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2006-02-26 - 10.40pm��previous entry��next entry
25 weeks, 4 days - changing and growing...
Halfway through another week already! There are only 10 days until my 3rd trimester begins, and tomorrow marks 100 days until my due date!!!! After that it's double figures - WOW! I just can't believe how fast it's going. Do I say that every entry?! It feels like I do!
Thank you for the notes and messages lately, and Judy, WHY do we not live next door to each other?!! It's driving me crazy, hehe! You have girls, I have boys - some match-making needs to happen ;) Plus, we need to be able to spend at least 3 hours per day talking about sewing nappies :) Thanks for the link for the diaper patterns, and I was so excited to find someone who KNOWS of the Very Baby diaper patterns! Your note actually made me have to make a whole 'nother order from The One Stop Diaper Shop and buy their AIO pattern too! I also (moment of weakness!) ordered 2 yards of white velour (I have purple, red, royal blue, mint green, bright yellow, slate, black, turquoise, baby blue and chocolate brown, but hey, where's the fun in life without some basic white?! ;) ) and some more stocks of natural and white sherpa - I seem to be running out of those lately, and they are the SOFTEST things to use for good absorbency in the soaker pads. But I usually combine hemp stretch terry and sherpa :) Oh and I added some red woolly nylon thread and some in cream too! Did I mention lately how much I LOVE sewing nappies?! Hmmm, probably. But I doooooo! :D I spent my birthday money on those fabrics, and a couple of printed fleeces and some more snaps from a new source (an actual UK source - gasp!) - Planet Fleece, incase anyone is interested!
I sewed my first newborn sized (XS) Very Baby fitted diaper this week! It's sooooooooooooo tiny and cute, oh my gosh! But when I look at it, I feel a little unconfident that it is really going to contain all the breastfed poo in a tiny newborn. The front seems a bit narrow and the elastic not quite as snug as it needs to be, but maybe that's because I should have stretched it tighter when I was sewing it in? Anyway, it's the same size as my own modification of the newborn Cuddlebuns, but less bulky. I like it! I think I will have to make lots for Arthur, but I still feel hmmm-ish about the newborn poo thing. I have high hopes for the AIO, and can't wait for the pattern to arrive so I can sew it into teeny tiny nappies!!
Okay, enough with the sewing nappies talk! ;)
I am still having so much fun being pregnant! :) Matthew is very active these days, and he is no longer having such long gaps between activity. Yesterday he was sooooo kicky and wriggly all day long. The longest he was quiet for was 2 hours, and even that felt strange because it was such a contrast to the rest of the day!
I checked my cervix yesterday! I never did that in my last pregnancy because it just didn't feel like a smart thing to do! It still doesn't, but I got curious and was very careful. I have nothing to compare it to, but my cervix felt absolutely soft and pulpy, like blancmange almost, it was weird! It was too soft to actually be sure if I was feeling the opening or not, so I have no idea if it's tight closed or a little open. Apparently it should be a little open, since I have already given birth once. Anyway I couldn't tell. Matthew is not head down or hanging out low down near my cervix, so there was nothing to feel of him to give me any idea. But it was interesting. I don't want to check again in a hurry though! I don't feel like I ought to be poking around in there! I think I will be interested to check again maybe right at the end of my pregnancy or something.
I NEED to sort out my fluid intake. I feel like I have been "trying" but obviously not nearly hard enough, because I am not really improving at drinking more fluids yet. I get myself glasses of water but never seem to find a moment to sip at them more than once or twice. Arthur keeps me SO busy! And I am forgetful about it, which doesn't help. I need to fix it though, because yesterday evening I had WAY too many Braxton Hicks contractions. It's the first time that has happened this pregnancy, though it happened a lot with Arthur - later on than this though, I think.
Yesterday evening I had FIFTEEN contractions over 35 minutes!!! About one every 2 minutes. Yeah, not the greatest thing! They were very uncomfortable but not painful, and I was already lying down on the sofa with my feet up when they started, but they picked up in intensity and frequency all the same. I figured it must be dehydration or something, since I had not had much to drink that day, and I drank a pint of water (bleurgh!) and they started to space out a bit after that. By bed time they had all but faded out. This evening they have picked up in frequency again compared with the day, but not as often - maybe one every 10 minutes or so? So I am trying to be a good girl and drink my large glass of water which is sitting here next to me.
