We are now officially into the third trimester. The honeymoon’s over, folks. The swelling in my feet has not gotten worse (thank you, Lord, for the cold snap). I’ve seen real swelling (Leigh knows what I’m talking about). Mine is minor, comparatively speaking. But it’s enough to be slightly irritating. The belly button is almost out (no, you cannot see a picture of that). And my ribs are getting worse. I now have sharp pains every once in a while. However, the fun part now is that when I get them, I can take the heel of my hand, rub it down the front of my ribs, and feel the baby. It’s something hard. Too big to be a foot so it has to be a head or a tiny little butt. ;) Whatever it is, it hurts. Sometimes I can’t get comfortable no matter what. Sleeping is getting even harder. Lying on my sides makes my hips ache. This week, I have slept mostly in a reclining position. That has worked some, but it’s just not quite as comfortable as curling up with the body pillow. I haven’t had any really bad leg cramps in the past month or so, but while in bed, I almost constantly feel like one could happen any minute. It feels like a slight tightness in the upper calf, and it makes me scared to go to sleep (if that makes any sense at all). I try to keep my feet flexed so as not to encourage a cramp. As I’m dozing off, I feel the tightness, and I start making sure that my foot is flexed enough to stave off a cramp. It’s an endless cycle that’s driving me crazy.
Between massaging my ribs, trying to keep my feet elevated, getting very little sleep and a few stress factors such as ferrying Kylie around since she’s grounded from driving, I am absolutely exhausted. I pulled into the parking lot at work the other morning, and tears just filled my eyes. Staying home and lying in bed all day wouldn’t help. I don’t sleep. Working makes the time go faster, so it’s not work itself that makes me sad. I think that life is just overwhelming me right now. Life doesn’t stop because you’re pregnant. Life doesn’t stop because you’ve hit the third trimester, and you’re so tired you can’t think straight. I’m forgetting things left and right. Yes, I know it’s to be expected, but when you’ve always been the one, the go to person, to remember things, and all of a sudden you can’t perform that function anymore, it’s frustrating.
I have about 2 ½ months left, and I look at that two ways. 1) Okay, I only have 2 ½ months left. Just get through this, and we’ll have a beautiful, precious baby. 2) Crap, I have 2 ½ months of this. How much worse will it get?
On a lighter note, we have started child birth classes. So far they have been fairly uneventful. The first night was mostly about nutrition. Johnathan volunteered to be the “pregnant” dad. The dietician strapped a backpack to his chest and started adding bags of rocks to symbolize weight gain – 7-8 pounds for the baby, 1-2 pounds for the placenta, 2 pounds for amniotic fluid, 3-4 pounds for increase in blood volume, etc. When she was done, she said, “So that’s what mommy is going through.” And Johnathan said, “And we love her for it.” Awww. . . what a guy. ;)
The second night was about watching “the video” and doing breathing exercises. Even though the instructor gave fair warning, the video was not nearly as bad as some of the birthing videos we have already watched. If you want to see some real birthing videos, go to www.babycenter.com. The breathing exercises were okay. I think the key is going to be just remembering to breathe at all. My plan is to play it by ear. I would love to think I could do it naturally, but I am in no way opposed to an epidural. I want to experience some of it so I will try to go for a while, but I have instructed Johnathan to give me drugs when I ask for them. ;) She had us do a test to see if we were likely candidates for natural childbirth. We (men and women) had to hold a piece of ice in our hand for one minute and do a breathing exercise. The point was to find out what we focused on. I focused a lot on the ice but not to the point that I couldn’t deal with it. Johnathan on the other hand will be asking for the epidural one week before the due date. . . just in case.