WHAT?

I just got back from the doctor, and I can’t believe what he told me! I am 1 centimeter dialated and my cervix is 60% effaced!!! WHAT? When did this happen? He said the baby is nice and low and has his/her head pretty wedged in there. WHAT? When did this happen? He thinks I will go into labor next week or perhaps sooner. WHAT? I haven’t been having any sort of contractions that I know of…Well, all those in the baby pool that have a date picked out for next week, keep your fingers crossed. I'll take requests, but no guarantees.

So what’s with the “drape” they give you at the OB to cover yourself with when you get checked by the doctor? This thing is ridiculous and should never be called a “drape”. I call it a big napkin. It’s not even worthy of being called a tablecloth (unless you are covering a tiny table) I mean, come on now! How small do you have to be for this thing to wrap around you? You either have to choose to give a little peep show in the front, or have your butt crack hanging out for all to see when the doctor opens the door. Am I the only one with this problem? At least give me two “drapes” so I can tie them together!

The HIVES are back.

So what’s going on today? Some of you may remember that I had broken out in horrible hives in my first trimester? Well, guess what? They’re back. I am so angry, tired, sad, and itchy. I can’t believe I have them AGAIN. It’s called PUPPPS. Pruritical Urticarial Plaques and Papules of Pregnancy. It’s absolutely one of the most awful things I have ever experienced, and this may have me begging for induction! It is like having chicken pox everywhere, heat makes it worse, and fever accompanies it in the breakouts. This is now the reason I am wide awake and miserable at 2am.

Dave is in our room sleeping away and it makes me so jealous, that I almost find myself mad at him for being able to sleep. I know it is silly so I removed myself from the bedroom. He needs his sleep and his commute has been 2 hours each way as of late. He works so hard, and is being so strong- he needs his sleep and I shouldn't be jealous of that!

I am ten days away from my due date, but if this rash stays or gets any worse, those ten days might as well be a thousand. I went out and got some more of the herbal remedies I used in the first place and took them before I retired to bed tonight, but so far they haven’t helped. I can’t believe this is happening again!! I think I may need to wear gloves so I don't scratch my skin off during the night!

My doctor’s appt is tomorrow, so we will see what he says…

Sleepy Peanut

Yesterday, I barely felt Peanut move at all. I kept waiting and waiting and no movement. I ate a dove icecream bar, a quesadilla, had a glass of milk and layed down on my left side. Still no movement. Throughout my whole pregnancy Peanut has moved after I ate any dark chocolate, and also right after I drink milk, so this freaked me out BIG TIME. Flashes of the umbilical cord wrapped around our baby's neck went through my head! One of the most wonderful feelings I’ve ever experienced was feeling the baby move inside of me, and now it was gone. I was terrified. So I went to the hospital (my OB had closed by then). Right away they hooked me up to the monitor that tracks the baby’s heartbeat. For about three seconds, I heard nothing but wooshing sounds and no heartbeat. Those were the longest three seconds of my life. But suddenly, there was Peanut's heartbeat, going strong and fast as ever! Turns out he/she just had a sleepy day. They kept me there for about 3 and 1/2 hours to monitor me. I had really high blood pressure, it was almost in the 160's! I'm sure it was just because I was so scared because it eventually went down slowly. They tested my urine and my blood. My mom had gone with me, and Dave met us there after work. It was a scary thing. But we were sent home with a clean bill of health and more instructions for me to lay around and do nothing! It's almost bedrest, but not quite. But I really think I am more stressed doing nothing then being out and about. I think when I'm laying around there is too much time for my mind to be stressed about our delayed (once again) house and everything else.

All is well, thank God! I told Dave at least it was a dry run for us to familiarize us more with the hospital. At one point the nurse walked in and put a bracelet on me. This scared us, thinking they were going to induce me last night, but whew, we were so relieved when she said, go home!

Sleepy Peanut gave us quite a scare!

I'm wearing a MUUMUU!

My mom brought a muumuu for me the other day, and as hideous and ridiculous I would have thought it was (had I NOT been prego)- that thing looked like a pot of gold to me! Muumuu's ROCK! I love it. When you are approaching your 9th month nothing fits, you just feel huge, forget wearing any sort of pants! It's actually a cotton nightgown- but it's a XL so it basically looks like a muumuu on me. I don't care how it looks! It feels GLORIOUS!

My poor husband. He hates these sort of clothes- and I swore to him I'd never wear them. But that was before I got pregnant! Not only do I look frumpy, unattractive, and huge... I smell like old people too (see CRACK CREME)! I promised him after this, no more muumuu or crack creme until I am pregnant again in my 3rd trimester. And I still like to remind him that HE DID THIS TO ME.

I love CRACK CREME!

Okay, so my stretch marks are outta control! It looks like 10 cats got a hold of my belly and went to town. It's really bad and I'm not exaggerating! I have never seen anything this bad. Even Dr. Yang cringes everytime he sees my belly. And Peanut is still not finished growing! There goes my supermodel career! Lately my stretchies (as I like to call them) have been burning and itching like crazy! It is so bad I can't sleep at night. So I went to Target and tried 2 or 3 anti-itch solutions. Among them was Butt Paste, but I found the holy grail in CRACK CREME! This stuff is oh so good. It goes on, seeps in and I feel like I am normal again for a little while. Too bad it makes me smell like old people. I cannot go anywhere without my CRACK CREME. I wake up every few hours and have to reapply it. Dave thinks I am addicted! I am telling you, this stuff is good! It is for dry cracked skin, so if you have dry cracked skin, this stuff really works! I use it so much I think I am going to have to purchase my third tube (in the last 4 days) soon. I hope the baby doesn't come out smelling like old people.

OH THE PAIN!

The pain of my pelvis loosening is almost unbearable, it has actually brought me to my knees! Does this mean my labor is going to be horrific? Or is the baby just going to slide out since my pelvis is so loose? It hurts bad! To top it all off, I now have carpal tunnel in my right hand.

Well, we are finally in the home stretch and "he can come any day now!" my mom says! She also says this baby is going to be "at least 7 pounds!". She's convince that I will have a huge baby boy! I can't believe I am supposed to gain MORE weight in the next 4 weeks. I don't know if my aching stretch marks can stretch anymore! They hurt too. The doc says my skin is just too tight, and really it's genetic. Nothing I can do but slather on more cocoa butter. So I have stretch marks, but I won't get wrinkles until I'm real old. I guess it's a good trade off.

Baby Peanut is now head down, and we can feel the butt up against my belly, and I think we felt the leg and thigh a few times. The movements are weird now, not as intense, but it's crazy to actually feel the limbs of your baby. Sometimes I try and give Peanut a massage.

My poor husband is now being blamed for everything. I can't help it. In all my pain I keep saying, "See what you did to me?" Or "YOU... you did this to me!" He takes it well. In all my moaning and complaining, he is always sweet and sympathetic. I am still trying to convince him to breastfeed (did you know it's possible for men to breastfeed?) but he will have no part of it. "We could take turns! You could really bond with the baby!" He just looks at me, covers his nipples and says "Stay away!"

I am still trying to hold out until our house closes escrow, but we are cutting it close, I am due Jan 29th or 30th and our close of escrow is January 18th (as of now- knock on wood). I keep talking to Peanut and telling him/her "don't you want to stay in there for just a little longer? It's nice and warm in there!" I predict she will come a week late, but I'm sure he'll come whenever she's good and ready. So far, no contractions or anything- not even braxton hicks lately. So I'm crossing my fingers!!