November19

November 20, 2001

Week 27

There's one thing I wanted to add that I forgot last night (I just wanted to make this journal entry just a LITTLE longer, I'm trying for a goal to run off the page...just kidding...). I really do have the best husband anyone could ask for, and I hope Natalie grows up knowing how much her mom and dad love each other. Last Wednesday when I was feeling particularly sore all over, I decided to take a warm bath so I could feel a little better for a while. I sat in the tub for a LONG time, but then when it was time for me to get out, I realized I was stuck. Really stuck. I couldn't turn around, and I was afraid to get up on my hands and knees because I didn't want to fall (we've since bought a bath mat instead of just the non-slip tub strips which don't work very well). So I called Phil over and he helped pull me out of the tub. Lately, the bigger I get, the more awkward I've been, and I feel just about as graceful as...well, as graceful as my cat PB looks when she's stuck in a tight spot and can't back up. I really like the way my body is changing because I know the reason and it's exciting, but I still just don't feel all that attractive right now! I came home Friday night and Phil had gotten me a dozen very beautiful yellow roses. Whenever Phil gets me flowers, he also gets one of those little flower cards to go with it - lots of times he's written something really funny on them (and I've kept them all). This time, the card was a big yellow smiley face with SMILE written on it. Below that Phil had written "I think you are beautiful." Yes, it did make me smile. And then that night (Friday) he also took me out to what is probably my favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot (where we had gone for our anniversary in August - we had the same server this time as then and she actually remembered us - not sure whether that's good or bad... :) ). Anyway, that's all I wanted to add. I just really appreciate him so much, he's really excited about this baby too and just adores me all the more for going through this for her!

November 19, 2001

It has been yet another interesting week. Well, painful is more the word for it. I woke up last Wednesday morning in a lot of pain, and it didn't go away (much, anyway) all weekend. The good news is that everything is okay, I went to the doctor today to get checked out and everything looks great. I'll get to that in a minute.

Last Tuesday afternoon, I took my normal walk to the end of the building where the mailboxes are (it's just about 75 feet or so) and by the time I got my mail and came back, I was huffing and puffing and had horrible pain in my middle, like I had when I first started popping out, only this is much more dramatic. This time it didn't even go away by bending over -- all I could do to make it a little better as I walked back to my desk was to walk while discretely holding up my belly! Other than taking that walk, I felt completely fine, though. I woke up on Wednesday morning suddenly feeling VERY pregnant. I went to bed feeling fine on Tuesday, and when I woke up, I felt like I could hardly move. I hadn't been to my water aerobics class in the last couple weeks because of kitchen wall activities and not feeling very well, with my ear, and it was just in those last two weeks I really changed shape too, so that plus doing the water aerobics again (even though I didn't push myself at ALL), must have just really sent my body into shock. I hurt so bad on Wednesday and Thursday I was practically in tears on and off all day. By Friday I think the workout soreness had gone away, but I was still left with really awful pain in my upper thighs, and it hurt so badly that I still couldn't stand, sit, or especially walk, without a lot of pain. My first thought was, Is this my welcome to third trimester? I'd been feeling so completely great for the last few months, it was coming as a shock to me that things started hurting again. I've also already really slowed down; I'm feeling almost like I need as much sleep as I did in my first trimester, and I've been getting increasingly winded just going up a flight of stairs!

On top of all this, suddenly it seemed like I wasn't feeling Natalie move around hardly at all. I'd feel one or two tiny little flutters every so often, but nothing regular and there were no significant jabs or kicks like I had been feeling all the time. I tried not to worry about it, she was probably just going through a growth spurt and was putting her energy into growing instead of kicking me in the belly button or bladder, but I'd come to expect her to move around quite a lot whenever I had just finished eating a meal or a snack, and for a few days I hadn't felt much, even when I drank a whole glass of juice and then laid down to count movements. On Friday afternoon, I finally decided to go ahead and call my doctor about it, even though I felt like I was probably just being paranoid. After talking with the nurse, she told me it was probably just muscle soreness or the ligaments, but she wanted me to come in on Monday to get it checked out just in case.

