Pregnancy: Week 35 – Hurtin’ for Certain

This past week in pregnancy land has been rough man. I mean rough. The kind of rough that makes you think this kid is going to come out sooner rather than latter.

Moanna was ten days early. At least that’s our best guess; being a birth control baby it’s impossible to determine an “exact” due date. Based on Moanna’s early arrival, and Deuce’s recent behavior, we anticipate that Deuce will be an early bird too. I’m sure putting that statement out there in the universe is going to come back and bite me in the butt. If September comes and I’m still with child, this is why.

Some people don’t believe in the whole full moon brings about babies bit, but like I mentioned in my last pregnancy update, I believe in the magic of the full moon. The Braxton Hicks were very intense during the full moon the other week. They were more intense than the early contractions I had while in labor with Moanna. Since the full moon, the contractions have eased up some, but they are still coming and going daily, and they are still intense at times. Sunday during church it crossed my mind that these contractions might mean business. For a few hours they were coming at fairly regular intervals. Thankfully, once I got home and got comfortable on the couch, they went away.

As if the contractions weren’t enough to make a girl worry that her baby is more eager to greet the world than he or she should be, I can feel Deuce nestling down into my pelvis. I don’t think Deuce has “dropped” yet, but Deuce is bobbing around and exploring new depths. Sometimes when I’m walking, I can feel Deuce head butting my pubic bone and lower spine. On bad days, every step is an adventure. It’s like the kid is head banging in there. Unpleasant doesn’t even begin to describe the sensations. It’s painful and if Deuce hits just right, my spine goes tingly or the pressure in my pelvis is overwhelming. It feels like if Deuce aims just right, he or she is going to pop right out.

A few nights ago, Moanna had more energy than Steve and I could handle combined. She was bouncing off the walls, and showing no sign of letting. Steve decided that we all needed to take a walk. He said it would be good for us to get some fresh (muggy) air. Moanna would run off her excess energy supply, Deuce would love the adventure, we could relax and talk. Ha-ha-ha. About every ten steps or so, I had to stop to catch my breath, let a contraction pass, bend over to get Deuce off of my spine. I told Steve and Moanna to go on ahead and I would either catch up or they could pick me up from the curb on the way back, but they insisted on waiting on me and pushing me along. Our walk took close to half an house, but it was the shortest walk I think we’ve ever taken.

Moanna was a bed of roses compared to what Deuce has been putting me through this past week. I could have run a marathon (if I were the running kind) without thinking about it when I was pregnant with Moanna. It was nothing for me to run around the restaurant I worked at for eight hours or more at a time. The Braxton Hicks were so mild I didn’t even realize I was having them until I was pregnant with Deuce. I never felt her head butting anything, and the lower back and pelvis pain was almost nonexistent.

Since it appears that I’m in the complaining mode this morning, I’ll carry on. My clothes don’t fit anymore. I feel huge. My under clothing things don’t fit anymore. After I eat I feel gross. I can’t sleep because I can’t get comfortable. When I finally do get comfortable that’s about the time that I have to get up and go pee, again. The other night, I got up to pee five times within two hours. Dead serious. I’ve had a few headaches this week, but I’m pretty sure those were self inflicted.

While I’ve been suffering and wearing my grumpy pants, Deuce has been loving life in the womb. During our midwife appointment this week, Deuce’s heart rate was at 144. I actually got to hear the heart beat this time with the fetoscope! It was very faint,and after a few seconds Deuce moved, but I heard it. The growth spurt Deuce went through the other week seems to have slowed down. Deuce measured at 32 weeks again this time. The midwife said that probably wasn’t accurate because Deuce was as far left and in my ribs as humanly possible which was distorting the size and shape of my womb. If Deuce’s little rump was more centrally located, the measurement would have been close to 34 weeks or so. She estimates that Deuce is about four pounds right now, and she expects that we’ll have another petite baby, although not as tiny as Moanna.

I know some people say each pregnancy gets a little bit harder, but are you kidding me? I have to believe that Deuce is just in a weird spot right now, and training really hard for the Olympic journey that we’re both going to be competing in in a few weeks. I love being pregnant, it’s one of my favorite things. It’s just been one of those weeks that makes poop, spit up and sleepless nights look very appealing.

**On a side note… I found SOCKS! If Deuce decides to come tomorrow (please don’t!!!!) we have the essential things that we need to greet a baby. We still have plenty to do, so we are not “ready” for Deuce to arrive quite yet. However, should Deuce decide to make an appearance, we could make it work.

Weeks 33 and 34
Week 32
Weeks 29, 30 and 31
Week 28
Weeks 25, 26 and 27
Week 23 and 24
Weeks 21 and 22
Weeks 19 and 20
Weeks 17 and 18
Week 16
Months 3 and 4
Month 2
Month 1
We’re Having a Baby!

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