Six and a half months

It has been a few weeks since I updated. I cannot sleep much at night because of SPD pain. Basically, everything around my pubic bone is stretching and growing and loosening, and it can cause some major pain. I didn't have this with my previous pregnancies. It's a whole new ball game. Couple that with sciatica, which is also new to me, and walking is fun! Walking, sitting, standing, sleeping. I spend couple hours in the bathtub at night, because the warm water helps, but after I haul myself out of the tub, I get stiff again. I spend part of the night in my bed, and usually end up sleeping sitting up in my big blue chair. It is a nice, overstuffed monstrosity, and sheer exhaustion makes it a nice place to try to sleep. I get about 4 or 5 hours a night, then Steve and the kids get up. I am alert for a while, but then I snooze for a while to make up for lost sleep. Not complaining, just updating.

I did whine to Steve the other day, and he (nicely, not verbatim) asked me didn't I know what I was getting into when I got pregnant again? Isn't he a funny man! I told him I didn't have these same problems before. Otherwise it would not have been such a surprise.

I have a burning to the left of my belly button. There is a nerve just under the skin and when the baby kicks it, oh man, does it hurt! Morning sickness decreased for about two weeks, to where I was only throwing up 2 or three days a week. It has returned, bringing with it my old friend nausea.

According to the internet, the baby is about 14 inches long from head to toe and weighs about two pounds. I am 26 weeks and two days on Thursday, which is about 30 minutes from now. I told Steve that I feel like we have 10 good weeks before I feel like I am on borrowed time.

The other night I was very upset about something. It was not anything silly like me bursting into tears because I wanted a burrito--this was a real problem. No pregnancy hormones involved. I tried talking about it with my mom, Steve and a neighbor for advice and I still couldn't see a peaceful resoltion. I was very agitated. Then I had a few stabby cramps in my cervix and freaked right out. I drank a load of water and took a warm bath and also laid on my left side and "let go" of the agitation. No way was I in the mood to have a micropreemie! I had some pretty scary, tight Braxton-Hicks for over an hour, but they lessened in severity ater 45 minutes, and would only recur if I moved. So I went to sleep. Lesson to self: don't get so spun up over stuff, even if it is actually a big deal.

I feel bad for the doctor, who I go to see again on August 10th. For the past months I have been a quick, in-and-out, no-problems patient, and this visit I get to go in with a laundry list! Pitting edema and high blood pressure about a week ago which took three days of water guzzling and major salt reduction to fix, recurrent edema (but not to the level of pitting because I am still reducing salt and guzzling water), horrible SPD pain, Sciatica, persistent morning sickness, Braxton-Hicks, etc. I am going to ask when I will go on light duty and/or bed rest. I feel like it will be soon and I told Steve that I need to get a few things done before I go to the doctor. I am afraid he will hear my litany and say "Go lay down!"

It is not quite nesting, it is just fear that I will be confined before I can scrub my baseboards. I already scrubbed out my refrigerator gasket with a toothbrush. How does it get so nasty? Heh. Maybe it *is* nesting. I also want to bake things, like a cherry pie, which I got the fixins for today, and bread from scratch like I used to. I am going to make a chicken pot pie too, and I have never made one before. I made blueberry jam last week.

I have yammered on long enough. I will update again after the doctor's visit. I am going to try and lay down. Oh yeah--Stop and Shop's brand of Maple Cinnamon bread is divine. That is all.