Physical Therapy

PT is totally worth it. Went this AM for the consult and got a whole host of exercises I can do to help.

Apparently, my right hip is tilted forward and my sacrum is tilted back thanks to the loosening of ligaments that is normal at this point in pregnancy. The easiest thing that she told me to do that I can remember without referring to my handouts is to stand up from a sitting position with one's knees in alignment, pretending there is a pillow between them. This simple thing helped so much with the multiple times a day I have to get in and out of a chair. Also, when I get out of bed, I need to do a lunge on the right to help realign my hip, then do a Kegel and butt squeeze to "keep things in place." My muscles are all tense because they are trying to hold things in place as they shift, so she did a diagnostic massage to see which specific ones were problematic. Am looking forward to my appointment next week. She said a lot of women just put up with back pain when there really are quite a number of things/exercises that can be done to help with discomfort. Pain shouldn't have to be a norm.

Have been unable to get the DVD of Ben to read on my or my husband's computer. Rats.

My sister is so excited that things are getting so close that I think she will pee her pants when I actually call her and tell her I am in labor. She says she just can't wait to see him, smell him, hold him, etc. Which reminds me. I haven't given too much thought to who I want visiting us. I just know that I don't want a big circus of a labor, or even a postpartum. Is it wrong that I don't want anyone with little kids visiting us (including our youngest nephew or my sister's older kids?) Little kids are full of germs, it is now flu season and I don't want to risk getting our kid sick. Literally everyone I work with has the sniffles right now, and I just don't want to spend the night in the ER ruling out infection in my precious newborn. This stresses me out just thinking about it.

38 weeks

So far no more episodes of kitty-in-the-PNP. Goody.

I went back to work Wednesday, and it turns out the complaint about me was only one of a myriad of them left by an anonymous caller to my boss's boss. Personally, now that I know a bit more about it, I somewhat resent the fact that these complaints are taken so seriously when they are filed by someone who does not have the balls to show their face or provide their name. Pffffffft....... And for the record, I continue to roll around in my chair. Kiss my pregnant, dimpled tush.

Went to the doc's today. Still not friggin' dilated. We did get a little DVD of Ben, though. Will have to try and figure out how to get it uploaded. Doc said intercourse and walking can help jumpstart things, if one is close to the edge. I am close to the edge, but I am fairly certain we are talking about two different edges. And, he totally has my back if I want to take an earlier FML.A due to the back pain. Tylenol helps, but I can totally tell when it wears off. I am going to try my best to make it one more week. I have the beginnings of a cold. It is tolerable today, and I am hoping it doesn't worsen. But everyone I work with has the sniffles, so I am fearful I won't last too long.

I think I am just going to make my husband give me some mercy sex this weekend on our anniversary. He just looked at me funny and said, "How are we supposed to do that?"

Off to make some chili. Comforting fall meal, no?

The Guilty Party and Work Sucks (37w5d)

I get home from a productive day of getting the carseat installed and getting groceries and sit down to check out what's going on in the blog world. I hear some rustling from inside the fresh, clean Pack N Play that we assembled a few short days ago. I pull back the robe I had covering it to find the guiltiest looking little punk of a cat I have ever seen. Our love affair may be coming to an end if this keeps up.

I called in sick to work yesterday because I had more back pain and I hadn't been able to sleep. I am required to page my boss. The return message was along the lines of, "Why don't you talk to your doc and see about going on an early leave if your back is bothering you so much." I let her know that I really want to work up until I deliver because I want the time with my child. She replied that I need to make sure that I can walk if I return; there have been complaints (one from a staff member, another anonymous complaint that came through her boss) about my rolling around in a chair and doing my duties. This really pisses me off. To make a long story short, I call her and we discuss some options. This culminates with me coming in and doing a couple hours of holding area work and the rest of the day project time. Personally, one of the things that she has me doing kind of belongs on the shoulders of someone else, but I'll take it if it keeps me from going out early.