Over the weekend I started feeling a little better (and we actually broke down and bought a maternity support belt which was suggested by my nurse to basically hold up my expanding belly to take the pressure off of my legs!! It's not attractive but it stays under my clothes and it does work! I never thought I'd ever want one of those!!) but I was still having the sharp pains in my thighs off and on, and still the movements hadn't increased. Then on Sunday morning, I sang for worship and by the time service was over, my ankles had swollen up so badly that it really looked like I'd sprained my ankle! For awhile now my hands have been pretty consistently puffy (even my size 8 "maternity" wedding ring feels a little snug these days) but I had never had swollen ankles before! It just seemed so strange to me that so much had changed for me in such a short time -- I was suddenly feeling very "typically" pregnant, and with the exception of the first trimester nausea and tiredness and aches and pains here and there, it had really been completely a breeze so far!

So, I went to my appointment today at 2:00. It was very reassuring, as it always is, to hear the heartbeat! She checked out the swelling of my ankles (which are at least a little better than yesterday!) and didn't seem that concerned about it for now. She just told me I've got to start drinking even more water than I do now - I feel like I'm drinking (and peeing!!) constantly as it is!! She also said to keep my feet above heart level as much as possible - so I'll be sitting very ladylike at work the next couple weeks! When I showed her where the most of my leg pain was, she said it was really bad round ligament pain, which is what we thought. The baby must have just had a big growth spurt last week and so the ligaments just pulled at me a little faster than they ever had before. She "assured" me that I'd be feeling it again (oh goody!) but at least next time I'll know what it is. I still don't quite know why it lasted for a good four days straight, but maybe she was just growing a lot, which wouldn't surprise me at all! Last Wednesday night and Sunday morning I put on clothes for church (a little dressed up because I was singing) and both times, what I picked out to wear was something that I just last worn about a week and half ago now it did NOT fit! The shirt I was going to wear on Wednesday was especially bad; it looked almost obscenely tight. And it had been fine just a couple weeks ago!! Anyway, because of the decreased movements, Dr. Teague did another ultrasound to get a peek in on her. We didn't look long this time (and no, we didn't get any new pictures...it was hard to see anything this time anyway because she's gotten bigger -- we only saw parts at a time) but just in the short time we were looking she kicked three times. Dr. Teague asked me each time if I felt the movement, but I hadn't. It was nice to see the movements though, and it was nice just to see her again. Her head has gotten a lot bigger (still nice and round!) and we saw her feet more closely this time. I didn't get to see her hands and nice long fingers this time though. Dr. Teague couldn't tell which way she was facing at that moment, but maybe she was just faced in a way so that her kicks couldn't be felt that easily. I did also learn that the placenta is anterior, which means it is up high and in the right place. All was well and good. Dr. Teague probably thought I was just being paranoid about the whole thing but I told her, for one, that Jane (her nurse) TOLD me to come in, and I really had no idea what this was all about anyway! :-) I know she understood. :-)

Of course, sitting back here at work, within just about an hour of getting back, suddenly Natalie decided to start dancing around again - she kept it up for a good 10 or 15 minutes straight too, kicking away!!! Maybe between the Doppler and the ultrasound she got pushed and prodded around enough that she changed back into a more ideal position for me feeling movement, but I think she must just have a great sense of timing and humor... I've been feeling her pretty steadily all afternoon now. Figures!