I have heartburn nearly all the time now, day and night. If I sit fully upright or bend forward, I get a whoosh of heartburn or even - yuck - acid regurgitation, bleurgh!! That's why I hate drinking much water at any one time because I lean to put the glass back on the table or something, and regurgitate part of what I just drank. Yuck. Sips suit me better, but I don't get much down that way. I just need to remember to keep sipping constantly throughout the day or something, somehow!
I am still so much bigger than the other ladies at church who are expecting a baby around the same time as me! I don't think I am much bigger than my 26 week belly pic from last pregnancy though. My friend Katie (due 2 days after me) is STILL in normal clothes - even trousers!! And Catherine, who is 28 weeks now, is not nearly as sticky-outie as me, although she is carrying completely differently in general so maybe that's it? Michelle is 4 weeks behind me so she is going to be smaller. I just feel so big when I'm at church and nobody can believe Katie and I are due at the same time! I have to say, I don't mind one bit! I LOVE the showing part of pregnancy, and feel so glad that I have started to show so clearly, earlier than I might have :)
I think my breasts are growing a little, at last!! I didn't expect the enormous changes of last pregnancy, because I am still breastfeeding Arthur this time, and I read that there is often very little change in size during pregnancy if you are still nursing. But I have produced no milk since 17-18 weeks and I still have no colostrum, so surely they are going to be "reduced" after not lactating for a while? Anyway, they hurt like diddly ALL the time at the moment. I am still nursing Arthur as frequently as ever - he is just as happy to nurse as always, and I am too! But it really hurts to nurse for very long. Lately it has started to hur when I am not nursing too, and I feel sure I have grown recently in that department. I am so excited about all the breastfeeding I'll be doing in a few months time!!! I hope it will go on for a good couple of years yet!
My skin is reeeeeeeeally soft lately. My face seems to feel softer than the chocolate velour fabric I just got this week, and my belly is the SOFTEST thing! Good old progesterone! I love to feel my bump, all soft and warm with little feet and hands poking shapes out against my hands :) My belly is itching though, so I know my skin is having to stretttcchh right out to accommodate my tiny boy! It has been itching in stages over the last few weeks or so, like a band over the top of my uterus - obviously the area that is beginning to be newly stretched as my womb grows upwards. Just last week it was itching in a 2-inch band above my tummy button, and now it is already itching four inches above, just below my ribs!! That boy is GROWING! It does seem to stop itching once the stretch has been done though, so that's good. My stretch marks from last time seem unchanged so far. I don't care much what they do though :) I don't care much about any of the much-complained-about aspects of pregnancy, which I'm happy about! By now, there seem to be a lot of complaining posts in my due date forums online. I know pregnancy is a hard thing on a body, and on some people's bodies MUCH more than others, and there's nothing wrong with venting about it if it's difficult for you. But still, it's all part-and-parcel of such a precious and privileged experience, and I'm so glad to be going through it, so I just want to enjoy every part of it if I can! Yay!
Let's see, there must be "complainy" things to write about, hehe! I am getting cramp in my feet or legs much more often now, especially at night. But I haven't had it bad yet. It goes quickly because I act on it quickly and immediately pull my toes up and flex my foot up towards my leg. Then I get right up and walk on it, and that fixes it.
My ligament pains are getting much easier to set off too. It's getting quite hard to get up out of bed without some ligament down the side of my bump searing me with hot fire! It's at its worst during the night when I get up to re-settle Arthur (he STILL wakes in the night, aaargh!). All I have to do is sit up gently and I can barely walk for the pain until it subsides. My uterus must be putting the maximum pull on those ligaments now. I read that it's somewhere around 26-28 weeks that the uterus is big enough to sit all its weight on the pelvis and therefore starts to exert less stress on the ligaments for support. I'll be glad when that happens, though it will probably mean more pelvic pain. But oh well! :)
My solar plexus has been aching a lot today, and it's like a dull ache right through to my back. I think there must be increasing pressure getting up towards my diaphragm now, although my womb is still a way off reaching my ribs. Everything else is being shoved up there as Matthew grows upwards, and that gives me some pressure-type pains. I remember it from last time though.