To add to that, I have the beginnings of a cold. I've got that raw nose, sore throat feeling. It is feeling very tempting to take an early leave, and do all the nesting things that I'd ordinarily not have the time to do. But it is two weeks that I would not have with my son that I'd never get back. But my back is so miserable, and it really does hurt to walk or change positions quickly.

I am going to begin looking into some ways to jump start this labor so my boy will get here and all of these shananigans can be laid to rest. I am having such a hard time deciding what to do.

On the up side, I have an appointment with a physical therapy group this Friday to hopefully help with this back pain. Looking forward to that.

37 weeks

Things are closed for business down there. Not dilated, not effaced, nothing. Ben is still up high and head down, and I am having only a scant few BH contractions. Amniotic fluid levels are grand. He seems to like it in there. The longest my OB would let me get to would be 41 weeks before inducing.

I did let my doc know how bad my back pain is, and he said I could take Tylenol (which I have been resisting but must get over it at this point), Tylenol PM or even Vicodin if I need it. I'll start with the Tylenol. I'm still a purist for some reason. I haven't even taken any GasX like he told me I could take to combat any embarrassing situations at work. I am also going to see if insurance will cover "physical therapy for sciatic pain," AKA massages.

I have decided to just start forking over my hard earned cash to the chumps that run the med center parking. I felt considerably better this AM after the short walk vs. the long one. As one of my coworkers told me, I no longer looked "homicidal."

We have set up the Pack N Play, and are clearing the nursery of a bunch of junk so it should be ready for pictures soon. Plan to get the carseat installed and inspected next Tuesday, since I won't be delivering anytime soon.

Here is a 36 week picture:

Excruciating

Shortly after the 35 week mark, my back began to really hurt. When I step on my right foot, I get sciatic pain. When I use my left, I get a deepened ligament pain that has been semi-nagging me since the 6 month mark or so. And it is never worse throughout the day than it is in the morning, when I must hike a half mile across a bridge from my parking garage in the AM. it is a walk that has gotten progressively longer throughout this pregnancy, and now I feel like I'm being forced to hike the Great Wall of China. Once I make it in to work, I can sit in a chair, roll around and do my job and things aren't so terrible. I've got a cart to drop me off in the afternoon, so fortunately I don't have to make this trip twice in one day.

I have been resisting giving the greedy jerks in the med center any more money for parking; they already get plenty out of me. I am loathe to hand over another $200 for a mere 2-3 weeks. But I may just have to in order to see if that keeps me from going on an early FM.LA.

36 week appt

Well, we have made it this far and are so excited to be at this point. Of course, I could do without the excruciating back pain. I actually called in sick today because of said back pain. I have an extremely pronounced waddle. Today, we went to Target and Home Depot (but not Bed Bath & Beyond; there just wasn't enough time) and I was tempted to hop on one of those motorized carts that they have. I refrained this time, but I think I'll do it next time just to embarrass my husband.

Today, we found out our precious boy has flipped from breech to head down. Woohoo! He is still up pretty high, so there is a very small chance that he could still flip, but odds are slim. My cervix is slammed shut right now, and I don't really feel any rumbling in the nether regions. Amniotic fluid level is normal. Things are looking good. I gained only one pound this week. Hooray!

35 weeks and counting

At yesterday's appointment, the doc did indeed confirm that Ben is still breech. In fact, his tiny little foot is squishing my bladder as I write.

I am now having weekly appointments. Next week, we will have an US to look at his size, position and level of amniotic fluid. He told us to bring a DVD, and I am so looking forward to getting another peek at our son.

I am positive for Group B strep. This means I will have antibiotics before/during my delivery. I think I am supposed to any way since I have mitral valve prolapse. Load me up, I say. I do not want any germs anywhere.

I also got a letter from insurance in the mail saying that I have been approved for delivery. At a hospital that is not the one I have requested. Grrrr.....

A picture in a signature on a message board I belong to has prompted me to begin looking into baby photo sessions. I am almost certain that I will be suckered into spending an armload of cash on these things, but I think it will be well worth it to capture the early days of what could very possibly be our only child. This one is booked through 2008, but I can get on a cancellation list. This one is pretty popular, and has a package of Baby's First Year that isn't so awful if one breaks down the costs of multiple sessions. You can also see a couple of family photos of the Houston Ast.ros mixed in. If she's good enough for pro baseball players, she's good enough for us. I simply can't help it if I have visions of perfect little birth announcements, like this one:

Large and Not Terribly In Charge (34w6d)

Am feeling rather enormous these days. I waddle painfully around at work, when I am not scooting my largesse to and fro in a rolling chair. The walk from my parking garage to my unit gets longer by the day. I find that I drop everything these days, and bending over at this point is most ungraceful. Most people are actually nice enough to pick up whatever unfortunate item it is, but if there is no one around, I am not above kicking it under a stretcher or some such. I dropped my favorite shade of Laura Mercier eye shadow while getting ready for work one day, and it shattered all over the floor. I left it there for a week and a half until the cleaning ladies came. I have no shame. (Incidentally, I also dropped my laptop in the middle of this post and had to reboot. No harm no foul, it seems, and thank goodness for that autosave feature)



Ben still feels breech at this point, and I am fairly certain that the doc will agree with me tomorrow. I feel the kicks in my lower abdomen mostly, and I think that a little hand found my rib cage the other day. It was pretty funny how I felt the hand pushing and just come to a halt all of a sudden. I know there is still time to turn, but I have heard that whatever position they are in around 36 weeks is usually what they will be in for birth. I did a bit of reading a few days ago, and it seems that 80% of breech babies are delivered via C-section. I certainly hope this kid turns. A friend of mine told me about an exercise from the 70's just short of doing a damn headstand that her doctor had her do. I tried for about 2 minutes before I gave up. A pounding heart and shortness of breath will probably do more harm than good, no? My doc told me this was bollocks, in so many words, and that they usually turn on their own anyway. If I want, I can sleep on my left side one night and my right the other. I knew I liked that man. A short while back, I was ready to sign up for a scheduled C-section. Damn if childbirth class and my girlfriend didn't help me change my mind and help me decide to give the vaginal thing a shot. Now I am back to looking down the barrel of the C-section gun. Just dandy.


BTW, I did not realize that I had such a rock star of an OB. I chose him because I really liked what my friend said about his practice, and I loved his bedside manner at our first visit when we had to deal with this. Lots of random people have asked me who my OB was, and they all had the most lovely things to say about him. An L&D nurse shrieked so loudly I thought only dogs could hear her, "OMG, I luuuuuuuuuuuurve him so much! He is the best doctor blahblahblah..." I actually bumped into one of the docs that I work with at my lasta visit. She was keeping her pregnancy on the DL until she knew all was well, and she told me that another physician she works with had recommended him by saying, "He delivered both of my kids and is the best physician I have ever worked with, hands down." One of the pediatricians I interviewed told me that within that particular ped group, 5 of the docs had kids and they were all delivered by him. This makes me feel a bit more relaxed and able to put my trust in him, which is really hard for me to do, given my profession.


I have interviewed a couple of pediatricians recently, both recommendations from friends. One works full time and has a practice with two other docs. She also has a tad more experience than the other. The other has a little less experience, and works in a job-sharing position with another doc on the office, a group of about 8. They both seem great and very personable. They both had different answers for how circumcisions are handled. One said that she will do it in the office 2 weeks after birth, with numbing cream, local and snip snip. The reason being is that if one is trying to establish breastfeeding, she'd rather not sacrifice a feeding by taking him away at the time. The other said that a neonatologist or pedi surgeon at the hospital can do it. Am not sure which approach to take. I am leaning toward choosing the full-time doc as our ped. I am wondering if there would be too much inconsistency with someone working part-time. My husband says to pick the one that is closest to the house and that gets us in and out in the shortest amount of time. This may likely be what happens. Still not sure what to do about the circumcision. Must get some off-the-books consults with friends and bloggers.