So besides all the physical issues of the last week, Mom finished up the wallpapering of our kitchen this weekend, and it looks SOOOO good!! We actually have a real kitchen again! The other bit of exciting news from this weekend is that, while we were inside finishing up wallpaper, two guys were out front of our house digging up our front yard! (I'm glad we didn't have to lose our tree.) We had a water main break in front of our house -- unfortunately our pipe, on our property, but fortunately the break was before our meter so at least we haven't been paying for continuously-running water for who knows how long. We hired someone to come out and fix the pipe on Saturday afternoon, for $500 total for the job. We were also very glad (we were, the contractors were NOT!) they had negotiated the rate for the whole job and not hourly or by difficulty. Supposedly water pipes are supposed to be laid about 3 1/2 feet underground. The guys were digging, and digging, and digging -- and still no pipe. Turns out, it was buried, right alongside of ALL the other electrical and gas lines (really safe!), SEVEN and a half feet down! We had a hole in our front yard deeper than a burial pit! They admitted to Phil after it was over that they almost walked away from the job at one point. I'm glad they didn't, that was a major, and VERY muddy, hole! Once they got it patched up and the dirt put back in the hole, we were left with a very neat yard because they had placed a tarp over our lawn to collect the dirt and mud, but they hadn't expected as much dirt as they unearthed, nor that the hole would go out so much into our neighbor's yard. Our neighbor's yard is now one big mud pit!

We're going to be taking this weekend off from doing ANY work on the house. Pretty soon we'll be back at it though - next comes moving Phil's office down to the kitchen, and then we can get started on the nursery! The way I've been feeling though, I really doubt I'll be doing any of it other than "directing". I've got to start forcing myself to be easier on my body these days. I'm going to keep going to my water aerobics but I've just got to make myself do things much slower and less intense movements than anyone else in the class. And I've also decided that it's probably time to retire, or at least, go on maternity leave, from being on my church worship team. I love it so much, but like yesterday when the service runs a little long, I just then feel completely exhausted the rest of the day. I just can't push myself like that anymore, Sunday mornings especially because practice starts around 8:30, and we are standing up until service starts at 10:00, then we have praise and worship which can last even up to an hour, and then often after service we go up again for altar time. Yesterday was a great service and I love singing for worship, but I felt too beat the rest of the day. So, I'm sad about that but I know I'm making the best decision for my health and Natalie's health. I knew it would be coming to that soon anyway, but I didn't think I'd be feeling it so quickly! Three more months to go!



