Yes, I was a bridesmaid while in my 9th month of pregnancy. I only have one sibling, and I wasn't going to miss standing up in her wedding even I had to waddle down the aisle. I also have our last picture as a family of four. Nick and Henry were "ring security," so that's why they are in the fancy tuxedos.
Here's what I looked like just before Henry was born. I believe I weigh a little more this time, and this baby is much higher up than either of my boys was, but I guess my body has the same tendencies in pregnancy. My mom said she was the same way. Here's one of her from 1978. Yes, it's an old picture--hey, at least it's not in black and white!
I'm always jealous of women who stay skinny everywhere but their bellies--I'm definitely in the "childbearing hips" category of pregnant ladies. So here it is, my last pregnancy update ever.
Weeks: 39 weeks exactly today. I will deliver at 39 weeks, 1 day. Since this was an IVF pregnancy, we know the age down to the hour.
Weight: +46 pounds. Oh, well. At least this baby is a little bigger, so I know some of the weight is baby. I can remember being devastated after having Nick and going home to find out I had lost a grand total of 8 pounds (he weighed almost 6). I'm under no illusions that I'll walk out of the hospital in my pre-pregnancy clothing. (Ha!)
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| Does she look a little squished? This is not the face of a svelte baby. |
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| Me, from 1978. 9 pounds, 14 ounces. |
Do you notice any resemblance? The ultrasound is from almost 38 weeks. The picture below is me when I was first born. I was NOT a dainty baby--I practically broke my mother. I'm hoping this baby is not quite so big, though since I'm having a c-section I'll survive even if she is huge. Their estimate as of a few weeks ago would be that she'd be 9 pounds, 5 ounces if I went to 40 weeks. Tomorrow we'll know for sure!
Movement: At night, plenty! She's rocking and rolling in there. I think a part of me will miss feeling her wiggling and bumping inside me, though I'm very eager to meet her. I'm a tiny bit sad to think I'll never feel a baby moving inside me again.
Exercise: Well, I've hit 10,000 steps about half the time in the last couple of weeks, and my FitBit says I'm averaging over 8,000. I guess that's not too bad when you consider each step is more of a waddle.
Cravings: Burgers, Mexican food, shrimp, chocolate, iced tea, and cheese of all sorts. I'm very anemic, so I bet all the protein cravings are from that. There's no excuse for the chocolate cravings.
Sleep: I miss sleeping. I get between 4 and 6 hours, though I go to bed at ten and wake up around 6. My blood sugar has been dropping in the middle of the night, and between that and trips to the bathroom, my sleep is very interrupted. Waking up constantly is getting a little old, and I know this isn't going to get better once she's born.
Medical: I spoke too soon in my last post about not needing iron. The day after I posted that, the blood test results showed me as needing an iron infusion immediately. I had my third weekly infusion today--the doctor wanted me to get as much iron as possible before my c-section, since you can lose a lot of blood during surgery.
I've been having some significant swelling, especially since this late-September heat wave started. My blood pressure has been elevated, too, but that problem should resolve once the tiny human inside of me comes out.
Did you know that instead of tying your tubes nowadays, they actually completely remove them? I guess it really reduces your chances of ovarian cancer. That's fine with me, since I won't be needing my Fallopian tubes anyway. When I woke up this morning, it hit me that this will be my very last day of being pregnant, ever. I documented the occasion at the hemotology office, which has a mirror that is much cleaner than the ones at our house.
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| I had Open RNY Surgery back in '03, thus the giant belly scars. |
Mood: Lots of extreme emotions this week. My sister got married, so I was emotional (for happy reasons) because of that, and my third grader has been not turning in homework, which sparked a very different kind of emotion in me (rage, perhaps, would describe it). While I'm very, very done with being pregnant, I'm also very conscious of the fact that this will be my last baby, so that brings about feelings of sadness. I adore infants--in fact, during my years of working in day care centers, the infant room was always my absolute favorite. This will be the last baby I get to snuggle who is mine. I know from experience how quickly they grow. It seems like just yesterday that Nick was snuggled up in my arms wearing preemie clothes, and now he's going to be nine years old and his snuggling days are over. Henry, who is six, will still snuggle with me, thank goodness, but I know those days are numbered. He's been getting out of the habit lately because I no longer have a lap, per se.
Every time I look at her pink nursery or touch a tiny, lacy sock, I'm filled with the kind of elation that only comes about when a mother of only boys finally gets a daughter. I would imagine the emotion would be similar had I first had two daughters and then a son.
The rest of my evening will be spent packing. I have female OB surgeons doing the operation this time, and I'm generally pleased with the lack of arrogance that seems to surround most of the male obstetricians I've seen. I have to say they were way more thorough in their description of risks and the time they took to explain things, though. I'm a little bit scared after hearing all of the information.
I've been told to expect to come home sometime on Sunday. See you on the other side!
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