I went to the midwife on Monday and everything looks great. The little one has dropped quite a bit and I'm 3/5 engaged (the midwife doesn't think I'll fully engage until I go into labor). The baby has shifted to a more central position and is facing my back - exactly where she should be. So it could literally be any day now but at the same time it also could be a ways off. It's a bit frustrating having no idea of when it will happen but of course it's also very exciting!
I'm feeling pretty good for being over 38 weeks pregnant. Since the baby has dropped down quite a bit my heartburn has mostly subsided and I'm not longer constantly being kicked in the ribs...a definite improvement! As a trade off, however, I'm now feeling a lot of pressure at the bottom of my bump, which is pretty uncomfortable but at least feels like progress. I've also been having what I've been told are likely Braxton-Hicks contractions - my whole bump tenses up and becomes quite hard for 30 seconds or so and then releases. Mine have been completely painless so I actually don't notice them all them much and am not entirely sure how often they're happening or for how long. Sometimes I only realize one is occurring when I happen to put my hand on my bump and it's surprisingly tight! If only real contractions were going to be so easy ignore!
Of course I'm also still generally uncomfortable - I've gained nearly 40 lbs at this point and I definitely notice that I'm carrying extra weight. I've started to waddle a little bit and just walking up a flight of stairs feels a bit like a workout. Finding a comfortable position to sit or lie in is also still a bit of challenge. But looking on the bright side, it's actually still a lot better than I imagined it would be.
The only other symptom of note is that I'm still really tired. I sleep quite a lot at night and have been allowing myself to sleep in as long as I can whenever I can, but I still often wake up exhausted (the trips to the bathroom every 1-2 hours throughout the night might play a part!). I also spend a fare bit of the resting on the couch watching TV (I've cruised through 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy so far - God bless Netflix!) My doctors have just increased my dose of thyroid medication as my latest blood tests showed that my levels were off, and in just the past couple days I've noticed a little improvement, so I'm hopeful I may get a little bit of relief from this constant tired feeling soon! I'm definitely extremely grateful I was able to take my maternity leave early so I can rest as needed and don't have to worry about trying to work!
In other news, this past weekend Jay and I went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. It was a really lovely evening and we had a delicious meal and cocktails (faux for me of course) at a local Cuban restaurant. We knew it was likely to be our last nice meal out alone for a while so we made the most of it! Here's a pic of each of us getting ready to dig into our delicious appetizers - Jay had Papas Rellanas (potato croquettes filled with Cuban beef) and I had fried Yuca (a root vegetable from Latin America similar to a potato). Yum!
And here's the requisite bump picture update. It's a bit overcast today so the lighting isn't great and I'm still trying to master the mirror, full-body selfie so they're a bit blurry. But you get the idea :)
Keep sending those early labor vibes my way and hopefully I'll have some good news to share soon!
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