	November 20, 2001 Week 27 There's one thing I wanted to add that I forgot last night (I just wanted to make this journal entry just a LITTLE longer, I'm trying for a goal to run off the page...just kidding...). I really do have the best husband anyone could ask for, and I hope Natalie grows up knowing how much her mom and dad love each other. Last Wednesday when I was feeling particularly sore all over, I decided to take a warm bath so I could feel a little better for a while. I sat in the tub for a LONG time, but then when it was time for me to get out, I realized I was stuck. Really stuck. I couldn't turn around, and I was afraid to get up on my hands and knees because I didn't want to fall (we've since bought a bath mat instead of just the non-slip tub strips which don't work very well). So I called Phil over and he helped pull me out of the tub. Lately, the bigger I get, the more awkward I've been, and I feel just about as graceful as...well, as graceful as my cat PB looks when she's stuck in a tight spot and can't back up. I really like the way my body is changing because I know the reason and it's exciting, but I still just don't feel all that attractive right now! I came home Friday night and Phil had gotten me a dozen very beautiful yellow roses. Whenever Phil gets me flowers, he also gets one of those little flower cards to go with it - lots of times he's written something really funny on them (and I've kept them all). This time, the card was a big yellow smiley face with SMILE written on it. Below that Phil had written "I think you are beautiful." Yes, it did make me smile. And then that night (Friday) he also took me out to what is probably my favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot (where we had gone for our anniversary in August - we had the same server this time as then and she actually remembered us - not sure whether that's good or bad... :) ). Anyway, that's all I wanted to add. I just really appreciate him so much, he's really excited about this baby too and just adores me all the more for going through this for her! November 19, 2001 It has been yet another interesting week. Well, painful is more the word for it. I woke up last Wednesday morning in a lot of pain, and it didn't go away (much, anyway) all weekend. The good news is that everything is okay, I went to the doctor today to get checked out and everything looks great. I'll get to that in a minute. Last Tuesday afternoon, I took my normal walk to the end of the building where the mailboxes are (it's just about 75 feet or so) and by the time I got my mail and came back, I was huffing and puffing and had horrible pain in my middle, like I had when I first started popping out, only this is much more dramatic. This time it didn't even go away by bending over -- all I could do to make it a little better as I walked back to my desk was to walk while discretely holding up my belly! Other than taking that walk, I felt completely fine, though. I woke up on Wednesday morning suddenly feeling VERY pregnant. I went to bed feeling fine on Tuesday, and when I woke up, I felt like I could hardly move. I hadn't been to my water aerobics class in the last couple weeks because of kitchen wall activities and not feeling very well, with my ear, and it was just in those last two weeks I really changed shape too, so that plus doing the water aerobics again (even though I didn't push myself at ALL), must have just really sent my body into shock. I hurt so bad on Wednesday and Thursday I was practically in tears on and off all day. By Friday I think the workout soreness had gone away, but I was still left with really awful pain in my upper thighs, and it hurt so badly that I still couldn't stand, sit, or especially walk, without a lot of pain. My first thought was, Is this my welcome to third trimester? I'd been feeling so completely great for the last few months, it was coming as a shock to me that things started hurting again. I've also already really slowed down; I'm feeling almost like I need as much sleep as I did in my first trimester, and I've been getting increasingly winded just going up a flight of stairs! On top of all this, suddenly it seemed like I wasn't feeling Natalie move around hardly at all. I'd feel one or two tiny little flutters every so often, but nothing regular and there were no significant jabs or kicks like I had been feeling all the time. I tried not to worry about it, she was probably just going through a growth spurt and was putting her energy into growing instead of kicking me in the belly button or bladder, but I'd come to expect her to move around quite a lot whenever I had just finished eating a meal or a snack, and for a few days I hadn't felt much, even when I drank a whole glass of juice and then laid down to count movements. On Friday afternoon, I finally decided to go ahead and call my doctor about it, even though I felt like I was probably just being paranoid. After talking with the nurse, she told me it was probably just muscle soreness or the ligaments, but she wanted me to come in on Monday to get it checked out just in case. Over the weekend I started feeling a little better (and we actually broke down and bought a maternity support belt which was suggested by my nurse to basically hold up my expanding belly to take the pressure off of my legs!! It's not attractive but it stays under my clothes and it does work! I never thought I'd ever want one of those!!) but I was still having the sharp pains in my thighs off and on, and still the movements hadn't increased. Then on Sunday morning, I sang for worship and by the time service was over, my ankles had swollen up so badly that it really looked like I'd sprained my ankle! For awhile now my hands have been pretty consistently puffy (even my size 8 "maternity" wedding ring feels a little snug these days) but I had never had swollen ankles before! It just seemed so strange to me that so much had changed for me in such a short time -- I was suddenly feeling very "typically" pregnant, and with the exception of the first trimester nausea and tiredness and aches and pains here and there, it had really been completely a breeze