New this week - thanks Tabitha for pointing out I am developing stretchmarks on both sides of my lower belly! I was happily in ignorance, not being able to see the bottom half of my stomach, but then Tabi pointed them out and I had to verify by looking closely in the mirror. Siiggghhh still about 4 weeks left! More stretch marks to come I'm sure. I don't know how Ariel is going to fit any longer, there's really no room and my stomach is already so big! I am 154-155 pounds this week, Ariel is about 5.5 pounds (by internet estimates). She should continue to gain half pound per week until she is born!
The final supplies are being gathered so not much left to do except write birth plan, pack to go bags, and finish up childbirth classes! I'm sure more will dawn on me after she is born, but hopefully my support team of sisters will be able to help then. :) This week I went to a conference and learned a bit about perinatal mental health, touching upon postpartum depression, psychosis, OCD, and some other mental health issues. Next week we have our midwife appointment, childbirth class again, and I will also be learning about Electronic Fetal Monitoring for school... so hopefully I don't learn so much that it scares me before the delivery!
Very tired this week. Still feeling Ariel move around a lot although she can't really kick hard anymore. She seems to be head down still, but rotates from my right side to my left side occasionally, but she prefers the right. Braxton hicks contractions come and go throughout the day, but sometimes they are quite frequent and feel some stabbing pain on my bladder/cervix. I have been sleeping better this past week, but still so tired I cannot wake up at my desired time and feel like I need a nap everyday. Right lower back is uncomfortable periodically and sometimes pinches sciatic nerve, and now cracks if I move it in a particular way - the chiropractor helped loosen this area but hopefully will go back to normal after delivery. Final complaint is that I am constantly hot when everyone else is cold or normal. Lucky for me we had a crazy heat wave this past week... I never thought I would be glad for 60s weather and rain that's coming tomorrow...
