At the same time, I miss having my body to myself. Things like: being able to tie my shoes without concentrated effort...not having to go pee every 10 minutes...sitting down/standing up/laying down/rolling over/moving in general without pain and being out of breath. Also, the glares I won't miss. The "I'm trying to look sympathetic but you just look miserable" look, ha! At least my waddling self has scored a few trips to the front of the line at a few places now.
Maverick seems pretty stoked to become a big brother. He knows that any day now little "Doyer" will be coming out of mommy's tummy. He tells me all the time the things he is going to teach him--playing monster trucks, playing cars, playing trains, lots of playing planned! Although I told him it will take some time for him to grow big enough to play with him, he could still show him. Tonight Mav saw some pictures of a new baby in the hospital someone had posted on Robbie's FB, and Mav curled up with Robbie's iPad to look at them--and went "awe!" at every single picture. I think that's a good sign people, haha!
I have been SOOOO bad about using my phone to document growth pictures during this pregnancy. Shame on me! I guess it wouldn't be a good excuse to say that I've had my big camera charged and packed away for the hospital bag for a while now. I was glancing at some in just the past month-ish, and it's amazing how much growing has gone on.
This was taken October 10th (roughly 33-34 weeks).
And I took this last night, November 8th (roughly 37-38 weeks). Lol, Mav was going a little nuts back there. Just a few moments before I snapped the pic, he was trying to climb into the crib and jump off!
So here is the down-low (pun intended according to everyone at work telling me that I've dropped) on The Sy currently:
Monday (the 5th) was my most recent doctor visit, but the week prior to that I was measuring 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. Quick side note--my SIL Johanna said something to me a few weeks ago that I wished I would've taken as advice. She said that she didn't want the doc to tell her what (if any) progress she was measuring at the end of her pregnancy, to avoid the mind game. Gosh, I wish I would've done the same!
So this past Monday, I was measuring 4cm dilated and 60% effaced. According to hospital admission standards, that's active labor people!!! Which is SOOOO crazy to me because I don't feel anywhere near "active" labor. Actually, it's all crazy to me. I never had this experience with Mav's pregnancy because my water broke with him, with no prior contractions or anything.
I can't imagine that almost a week ago, I "technically" could've gone into the hospital and said, "Let's do this!" and probably gotten induced or something. But I want my body to be ready, when it's fully ready. In the meantime, Sawyer has been torturing me with round after round of contractions that progress then stop...little stinker! :)
Take today for instance. Completely new physiological symptoms today, and I thought for sure I would be having the baby sometime this evening. Lots and lots of lower back ache/pain and sharp abdominal cramps radiating from side to side, even after drinking water and changing positions. Indegestion/unsettled stomach, too. (Can't say enough how stinking awesome it is to have a SIL who is a doula!! I've been texting/calling her so much in the past few days I feel guilty for not paying her for services!)
And yet now (at past midnight) all the aches and pains have dulled, and I'm back to the Braxton-Hicks contractions that aren't painful but make your entire stomach get really round and hard. (weirdest feeling ever, by the way)
So we wait. Since I'm only 38 weeks on Sunday, way not desperate enough yet to try natural labor inducers, haha! (even in the most desperate hour, castor oil is definitely not on the menu!)
In the meantime....let's talk poop! Oh mercy.
Poor Maverick has been battling some sort of digestional tract issue. And I wouldn't be concerned except that it's been over a week of...errr, well the squirts; and he was just battling the same thing not quite a month ago. Not that Mav has even come close to being in critical condition, but in some parts of the world it's pretty intense to think that children die of diarrhea. So thankful for access to medical help!
The issue that was exacerbating it was Mav's love of milk. The kid LOVES milk. Prefers it to anything, ever, at anytime, ha! Dairy is an awful, awful irritant of diarrhea--no matter the underlying issue. Until I could figure out how to replace it, I was watering down his milk and adding powder probiotics like those found in yogurt.
Annnnnyways, so a couple things. One--we are now on day 2 of fully switched to almond milk. (which I find funny that it's called milk...it's just crushed almonds in water with a bunch of good nutrients added, ha!) Mav loves it just as much as regular milk, woo hoo! I think no matter what ends up being the cause of his ailment, we are keeping the switch. Not to outlaw milk totally (unless it ends up being a lactose/dairy allergy)--just what Mav regularly consumes. It's just SO much healthier!
Two--I have an even higher respect for lab technicians. Like, waaaaay higher. This is what my mornings have consisted of the past couple of days, with tomorrow morning hopefully being the last time.
The doctor wants to first rule out a bacterial infection and/or a parasite. Eeeeew, a parasite!!! He's never had a fever...so my thought is that those aren't the case...but I'm not exactly knowledgeable on fever to parasite/bacteria relationships, haha!
See all these lovely little tubes? I have had to fill a set of these every day, for three days. And guess what?! It get's better. The samples have to be frozen until they are taken to the lab. Frozen in a freezer. Our freezer. Eeek!
Each set of tubes gets zipped into a baggy, which gets zipped into a biohazard baggy. And then I put that biohazard baggy in a series of plastic bags...oh let's say in the neighborhood of 8 layers (my personal comfort level)...to store in our freezer. And even then I'm going to need a lot of antibacterial spray once we're done, ha!
So the lovely men and women of laboratories everywhere--I am so grateful that you are awesome enough to like studying this stuff and handling everyone's poop!
If all those come back negative, then it's exploring a possible food allergy or lactose intolerance. Which, I have a hard time wrapping my head around...only because the kid has been ingesting dairy products for a couple of years now without problem. But they do say you can develop allergies as well as get rid of allergies over time.
Or maybe it's nothing to worry about, and we won't run into this again. Haha, who knows?!
Never a dull moment around here! :)
