28 weeks gone

Well another couple of weeks down.  Am in the third trimester now, the home stretch! I must admit some of the time it’s feeling a bit tough – I am remembering ‘it’s not forever’

What I have -

Sore feet, big time.  They hurt just standing or walking.  The combination of extra weight and the hormone relaxin (that relaxes all your joints in preparation for the birth) has really done a job on my high arched (now flat) feet. Foot massage has never felt so good.

I’m stiff all over.  My low back sometimes hurts but overall not too bad. I just need more massages, chiropractic and pilates sessions. Pilates has been great, I get lots of stretching and lots of pelvic floor work. I’m very conscious of doing my kegels numerous times every day.

Skin changes. Something that is really obvious (to me) is that any marks on my body have darkened or are more prolific. On my chest and shoulders I have lots of little red specky spots – I had some before but now I have a lot more. I’m just thankful they aren’t as far up as my neck or face! I also have noticed a very faint linea nigra on my abdomen. Very faint thus far though, nobody else would notice. My facial skin has been awesome, normally very dry, now it’s lovely and supple and not a zit in sight for the last 6.5 months!

Water retention. Starting to notice when I sit with knees bent for awhile that I am getting edema in the lower legs and feet.

Awkwardness. Big time.  Waddling, limping etc. It’s mostly because of the sore feet though. My tummy is pretty big now (must take pic today). It now starts from under my boobs. It’s starting to get harder to get comfortable in bed and sleep takes a little while to come now. Am sleeping mostly on my back still, with a pillow under my legs. I have always been a back sleeper. I will sometimes try my side though, and change possies regularly during the night. Now I need to also support my tummy not just my hips. Still getting night sweats (without actually feeling hot) every now and then.

Insomnia and peeing a lot – again. 2nd tri was a little better but now I’m back to waking numerous times in the night and having to pee. So I’m back to getting up at anyime between 3 and 5am. So I now have to have the morning or arvo sleep again.

All these symptoms are normal for pregnancy so there is nothing out of the ordinary.

What I don’t have:

Stretch marks – plenty of time for that to happen and my skin actually doesn’t feel that stretched yet. It is however starting to get itchy every now and then which is a sign that it is being stretched.

Heartburn – I woke once in the night and had a bit of neck, back and jaw pain which felt a little like heartburn but that’s it. Again plenty of time for that to happen as my uterus gets bigger and bigger.

Carpal Tunnel – no sign.

Hip pain – no sign.

Hemmoroids – yay. What else can I say. I’m sure hoping I don’t get these!

Dizziness – ok I’ve had one or two very mild dizzy episodes but that’s all.

So, we’ve had 2 pre natal classes which have been really good and interesting. Last night we learnt all about labour and the different positions that bub can get into and what each one involves. The midwife offered to check our tummies to tell us what position bub was in at the moment – of course they can still move around a lot, particularly with still quite a few weeks to go. I was first cab off the rank and my little bub is sitting nicely in the anterior possie, head down, and back to the side (this is what the bulge is on one side of my tummy apparently).

Unfortunately we miss out on the next 2 classes because we are going away. We miss the birthing video, a talk by Professor Pettigrew (my OB), and the session on pain relief – which I’m none too happy about! However, they can loan us the birth video, and they said we could go in and have a one on one chat about the pain relief stuff so all good.

So, yes, we are off to FNQ on Wednesday! Our final ’baby moon’! 2 nights Cairns, 4 nights Palm Cove and 5 nights Port Douglas. I wanted to go somewhere warm - it appears warm, however as per our usual luck, there seems to be lots of rain with that!

Back to the classes, the midwife informed us that one of the ladies from the week prior had already had her baby at 29 weeks! Oh dear. Better get my bag packed. Our baby room is starting to take shape. We have a pram (thanks to everyone who helped with recommendations!), a portacot, a proper cot on order, a car seat, a bassinette and bath courtesy of Jodie (thank you!), a bouncinette and play gym, a baby monitor and some other bits and pieces. Still to get the change table and a nice comfy chair for feeding.

So, that’s my preggo round up. Not a lot else happening as I’m not in the gym or dieting so can’t report on that. I’m still working away slowly on my projects that I need to be done prior to the arrival of bub. Getting there.

Might pop back in with a belly pic soon.

Sue

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