La Miserable - C'est Moi

Oh boy. (Or should I say...Oh girl...)

Apparently, I am now paying for having such a lovely pregnancy...starting Sunday night / Monday morning, I woke up with a really sore back.

Which gave way to soreness from Mara seeking solace under my ribs.

Which gave way to shortness of breath - felt like she was pressing on my diaphragm so I couldn't breathe deeply.

Basically, this all lasted consistently from about 3:30 am until noon. It was like having the flu. Ugh.

A call to The Bish (doctor) basically led me to understand that, unless the diaphragm pain worsened throughout the day, this was pretty typical discomfort related to the end of pregnancy. Well, I was able to breathe normally after a while, so I just had to deal with the pain.

Last night was SUPER fun, too... sore back, feeling like I needed to throw-up, baby under the ribs. Throw in the fact that my stomach is literally being squashed by the little human inside of me, and you get a weak mama who has to force herself to eat and drink.

Blah.

I am hoping that at my appointment with The Bish this afternoon ends with him exclaiming, "Hey, great news! You're going into labor and Mara will be here in no time!"

............. a girl can dream, can't she?? ;)

Let me end this positively with some thankfulness... I am thankful for heating pads, hot showers, the ability to stay home at this time, family members to turn to, Law&Order/Bones/Sex&theCity reruns, a healthy baby, and absolutely I am thankful for my awesome amazing wonderful husband Mike, who, at 4 am last night, woke to my tosses and turns to rub my back, get me a heating pad, and coax Mara away from my rib cage. I am so lucky. <3

ReciPees for Fun and Dreams

36 weeks today! Holy smokes!

So I went to the doctor yesterday..not my usual doc, since he was out, but so far anyone I've seen at the KC Women's Clinic has been outstanding. I have constantly been saying to my family that my visits have not been anything to remark upon..of course, this visit went against that statement.

First off, I found out that I'm 1cm (plus a little wiggle room) dilated and 50% effaced. I was so excited..50%! That's halfway to 100%! That's got to mean something, right?? Nope. Checked online and it means absolutely nothing except that my cervix is getting shorter. Nothing in the way of indicating Mara's arrival. Bummer.

I asked the doc if she had "dropped" and if she was in the correct position for labor (head down, facing down). Before the exam, the doctor said that most women feel a lot of pressure in their pelvis and typically waddle when they first get up if the baby's dropped. To the first descriptor, I had no reaction, but to the second, I got excited - I have totally been waddling when I first stand up from sitting or laying down! According to the exam, Mara has definitely dropped (perhaps that's why I can eat full meals these days - more room for my stomach...wahoo!).. but go figure... later last night, I began to feel CRAZY pressure. Not so comfy. Can't win 'em all, eh?

The BEST part of the appointment was after they found protein in my urine...(That's sarcasm, if it isn't communicated through the type..) Luckily, my blood pressure is normal, so it's not necessarily an issue of preeclampsia...but you know what they do to check that everything is alright? They make you PEE in a JUG for a full day! To make things easier for me, I get a little mini potty catch to pee in and pour into the jug. ........hahahahahahaha I can't believe I'm going to be doing this. Friday's the big day. Then I get to bring it in on Saturday and give them a vile of blood to complete the whole process. I don't do Twitter, but can you do a sarcastic #you'rejealousIknowit ?

...change of subject...

I've definitely had weird dreams lately (i.e. big black and white animation-type spiders that talk), but whenever I dream of Mara, it's really good. I had a lovely dream about her; she was about three months old and she was beautiful.... She just looked at me, but it was a great dream. Unfortunately, I can't say Mike is having the same dream experience. This is what he tells me this morning after he finishes brushing his teeth...

Mike: I had a dream about Mara last night.
Me: Really?? What happened?
Mike: We were with Amber and her baby, and Mara was really ugly.
Me: *gasp*
Mike: She was all wrinkly like an old lady and she had a long pointy nose and no chin. I kept wondering why Amber's baby looked so much better. Then, Mara looked at Amber's baby and said, "I hate you!" and I turned to you and said, "Look what you taught her!"

Geez!! So not only does Mike's dream say he thinks our daughter will resemble the witch from Snow White, but he also thinks I am going to teach her to say mean things! Thanks for the vote of confidence, honey....

Rock(-a-bye) Baby

Mara Lou has been a mover and a shaker for quite some time now.. for a while, she was practicing her moves largely at night when I was trying to sleep. (This habit has improved, but when I wake up to use the bathroom a few times a night, she generally thinks it's time to jam.) My mom suggested putting headphones around my tummy during the day to get her to use up some energy during my waking hours, saying that when she did this for me, I would go crazy in her belly (a foreshadowing of my affinity for music, perhaps?).

So, a trip to the dollar store for a pair of headphones later, I was ready to experiment. Apparently, Mara has a discerning ear already - she ONLY moved to Coldplay. We tried Party in the USA, Adele, some Jay-Z... totally still belly until Coldplay came back on. I mean, I can't blame her - Coldplay is awesome! But I admit that I AM a little disappointed that she didn't kick it to some rap... I had "Mar-wheezy" all ready for her to use to gain some street cred...

I needed Mike to photograph my belly because my belly button looks to me like a little mouth saying "oooooo!" :)