so far! So, I went to my appointment today at 2:00. It was very reassuring, as it always is, to hear the heartbeat! She checked out the swelling of my ankles (which are at least a little better than yesterday!) and didn't seem that concerned about it for now. She just told me I've got to start drinking even more water than I do now - I feel like I'm drinking (and peeing!!) constantly as it is!! She also said to keep my feet above heart level as much as possible - so I'll be sitting very ladylike at work the next couple weeks! When I showed her where the most of my leg pain was, she said it was really bad round ligament pain, which is what we thought. The baby must have just had a big growth spurt last week and so the ligaments just pulled at me a little faster than they ever had before. She "assured" me that I'd be feeling it again (oh goody!) but at least next time I'll know what it is. I still don't quite know why it lasted for a good four days straight, but maybe she was just growing a lot, which wouldn't surprise me at all! Last Wednesday night and Sunday morning I put on clothes for church (a little dressed up because I was singing) and both times, what I picked out to wear was something that I just last worn about a week and half ago now it did NOT fit! The shirt I was going to wear on Wednesday was especially bad; it looked almost obscenely tight. And it had been fine just a couple weeks ago!! Anyway, because of the decreased movements, Dr. Teague did another ultrasound to get a peek in on her. We didn't look long this time (and no, we didn't get any new pictures...it was hard to see anything this time anyway because she's gotten bigger -- we only saw parts at a time) but just in the short time we were looking she kicked three times. Dr. Teague asked me each time if I felt the movement, but I hadn't. It was nice to see the movements though, and it was nice just to see her again. Her head has gotten a lot bigger (still nice and round!) and we saw her feet more closely this time. I didn't get to see her hands and nice long fingers this time though. Dr. Teague couldn't tell which way she was facing at that moment, but maybe she was just faced in a way so that her kicks couldn't be felt that easily. I did also learn that the placenta is anterior, which means it is up high and in the right place. All was well and good. Dr. Teague probably thought I was just being paranoid about the whole thing but I told her, for one, that Jane (her nurse) TOLD me to come in, and I really had no idea what this was all about anyway! :-) I know she understood. :-) Of course, sitting back here at work, within just about an hour of getting back, suddenly Natalie decided to start dancing around again - she kept it up for a good 10 or 15 minutes straight too, kicking away!!! Maybe between the Doppler and the ultrasound she got pushed and prodded around enough that she changed back into a more ideal position for me feeling movement, but I think she must just have a great sense of timing and humor... I've been feeling her pretty steadily all afternoon now. Figures! So besides all the physical issues of the last week, Mom finished up the wallpapering of our kitchen this weekend, and it looks SOOOO good!! We actually have a real kitchen again! The other bit of exciting news from this weekend is that, while we were inside finishing up wallpaper, two guys were out front of our house digging up our front yard! (I'm glad we didn't have to lose our tree.) We had a water main break in front of our house -- unfortunately our pipe, on our property, but fortunately the break was before our meter so at least we haven't been paying for continuously-running water for who knows how long. We hired someone to come out and fix the pipe on Saturday afternoon, for $500 total for the job. We were also very glad (we were, the contractors were NOT!) they had negotiated the rate for the whole job and not hourly or by difficulty. Supposedly water pipes are supposed to be laid about 3 1/2 feet underground. The guys were digging, and digging, and digging -- and still no pipe. Turns out, it was buried, right alongside of ALL the other electrical and gas lines (really safe!), SEVEN and a half feet down! We had a hole in our front yard deeper than a burial pit! They admitted to Phil after it was over that they almost walked away from the job at one point. I'm glad they didn't, that was a major, and VERY muddy, hole! Once they got it patched up and the dirt put back in the hole, we were left with a very neat yard because they had placed a tarp over our lawn to collect the dirt and mud, but they hadn't expected as much dirt as they unearthed, nor that the hole would go out so much into our neighbor's yard. Our neighbor's yard is now one big mud pit! We're going to be taking this weekend off from doing ANY work on the house. Pretty soon we'll be back at it though - next comes moving Phil's office down to the kitchen, and then we can get started on the nursery! The way I've been feeling though, I really doubt I'll be doing any of it other than "directing". I've got to start forcing myself to be easier on my body these days. I'm going to keep going to my water aerobics but I've just got to make myself do things much slower and less intense movements than anyone else in the class. And I've also decided that it's probably time to retire, or at least, go on maternity leave, from being on my church worship team. I love it so much, but like yesterday when the service runs a little long, I just then feel completely exhausted the rest of the day. I just can't push myself like that anymore, Sunday mornings especially because practice starts around 8:30, and we are standing up until service starts at 10:00, then we have praise and worship which can last even up to an hour, and then often after service we go up again for altar time. Yesterday was a great service and I love singing for worship, but I felt too beat the rest of the day. So, I'm sad about that but I know I'm making the best decision for my health and Natalie's health. I knew it would be coming to that soon anyway, but I didn't think I'd be feeling it so quickly! Three more months to go!