I think my feet might be starting to swell a little now. My fingers are just the same as always, and my rings still fit on the same. But last night I was getting into bed and I just glanced at my feet as I swung them in, and noticed that my toes looked very slightly sausagey, compared with how they normally look. My feet looked the same, maybe a little more veiny than usual, but yeah. I checked my diary for Arthur's pregnancy and it seems that I was already having swollen toes by this stage last time, so that's reassuring! I think I have put on quite a bit of weight now. My face seems really quite rounded, though not with swelling at all. I am just chubbing up! ;)
Matthew hasn't had any hiccups yet! Or at least, I haven't noticed any at all this pregnancy. By this time last pregnancy, Arthur had been having clear hiccups for up to 20 minutes at a time for quite some weeks! I had been able to feel them clearly by now, and other people could just about feel them too, if they put their hand on my belly. But Matthew doesn't seem to get hiccups like Arthur did. Maybe he will be different to Arthur in that respect? Arthur hiccupped at least 3 long bouts per day for my entire pregnancy (well, from when I could feel them anyway!), and he continued to get hiccups a LOT in his first few days and weeks. He even got hiccups in the first 2 hours after birth, in the delivery room! He has always given himself hiccups every time he learnt something new with his vocal cords, like when he learned to laugh and coo and make new vocal sounds. Every new thing would give him hiccups until he had well and truly mastered it! Even now if he laughs and laughs for too long (like if we're eating him alive, or he is finding something we're doing HILARIOUS), he will end up with hiccups :) But maybe Matthew won't be like that? I can't wait to feel little hiccups inside me though, whenever he DOES get them!
Matthew is really responding clearly to Arthur's voice now. Yesterday (so much seems to have happened yesterday!), Arthur was snuggled up next to me on the sofa, and he laid his face against my bump (he likes to do this a lot lately, though he still has no concept of a baby in there) and started babbling and "talking" in his sweet little voice, and I swear I got THE strongest kick yet this pregnancy as soon as Arthur started talking! Matthew kicked me SO hard out of the side of my tummy (the opposite side to where Arthur was laying his head, which means Matthew's head was probably RIGHT under Arthur's - how lovely!) that my whole body rocked and the little foot that did the kick bulged out a good inch or two! It was a lovely moment, and more lovely still because Neil was sitting right in front of us on the floor, watching :) It gave both of us a "Wow, we have two boys! We're a family of four!" moment! :)
Matthew was lying transverse the night before last. When I got in bed and lay down on my back, I noticed that my bump seemed to disappear! It was so weird! Normally I have a well-rounded bump even when I lie on my back (which I can no longer do for long because it makes me feel so uncomfortable and yucky, and Matthew wriggles and seems to hate it too). So it was strange to see it disappear! I knew that Matthew must be posterior (his back to my back) if there was no little rounded hump of his back sticking out of my tummy. He was all still at the time, but I knew his limbs must all be facing up to my tummy, and that's why there wasn't much visible bump. So I had a good feel of my bump and was so delighted to be able to CLEARLY feel him in there! I found his head really easily, but I was surprised that it was out on my left side, just above my hip. His bottom was on my right side, a little higher than his head. Because his head wasn't tucked towards my back or partly hidden in my pelvis, I was able to actually grasp it (gently of course!) and move it gently back and forth with my fingers. The span of his hard little head with my womb and various tissues surrounding it was about 4 inches - so big and yet sooooo tiny for someone's head! 4 inches is about what it should be when he is born, so I know a good part of that span was bits of me padding his head out! He has still got lots of growing to do before his head is as big as it will be at birth. It was so lovely to feel it that clearly though. It made me feel instantly really close to him, like I had made first contact with him or something, physically. He didn't seem to mind me moving his head at all. I rubbed it gently for a while in small circular motions (another MAJORLY mushy moment!) and after a while he started to bumple me gently with his hands and feet. I can't wait to meet him! I'm sure he is going to be such a sweetie! Arthur is truly the sweetest little boy I could ever imagine, so I'm excited to have another one, as he is sure to be a sweetie as well!
Okay it is getting late and I have written lots. I am sooooo tired today. I just feel breathless these days getting up from the sofa, or going from one room to another. I feel so big, but I know I'm not yet! My body is just having to make a lot of adjustments as things grow so quickly at the moment, that's all. And I'm tiiiired from all the growing! So I will go to bed :) I'll update again soon - 26 weeks is only a few days away and I have another belly picture due then! Those come around so fast! I am going to drink some water now :)
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