime. We just can't figure out how to get Anara to eat (even her favorite foods) without it being a struggle. We have to prompt her to take every single bite and she appears to be getting something out of the push and pull during mealtime. Yesterday it made all 3 meals miserable and I am out of ideas. If she weren't so skinny I would just not feed her and wait for her to decide to eat. If only she had a little reserve. Anyway, hopefully today will be better and next week even more so. I think that sums up everything on my brain this rainy day.
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