Not Much Going On...

I don't really have much to tell with this post, which is a blessing all in itself. Baby's been moving pretty regularly, liking to hang out right on top of my bladder. I think I've actually been experiencing my first Braxton-Hicks contractions. I'll feel my uterus tightening up about once an hour during the evening. It's a very strange feeling. I've also been getting a lot of back and rib pain. Most people think it's because the baby is up there, but it only heads that direction when I'm lying flat on my back. My theory is that I'm feeling all that pain because of the lack of real estate in my abdomen these days. Everything's jockeying for the most amount of space, and it's all pushing up on my diaphragm. It feels like I constantly need to pop my back, but doing so is usually fruitless. Tylenol doesn't even work. I've finally found a comfortable position to lie in on the couch that lessens it considerably. It seems to be the worst when I'm standing up or walking. So my second theory is that the round ligaments that are attached to my uterus are pulling on my ribs and back. I'm not sure. All I know is that it hurts, and I've been driving Bryan crazy complaining about it. But I've got to go pick him up from work now, so TTFN!!!

Update: 2 Days Later...

The morning after I wrote this post, I weighed myself like I do every three or four days. I always weigh myself right after I use the bathroom in the morning, and in the buff at that, so that I get a relatively accurate view of how I'm gaining. Last Sunday I weighed 143lbs. Friday morning, right after I wrote the first part of this post, I weighed 148lbs. That's gaining five pounds in five days. Not normal, especially when I'd been gaining a max of 2 pounds a week up until that point. So I called the Women's Health nurses' line at my hospital to ask about it, but I could never get through. Then I called Bryan to tell him I wanted him to come home; we were going to go in to Women's Health to ask about this. I was fearing pre-eclampsia/toxemia, both of which can cause the placenta to separate from the uterus, or deprive the baby of oxygen if my blood pressure gets too high. So I took my blood pressure on the BP monitor we have at home. it was fine. It was more elevated than it has been lately, but nowhere near anything to worry about. And my hands were swollen. I looked back on my daily habits from the last week, and decided there was nothing that could explain the sudden weight gain. I hadn't been constipated. Monday night, I had dealt with a bout of diarrhea after some pretty crazy cramps. But since then, I'd been regular. And I hadn't just eaten a huge meal the night before. So Bryan and I went to the hospital. Walking into Women's Health, we noticed a sign saying they had "downtime" on Friday mornings and didn't open until 9:00am; that's why I couldn't get through to them at 8:00 or 8:30 when I called. But I filled out the form to let them know what was going on with me, and the nurse came out to talk to me. She covered everything except the issues I was there for: the weight gain and the swelling. When Bryan mentioned this, she said that's not covered on a walk-in basis, that's for an appointment to deal with. So she made me an appointment for Monday morning. That was the only fruitful part of the trip up there. She refused to even mention the weight gain or the swelling in my hands. I walked out of there so frustrated I nearly cried. We made our phone calls to tell everyone what had happened. I had called the parents I babysit for to let them know I may not be able to work, so I had to call them to let them know how it went. I had also called my mom to see if she knew of any family history of pre-eclampsia, since that's a risk factor, so I called her back to let her know that I learned absolutely nothing. But it also turns out that I may not have anything to show the doctor when I go in on Monday. This morning I weighed 145lbs. I lost three pounds in a day. So we'll see what happens. Yesterday was just so frustrating. I'll update again on Monday, after I see the doctor.

Update: After Doctor's Visit

I almost forgot to do this, my friend Lindsay asked me what happened, and reminded me that I hadn't updated like I was supposed to... Sorry!!!

Anyway, apparently the reason for my appointment wasn't put in for the doctor, because I had to inform her why we made the appointment to start with. But, lemme start from the beginning. That morning, I woke up with some pain in my lower abdomen. Not cramping, really, but not bowel pain either. And I've had this spot on my belly at the top of my uterus that has been hurting like it's bruised, but there's nothing visible. To add to my distress for that morning, I wasn't feeling baby moving. Usually the baby is moving around within minutes of my getting up, but that wasn't the case yesterday morning. Finally, after I was up for an hour, baby finally started moving. I did the kick count, and reached 10 movements within 20 minutes, probably making up for lost time. So that relieved that part of my anxiety. We went to the doctor, and she was really hard to understand. She had a really thick accent that I couldn't decipher at first. But she measured my uterus, which measured 26cm, right on target. Then she listened for the baby's heartbeat, which was between 137 and 142 (right in boy range, according to the old wives' tales). She told me that she thought the pain I was feeling was from ligaments, which didn't make sense, but she seemed to have as difficult of a time understanding me as I did her, so I didn't press it. I told her about the weight gain, but she told me that my weight was on target now, and my blood pressure was nowhere near a worrisome measurement (111/66, pulse 82), so it was likely just retaining water for some reason. She told me that was very common in the third trimester, and unless it had stayed that way (I lost three of those five pounds) and my blood pressure started rising, it wasn't really cause for concern. She did inform me that I was anemic (not that it was any surprise to anyone, I've been anemic most of my life) and prescribed an iron supplement. She had to look up the results of my glucose test, but it was 110, which was perfectly fine. Apparently over 130 is cause for concern. She said it was good to be anxious, and to know when things aren't right. She reiterated the reasons to come in, (bleeding, contractions more than 6/hour, no fetal movement) which I had heard SO many times already. But I'll know for next time... walking into Women's Health is useless, and making a doctor's appointment is almost as fruitless. I'll just have to make sure I'm able to call the nurse's line, knowing about their "downtime" on Friday mornings. That might actually give me more answers than going into the clinic.

I tell you what, though, I am already hating these iron supplements. I've felt bowel pain nearly all day today. The directions on the box say to take one a day, but my directions are to take three a day. It should be interesting, since I have to time it around eating and sleeping. I can't do either within an hour each direction of taking a pill. So we'll see.

Anyway, it's bedtime. Poor Bryan, he's feeling terrible today. He's caught my upper respiratory infection, and it's really bothering him. And my abdominal pain's not made me the greatest of company either, so it's been an interesting day. Not so great. But anyway, off to bed with me. I still need to shower.

TTFN!!!