Baby presents from Mark's folks: onesies, stretch mark lotion and a Bob Marley inspired lullaby CD:
Xmas was good despite a couple of inconvenient mini-scares: I had crampy bad pain for the whole day and Max got inexplicably ill and wouldn't eat, drink or move and screamed bloody murder if you picked him up or touched his back half. I thought it might be a flare up of pancreatitis since we found him eating an avocado, dropped by a squirrel from the neighbors backyard into our yard.
But our vet wasn't open on Xmas. Normal. But she's not open until January 5th! Okay, I might need to find a new vet. I love her dearly, but she's very prone to closing for personal stuff for long periods of time and not only do you not have access to blood tests and records (meaning you'll have to pain someone AGAIN if the dog's sick while she's out of town) but we buy our dog food from her and can't get it when she's closed. It's not normal food you get from a pet store, so it's an issue.
After much grinding, I found a different vet on the 26th and he gave Max a steroid shot in his back and took x-rays and said he has a disk that is beginning to herniate. So out came the stairs for the sofa that Chantel gave me. We had to ferret them out of the garage, but after he got better (fairly immediate after the shot) he got overconfident and wanted to jump on the sofa. We did our best to block him and kept moving his dog bed into different spots, but every now and then he'd catch us off guard and hop up. Needless to say, he's feeling no pain. He's on oral steroids and is healing his back.
Despite all the nonsense, we went to a friend's house for Xmas dinner and had a ball with their kids who range in age from 4 to 14 approximately. It was great. I didn't have to cook, which was really good considering I wasn't feeling great. We almost didn't go, but Max had appeared to perk up throughout the day and didn't deteriorate again until the next morning, so we felt okay leaving him. We didn't stay too long and when we came home, Max seemed a little better.
Xmas day was the day baby Miles decided to do a little descending into my lower uterus. My body wasn't really ready for this, so I had a lot of pain and cramping that day and the day after, but I think it was intestinal cramping, not uterine. I also had what seemed like Braxton Hicks contractions, but we can't really test since the front left of my belly is already hard from the fibroid, you can't tell if it's hardening because of a Braxton Hicks or if it's just the baby moving underneath the fibroid, pushing it up and making the stomach temporarily tighter. I got a little concerned, but finally felt better on Sunday and decided to call the OB on Monday morning to ask if this was normal.
When I called the OB this morning, the nurse didn't like my symptoms last week so they called me in. Everything checked out, but she told me if it happens again, I should go to the hospital! But today, my cervix was nice and tight and long, so those were both really GOOD things. I think was considering putting me on bed rest, but since I don't work a 9-5, she didn't think it necessary. I've only been teaching one day a week since I've been pregnant, so it's not strenuous at all, just a bit of driving to my students.
Baby's getting into position, lower and head down, but he's not too low, so it's all good. And he's been much kinder with the kicks since Sunday. He was merciless on Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and the day after. I mean, you could see his kicks and such from across the room with me wearing clothes. But now I'm getting gentler motions. Thank you baby. It's disturbing when you want to sleep, but I mostly like it because I know he's thriving with all that motion. You're supposed to do kick counts from week 28, which I'll be as of tomorrow, but so far, I don't need to count. He's moving so often all day, he's clearly above the 10 kicks in 2 hours range, which is the minimum recommended activity.
All the way around in terms of statistics, we are doing great. My belly is 40.5" around. The baby is a nice good heavy weight so far - probably between 2 and 2.5 pounds. I tested negative for gestational diabetes on the routine test, so he's thriving and so am I, but I realize that we are entering the third trimester and here's where the real stuff begins!
Here's a listing of what to expect from weeks 25 - 28 that I found on the web.
Pregnancy: 25-28 Weeks
Changes Your Body Will Experience- Strong and more frequent fetal movements
- Lower abdominal achiness which is related to the stretching of ligaments
- Difficulty sleeping
- Braxton Hicks contractions
- Leg cramps
- Backache
- Constipation
- Heartburn
- Varicose veins and or hemorrhoids
- Mild swelling of ankles and feet
- Shortness of breath
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