Tuesday, April 28, 2009

La la la la 31 weeks!


How 'bout a general update? Great.

  • I basically felt like weak, fatigued crap for most of last week (Mon-Thurs). I was couch-bound for a lot of it, and even walking down to Piedmont Ave. (incredibly close to my house) caused me to feel exhausted, and made my legs feel a bit tingly. I started getting a bit freaked out that this was my new condition, that I'd turned some kind of shitty 3rd trimester corner and reached the end of my whole blissful feeling-great thing, that I was in for two months of barely being about to hoof it to the store. So when I saw Amrit last Thursday (who had just returned from a 3-week sojourn to Baja, where she rested and relaxed and kissed a baby whale) the first thing I brought up was my mysterious sickness—was it the heat, an Ivy growth spurt, something else, or just the reality of the third trimester? And all I had to do was mention my luxurious weekend in the sun, on the river, and my Monday morning nausea for her to say, simply, sagely: "You were dehydrated." Oh. Yes. We went on to discuss the necessity of drinking epic amounts of fluids, especially at this point of baby growth. I do drink a ton of water, but in retrospect, didn't drink as much as I normally do when I was up in Healdsburg. I was probably sweating a lot, as I sat/napped in the sun for many many hours. I've now done some reading on dehydration in pregnant women and it's no joke—it's the leading cause of fatigue, and many women end up hospitalized, with an IV to replenish fluids. Freaking glad as hell that it didn't get that bad. So. Moral of the story: Pregnant women need to drink tons and tons of water! It means that you pee ALL THE TIME but it also means that you don't feel sick and your baby is happy! The rest of the visit with Amrit was great; all my ph levels are normal, blood pressure's great, baby heartbeat is on point. Ivy is currently head-down, as she's been for a while, and she dramatically favors curling up on my right side. I can often feel her butt, and I feel her elbows on the right side and her kicks on my left.
  • Now, a week after the dehydration episode, I feel great again—pretty energetic, and definitely able to walk to the market no problem. I do feel the increasing weight of this baby, but in such a wonderful way. I'm going on a mellow hike this Thursday with one Jen Loy, who is also preg, and though we're gonna take it pretty easy, I'm looking forward to seeing how I fare. Do not worry: I will bring ample water supplies, and am definitely not going to push myself.
  • I am, however, feeling some pretty rocking heartburn the past few days. I think she just readjusted my stomach significantly, as oooo, it's not feeling pleasant. Wolfing the Tums, trying to do small meals and avoid acidic foods, but oy, it does not rule, this heartburn.
  • I've put in a call to the woman who will most likely rent us our birthing tub. She's a local midwife who owns a few and rents them out—we get it for a month, and will probably pick it up in early June. This means that, if we want to fill it up, we can have a wading pool/hot tub in our house for June. If the weather returns to hotness, this might be very awesome for me (and Jason!) The water has to be changed every three days, so I don't imagine we'll keep it consistently full until we get closer to go time, but we'll see.
  • Jason has now been gone for a week, and gets home tomorrow night. Though I have enjoyed this time to myself, I miss him terribly and cannot wait to see him. No more business trips from here on out—he's sticking close to home until baby.
  • And finally, Baby Center email today tells me this: By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth. Toenails! Real hair! Respectable peach fuzz! Soft and smooth and oh my goodness...

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Kate, you look fantastic and are getting so close! I can't wait to see what your little girl looks like! Parenthood is awesome! (This is Rachel, Leah's sister by the way)