Like A "Real Person"

Two firsts for the baby today:

1: Startling when Daddy, two feet away, exclaimed loudly about a goal made by Argentina.
2: Hiccups! Funny.

People are definitely going out of their way to be helpful now, especially as concerns carrying and opening things. I didn't like the idea of feeling like public property (belly-patting, for instance) but somehow feeling cared for by the community at large turns out not to feel as intrusive as I imagined.

I did get an unexpected belly-pat, but at least it was from someone who a) was female and b) has known me for a few years (former prof.) Still hard to know what the heck to do at the time, though.

Note to self: on addition to "big ticket" items like the car seat, must remember to get scratch mittens.

Baby clothes now washed and hung in closet.

6 Months-ish

Not that anyone counts by months, as I'm a bit over 25 weeks now. I guess this means I'm in the last trimester now. While the first trimester felt like a year, the second seemed to whiz past in a few weeks!



I have been feeling more confident of my ability to actually squeeze the baby out without freaking out since we've been taking the Bradley class. TheLimey also expresses a lot more confidence in his role as coach. We are now halfway through the 12-week class, although we have a lot of reading to catch up on for the past few weeks. And some of the exercises, too. Given the eating, the exercising, the walking, the relaxation practice, and the readings, it could easily take 6 hours a day every day. (Some of that time just me, some both of us.)

It's really been hard to find the time to do it all in the evenings, and our weekends have been chock-full of various social things as every single freakin' individual we know is graduating, getting married, leaving town, and having babies right now. Each of which require some kind of get-together, including ours now that I think of it.

Supposedly pregnant women are mosquito magnets, since there is simply more heat pouring off of us as we radiate for our babies, too. However, on recent nature walks I have only gotten a few bites, while my poor husband is still stalked by lots of the little bloodsuckers. (Perhaps it's the exotic foreign meat aspect!)

I have a very few odd muscle twitches here and there, but nothing like the terrible cramps some people describe (well, maybe once or twice). The only annoying thing is that my eyelids have been twitching like crazy (I'm sure it looks quite crazy) for a few weeks now. Top, bottom, left, right--they all do it at various times. I'd say at least a few times per hour.

Also, my hips have been aching when I wake up for maybe a month. Whichever side I was most recently sleeping on is the one that aches. It wakes me up in the middle of the night so I have to turn over and cook the other side.

Yay!

No pre-eclampsia (so far, anyway). Blood pressure was a mere 116/60.

I keep thinking that if I didn't know enough about asthma to know that blood pressure goes up when ventilation goes down even a little, I would not have known what was probably wrong. And I wouldn't have known how to take care of it, and would have had the same bad reading today as two weeks ago, and then would have had a "high risk" pregnancy for no really good reason.

It's sure good to know stuff.

Daddy finally got to hear the heartbeat today, too, which was nice.

Checkup

Today we go in to see if my blood pressure spike was a fluke. Which clearly I hope it was.

I also had a weird, intense, unfamiliar flavor of abdominal pain yesterday, but only for about 2 seconds. TheLimey was very worried and insists we discuss it with the midwife today. Probably not a bad idea, though I'm feeling kind of tired of talking about potential problems.

At least Little Jump-n-Bump is still jumping and bumping right on schedule (mostly when I lie down or turn over, that is, though sitting down does it, too.) I think it may just be that s/he is big enough now so that I feel most of the wiggulations. A lot of the kicking or poking seems directed straight down towards my cervix, which is somewhat uncomfortable and also squishes my bladder (further). The other popular wigglin' spot has been mostly on my left side, which is irrelevant to my comfort.

I wish I could see what position the baby is in! It seems to have not shifted position much since the ultrasound: just grown and become more squished.

I can't believe I'm about 150 pounds now. Where the heck is it all? I feel like I'm the same size as always, except for this protrusion on my belly. It's a weird feeling for someone who used to struggle to get above 113 pounds.

A fun thing I did over the weekend: washing all the newborn clothing and blankets (in a low dosage of non-perfume, non-dye detergent, of course) and putting them away in the bedroom. I also researched the cloth diapers I want to use (Fuzzi Bunz), which are expensive in initial outlay but seem widely acclaimed by parent users.

For now the clothes are mixed in with our big-people stuff in the closet and in my dresser, but I have created vague designs for a small but tall baby wardrobe that would fit in a little-used nook of the room. I could get the pieces cut at Home Depot and screw it all together myself, paint it, insert a couple clothes rods. We'll see...

I also want to make a computer-designed room mockup to try out moving the bedroom furniture around to accommodate a changing table and rocking chair. Cramped, but I bet I could make it work.

Bullet Points

1. Have been drinking more water as recommended by midwife; also added supplements of magnesium and more calcium as well as using preventative inhaler every night (rather than sparingly using it only when things are getting tight.) Also maintaining protein and salt intake as recommended for support of albumin in blood (keeps fluids inside blood vessels, so body doesn't try to overcompensate by raising blood pressure). I hope all of this this takes care of the big scary blood pressure reading next week.

2. Finally! Arranged self/baby/husband so that he could feel the kicking, too.

3. Reflections in large windows: who the heck is that?! It can't be me! Weird.

4. Feeling better physically, mentally; not needing many naps this week. Am gradually developing routine for days that seems to be leading to at least some work, and less procrastination / angst / funlessness / self-loathing. Noticed that when I'm at all tired, though, things seem hopeless. Therefore must not make any decisions or plans when tired.

5. Nap-ly weeks still seem to be followed by growth spurt of The Belly the subsequent week. It seems preternaturally large already, and this is only month 5!

6. Had baby shower from colleagues (early because many are moving.) Nice to see others, feel more motivated about work. Also got cute items.

7. Found a Once Upon a Child outlet. Yippee!

Now, must work.