Quick Takes (22)- Warning: Pregnancy Edition

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Wedding rings: I am so behind on blogging.  Forgive me!  I will post painting and maternity pictures soon.  This week was a little more hectic than I anticipated.  I'll explain in a minute.  But before we get to that, some pregnancy updates to document from last week.  I have reached the point of swelling where I can no longer wear my wedding ring.  I figure it was pretty good that my fingers didn't start swelling until 35 weeks.  I can't imagine not wearing a wedding ring, so I'm back to my fake ring (think $5 special at Kohl's) that I wore while we were in Russia.  The problem is that I wore it for 3 weeks in Russia and it's a little green and tarnished.  Oh well.  At least I can feel like I'm still honoring my husband and our marriage by wearing a ring.  But tonight I noticed even that one is a little tight by the end of the day, so I may have to go buy another cheapy ring in yet a bigger size.

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Car seats: Last weekend, we also had our car seat bases installed in each of our cars.  We bought an extra base for the car seat, so we don't have to keep moving the base from one car to another.  It was a little pricey, but I think we'll be glad we have it since we both do an equal share of driving.  And we are glad we had a certified car seat safety inspector install it because we were clueless.  First of all, we would have tried to put the base in the middle seat, which both of our cars don't allow for.  And then, we wouldn't have gotten it tight enough.  DH had to sit in the base in order to get it tight enough.  We had no clue.  Thankfully, if we have to do it again, we could because it really is fairly easy due to the Chicco brand having clips for the seat.

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Mother's Day: A few days ago I saw an email advertising Mother's Day items to buy and it hit me, for the first time in a really long time, Mother's Day will not be a terribly depressing day for me.  In fact, as I kept thinking, I thought that I will most likely be holding our little bundle on this next Mother's Day, and it was almost too much for me to process and think about since I was in my office.  Wow.  I still remember the tears and heartache of Mother's Day last year (probably my worst one ever), and here I am on the brink of such a different one.  Thank you, Lord, for this gift I am so unworthy to receive!  Please remember all of the faithful women who still long to become mothers!

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Weight gain: I am approaching a 40 pound weight gain, which is more than I thought I would gain.  I'm at +38 pounds now and my appetite continues to grow.  I thought I would gain 25-30 pounds....maybe 35 tops, and I'm already past that.  I don't look like I've gained that much (or so people tell me when they say I'm little and then I tell them I've gained 40 pounds and they are shocked), but I sure can feel the extra pounds in my lower back!  I'm sure some of it is water weight because I suck down glasses of water all day long, but I am curious to see how big this baby ends up since both my DH and I were 6-7 pounds when we were born.

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Teaching: I have 2 weeks of teaching left and 3 1/2 weeks until my due date.  Will I be able to make it to the end of my teaching commitment?  That is the big question.  I'm already finishing a week before the other classes because I'm not giving my final exam the first week in May as I'm supposed to.  If I was, that would mean I still had 3 weeks of teaching left and I didn't want to do that.  My students are all well aware of my due date as well as my boss, so we shall see what happens.

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36-week appointment:  On Tuesday, I went for my 36-week check-up where they tested for Group B Strep and my OB also started doing cervical checks.  Oh man...was that painful!  Not quite what I was expecting.  Neither was her reaction what I expected.  She was very surprised to find how low Baby was in my pelvis already along with the fact that I was 80% effaced and 1+ cm dilated.  I guess people aren't that far along at 36 weeks?  She said she could have scraped out the rest of my membranes to put me at 100% because they were so thinned.  Thankfully, she didn't do that.  Based on the thinning out, she said to expect Baby to arrive a few weeks early!  Ahh!  Not the words I expected to hear when all along everyone has been telling me to expect to go late since this is the 1st baby. 

A few hours after the cervix check I started spotting, which freaked me out.  I wish someone would have warned me this could occur, but the last time I saw spotting was with our miscarriages.  I never like to see blood while pregnant.  I called the office and they assured me it was normal, which I actually thought based on the fact it was brown bleeding.  Still.  I went on to pass some clots that night, which the office warned could happen, and was still spotting brown all the next day.  I was a lot more achy and crampy both of those days as well.  Thankfully, it was time for another progesterone shot during that time frame, and by today (3 days later), things seemed to have settled down some.

Still, I am on edge ever since that appointment.  I wish I would have refused a cervical check.  I think I am going to refuse the next one on Tuesday (I'm going to the OB every week now...Holy Smokes!) and wait until the 38 week appointment.  I have 2 more days of progesterone shots left and then I'm done with them.  I strongly believe those shots have prevented me from going into pre-term labor at this point in the pregnancy.  Anyone have any experience being that much effaced at 36 weeks?

Some people still tell me it's all a numbers game and they still made it to their due date after their doctor said they would go early.  I don't have anything to compare it to, so I really don't know.  When I tell people I'm 80% effaced, most are quite shocked and say it won't be long now.  Is that true?

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God's perfect timing: I really have had to ramp up my self-talk this week because I have been worrying about the timing of Baby's arrival.  Once again, like so many times in my life, I've had to remind myself of God's perfect timing.  He was the one who enabled us to get pregnant after our mission trip to Russia, after so many failed cycles, after the start of a new school year, etc.  He knows the desires of my heart regarding finishing out the school year.  He knows DH's work schedule and how busy he is on Sundays.  And on and on.  I have confidence that His perfect timing for the arrival of this Baby will be according to God's will.  And right now, I don't really know what that will look like, but I trust that it will happen.  But I'm still packing my hospital bag this weekend:-)

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