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2004-08-13 - 8.56pm��previous entry��next entry
28 weeks - belly photos and aquanatal class!
It�s Friday, and I�m 28 weeks pregnant!!! Yay! Thank you Poppy and Mo for your guestbook messages!
Arthur is doing well and is very wiggly and bumply. He has longer periods of sleep these days though, but he�s very wiggly once he wakes up. According to all the places I check for his updates, he now weighs about 2lbs 4oz, and is 37.6cm long (14.8 inches!) from head to heel. He is now 3% body fat which is good, so he will probably be looking nicely chubbed-out in the cheeks and body :) He still looks very skinny compared with a newborn though. I think I have enjoyed reading this week�s updates more than any other week, because so much lovely stuff has happened � his lungs are now officially capable of breathing air. If he was born this evening he would probably attempt to cry, even though it would most likely sound like the tiniest of kitten miaows or a little squeak (aww!).
It�s pouring with rain. I mean reeeally pouring. Just wanted to say that. I love the rain! I have been able to wear clothes ALL DAY � the first full day of clothes for weeks!! I love that it�s not so hot at last. I am sneezy because I�ve had the windows open but who cares, the air is fresh outside so I want it in my house!
Anyway where was I?! Oh yes, Arthur�s stats! His lanugo (fine body hair) is starting to disappear now, and he may well have a full head of hair already! He has eyelashes and his swallowing and breathing movements are getting stronger and more efficient. His brain waves are now identical to that of a newborn baby, and he is able to think, respond, process, and dream just as a newborn baby can. That�s such a lovely thought! His brain is still growing at a tremendous pace. We are having fish for dinner tonight. That will help him with that task! :)
He had hiccups twice this morning! Once when I woke up, he was blipping away in there, and then later he had a huge bumply kicking and wriggling session, and gave himself hiccups in the process! I love when he does that. I find it so sweet!
He is definitely head down, now I think about it. I get lots of fidgety movements on the left side of my tummy, quite low down, and kicks up in my right side a few inches below my ribs. I�m pretty sure the fidgety movements are his little hands. Today when he�s done a full body bounce (!) I have felt a jolt against my bottom, and my bladder has felt a bit pinched and uncomfy at times today, so I�m feeling more sure that his head is down there now! All of which is very reassuring � one less thing to worry about for the birth! He is wiggling around right now. I love him so much!
My aquanatal class was GREAT!!!! I loved it!! I turned up soooo early, very unlike me � I am always late for everything � so maybe this is a sign that I really am in my element with anything to do with motherhood! Motivated and all that. Anyway I was 25 minutes early and I was the first one there for quite a long time, so I got changed into my maternity swimming costume (very proud moment!) and sat by the pool watching the disabled swimming class that was taking place before the aquanatal one. I got soooo hot and sweated a ton. I would have loved to get in the water to cool off but I would have looked like I was gate-crashing the disabled class and I thought I�d better wait.
Then about 5 minutes before the class started, I saw women with bumps coming in to change! I was so excited!! I felt like an excited child. A lady came up behind me and started to ask where the aquanatal classes were, but then she saw my bump (yay!) and said, �Oh good, you�re aquanatal too � you�ve got a bump!� She had a bump exactly the same size as mine and we sat and chatted for the 5 minutes before everything started. I love that I met another pregnant lady in my area! It�s soooo exciting!! Her name is Sara and she is 29 weeks pregnant, so we�re almost the same. It�s her first baby too, and this is the first time she�s done any exercise during her pregnancy, because she had some bleeding earlier on and was told to avoid exercise till 20 weeks or something. She still works, and seemed envious that I don�t! I know I�m so lucky not working :)
Other bump-clad ladies appeared in swimming costumes, and we went over to the shallow teaching pool where the class was to be held. I didn�t know whether to wear my glasses or take them off, because I wanted to see the other women so I could put names to faces, and so that I could see the instructor clearly, but I hate wearing glasses in the pool (and refuse to wear contact lenses in there � I like my underwater time too much!) so I asked the instructor if I�d need my glasses on and she said she didn�t think so. So I took them off, and therefore will never recognize any of the women there if I see them in the street :( Except Sara. I feel like I didn�t really meet anyone properly therefore, because I can�t see them clearly enough to even see if they�re looking at me or smiling or whatever, so it�s difficult to initiate conversation if I don�t know what their faces are doing! But it was good just to be there with other pregnant women. I did ask 2 other ladies their names (can�t remember them now though!) and how far along they were. They have been to the last 2 sets of classes and know each other and the class structure very well. They are 32 and 33 weeks pregnant. I couldn�t see well enough to tell if there were any ladies there in earlier pregnancy, but I think everyone had a bump. Some were smaller than mine so I guess there are some in earlier pregnancy than me. There were about 10 of us I think.
