I had a regular doctor's checkup yesterday, and it was something of a relief. After a pregnant woman reaches about 20 weeks, the baby is too big to measure by ultrasound; it's difficult to get one whole body part in the picture, especially when they're moving around. So they start measuring the outside of the mama's belly, from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. Ideally the woman's belly measurement, taken in centimeters, should be about the same as the number of weeks along she is in the pregnancy, give or take one or two centimeters. But at my appointment last month, when I was 23 weeks along, my belly measured 27 cm. The doctor said not to worry much about it, but if I was still measuring too big at my next appointment, they may need to run some tests to see if there was an issue, or if I just had a big baby. At my appointment yesterday, though, I was right on the money; 2 days away from being 29 weeks, and just short of 29 cm. Apparently baby had a big growth spurt before last month's appointment (...or mama had a really big lunch). Anyway, everything's fine and we're right on schedule, much to my relief.
Work has been good. My feet and ankles have started to swell almost every day now, and in an effort to keep it to a minimum, I brought in an ottoman from home:
I worried at first about looking a little too laid-back, like I'm not working hard, but no one else seems to think so, and a couple other women in the office who have had kids told me I was brilliant - I guess they just tended to turn their trash can upside-down or use a cardboard box they found laying around the office.
As far as movement, as I hinted at before, this baby likes to move. I don't get the hard kicks very often anymore, but when I do, it's a doozy. My whole belly bucks to one side, and I try to suppress my surprised yelp because it tends to cause people around me to panic, like I'm going to drop the baby right then and there. Most of the time though, I tend to feel squirming movements, and those still ache a little, but at least they're not sudden and I can generally ignore them. The baby also makes these stretching movements, and those hurt a little more, like the baby is pushing as hard as it can and trying to make more room, or maybe it just needs to stretch out... but I don't think it'll be able to do that much longer. I used to compare the sensation of movement to swallowing a live fish, and feeling the fish flopping around in there. But lately it definitely feels like a baby; I'll get a push on the top right side of my belly, and at the same time feel something else shifting around down on the lower left side of my belly. We're definitely starting to run out of room in there.
Also of note: I'm pretty sure I felt the baby get hiccups for the first time yesterday evening - well, first time I felt it, anyway. There was a small, repetitive movement, almost like a muscle spasm, with each movement about a second apart. It was deep in there, centered above my pelvis (so I imagine it was the baby's head I was feeling, since he/she is supposed to be in birth position already, and will stay that way til we're ready to go). I couldn't feel it from the outside though, so Aaron couldn't either, which I was a little bummed about. It was kind of cute, and lasted for about 25 seconds.
I don't really have much else to report.... I don't really want to talk about all the wonderful pregnancy symptoms I'm experiencing, because I don't enjoy them, nor do I enjoy thinking about them any more than I absolutely have to. So I'm not sure if I'll have much else to put down here until the baby comes; ideally, I'd really rather not anyways - I'm totally fine with an uneventful, normal pregnancy. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment