Week 26

Treadmill

Jeremy got a treadmill set up for us in the basement, and I’ve started walking on it daily. I’ve never done any kind of exercise during pregnancy! I shoot for a mile a day, but occasionally half a mile is all I manage before my belly gets sore. It hasn’t helped me be able to get up and down the stairs more easily (that still completely wipes me out) but I do feel better overall throughout the day. My weight gain has leveled out since starting that, too.

vitamins

A comment was left on my previous update reminding me of the link between some of the difficulties I’m experiencing and vitamin deficiencies. I am taking vitamins, but after that comment I paid more attention to when in the day I felt the worst, and realized I tended to feel a lot better after I took the vitamins. I usually took them in the afternoon, but switched to first thing in the morning. As a result I have noticed a difference in how often I am struck with those heart episodes. Or, at least, how often I notice them/they affect me. One day I checked my heart rate on the oximeter and it was still racing quite high, even though I wasn’t feeling bad and breathless. Whatever the case may be, I’ll take it.

Braxton hicks

I didn’t notice hardly any this week at all. Maybe the walking helped? I have no idea.

Week 27

veins of horror

My varicose veins in my right leg and around my feet have steadily grown worse over the last five pregnancies or so. They mostly go back to normal when the baby’s born, but in the meantime, they look really, really awful. I’m so used to seeing them, though, that I forget how awful they are. This week, though, the kids had dentist appointments, and I was sitting with Aurick and talking to one of the hygienists when she glanced at my ankles (visible between my shoes and pants hem). She stopped mid-sentence and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, your foot! Are you ok?? What happened??” And I had to explain that I was fine, just pregnant. “You should see the rest of my leg,” I joked.

another appointment, finally

I was supposed to go back in for a regular appointment at 25 weeks, plus a second ultrasound to get pictures of Flannery’s heart and feet (no worries about them, they just couldn’t get the views they wanted of them at our 20-week ultrasound.) But I had to reschedule the appointment. Then the day of the new appointment we had an ice storm forecasted for our county. I was supposed to go in in the late afternoon, very close to when the freezing was supposed to start, so I called and they graciously worked me into the morning appointments. I had the ultrasound, the regular appointment, and also the lovely glucose test.

glucose test

I have never felt as woozy during this test as I did this time. (At least, I don’t recall ever feeling bad during the test–but I haven’t exactly committed each test to memory.) It was very uncomfortable. I passed, though, with flying colors. This is a relief as I failed the 1-hr with Aurick, and had to do the 3-hr. I was not keen on doing that again. Not sure why I failed last time. When I checked my records,though, they show I was high with both Eldore and Aurick and around the same, lower level with Beatrice and Flannery. It doesn’t seem like baby’s gender would matter when it comes to glucose tolerance. I am sure that it’s just coincidence, but I still think patterns like this are interesting.

A CBC done at the same time did say my iron is low, so I’m starting on that. I hope it helps some of my other symptoms.

Frank Breech Flannery

It’s a good nickname for her, isn’t it? I’ve had an ultrasound at 20 weeks and now at 27, and during both ultrasounds she was folded in half with her legs up over her head. It was funny at 20 weeks, and while it’s still funny, it’s also slightly concerning for me, who has never had a baby be anything other than head down (on an ultrasound anyway) by this stage.

Flannery’s movements have always been kind of muted–I never get really big kicks or stretches from her–and seeing her via ultrasound while simultaneously feeling her movements I can tell now what I’m feeling, and it seems to indicate to me that she’s in this position a lot, if not all the time. She has a lot of time to move–about ten weeks–but I’ve started doing the recommended stretches and positioning to encourage her to flip over. So far she hasn’t. Stinker!

baby closet

With both Beatrice and Aurick, Jeremy and I were using the smallest bedroom in the house as our master bedroom. (There are no ensuites in this mid-century ranch, so it’s all the same–you’re trekking to the one bathroom no matter where you sleep.) It really is a pretty small room, at something like 10×11 or 11×11 or something like that. But it was small and cozy, and I really loved being in there.

Once upon a time I moved babies into their own nurseries fairly quickly (I think I moved Ephraim at six or seven weeks! But he was a terribly loud sleeper) But after Elvie, there was no baby nursery available to move anyone to–all spaces were already occupied. I now keep the babies with us until they’re sleeping through the night (this has been at about six months for everyone except Aurick, though I kept Beadie in with us later as her routine was disrupted by traveling when she was 8-9 months.) I move them into the room with the youngest occupants once they’re unlikely to disrupt everyone else’s sleep.

There was absolutely no extra space for a bassinet in this little bedroom, however, let alone our minicrib! So while pregnant with Beatrice I cleaned out the little mid-century-sized closet and decorated it as little space for the baby. This involved somewhat paring down our clothes, but other than that, it wasn’t too much of a loss to repurpose the closet.

Once she outgrew the bassinet, the closet opening was big enough to accommodate the minicrib for her. It wasn’t as pretty of a setup, but it was very convenient.

This little closet worked so very well with Beadie that we did it again with Aurick.

a baby closet for flannery

We’ve moved out of the smallest bedroom, though. So I do have room for the bassinet in the room itself. I’ve already moved the bassinet from the basement and into the corner by my side of the bed.

I’ve found this kind of depressing, though. It’s just a baby bed in a corner, nothing specially arranged about it. (Though I did swipe the garland I made for Christmas to put on the basket.) I’ve decided I’m going to make another baby closet after all. Fortunately, the closet in this room is already open and reasonably cleaned out. I’m gathering supplies for it, and will probably give it its own dedicated post once it’s done.