36 week OB visit summary
Overall weight gain 30 lbs
In the last month 8 lbs
Fundal Height 36 cm
Fetal Heart rate normal 130-150's
Blood pressure 125/85-112/80
I can hardly believe it's here. This is my last planned entry to this under the heading of Pre-Natal Visit. I will do a separate post on my post-partum kit. I am currently seeing my midwife Aszani Stoddard every week but I won't bore you with weekly updates, and I am grateful there is not that much to say.
- Blood Pressure - for those of you who have been watching the stats you will notice there has been a gradual increase in my blood pressure over the past 6 weeks or so. Apparently this is normal in later pregnancy within limits. Increased blood volume and fluid retention can result in a little elevation of blood pressure. I have started checking my blood pressure at home and it tends to be better when I am at home. I am confident that my omron blood pressure cuff is accurate, and am surprised to see that I too might have a little white coat hypertension. I am still seeing my acupuncturist Stefanie Beniek regularly, and she has me taking some chinese herbs - called quiet contemplative three times a day. All I can do at this point is pray, and be thankful. At least at this point if I do develop pre-eclampsia my baby is full term which a lot to be thankful for.
- Weight - well I did not meet my goal of 25 lb weight gain for this pregnancy. However at the end of my last pregnancy I think my weight was about 210 lbs (or more) so I am 20 lbs under that, which I think is something to feel good about. According to Aszani's charts I am still within the norms for pregnancy weight gain. I guess the main thing is how my body feels afterwards. I will let you know when I get there.
- Hip Pain - I had this at the end of my last pregnancy, and here it is again. It as not as bad as I remember. I feel like last time I had pain in my hips even just walking, and this time around it only seems to happen at night. My chiropractor Amber says it has to do with my pelvis wanting to shift forward. Other possible explanations could be pressure from a growing fetus and the effects of relaxin on the pelvis and hips. What to do about it? I sleep with a pregnancy pillow that also doubles as a nursing pillow after baby's birth - this is a leftover from my last pregnancy and I love it. It goes between my knees and I don't sleep without it. Also chiropractic adjustments and prenatal yoga help a great deal. Topical arnica, and calms forte help to reduce crampy pain during the night as well. I wonder if this is a predictor of another hip pain centric labor like my last one - my poor doula must have spent five hours squeezing my hips god bless her heart.
- Kegels - I bring this up now because I have failed to do so before (I think). I learned all about the ultimate importance of Kegels at my bradley class in my last pregnancy. I will say I was proud when the nurses exclaimed over my ability not to wet myself after my son's birth. I started work on these guys early in the pregnancy when I began having stress incontinence whenever I would sneeze or cough. Since I have become more regular with Kegels the incontinence has disappeared. Like everything in this second pregnancy there is less time to do them, I do mine at stop lights and stop signs while driving. My husband jokes that my car is the Kegel-mobile, ha-ha.
- Drooling in my sleep - also known as sialorrhea - I know TMI right. No one ever told me this could happen during pregnancy, but it does happen. I wanted to put it out there so other women can know that this is normal. Number of reasons why this is happening - heartburn or reflux, nasal congestion, increased salivation in pregnancy. It mostly bothers me because having a wet cheek and pillow wakes me up during the night. Nice soft hand towel on my pillow and problem solved.
- Heart burn - This has not been as bad this pregnancy as it was in the last one. This related to relaxation of the esophageal sphincter, increased intra-abdominal pressure from growing womb, and increased production of gastric juices. My symptoms did show up later on in my pregnancy I believe thanks to improved diet. I choose to treat with 150 mg of Ranitidine or Zantac as needed, you can also try papaya extract, and usually it's okay to take a PPI which will provide more lasting relief. I am trying to take as little Zantac as possible and try to look at my reflux as a behavior modification tool.
- Fatigue - being pregnant when you already have a kid makes you even more tired that being pregnant alone. I love my son, but being his mom can be exhausting. I can't nap when I feel like it, I can't go to bed when I feel like it, and I can't sleep in as long as I want to. I have scaled back on my work schedule to 60% full time this last month (Using saved PTO). This has helped a lot. I sleep when I can, but this is not sleep deprivation - it's fatigue. That is to say sometimes more sleep is just more sleep and the fatigue will still be there when you wake up.
- Snoring - this also happened in my last pregnancy. My freak out flags are all up, because my theory was that it happened because of venous congestion in my face - ie a symptom of my preeclampsia. This time I feel like my nasal allergies are acting up, and it doesn't happen every night. Snoring in third trimester pregnancy is very normal. Can you imagine my poor husband his wife is sleeping with a pregnancy support pillow, drool towel, and is also snoring - tres sexi!
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