30 Weeks!!!!

"Week 30! Hell yeah!

Look at you go and look at that baby grow. Thanks to your little wonder, which is about a three pound kicking machine now, everything under your hood is being squished so you can turn up the dial on constipation, heartburn and killer gas. Thanks kid – remind him or her of this when they’re picking out your nursing home down the road.

I also wanted to have a little chitty chat with you about preeclampsia. Approximately 6-8% of women develop preeclampsia and it’s when your blood vessels constrict for no apparent reason (there are many theories but I won't get into that here) causing your blood pressure to rise.

It can go from nothing to something pretty quickly so keep an eye out for these symptoms:
Swelling: Swelling of the hands, face and eyes in particular.
Sudden Weight Gain: Anything over two pounds a week is something to make note of
Nausea or vomiting: Nausea and vomiting that kinda comes out of left field should be brought to your doctor or midwife’s attention.
Severe pain below your ribs and/or shoulder pain: Don’t ignore pain that’s just below your right ribs or your right shoulder.
Headaches and/or changes in vision: A persistent and/or severe headache is another one to watch out for, along with vision changes, including temporary blindness, seeing flashing lights or spots, sensitivity to light, and blurry vision.

Do me a favor flav and go read the entire preeclampsia post so I feel like I’ve done my duty to inform you though. I can’t have your health and well being on my conscience – I’ve got cat pictures to pin on Pinterest, dammit!"  - Pregnant Chicken

Size/Info: She should be anywhere from 15.7 inches to 17 inches long and I imagine she is weighing in around 4 lbs but the apps tell me she should be around 3-3.5lbs. I swear we are regressing in our vegetable baby as it says she should be the size of a cucumber... I guess cucumbers grow 17 inches long and weigh 4 lbs??  Otherwise she is the size of a head of cabbage, a motorcycle helmet, a summer cantaloupe, a platypus or a half of a large cheesecake. She should be shedding her lanugo as she packs on the pounds to keep her warm. Her eyes are still developing and as of now her vision is extremely poor. It is about to speed up in development as she will soon be able to track objects moving horizontally and vertically.

What's new this week? At my MFM appointment last week Dr. Schafer asked about my repeat glucose test and said that excess amniotic fluid can be a result of gestational diabetes. He asked me to do the 3 hr one so I went in on Friday morning to complete all the blood draws. The good news is that I passed and I don't have gestational diabetes. The bad news (not really that bad) is that I had a severe hypoglycemic reaction during my 3rd blood draw. On my way home I felt horrible and started seeing spots. I got home and felt really cold but was clammy/sweating also. I started making food and had to sit down because I thought I was going to pass out! I ended up eating 3 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 sausage links, 3 pieces of toast with butter and jam, a glass of chocolate milk and a glass of orange juice. I was a mess. I felt bad the rest of the day. Yuck. Lesson is that I need to eat every 2 hours. Jason asked if a hypoglycemic episode is synonymous with 'hangry'. I told him pretty much. But in all honesty... I have never had it that bad. It was scary.

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday and she said I am measuring right on track. I had a ton of questions for her. I asked about my constant Braxton and she said to stop doing the things that are causing them... like walking. Uh, I can't not walk so I guess I get to experience Braxton hick all the time! I can't remember if I mentioned this weird sleep apnea that I have developed - I can't exhale out of my nose a few times a night and it wakes me up. Very annoying when I am already waking up to pee a billion times a night.  Basically, I am swollen, I have more blood volume so hopefully it goes away after I give birth. I used a version of a netty pot last night and plan to for the next few days to see if that might help as well.

Symptoms: Still with the Braxton Hicks, ugh!! The muscle pain (confirmed by my midwife) is SO PAINFUL. I can't sit on the couch because it engages that muscle and it makes it so much worse. Jason set up a reclining lawn chair in the living room for me. So much easier on my stomach. The sleep apnea thing is annoying. Heartburn sucks. Not exactly a symptom but I attempted to groom my lady garden and I can't see anything - nor can I really reach... I just blindly used Jason's trimmers (sorry honey!).

Food Aversions: Still no taco's. And apparently I have lost my ability to handle spicy food.

Food Cravings: All the sweets. But I have discovered that I really just want meat, starch and vegetable. That is SO good right now. Night before last Jason made baked chicken with some nut concoction, mushroom risotto and steamed broccoli. It was the best meal ever!! Then last night he made steak on the grill, mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts with bacon - SO YUMMY!! So plain food it is (but very flavorful!!). I am REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving food.

Fitness: What fitness?!

Bump: I am still measuring right on! I bet I get 10 comments a day on my bump - I do work in a hospital so I see a lot of people throughout the day...

Medications:

7:30am: 5mg prednisone (down one more mg), 40mg Lovonox injection in the belly

9am: 1 Prenatal and 2 DHA

7:30pm: 40mg Lovonox injection in the belly

I saw my rheumatologist today and she is happy with how I am weaning and wants me to continue going down 1 mg a week. She does however think that I will need a steroid shot during labor so my adrenals don't freak out.

Baby Preparations: Tonight we have our first pre-natal appointment with our doula. I am so excited. We toured the labor and delivery unit at St. Mary's this past week. I asked tons of questions but I was specifically asking about skin to skin if I have to have a C-section and she said yes you can have skin to skin while they sew you up but she said if for some reason there was an emergency with me that they would encourage Jason to do skin to skin. I totally started crying picturing Jason skin to skin with our baby!! The lady who gave the tour was so sweet about my crying outburst.

Last weekend we did SO much in the nursery. Jason hung the curtains and ironed most of them as I was having bad Braxton hick from ironing!! I organized all the clothing we have up to 3 months in the dresser and got a few baskets and totes for organizing the stuff and  I arranged the age appropriate toys. Jason helped me reorganize the basement, moving some items to the shed and putting more baby stuff downstairs. Jason has also been tackling the master to-do list. He moved my garden cabinet and all the firewood so the side patio is usable and he replace all the overhead light bulbs in the house and cleaned out the bugs from the light covers. He also did a deep clean on the refrigerator and re-organized it. Seriously, he is such a rock-star.