The class was great. The water was never deeper than just over the top of my bump, and it was warm. The instructor was sooooo lovely, really friendly and chatty, and very encouraging throughout, and energetic so that we felt motivated. She put aerobics music on and then started us doing gentle aerobics movements in the water. It felt really easy, and the water supported every move I made. I was having so much fun and it just felt soooo surreal that I was actually at an exercise class with pregnant women all around me, and I was one of them!! I just started to grin and couldn�t stop myself, I felt so wonderful and happy. Wow, Arthur is soooo wiggly. I�m going to stop typing and give him some attention for a moment :)
I�m back (15 mins later) and ohhhh my little boy is sooooo lovely!! He is still kicking and wiggling! He gave himself hiccups again and I lay down on the sofa and called Neil, and we watched my tummy blip :) Then he was really kicky and wiggly, so Neil got the camcorder out and taped him making strange shapes with my tummy! He did some hard shoves with both his arms and legs at once, so my side would jerk out and my lower tummy on the opposite side, at the same time! Those look good on the camera.
Arthur has existed for exactly 6 months today � he was conceived six months ago to the day. That seems such a long time for this little man to have been around! Neil had me say that on the camera so that we�ll know what stage the footage was taken when we watch it back. Then Neil laid his hands on my tummy and just spent some time feeling Arthur wallop him and wriggle about. We are both so in love with him :)
Talking of love, it�s our 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow!! That just seems crazy, I can�t believe we�ve been married 5 years! We don�t have any special plans for tomorrow, but then we don�t normally make a big thing of wedding anniversaries or Valentine�s Day or anything (with the exception of making a baby last Valentine�s! Okay a day early, but anyway!). It�s just enough to cuddle close and think how we�ve been married X number of years and that we love each other, on occasions like that. Sometimes we make an effort and have a nice meal or go out somewhere (like the park for a walk or something), but it�s not a big deal to us if we don�t mark the occasion formally, which is nice. I love Neil :) I remember the days when I was saying to myself constantly, �I can�t BELIEVE I�m a married woman! I can�t believe I have a husband and I�m a wife!!� How weird it is that I hadn�t even noticed that becoming the norm and now I have a new thing that I�m saying that about � �I can�t BELIEVE I�m going to have a baby! I have a little boy and he�s really going to be born and we�re really going to be parents!!� So I guess that will become normal too, one day. Right now I can�t believe it could ever feel normal, it�s too fantastic and wonderful and amazing! Wow I am so blessed.
Anyway, back to the aquanatal class! It was 45 minutes long which was just right for me. Any more strenuous and 10 minutes would have been long enough! But the water made it gentle. We used those long sausagey floats after the first half of the session, they make great �weights� when you use your muscles to push or sweep them under the water, as they float so strongly that you have to really push to make them go under. I liked the bit where we all went round in a circle facing each other, doing squats and various other stretching moves. I love being in a circle of pregnant women � I just can�t stress enough what a complete JOY it is to be one of them at last!!! :D
The last 5 minutes were wonderful � the instructor changed the music to this floaty watery relaxing music, and we took as many floaty sticks as we wanted to support our bodies in the water in any position we chose, and we had to relax and let the water and the floats support us, and let all the tension out of every muscle, and close our eyes and breathe deeply and regularly, in through the nose and out through the mouth. At first I was worried I�d float into someone else, but when that didn�t happen I just let go, and I�m not good at relaxing normally, but wow this was soooo amazingly relaxing!! I loved the feeling of the water around me supporting my whole body. I could really let tension out like that. I am so glad we are getting a birth pool for labour. I think I will need it! I am a watery person anyway, I�ve always loved being in water, and I prefer being under it when I swim � I�ve never been one to keep my head out or my face dry. So I think (hope!) a water birth (or labour, at least) will suit me well.
Anyway the relaxing time was finished way too quickly, and when I opened my eyes I discovered I�d floated the full length of the pool when I thought I wasn�t moving at all! Hehe! It was soooo nice. Then we stretched our muscles out and that�s when I got the most awful cramp in both feet. I could hardly do the stretches, it just wouldn�t clear up. At the end I went to the instructor and asked her about the cramp in my feet. She said pregnancy makes you prone to cramp and so does being in water. The other thing that causes it is dehydration, and she asked if I�d had enough to drink that day. I said probably not, because I had been sweating a lot especially before the class. So she said next time to drink plenty during the day, and to drink more in any case while I�m pregnant. She showed me how to gently roll my feet against the bottom of the pool to work the cramp out, which was really painful but it seemed to ease off after I got in the showers.
