Week 38

Well this baby is DEFINITELY going to come within the next 2 weeks.  There will be no going over my due date since Dr said she won’t let me go past 40 weeks - maybe even a little sooner depending on how things progress.  This is primarily due to the gestational diabetes.  The placenta will start to age and not work as well after 40 weeks, so the baby is better outside than inside.  It's also possible we'll see signs of pre-eclampsia over the next couple weeks since I have the predisposition to high blood pressure (plus I've had a lot of additional swelling and am noticing that my BP, which has been very low all pregnancy, is starting to inch up ever so slightly.)  But at this stage of pregnancy - 38 weeks - I seriously feel like a bomb about to go off!  I've read, and my OB also confirmed that those dramatic scenes of a woman's water breaking at home (or at a store, bank, the office, in the car...) that we so often see in movies/TV is actually a very rare occurrence.  Water breaks in the hospital, after active labor has started, 85-90% of the time!  So it's kinda silly of me to feel like a bomb about to go off, but I do anyway.

I keep expecting for labor to start at any moment since my mom had me at 38 weeks (and I was her first).  She also had my sister early at around 37.5 weeks.  But on average, babies come naturally between 39-41 weeks.  My OB showed me a perfect bell curve where the top is directly over 40 weeks and it tapers perfectly on either side (the link I pasted is exactly what her chart looked like, tho I realize this specific one is 10 year old data and specific to Minnesota - but not much changes, you know?)

How far along: 38 weeks, 1 day
What did baby do this week:  Baby isn't doing a whole lot more than gaining weight and chillin' in there.  They are close to birth weight and length which could be (like I said last week) anywhere from 6.5-9 pounds and 19-20 inches head to heel.  This is roughly the size of a small pumpkin or celery bunch.  Their brain will continue to develop - but this happens throughout childhood regardless of whether they're in utero or not.  Baby is very proficient at making a fist and can grasp things very tightly.  Soon it will be our fingers!
Total weight gain: 33.2 pounds (I have to believe a lot of this weight gain in these last couple weeks is water since I've had so much swelling...)
Symptoms: Carpal tunnel - Aaargh!!!  I'm having trouble using my hands for anything.  They get stiff and hurt if I try to grip something, or if I read a book, look at a magazine, look at my phone or iPad (and am bending my wrists/elbows) then my fingers get tingly and numb.  It can be very bothersome at night for sure.  I have definite swelling in my calves, ankles, feet, arms and hands.  This might be the first week I can see it in my ankles/below my calves where I’d never really noticed it before (but it was probably there.)  I still get those shooting pains/pressure somewhere around my cervix.  I don't know if it's related to a contraction, but it stops me in my tracks.  I think most women call this "lightning crotch" and that is a GREAT explanation for it!  I'm honestly not sure if I've been having contractions - it's very hard to know if it's just Baby moving and pressing their body/butt against me, or if it's a contraction and that's why my belly gets firm (just in one spot).  The baby feels very low to me - I have a hard time leaning forward at all.  It’s hard to reach the bottom cabinets in the kitchen, and I seriously hate it when I drop something on the floor.  Even sitting at a dining table and sitting upright or leaning forward to eat my food is quite uncomfortable.  Ideally I’d like to sit on the couch with a tablecloth across my torso and my bowl of food on my belly and bring the spoon to my mouth.  Comfortable, yes.  Classy, absolutely not.  Do I care?  Kinda not really right now.  It’s just a couple more weeks, if that.

Carpal Tunnel I CURSE YOU!!!!

