8 months

As of this past Tuesday I am in my eighth month of the pregnancy! 32 weeks, woohoo! Only two more months to go (which to me seems like that makes the average pregnancy last 10 months, not 9, but oh well). I had another checkup on Wednesday that went well, and this doctor also agreed with the last doctor I saw that there isn't any medicine that can make my food not come up, so I have just accepted this as a normal part of my life and am moving on...only two more months I can definitely put up with it for that short amount of time. I also had another blood draw because apparently the hospitals have a new rule that if the mom hasn't been tested for HIV, then when the baby is born they will do unnecessary testing on the baby in the hospital, which I wanted to spare Emmory from having to go through.
I have been experiencing a few new discomforts, the first being pain around the rib cage area. Emmory has found a nice little spot for his foot in my right ribcage, and he is continually either kicking me there or lodging his foot in there to stay. It is definitely sore and feels like I was involved in a punching match. I told the doctor about it because I wanted to see if he could tell what part of his body was where, and he confirmed that his head is down low, which is why I often feel pressure down there, and a foot is in the exact spot where I am sore. He said it could vary whether it's a foot or his little bottom that is pressing up against that area since he does move around, but that it's definitely something from the waist down.
I think that one of the coolest things about my belly getting bigger, and Emmory getting bigger, is that I can actually feel him inside of me from the outside, and I can see parts of his body roll across my belly. It's not to the point where I can actually distinguish which body part it is, but I can definitely tell that it's him. And even though it is causing more and more discomfort, I love feeling his movements change and get stronger and being able to tell that he is growing in there, it's almost like I am able to experience some of his development in there...my little boy is growing up :)
The second new discomfort I'm experiencing is back pain. It's nothing really sharp or excruciating, but I just have a constant discomfort and it doesn't matter what position I sit or lay in, it still hurts. Maybe it's because I have bad posture, and with the weight I'm carrying up front now I am experiencing the effects of that bad posture....maybe it's simply just because of the extra weight up front and there is nothing I can do about it, I'm not sure. Last night I did ask Mark if he would massage that area and that did help relieve the pain enough so I could fall asleep in a comfortable position, so maybe I just need to be pampered every day :) I am very excited because I was given a gift certificate to a new spa downtown for a prenatal massage and I'm going to use it this coming week I think, so that will be a really, really nice treat. The last time I had a massage it was the most relaxing experience I've ever had, and I'm hoping that it will also help relieve some of these discomforts I've been experiencing.
As of tonight I have started work on the nursery, I cleared out the bookcase that was in there and moved it into the guestroom, and I put the glider rocker in its place. At the shower I had last Saturday my mom and sister in law gave me the cushions that I wanted for the rocker, and I love the way they turned out! I hope to take pictures of the progess I make as I clear everything non-baby out of the nursery/office, and organize all the baby stuff in its place. I am so excited for it all to come together!

Hiccups and such

I really don't feel like recently there has been a whole lot to write about...I've been going to the doctor every 2 weeks now and the checkups are all just routine, which is a good thing because if it wasn't routine that means the doctor notices something that is out of the ordinary that he wants to check out. So thankfully all of mine up to this point have been routine, I've always measured right on schedule and his heartbeat has always been strong. It has definitely slowed down since that very first sweet time we heard it, when it was in the 180's-wow!, at my checkup last week it was in the 140's. So I won't be having any more ultrasounds unless they find a reason to do one...I really want to see him again, but just keep telling myself it's a good thing if I don't get to see him again until he is born, it would mean everything looks good and they don't see any problems. I also found out that there pretty much isn't another acid reflux medicine I can take that will work any differently than the Prilosec I'm taking now. She told me progesterone causes the sphincter, which is supposed to stop food from coming back up, to relax and basically not function like it is supposed to, so the only solution to that is to get the progesterone out of me, which will happen in approx. 9 weeks, give or take a few of course :) So sleep has been difficult, I am extremely tired at night but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to fall asleep. It doesn't seem to matter whether I eat like they say you are supposed to when you have problems with reflux or not, my food still comes up either way.
One new thing that happened last week was Emmory got the hiccups for the first time! I started to feel this regular little spasm in my belly, and it finally dawned on me that it was most likely hiccups. I've felt it three more different times since then, one time when Mark was with me so he was able to feel them too. It was pretty neat.
In the last week I feel like my belly has doubled in size...it just seems so much bigger, and I've been having some occasional discomfort in my lower abdomen, nothing major just an achy, crampy feeling which I know is a result from everything being stretched so much down there. Emmory has definitely been stretching a lot too, I can simultaneously feel him digging into my ribs and sitting on my bladder at the same time. Sometimes when I stand up I feel so much pressure and have to go to the bathroom immediately...and often times after I go I still feel like I have to go...he is definitely growing and I'm sure beginning to run out of room in there.
Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed and panicked that somehow Emmory's room isn't going to be ready before he gets here. Right now the nursery consists of our office with a bunch of baby stuff shoved in a corner. His crib is up and put together, and his bassinet is put together also, which I know is all that really matters because he's going to be sleeping with us in his bassinet for probably the first 3 months of his life, so his room really doesn't need to be ready when he gets here, but for some reason that just doesn't register with me, all I can think is, "I want it done and I want it done now!" I probably won't be working much longer so that will give me a lot of time to be home working on the room and the other little projects around the house that I want to accomplish before he gets here, so that will be nice. I just can't wait til the room is blue and everything is set up the way it's going to be and I can go in there and just know "this is my baby's room", and I can sit in there and imagine what it's going to be like having him here...I don't know for some reason it just makes it more real if we have his room all ready, that there is a room in our house that is his and only his.
So that's what has been going on and been on my mind lately. Oh, and I'm having a baby shower this Saturday. Jesslyn, Cydney and Audrey's mom (the girls I nanny for) is throwing me one at her house, so I'm really excited about that, it was so sweet of her to want to do something for me. Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog with some pics soon, I have a lot that I have been wanting to put up here for a while now, I just need to remember to have Mark help me with it.

2nd time's a charm

Well the dreaded 3 hr glucose tolerance test is now behind me, and I am so glad! I was at the lab Wednesday morning from 8:15 am til 11:45, and that 3 and a half hours felt very long. After waiting a little bit in the waiting room the nurse brought me back and took my blood, then I had to drink a horribly sweet drink (twice as sweet as the one in the doctors office the first time) in five minutes, then wait an hour and have my blood drawn again. From the time I was halfway finished with the drink until the one hour blood draw I felt very sick and weak, the nurse told me that if I felt sick or wierd at all to come and tell her, so after a while when I really thought I was gonna lose it I went out and asked her if she knew of any tricks to make it better, she said the only thing I could do was take tiny sips of water, and also that if I threw up I would have to come back another day and start all over. Well great! That is the absolute last thing I wanted to do, so with every ounce of willpower in me and lots of prayer, I managed to keep it down. After I made it to the 1 hour blood draw I started to feel better, still didn't feel great but not as nauscious. I had two more blood draws every hour, and I made it to the very last one! And I found out from the dr office yesterday that the results were normal, so I don't have gestational diabetes. Praise God!