I loved the class so much that I decided to book on the next one. This one is 5 weeks long, and then there�s a week of no classes and then another 5 week course. Every week is exactly the same � the same exercises and structure, which sounds great to me. Some of the ladies were saying that the next class is getting booked up already, so I went and paid for my place on the next course after I got dry and dressed. I�m glad I did because there were only 3 places left after I booked! That course starts on September 23rd and finishes a week before my due date, so that works out wonderful for me! I am glad that I have exercise sorted out for the rest of my pregnancy, and that I enjoy it so much. I�m glad that I have the opportunity to socialize a bit with other pregnant women from now till I give birth, and there will be more of that too because of the antenatal classes that I should be starting within the next month. This is all so much fun!
Today my muscles are a bit achy and some of them feel quite stiff! I was expecting that, even though the actual exercises felt soooo gentle and easy. I love how water does that for you, even though you�re exercising well. My arm where I had my anti-D injection is still sore and bruised-feeling. It hurt a little during the shoulder exercises on that side yesterday, but I just did them way more gently than the other side. The thing I didn�t expect today is how completely yucky and drained I feel. I presume that�s down to the exercise somehow, but I didn�t expect to feel kind of unwell. I didn�t sleep too well the last 2 nights though. I took a nap yesterday after my appointment to be energized for the class, but that always messes up my night sleep so yeah. I had to get up at 2am for cereal and milk as well. I got hungry and heartburny. So today I feel weird. I have felt quite weak and woozy, and have been quite nauseous a lot today. Now I come to think of it, I have been feeling a lot more nauseous lately, during the last week � maybe the last 4 or 5 days? Just a little, and on and off. But yeah. I am still trying to eat well though, but it�s not as easy when I feel queasy (ahh poetry!).
Hmmm, I can�t think what else I meant to write about. But I had soooo much fun at my class, and I can�t wait for next week! I think my muscles are glad it�s only once a week though!
I am a bit crampy these days as well. Like mild period pains low down. I am presuming it�s just growing and stretching discomfort again, but it does feel pretty periody. I am way less paranoid these days because I know that Arthur will survive if he�s born early now. All the same, I would prefer him to be bigger and stronger! But I do think these cramps are just discomfort from rapid growth and stretching in my womb. I have had some soreness when I pee again for the last few days so maybe the 2 are connected? But I asked about my urine sample yesterday and apparently there�s no sign of a UTI, so maybe it�s just Arthur against my bladder?
I�m not noticing so many Braxton Hicks contractions as I used to, I think maybe because I am drinking better amounts of fluids. I still should be drinking even more, because of how much I sweat when it�s humid and that, but I�m doing better than before.
Last night I noticed I have some pain in my pubic bone, which hurts when I try to turn over in bed. It�s the first time I�ve noticed it so I�m hoping that it�s to do with using muscles in my exercise class that aren�t used to being used, rather than the more bothersome issue of Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) starting up. That�s where the two bones that join together at the front to make the pubic bone, separate, under the influence of pregnancy hormones and just a ton of pressure from the baby on that area. If they separate too much then OW it can be a really big problem requiring physio and restricted mobility, etc. So I hope it�s just a muscle from my class. My bump is generally a bit achy and feels sooo heavy lately.
Oh that reminds me! I have put a belly pic in the belly gallery for 28 weeks! Neil took two, one officially belly gallery one (!), and the other is just me wearing my beloved dungarees. I drew that rather amateur drawing up at the top of my diary before I got pregnant, and used it as my image for my diary, because I have always fantasized about being pregnant and wearing denim dungarees like I�ve seen so many other pregnant women wearing. I LONGED for it, for so many years. That�s something I always wanted to do � be pregnant in denim dungarees! So now I am delighted and really excited to be able to post a photo of me in said condition! It�s not going in the belly gallery because it�s just a picture of me all happy with a little boy in my belly and some nice denim dungarees showing off my situation! So here it is:
But the main photo is in the belly gallery. I can�t tell if I look much bigger from the 26 week photo till I post it and have a look against the 26 week photo, but I certainly feel bigger and Neil says my belly has grown a lot recently.
Well that�s all for tonight � it�s getting late and Neil is reading while I do my diary entry, and now that I�m finished we will probably sort out some dinner and either chat or watch something cosy on TV :) I am so happy with life these days. I just don�t know how to express it properly. I feel so blessed and I�m so thankful. And the weather is cooler (albeit still humid), and I think I will be able to go to church on Sunday (it was too hot last week), so that is wonderful. I am really missing church.
Arthur is kicking again, only quite sharply just below my right ribcage, so I am going to get up and hope he wiggles into a slightly different position! He�s so lovely. I can�t wait to meet him and cuddle and kiss him. I am so happy!
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