Full Term Today!!! Only 3 Weeks Left!!!

Hi, all! Today is Wednesday, May 23rd, and at 37 weeks today, our baby is considered full term. Of course, I've been telling him that he doesn't need to come anytime soon, he needs to wait until his grandparents get here. :) Things have been going well, besides sleeping. I think, as time draws ever nearer, I get more and more anxious. I don't know how I'm going to know when I'm going into labor, I am most certainly nervous about the pain, and until a few days ago, we didn't have everything we needed for our little man. I'm most worried that he'll be late, and I won't have my mom with me during labor. If he's early, she can come as soon as she finds out that he's on his way, but there's still no guarantee that she'll make it on time. I feel like a little girl again, wanting to hold my mom's hand as I walk into kindergarten or get a shot for the first time. But those are the mental things keeping me awake at night. Then there's the heartburn. Last week, I had a 3-day reprieve from the heartburn, barely had any at all, was even able to sleep on my side like I prefer. After that, though, it seems to never end! I feel it nearly all the time, and the worst part is that nothing seems to work. Tums just aren't cutting it anymore. I try milk, as a natural antacid, but I can only drink so much, and lately I really haven't been wanting it. I had been eating ice cream about an hour before I went to bed, and that had helped for a while, but that stopped being effective as well. I could handle it during the day, because I could change positions pretty easily to lessen the impact. But at night, I didn't want to be moving around all the time and disturbing Bryan. Lying on my back was the best for the heartburn, but it was getting to where that wasn't comfortable for some reason. Lying on my side was more physically comfortable, but that let the heartburn flare up in a big way. I found myself cursing my childhood gastroesophageal disorder that made it to where my heartburn gets this bad. The sphincter at the end of my esophagus, which regulates what goes in and out of my stomach in that direction, is dysfunctional. Normally, it doesn't bother me, I get a little acid reflux now and again, but otherwise, it's fine. But with pregnancy hormones relaxing my muscles and my uterus pushing up on my stomach, it's a recipe for disaster. I say this so that the people reading this who have yet to have kids realize that my heartburn is more severe than normal, and not to expect to experience it like I have.

But anyway, my mental worries and the heartburn have been keeping me awake. My lack of sleep has been turning me into a major grouch. It got so bad that I decided I was going to start sleeping on the couch. It's incredible comfortable, because I can sleep in a reclined position with the back support I don't get in the bed. But when it came time for Bryan to go to bed, we both realized that we really didn't want that. Neither of us wanted him to go to bed alone. I told him there was one more thing we could try. We had to simulate the couch sleeping position. He jumped on it, because he had been contemplating how he could sleep on the couch, or bringing blankets and pillows down and sleeping on the floor next to me. I wanted to cry, he was being so sweet... But we put my body pillow up against the wall, and piled blankets and pillows behind my head. I brought one of the pillows from the couch to add to the pile. After a few adjustments, it was pretty close. After a few more, it was great. It wasn't like the couch as far as where my rear was, you can't make your mattress softer unless you have one of those Sleep Numbers or something, but it was good enough to where I was comfortable. And it worked! I got more sleep that night than I had in a week. But I still had heartburn. So yesterday, I went to see my doctor for some Zantac. And last night, I slept through the night for the first time in two weeks! It was really nice.

Now to talk about the doctor's visits. Monday was my 36 week visit with the OB. I was due for my Group B strep test. If they found the strep bacteria around my vagina, the baby would need antibiotics for it when he was born. So the doctor got one of those gigantically long Q-tip things and took a swab of the outer rim of my vagina. It hurt at first, because my body didn't produce any natural lubrication. Once it did, it was fine. She asked questions about the baby's movements, if I was having any Braxton-Hicks, and birth control postpartum. The baby's been moving like crazy, I haven't been having Braxton-Hicks very much in the last week or so, and I was planning to use the three-month supply of my Evra patch for birth control. The doctor said that if I'm breastfeeding, I shouldn't use anything with estrogen at least until my 6-week postpartum checkup, because it could interfere with milk supply. She actually suggested the Nuva-Ring that I'd been hearing about on TV. She showed me how it was used, and said that out of all the estrogen birth control methods, it has the lowest amount. I still have some questions about its use, but I might go ahead and look into getting it. It still seems a bit messy to me, especially putting it back in after the week without it is over, but I have plenty of time for that. I asked her about elective induction, where I would have labor induced when I wanted. She told me that they don't do that at that hospital, mainly because they are really busy. But induction when the body's not ready increases the incidence of needing a C-section, and can actually make labor longer and worse than it would be normally. Of course, she asked why I wanted to know. I wanted to know about doing that so that if Junior doesn't want to come when my mom's here, I can be induced to make sure that he does. But that's not a good enough reason for the hospital to do that for me. Can you tell that I want my mom here?

Bryan's starting to get nervous, too. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do in the labor room besides hold my hand. So I had him read the section about labor and how the coach can help in the pregnancy book the hospital gave us. I also looked up information on www.babycenter.com and www.americanbaby.com for him to read. I know he read the book, but I don't know about the websites. I may still stop by the library and get him something to read through. I told him we could practice if he wants to. I've been practicing some breathing techniques here and there, but there are still some things I want to go over with him, like relaxation options he can help with, and what my focus or focal point is going to be. I don't even know that yet. I've been trying to think of one. I could use a memory or visualization of a peaceful place, I could use a picture of someone I care about, some object that makes me feel relaxed or peaceful like a stuffed animal. There's infinite possibilities. I have no idea.

Another worry on my mind is that I still don't have my labor bag packed! Part of that is knowing I need to get a nightgown that buttons in the front for nursing purposes, and that I don't have any idea what my focal point is going to be. I also need to find my CD player and either burn or buy a classical music CD. I used to go to sleep to that stuff, especially the Native American flute music. I know that would help me relax. And we still don't have a diaper bag for Junior. Bryan wants this thing that looks like a tool belt that goes over the shoulder. I want something more traditional. I showed him a few websites with diaper bags, hoping he'd pick a more traditional one that didn't look too babyish or girly, and he picked this Baby Bandolier thing. I just worry that it won't have room for everything we need. I'm still going to order it, but I may go ahead and get a different one for me. I don't know yet. We picked out a stroller, but haven't bought it yet. And we don't have a baby carrier. We're not getting any of that stuff until after payday, which is a week away. I know we're getting it, but I worry that he'll come early and we won't have any of it.

And Bryan and I still have to talk about our birth plan, what I want done, what I don't want done, things I'd like to have with me, etc. Lots of stuff still to do, and I haven't finished cleaning the house, either. I had made a list of all the little things that needed done, and decided we (think "I") needed to do two things on the list each day to get everything done in time. I've been seriously slacking off for the last four days, haven't done anything. I've just been too tired. No energy. Even now, I'm dragging. I keep misspelling words. I slept til ten after taking Bryan to work at 5:30, and it's only noon, but I am so wanting to go lie down and take a nap. I probably will, because I know I need the rest. But it just drives me crazy because I don't feel like I'm doing anything productive.

This post has gone on long enough. Time to quit griping and go take a nap.

TTFN!!!