Queasy or Sick: Occasional nauseous feeling before I eat some mornings (maybe 2-3/week).  But it goes away fast and sometimes I can almost just ignore it.
Sleep:  Good nights and bad nights.  And the problems I'm having are because of the carpal tunnel and my jaw (which I mentioned last week).  I'll wake up to pee and can't fall back asleep because of the pain/tingling in my hands, and then throw in there this weird jaw pain that seems to only really bother me at night... *sigh*
Best moment this week:  Running errands: getting the car washed, grocery shopping, going to Starbucks, going to the mall with my mom.  There are a lot of other people out and about (since it was the week between Christmas and New Years) but I’m taking note that it could be the last time I get to do these things with ease.  I also watched a lot of old 80’s movies on Netflix and sat around with my feet up.  It’s been a great first full week of maternity leave!
Hardest part of the week: Seriously it remains the carpal tunnel which just makes doing things so annoying.  I got a new cell phone on Sunday (better camera to take pix of Baby with!) and would have to put it down repeatedly while I was playing with it/setting things like I want - because my hands were falling asleep and getting painful and tingly.
Looking forward to:  I mean obviously - delivery, and meeting our little baby.  But for other reasons too... I’m glad it took about 36-37 weeks for this swelling to really start bothering me (so many women have it much earlier) but I really hate it.  I had a very disappointing experience the other day when I went to put on some boots - my biggest, roomiest boots too.  I don’t wear them very frequently because they look a little “baggy” around the tops of my feet, ankles and calves.  Up until now I’ve been getting away with flip-flops, flats (those half-size-up Cole Haans I bought a month or two ago), slippers and Uggs, but it was raining so I wanted to wear boots.  I put on some thin socks and went to put the boots on - and not only could I barely get my foot into them, I couldn’t get them zipped up past my ankle.  MY ANKLE!!!  ARGH!!!!
Movement:  Yup - feels like Baby is stretching or rolling sometimes.  And it's kind of a trip when I feel movement low (like in my pelvis) and high (like at the top of my belly) at the same time - really gives me an idea of how big this little one is!  Baby was very stubborn at my non-stress test on Tuesday and WOULDN'T WAKE UP for at least 30-40 minutes (it started to get a little worrisome).  Ice water, buzzing and arriving right after my breakfast didn't seem to help for quite a while.  But then finally: movement and a quick pass of the test.  If Baby still hadn't woken up they would have sent me for an ultrasound...
Food cravings:  Actually healthy food sounds good right now I guess cuz of all the new years resolutions and magazine covers with "healthy clean lifestyles" being shoved at all of us.
Happy or moody:  I think I'm starting to get a little discouraged, especially with the carpal tunnel.  It's really becoming debilitating and keeping me from doing things I'd really like to do especially since these are the last days I'll have time to myself.  Thankfully I tend to get things done early and really have when it comes to planning for this baby, so there is nothing too pressing left to accomplish.  But I would love to do some cooking or baking (which I find very relaxing) however, I think it's making things worse in my hands.  I've also noticed my first morning blood pressure starting to creep up the last few days which is also worrying me a tad (tho my numbers still usually look good at the Dr/NSTs - but read on below for today's report).  I'm really getting ready for Baby to make that big appearance!

Labor signs:  Maybe some Braxton-Hicks contractions?  But I'm still not totally sure if that's what I'm feeling...
Belly button in or out:  Yup - still in.  Pretty sure it won't be changing much from where it's at right now.
Wedding rings on or off:  Sadly I had to stop wearing my engagement ring about a week ago.  It was just making me nervous to have it on because there were some evenings it was very hard to get off.  I was wearing my wedding band up until yesterday (I think it's a 1/4 or 1/2 size larger than my engagement ring) but decided that I'm no longer going to wear that anymore either since it was hard to get off last night.  *sigh*
Stretch marks:  Nothing new
Learnings from the week:  As of this morning I am 1cm dilated and 30% effaced.  Baby's head is very low, but it's not clear if they've "dropped" like I keep hearing people talk about.  This basically doesn't tell me a whole lot since I've read that many women can walk around dilated/effaced like this for a month or more.  But my Dr. did say that it is a good place to be if we have to induce in a couple weeks.
Like I mentioned, my BP has been climbing ever so slightly.  Not into a "high" range when I take it at home, but higher than it's been the last 38 weeks.  Today at my OB appt (just before my NST) it was coming in on the high side.  No protein in my urine, but since I was headed over there anyway, my OB decided to have the hospital do a blood draw to run a toxemia panel just to rule out pre-eclampsia.  Better to be safe than sorry.  My BP was much better at the NST and of course, still no protein in my urine.  They did the blood draw but it takes AN HOUR for the results to come back and I couldn't leave until they got the results, told my Dr and then got her blessing for me to leave.  All checked out fine and I was headed home an hour and a half after arriving.  Whew - a long morning at Labor & Delivery!  But I'm thankful for all the checks and feeling comforted that everything is okay.
Final Thoughts: I guess I do still look small in my belly.  This past week, an older woman waiting in line behind me at the store remarked how great I looked and how she “certainly didn’t look like that when” she was pregnant!  She asked me how much longer I had and when I told her about 1-2 weeks I thought her jaw was going to come unhinged.  Then a friend who stopped by remarked that I look about 6 months pregnant to her (granted, she had twins) and the L&D nurse at my NST on Tuesday also remarked that "your baby looks good sized - you're not very big."  But you know what?  Even in pregnancy - if someone wants to tell me I look small - I WILL TAKE IT!  Especially knowing full well that our Baby is a good and healthy size.  I just hope that it means I will get back into shape all that much sooner.