The ninth month is proving to be the most challenging for me. I hit week 36 and feel like my body is slowly starting to break down. Between sciatic pain and reflux, sleep hasn't come easy. After returning to work from our winter break, I woke up the next morning and felt like I had pulled a muscle in my leg. I had been sitting in and out of meetings for most of the day, so I kind of shrugged it off and figured it would feel better after a shower. I had to sit for most of the shower because I couldn't really put weight on my leg and when I got out and put my contacts in I noticed that my right thigh was bright red and swollen. I went on to work and called the doctor who basically told me that I've got to stay off my feet (ha! I have to teach a full day, mother a three year old toddler, and cook dinner every night. Does he think I'm a miracle worker?!). I had an appointment for the next day and he would look at it then. When I showed up for my appointment he said he wanted to send me to a radiologist to have a doppler ultrasound on the veins in my leg just to rule out a blood clot. The procedure was very painful because she had to push down on my leg (veins) to get them to compress and look at the changes in blood flow and the entire thigh is extremely tender to the touch. I left there limping and waiting to hear my results. The good news is that I do NOT have a blood clot, but the bad news is there is really no remedy. MY OB said that the position of my uterus is cutting off blood flow to the veins in my leg. Treatment is to lay as flat as possible with my legs elevated and use a warm compress and/or tylenol for pain. They also gave me an antibiotic to rule out an infection. Mom came up Friday night to help me with dinner/Charlotte so that I could rest and honestly a whole day of bedrest has made a huge difference in the swelling. It still hurts, but I'm hoping I can keep it under control. If I have to go on bedrest permanently (which would be the doctor's next step) then that will use up my sick time for maternity leave so I am trying to tough it out as best I can. I've been trying to look at the positive side of this, and have come to the conclusion that this is God's way of making me slow down. Ordering pizza or heating up chicken nuggets for awhile isn't going to hurt us (Charlotte likes those dinners better any way!), and Charlotte and I could use some snuggle time laying in bed before the new baby comes. Now if I could only fight down these nesting urges to get up and do, do, do!
It is amazing how fast nine months have flown by. When I was pregnant with Charlotte, it felt like some months dragged by and she would never be here. The space between my doctor's appointments then felt like months rather than weeks. With this pregnancy, it blows my mind that we've been through summer, a half a year of school, and all the holidays. I literally don't know where the time went and going to the doctor every week feels like the blink of an eye. Our bags are packed, the paperwork is in, and the nursery is ready. Now all we have to do is sit back (or lay back in my case) and wait for this little girl to pick her birthday!
Girl I know as a woman how hard it is to fight those nesting urges. But you've got your nursery ready and you're right, ordering in and heating it up will be just fine for the next few weeks. You take it as easy as you can while you bake that little baby in your belly :)
ReplyDeleteUM, I cleaned out my MOM's entire kitchen and pantry I had such crazy nesting urges - I threw out BAGS of old spices, food, junky kitchen gadgets, I was in HEAVEN my Mom, who never throws out anything was in SHOCK - but she was appreciative after everything was nice & tidy! So yeah, I know how hard it is to ignore those urges, but it will get done eventually and if not, baby girl will NEVER know - they can only focus like 6 to 9 inches anyway and then everything else is a blur so you've got time to finish these things once your uterus is vacated!
ReplyDeleteCan't WAIT to meet her!